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【IIYY Project】Call for messages to "Team Kaze" on the transmission of Sathya Sai Baba's thoughts through Fujii Kaze's musical activities

IIYYProject

【日本語▶https://note.com/ii_yy/n/n5ac17492a446】
After a series of discussions between ankl (@ankl_ab) and Yonsei (@4se_tarian),
we have decided to collect your voices under the title "IIYY Project" and send them to the management side of Fujii Kaze in the form of an inquiry, in order to demand "improvement of management issues in the transmission of Sathya Sai Baba's thoughts through Fujii Kaze's musical activities".

Therefore, we invite you to send your messages on this matter to the management of Fujii Kaze using the following Google Form.


【Introduction and Caution】
This case deals with very delicate and sensitive issues concerning the beliefs and religion of individuals, including Fujii Kaze.
Therefore, please read this preface carefully and understand it as a prerequisite before reading the following text.

We are protesting this time because Fujii Kaze's musical activities involving Sathya Sai Baba's thought have not been made known at all as a 'gateway to Sai Baba's thought', making it very difficult for listeners to make an informed and self-informed decision when they stand at the door of Kaze's music.
This is about the fact that it has been very difficult for them to make an informed decision based on their own will when they enter his music.
To name and describe how a particular religion is placed at the heart of his musical activities is a major factor in the listener's freedom of choice.

However, since Fujii Kaze's debut until now, that most important explanation has never been given. If it was known from the outset that what he was conveying was Sai Baba's teachings, then people would be able to look at the material objectively and think for themselves before they take up Sai Baba's ideas without knowing it through Kaze's great music.
Unfortunately, the efforts to make this known are clearly lacking in Kaze's management team. It is a decision and an act of gross disregard for the listeners' right to freedom of religion.
Moreover, by inadvertently linking his own religious beliefs to his musical activities and marketing them, he has unnecessarily exposed his own inner self and has been burdened with responsibilities that he should not have had to bear.

This way of operating is dangerous in every respect.
We do not deny Fujii Kaze's own faith.
Nor do we deny those who believe in Sai Baba.
We believe that everyone should have the right to freedom of religion.
That is why we point out problems, present reliable materials and sometimes criticise, so that each person can make a calm decision under fair circumstances.
We hope that an environment will be created in which people of faith and without faith can make their own decisions on an equal basis.

Below is a brief description of the project.

①Background

Fujii Kaze is a Japanese musician who made his debut in 2020 and has released two albums, "Help Ever Hurt Never" and "Love All Serve All".
His label is also named "HEHN RECORDS" after this.
The terms "HEHN spirit (HEHN精神)" and "LASA spirit (LASA精神)", which refer to these ideas, have become established as "core messages of Fujii Kaze", and some fans have called on each other to put this spirit into practice.
These words are frequently used in tour titles and on his merchandise, and have become a symbol of Fujii Kaze.

On his official website, Fujii Kaze's profile states the following. (as of 27 December 2022)
* The text on his website is in both English and Japanese, but the content differs slightly. It was decided that it would be better to quote the Japanese text, so the following is an English translation by ankl.

In May 2020, their first album 'HELP EVER HURT NEVER' (-Always help, never hurt) was released, followed by the release of their second album 'LOVE ALL SERVE ALL' (-Love all, serve all) in March 2022.
In October 2022, the 2nd album 'LOVE ALL SERVE ALL' was released.

In October 2022, a stadium live concert titled "LOVE ALL SERVE ALL STADIUM LIVE" was held at Panasonic Stadium Suita in Suita, Osaka, for the first time ever to celebrate the release of their second album, attracting 70,000 people over two days.

Fujii Kaze Official Web site, https://fujiikaze.com/profile/
(as of 27 December 2022) Translated by ankl


However, both of these words were in fact the very slogans of India's Sathya Sai Baba, the very teachings he repeatedly preached.
And his songs, performances and verbal messages were strongly based on Sai Baba's teachings.

  •  Sai Baba on Sai Organisation 'Love All, Serve All' (Japanese)

https://sathyasai.or.jp/mikotoba/pdf/LoveAllServeAll.pdf

  •  Sathya Sai Tokyo Centre top page (as of 27 December 2022, the front page has "Love All, Serve All / Help Ever, Hurt Never" prominently displayed on the front page)

  •  Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's 97th Birthday Celebrations | Greetings from Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Sri Narendra Modi.

He won people's hearts through pioneering work in the fields of education, health and community service, particularly for the poor and downtrodden. Guided ny the mantra of "Love all, serve all - help ever hurt never", his selfless efforts for the larger benefit of humanity continue to inspire generations.

"Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's 97th Birthday Celebrations | Greetings from Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Sri Narendra Modi."(2022), https://www.sathyasai.or.jp/news/4643/

  • Sathya Sai Publications Japan (as of 27 December 2022, tote bags with the words "Love All, Serve All" and "Help Ever, Hurt Never" are for sale).


Despite these obvious sources of quotations, neither Fujii Kaze himself nor the management side ever mentioned the name "Sai Baba" in a publicly visible way, and never explicitly referred to their intentions, so that it was never possible to realise that these words came from Sai Baba just by following the official.
In other words, those who were attracted to and supported Fujii Kaze's music were, without realising it, continuously being densely imparted with Sai Baba's teachings and ideas through Kaze's musical activities.

There was no choice there, "If it is Sai Baba's teaching, I reject it".
Because they had not been informed of that fact. There was no way they could consider an option they had not been told about.
As for Fujii Kaze's goods using these two messages, fans bought and wore them without knowing that they were "Sai Baba's teachings", and because there was no explanation from the management side, they were left out in the open until now.

On the other hand, there are also fans who have discovered Sai Baba on their own, buying goods sold by the Sai Baba Bookstore and burning Sai Baba's incense 'Nag Champa'.
The fact that Fujii Kaze's name and the emoji "🍃" representing Kaze can be seen among the followers of the Twitter account "Sai Baba's Words" run by Sai Organisation, shows that Kaze's musical activities are practically connected to Sai Baba's thought and Sai Organisation. I think it can be said that Kaze's musical activities are practically connected to Sai Baba's thought, Sai Organisation.


②How it started

At the end of November, 'Sai Baba' started trending on Twitter in Japan. We recognise that one of the triggers was the following tweet by ankl (@ankl_ab), who happened to learn about the relationship between Kaze Fujii and Sai Baba on Twitter, as a second generation religious person.

Also, shortly before that, in a staff diary in the official Fujii Kaze app titled "Kaze's Autumn Festival Part. 2" dated 28 October 2022, the manager Mr Kawazu revealed "the blessings received in India" and "a look back on how to market Kaze Fujii", which also led fans to ( as near-convincing speculation), the timing was right for the outlines of the relationship between Sai Baba and Kaze to become clearer.

It can be implicitly read that, despite management side's knowledge of Kaze's situation, they decided to use the slogan as it is in the album name, while at first they did not mention it in particular and had a policy of marketing the album in an ambiguous way.
And in fact, his religious stance began to be particularly strongly exposed in the song 'grace', for which a music video was shot in India this year, as well as in the several waving flags with letters of "LOVE ALL SERVE ALL", costumes reminiscent of a guru, and a food and beverage booth at the venue serving vegetarian food at the two-day live performance at Panasonic Stadium Suita in October this year, as mentioned in the above-mentioned staff diary.

Many people subsequently expressed their opinions on the issue on Twitter, especially fans of Fujii Kaze, who had not been informed about Sai Baba, and were seen to be shocked in various ways. These were some of the reasons why the word 'Sai Baba' started trending on Twitter in Japan.

The assassination of former Prime Minister Abe may also have been behind the spread of the topic, as it was a year in which the term 'religious second generation' (referring to people whose parents hold a particular faith and who were brought up within that ideology and discipline) became widespread in Japan.
We, ankl and Yonsei were both brought up under such circumstances.


This movement probably came to the attention of Kaze's management side. Fujii Kaze himself was active to the voices of Kaze's fans around the world on Twitter until shortly before, so he could not have been unaware of it, in our opinion.
However, we have yet to see any statement of intent, action or improvement on the part of the management regarding the fact that the listeners' distance to Sai Baba's ideology continues to be severely crippled by the lack of explanation, and even now, one month after the trend, as if nothing had happened, "LOVE ALL", which took part of the slogan ARENA TOUR' is touring the country. (as of 27 December 2022).

Furthermore, there are already signs on Twitter that the situation is developing into a general religious second-generation problem, with family members following Fujii Kaze's musical activities and becoming so lost in thought about the teachings he speaks that they can only converse in terms of 'love' and 'Higher Self', and this situation is highly critical. We have a strong sense of urgency about this situation.

*We sometimes receive objections on the grounds that what Sathya Sai Baba preaches is spirit and not religion, but here we have decided that spirit (spirituality) can be considered a religion in the broadest sense, and that freedom of choice of spirit and religion is included in human rights, and we describe it in this way.
In other words, whether we call it 'spiritual' or 'religious', what is happening is the same, so the argument remains the same.
We are aware that the distance between life and religion (spirit) is generally different in India and Japan, but even taking this into account, the religious freedom of the listener is still threatened by the invisibility of choice.

③Purpose of this enquiry

In light of the above, we considered that individuals raising their voices separately only on Twitter would not lead to a 'fundamental solution', even if they could 'make the problem known'.
This is because it is essential for the management side to make efforts to solve the problem.

By gathering opinions and thoughts on this issue and communicating them in their original language, we aim to encourage the management to grasp and understand the issue from a variety of perspectives and take action to improve it. At the same time, we will provide information and visualise the voices of fans abroad through the use of hashtags (see below), so that this discussion is not limited to Japan, but is also made known to fans overseas. This is because this is an issue that concerns all those who will encounter Kaze and listen to his music, regardless of national borders.

④Enquiry process

①Messages are invited via Google Form with a deadline of mid-January.
We are open to any message, as long as it agrees with the objective of "requesting the management to make some changes regarding the connection between Kaze Fujii's musical activities and Sai Baba's teachings". It can be a single word or a long message. Please write freely according to what you want to say.

※(Added on 05/01/2023) We have decided to close the call for messages to Fujii Kaze's management here at 23:59 (Japan time) on Saturday 14 January.
We will continue to accept messages after this date, but only those that can be published. Thank you for all the valuable feedback.

②We will compile the collected messages into one file and send it to Team Kaze in the form of an enquiry via the official Fujii Kaze website. Unless there is a special reason, we will not alter the content of your message in any way. Messages that you have given us permission to publish will be made public on the website, along with your name (anonymity is possible).

③We will keep you updated on the progress of the project, responses and additional information on Twitter and in the note.

⑤Documentation/Reference

Many of you probably don't know much about Sathya Sai Baba as a person or the Sai Organisation, so we present the material here so that you can examine it objectively.
We strongly recommend that you take a look at them before listening to Fujii Kaze's music, and please judge for yourself what kind of Sai Baba, who preaches HEHN and LASA, is and what kind of existence ideas Fujii Kaze is spreading.

・ BBC Documentary  "The Secret Swami"(2004)

Documentary programme produced by the BBC.
The repeated sexual assaults by Sai Baba on devotee boys and his political links with the Indian Prime Minister and police are covered from multiple angles through extensive interviews.
*38:05-42:00, there are some brutal pictures. If this is not your cup of tea, we recommend skipping it.

・"Forført(English: Seduced by Sai Baba)"(2002)

Danish documentary film by Øjvind Kyrø. The film closely follows a group of Sai Baba Schools in Denmark on their pilgrimage to India and reveals the miracles that Sai Baba is said to be performing. The film features, among others, a number of people who have accused Sai Baba of sexual assault, and they give clear accounts of the reality of the situation.
*A photo of the murder scene is shown around 6:00 - 7:00 of 6-6.

The following is a transcription of the dialogue in English ↓ (The Chrome extension for Google Translate can be used to easily grasp the main idea of the full text.)


Others will be added as and when required.


⑥About the hashtag

After discussions between ankl and yonsei, we thought it would be more constructive and stimulating if we could visualise the voices on Twitter about this issue in a hashtag, in addition to enquiries to the management.

So we created the hashtag #IamIandYouareYou , or #IIYY as a simplified version. It means "I am I and you are you", which is a warning against the lyrics of Fujii Kaze's 'grace' "You are I and I am you" (→ everyone is the same), and at the same time a protest against the concept of "I am I" in Sai Baba's teachings.

It is only because of ignorance that you all work the distinction between 'I' and 'you'. You are not separate entities. - Sathya Sai baba

Words om "I am I", p. 4, Translated to English by ankl 
https://sathyasai.or.jp/mikotoba/pdf/IamI.pdf


In order to respect the will of the individual, it is essential to draw firm boundaries between you and the other person and prevent assimilation.
Sai Baba is Sai Baba, Fujii Kaze is Fujii Kaze, and each listener is a different person with different intentions, beliefs and thoughts.
We believe that the boundaries of each of these individuals are now being overstepped without permission. That is why the freedom of decision-making not to enjoy Sai Baba's teachings has somehow been violated.

We welcome your tweets on this issue of Fujii Kaze and Sai Baba using #IamIandYouareYou and #IIYY .


⑦Additional information

We will add information here as and when we decide that it should be added in the course of soliciting enquiries.

  •   Contents of messages to be accepted (added on 12/30/2022)

【What we DO NOT accept】
- Contents that are slanderous or defamatory of individuals
- Contents that violates the human rights of individuals
- Contents that are offensive, such as accusations or threats against the faith itself.
- Contents that strongly request Fujii Kaze's management to maintain the current stance on Sai Baba's propagation of thought.
- Messages that cannot be regarded as addressed to the management team of Fujii Kaze.

【Specific examples of the contents we accept】
- Comments about problems in the propagation of Sai Baba's thought by Fujii Kaze's management team.
- What do you want the management to improve on the above problems?
- Words of support for Fujii Kaze
- Your background as a Kaze fan
etc.

Any one of these is OK. For example, just a message of support is OK.

  •   A summary of the messages currently received is published in a separate article.【In Japanese】　(Added on 02/01/2023)

【2022/12/31 15:00現在】いただいているメッセージ内容を公開します｜IIYYProject

【2023/01/02 21:00現在】いただいているメッセージ内容を公開します｜IIYYProject

【2023/01/04 01:00現在】いただいているメッセージ内容を公開します｜IIYYProject

【2023/01/05 07:00現在】いただいているメッセージ内容を公開します｜IIYYProject


⑧Instagram Stories post by Fujii Kaze(added 03/01/2023)

On the eve of the Kohaku Uta Gassen, Kaze Fujii posted the following three messages on Instagram Stories.

It is unclear to whom these messages are addressed, as they are not explicitly stated.
However, given the provocative attitude towards shaking 'faith' and 'spirituality', it is difficult to believe that it is unrelated to this project.
Below is a video and his statements. He is speaking in English.

"I mean, how can you think, how dare you think you can shake my faith, my spirituality?
I’m so sorry, cause you never ever will."


"Mind your own business, and fix yourself before you try so hard to find other people's faults.
I will do so, too.
So, let's do our best."


"Let's clean up our mind.
Let's clean up our hearts.
2022 is gonna be over."


We understand that many people have mixed feelings about this matter. Messages of support for Fujii Kaze are of course very welcome.
If you write your personal feelings as they are, the management side will be able to understand the situation better.

Thank you very much for your cooperation.