Shirdi Sai Baba, who is also known as Sai Baba or Sai Ram, was a great saint of 19th and early 20th centuries. Though Sai is a Persian word meaning a Sufi fakir, Baba and Ram are Hindi words denoting father and Lord respectively. As the definition of the name goes, the intention of the saint is go towards the Truth. Love and devotion are His two wheels and instruments to teach and infuse spiritual
ism in the seekers. Lord Krishna has said, “Saints are my living forms”. Hence Saints are the mirrors of God without any attachment. They have already abandoned to God in consonance with what God wills. They come with a mission and when that is accomplished go nowhere but live in the form of their ideals, teachings, instructions and guide the mankind for The Supreme Being. Sai Baba of Shirdi was such a saint, who had come to this earth in the form of Incarnation to uplift the mankind and when that was completed went on a tour to return later to play and laugh with us. Baba’s stayed in Shirdi for more than 60 years. The life of Baba who is God Incarnate is as wide and deep as the ocean. The belief in simplicity was his greatest virtue. He never called himself God and always uttered “Allah Malik” (God is the Savior). He lived a life of Fakir and mendicancy and called himself to be servant of the God. Many personalities came to the Sai Darbar, some to test him or some to pay their obeisance but all were welcomed with the universal smile of Baba. Sai respected devotees’ feelings and prayed for their welfare. The warmth’s of His darshan was such that even agitated and angry mind melted on seeing his form and became one with him. He was Pure Anand and always engrossed in divine ecstasy. His casual talks and behavior bestowed untold happiness on the devotees. He was Satchitanand and nectar rained from His speech and stories. Such was the personality of the Sai Baba. Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita that “Whenever there is a decay of Dharma, I manifest Myself to protect the upright and virtuous and destruction of the vicious”. So Saints do appear at regular intervals to show and guide the right path and do away with the wicked. So, in this contemporary age, Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi came to uplift the mankind. He was the Incarnation of Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna. He was the Absolute Reality. His simple touch would remove the mountains of sins and afflictions and turn a beggar into a king. Meher Baba in his book “God Speaks” called him ‘Qutab-I-Iarshad’ or the First amongst the Masters. A Perfect one, who is beyond the finite barriers of caste, creed and religion. A Perfect Master is the highest point of Divine consciousness, and is one with God. Even the contemporary study shows him a Great saint, a Sufi saint or an Aulia for spiritual wealth and emancipation from this mundane world. Sai Baba was a magnet, who drew his devotees from across the seven seas. He was a mystique Saint and strange were his methods to teach and bless people. Baba gave nine assurances to his devotees, which are never failing. The Baba’s sayings are the universal truth and stood the test of the time. Though Baba has taken Maha Samadhi, He is still alive for his millions and millions of devotees and speaking, guiding and helping them from his tomb.
