Said to be born in the year 1838 which is still under a debate and went into samadhi on 15th October 1918 aged 80 years. The samadhi off Shirdi Baba is situated in Shirdi , Maharashtra. Taking account of his life Baba preached the importance of realisation of the self and disliked the love for material things. The most important teaching was the complete surrender of oneself to the Guru.
He always condemned distinction based on religion and caste. It is unclear if he was a Muslim or an Hindu. The teachings had the elements of Hinduism and Islam. The name given to the Mosque he lived was “Dwarakamyi” and the famous epigrams were “Allah Malik” , “Sabka Malik Ek”.
The birth date and birth place still remains unknown and to an extent most definitive Information regarding Baba is from a book called “Sri Sai Satcharitha” written by Hemandpant in 1922. This itself is a collection on accounts by his disciples and Hemanpant‘s findings.
The real name is unknown and “Sai” was given to him by Malasapathi a priest and later to become a devotee , when he first arrived in Shirdi , a place in Maharashtra, Western India. Sai means a religious person as well as God and Baba refers to Father, Sir and so on.
Baba’s origins are unknown but some say he was born not far away from Shirdi. Baba too has not given any satisfactory and genuine answer to this.
Baba was said to be bought up and trained by a Fakir and also by Vunkusha the Hindu Guru.
Baba said to have arrived at Shirdi when he was around sixteen years old, he had stayed there for three years , disappeared for a year and came back by around 1858 and stayed there till his samadhi.
Around this time he adopted his famous style of dressing , a knee length Kafni and a cloth cap, a typical Sufi clothing. In a predominantly Hindu village this kind of dressing made some indifferences.
For four years Baba lives under a neem tree and wandered in the forest, withdrawn and unspeaking as he underwent long periods of meditation. Eventually Baba took up residence in a partly ruined Mashid, lived a solitary life on begging for alms from visitors.
The fire known a dhuni which he always maintained and from which he gave the sacred ash to guests and devotees and is believed to have supernatural healing powers. He delivered spiritual teachings , recommended Ramayana and Bhagavath Gita for Hindus and Quran for Muslims. Baba maintained a garden called “Lendi Baug “ which is still visited by many.
By the year 1910 Baba’s name and fame began to spread all over and across oceans, devotees grew larger as they regarded him as a Saint with supernatural powers and that he could perform miracles and it grew larger day by day.
August 18 , Sai Baba told Some if his close devotees that he would be leaving the mortal body and by September his condition deteriorated and on 15th October 1918 , on the day of Vijayadashami he breathed his last as a mortal human on earth.
His final resting place known today as Shirdi Sai Baba Temple.
Today an average of 25000 devotees visits the temple every day and during festivities it can reach up to a staggering one lakh.Thursday’s are considered very auspicious and the temple offers free food to all , irrespective of cast, creed and religion as this was one of the ideal principles of Sai Baba.
It is not possible for us to tell everything about Mystics and Sai Baba has not left any spiritual heir as none is competent and can take the place of the incarnation. Devotees claims that he performed many miracles as lighting lamps with water, mind reading , exorcisms, bilocation to mention a few.
It is said that Baba appears in the dreams of the followers and gives them advise even to this day and let us quote what Baba himself told before his samadhi. “You take a step to me with devotion and I will take six steps to you”.
After all who are we, the mere minuscules on earth to look into the life of Great Mystics and analyse.
No comments:
Post a Comment