DAVID C LANE

DAVID LANE AKA DAID CHRISTOPHER LANE PHD

David Lane On SaiSathyaSai.com

DAVID C. LANE

David Christopher Lane - Critic Of Sri Sathya Sai Baba

David Lane Menu (click on a link to go to relevant section):

Introduction To David Christopher Lane: RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE

David Christopher Lane (born April 29 1956 in Burbank, California) is a professor of philosophy at MTSAC (Mt. San Antonio College), in Walnut, California. He has a Ph.D. from the University of California at San Diego and is a harsh critic of groups such as Eckankar, the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, Radhasoami, as well as gurus such as Elizabeth Claire Prophet, Sathya Sai Baba, Satchitananda, Muktananda, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Yogi Bhajan.

David C. Lane: Webmaster For The NeuralSurfer.com Domain: RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE

David C. Lane registered his NeuralSurfer.com domain to the Mt. San Antonio College:

David Lane
1100 North Grand Avenue
Walnut, CA 90740 USA
Phone: (562) 493-9510

The “NeuralSufer.com” domain redirects to David Lane’s personal MTSAC folder at:

elearn.mtsac.edu/dlane

David Lane also uses another MTSAC folder to push his Anti-Sai agenda on his students (that provides mostly outdated material on Sathya Sai Baba). This folder is located at:

vclass.mtsac.edu:940/dlane/saidebates.htm

David Lane Self-Divulged Contact Information:

Email: neuralsurfer@yahoo.com
Phone: 909 594-5611 (extension 4593)
Address: David Christopher Lane, Philosophy and Sociology Department, MSAC, 1100 North Grand Avenue, Walnut, California 91789, USA.

David Lane’s Yahoo Groups (one pertaining to the Sai Controversy):

tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sathyasaibaba2/
tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/davidchristopherlane/
groups.yahoo.com/group/vegans2/
tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/worldreligions/
groups.yahoo.com/group/summerthinking/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/radhasoamistudies/

David Lane’s Webpages:

http://members.tripod.com/~kahanalu/
http://members.tripod.com/~dlane5/

David Lane Successfully Sued For Copyright Infringement: RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE

CASE NO. CV 97-6685 CAS (VAPx)

JUDGMENT

This action came on for trial before the Court, the Honorable Christina A.Snyder, District Judge, presiding, and the issues having been duly triedand a decision having been duly rendered through Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law entered on August 24, 1998:

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that defendant David Lane has infringed plaintiff’s copyright registration number TX 4-406-489 and, in accordance with Rule 65(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, David Lane, and all agents, servants, employees and attorneys of David Lane, and all persons in active concert or participation with David Lane who receive actual notice of this order by personal service or otherwise, are permanently enjoined from the manufacture, reproduction, adaptation, sale, offering for sale, distribution, loading into a computer’s random access memory, posting on computer networks, including, but not limited to, the Internet and the USENET, preparation of derivative works, rental, lease, lending, or display of any copies, or excerpts from any copies, of the work entitled “Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You,” which was registered for copyright and assigned copyright registration number TX 4-406-489. This injunction shall continue in force until the expiration of copyright protection in copyright TX 4-406-489.

Plaintiff shall recover of defendant David Lane its costs of suit in the within action, including reasonable attorneys’ fees pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §505. The court sets the hearing on reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs for October 5, 1998 at 10:00 a.m.

DATED: September 1, 1998

Honorable Christina A. Snyder
United States District Court Judge
Reference

David Lane - The “Militant Anti-Cultist” Cultist: RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE

Massimo Introvigne described David C. Lane as a “militant anti-cultist” although David Lane is unusual in that he was initiated (in true-cult like style) by the late Maharaj Charan Singh (the Sant Mat guru) of Radha Soami Satsang Beas in 1978 (which is a new religious movement traced to Soamiji Maharaj / Shiv Dayal Singh). David Lane was also the assistant of Mark Juergensmeyer (a Western scholar of Radhasoami). As Introvigne rightly pointed out, Radhasoami movements are often labled as “cults” by Christian counter-cult movements (Reference).

Books By David Christopher Lane: RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE

Lane Has Published The Following Three Books:

  1. “The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell & Eckankar” by David Christopher Lane: Paperback, Del Mar Pr (June 1994)
  2. “The Radhasoami Tradition: A Critical History of Guru Successorship” by David Christopher Lane: Hardcover, Taylor & Francis (July 1992)
  3. “Exposing Cults: When the Skeptical Mind Confronts the Mystical” by David Christopher Lane: Hardcover, Taylor & Francis (July 1994)

David Lane - Defamer Of Satya Sai Baba: RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE

On Google Groups, a user using the pseudonym “Sai Detective” cut and pasted the following quote from David Lane’s website:

“.... And to top it off, Sai Baba has a preference for young male cocks. Why God would want to rub oil (Sai has called it his “bachelor oil treatment”) on kids’ dicks is a “Divine” Mystery to me. But if I take out the God equation, the answer to Sai’s devotion to erections seems pretty obvious. The only catch, however, is that Sai wants this “secret” ceremony kept, well... you guessed it... secret. I wonder why?

Hey, Sai boy, try rubbing your own dick and let the kids go out and play soccer...Furthermore, why don’t you give Michael Jackson a call. Maybe both of you could hang out together and share bachelor oil stories.

In any case, it’s ironic to know that when God does come to earth he produces more shit (burnt and dried at that) and likes to fondle lots of young erect cocks.

Geez, I think the Saivites are right after all.

God really is a Prick and Full of Shit.”
(Ref: Google Group Post)

This is the type of filth and hate-material that David Lane promotes and believes. Quite a difference from Lane’s polished, formal letters responding to his critics.

One is also left to wonder where Lane got his information that Sathya Sai Baba called his oilings “bachelor oil treatments”? I would also like to see the proof (any “proof”) that Sathya Sai Baba sexually abused “kids”. To date, there are no testimonies from boys, children or parents of children that support the erroneous claim that Sathya Sai Baba is a pedophile / paedophile who engaged in sexual interactions with children. Not even one public testimony, affidavit, grievance, police complaint, court case or the like.

Professor David Lane, like other Anti-Sai Activists, is basing his comments on internet rumors. If these rumors were being spread (and most are) by uneducated people not fully cognizant with the internet, that may be understandable (although inexcusable). However, David Lane (possessing a Ph.D, M.A., B.A. and A.A. and being knowledgable about the internet) should know better than spreading gossip, rumors, conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated and unverifiable allegations as the truth. This type of behavior implies that Professor David C. Lane is gullible, naive, thoroughly biased and possesses very poor researching skills and has an Anti-Sai agenda to push, even at the cost of personal integrity.

David Lane’s Critical Movie Clips About Sathya Sai Baba: RETURN TO TOP OF PAGE

Using the MTSAC (Mt. San Antonio College) domain, David C Lane provides two movie clips of Sathya Sai Baba. The first video clip shows Baba allegedly manifesting vibuthi from an empty urn and the caption that scrolls past the bottom states: “The Guru’s Ultimate Miracle ----- pulling dried and burnt cow shit from a jar.”

The second video clip (which, admittedly, is of very poor quality) shows Sathya Sai Baba allegedly cheating on a materialization of a necklace. This video was selectively edited. For those who do not have the time to download the video clip, the scene unfolds as follows:

  1. (Fuzzy video shown in slow motion)...Sathya Sai Baba is standing facing the women’s side.
  2. (Fuzzy video shown in slow motion)...Sathya Sai Baba transfers 2 letter from his right hand to his left hand and it appears as if an object is transferred from Baba’s left hand to his right hand at the same time.
  3. The sections above are repeated twice in slow motion.
  4. Slow motion abruptly stops at that very moment Baba transfers 2 letters from his left hand back to his right hand. When viewed in slow motion on real-player, Baba’s right hand (which allegedly contained a necklace) is fully open with fingers spread apart.
  5. Baba is shown walking, lightly holding 2 letters in his right hand (and allegedly holding a necklace at the same time). Baba’s hand is not closed or cuffed.
  6. (Fuzzy video resumes in slow motion)...Sathya Sai Baba allegedly materializes a necklace with a pendant and catches the necklace-chain with his fingertips.
  7. End of video clip.

For starters, previous footage is selectively cut out of the video clip. The previous footage is crucial because it would have revealed vital information (like showing Baba’s open/closed hands prior to accepting 2 letters, etc.). If Baba was palming the necklace, the section prior to where this video clip started would have been the most important. Needless to say, it wasn’t shown.

Secondly, after the alleged “transfer” of the necklace, the slow motion abruptly ended at the very moment when Baba’s right hand (yes, the one that allegedly contained a necklace) was wide open (with fingers spread apart). Why the video was edited this way is a mystery (especially when showing this section in slow motion could have revealed crucial imagery). Nevertheless, one can see Baba’s open hand in slow motion (using real-player) and viewing the clip in frame-by-frame mode.

Lastly, it was assumed that something was transferred from Baba’s left hand to his right hand when the exchange of letters occurred. No object is seen in this video clip. The transfer of an alleged object is inferred based solely on Baba’s hand movements. Also, when Baba was walking, he was lightly holding letters in the same hand that allegedly contained the necklace. Therefore, this video does not “prove” that Sathya Sai Baba faked anything.

Wouldn’t it actually serve the best interest of critics if they had the film analyzed and backed up by a reputable corporation specializing in fraud? Needless to say, all critics (including David C Lane) have been willing to do is show a selectively edited video clip that speeds up and slows down a fuzzy scene to make their case against Sathya Sai Baba. This reminds me of the Gurubusters video, in which it was alleged that Sathya Sai Baba could be “clearly” seen faking a materialization. Many critics and Anti-Sai Activists boasted that this video was conclusive proof that Baba faked materializations.

Unlike lazy arm-chair critics who like to sit back on their rumps and feed ideas of fraud to others, Erlendur Haraldsson and his associates carried out a careful analysis of the video shown in the Guru Busters documentary. Haraldsson stated the following about the video (cited from his book “Miracles Are My Visiting Cards: An Investigative Report on Psychic Phenomena Associated with Sathya Sai Baba”: ISBN: 8186822321):

Dr. Erlendur Haraldsson: “The quality and resolution of the tape leaves much to be desired and limits the inferences that can be drawn from it. Dr. Wiseman took the videotape to a company which specialises in investigating corporate fraud. This company possesses some of the world’s best equipment designed to enhance poor quality videotape. The technician kindly offered to enhance the videotape in question. The videotape was run through a real time Snell & Wilcox Kudos Noise Reducer. The machine carries out three operations. First, it removes via recursive filters the random noise on the tape caused by repeated copying. Second, it improves the graininess of the video by median filters and finally enhances any edges on the video through edge enhancement filters. After all this the video is certainly easier to watch, and did not contain much of the random noise present on the copy provided by the Deccan Chronicle. However, the resulting tape still did not reveal further information about the incident. In short, the reason for Sai Baba’s hand movements still appears unclear and is open for various interpretations, but the tape contained no firm evidence of fraud. The company also analysed several still frames taken from the video. These were scanned into a computer and run through an Improve image processing system (developed by the Home Office in Britain). Again, the images were enhanced via median filters and certain areas of the frames were enlarged. The resulting photographs show the crucial moment as Sai Baba’s hands touch under the memento, but do not reveal any further information.” (Modern Miracles; Chapter 31: Public Reaction; pp 295 - 301)

The allegation of trickery about the video in the Gurubusters documentary is completely unsubstantiated. So much for the conclusive “clarity” of Sathya Sai Baba’s alleged trickery. What to say then about Dr. David Lane’s video clip, which is even fuzzier and of poorer quality than the one sent for examination by Haraldsson?

About Haraldsson’s book, David Lane wrote (under the partial pseudonym of Robert Lane):

“Thankfully there is a new book on Sathya Sai Baba which goes a long way to determine the relative authenticity of his miracles...Undoubtedly, Haraldsson’s study is the most balanced book ever written on the miraculous work of Sathya Sai Baba...I highly recommend Miracles Are My Visiting Cards.” -Robert Lane, editor of Understanding Cults and Spiritual Movements (Ref)

Understanding Cults and Spiritual Movements was a short-lived journal published three times a year in the 1980s whose objective was to critically analyze new religious groups and their leaders. Its editor was David Christopher Lane (Ref).