Shri Sai Baba

By Mani Sahukar as appeared in the “Souviner on 50^th Anniversary of Shri Sai Baba Mahasamadi, and published by Shri Sai Baba Sansthan Shridi)

Shri Sai Baba first came to Shirdi with a marriage party round about the year 1856—that seems to be the starting point. He was then a young lad of 16, but even at that tender age, he looked every inch a "sat purush." His comely appearance and the unusual lustre on his face singled him out as one who had come to fulfil a magnificent destiny. The simple village folk of Shirdi were enabled, by God's grace, to recognize the Mahatma that he was and they were somehow thrilled by the hidden glory of the youth's atma.

But where this strange lad came from, where he was born, the time of his birth, who his parents were, and what were (his creed and religion—all these important facts, important from a worldly point of view, were even then as now enshrouded in mystery which Sai Baba himself took delight in perpetuating.

To reopen the question of Sai Baba's birth, it would not be amiss to point out that Baba is one of the very rare saints of whose birth and parentage there is no record. All that is known is that Sai Baba first came to Shirdi when he was a lad of 16, and lived there for some years. Then suddenly he disappeared for some time, and after a lapse, appeared in the then Nizam's Dominions near Aurangabad, from whence he again returned to Shirdi round about 1858. Can it be that Sai Baba was not born at all in the ordinary human way? Could he not have been a great avatar, who willed himself a body, because he wanted to fulfil the mission of making lacs of people aware of their intimate kinship with the Divine? A daring conception, no doubt, but this speculation has a justification. It is a well-established fact of spiritual lore that when a ''jiva" attains liberation, he transcends his material body. No yogi dies in the ordinary sense of the word. His mission is self allotted, and springs from the source of his free and redeemed spirit, so that when such a being leaves the world, he is not said to have died, but to have given up his body! If, then, in the tradition of spiritual wisdom it is believed that great sages are not overcome by death, but die of their own will, it is not at all irrational to envisage the possibility of such Beings willing themselves alive without going through the ordinary physiological processes of birth. Shri Sai Baba's appearance was an affirmation of the Immaculate Conception, if ever there was one, as the distinguished author Hemadpant of Shri Sai Satcharita aptly points out, "Namdev and Kabir were not born like ordinary mortals. They were discovered as infants concealed in the Mother of pearl, Namdev was found by Gonayee in the Bhimratha river and Kabir was found by Tamal in the Bhagirthi river. Similarly, Sai Baba was not born of mortal parents", concludes the learned author. When the marriage party with Sai Baba came to Shirdi, they got down one by one in a field belonging to Bhagat Mhalsapati. When it came to the young Fakir's turn to get down from the cart, Mhalsapati shouted out "Welcome "Sai". Thus in a moment was resurrected Shri Sai Baba, the immortal Saint of Shirdi.

The next clear picture that emerges in the biography of this illustrious Saint is that of young Sainath sitting under a neem tree. Dressed in a long kufni, with a begging bowl as his sole possession, this young and handsome sadhu sat there as if in deep communion with God. Indifferent alike to heat and cold and the normal wants of the body, this fakir sat day and night absorbed in some incredible penance, not for himself—for he was a siddha, but perhaps for humanity at large and for the thousands who were to become his devotees. Even at that early stage, the great one revealed himself as Compassion Incarnate.

After a time Sai Baba began to bestir himself. When he felt hungry he went into the village to beg for his crust of bread. To all intents and purposes he might have been just an ordinary fakir, a little touched in the head, so the people of the village imagined at first, when they heard him mumbling to himself. But soon the glory of his atma began to manifest itself through priceless miracles which were peculiar to this great saint.

Each Mahatma has his own individual way of working and attracting disciples. Shri Sai Baba employed the Miracle as a vital technique to draw people to him. Miracles have been attributed to many saints and sages of all ages and climes. Shri Sai Baba's unique miracles were performed as the manifestation of his supreme love for humanity. Among just a mosque. It is Dwarka. As soon as one climbs its steps, sufferings due to Karma are at an end and joy begins." This statement is a metaphorical invitation to take refuge in the great Master himself, for,, Dwarka is no other than Sai.

Shri Baba lived in this masjid for the rest of his life, retaining his simple and austere habits. Though in a very short time, as his fame spread far and wide, money began to flow into 'his coffers, and he^ could have lived like a prince, the great one preferred. to live like a pauper. He still chose to beg for his food, and every morning the loveable figure could be seen going out with the begging bowl to collect his daily ration of food. Much later he relaxed this severe discipline and would partake of the Naivedya i.e. food given as offering by any of the visiting devotees, as a concession to the feelings of those who loved and worshipped him. Nor did the Master ever change his mode of dress. A long loose robe reaching the ankles and a piece of cloth tied round his head completed his attire. The kufni remained on his body till it was torn and tattered, or until some devotee forcibly took it off and made him don another. Even so the great one would sometimes sit with a needle and thread to repair the torn garment with an incorrigible obstinacy! But it is these habits which made him intensely loveable. He did indeed descend from his heavenly abode to be as one of us, and, what is more, to be akin to the poorest among men so that he might with greater understanding relieve their sorrows and wants.

It was characteristic of the Master, that though he lived in such austerity, he neither preached nor allowed his devotees to practise any sort of physical mortification. With almost a mother's solicitude, he longed that his loved bhatkas should live in comfort and joy. Lake his radiant successor Sati Godavari Mataji,

Master for healing the sick and the suffering. By this gesture, Sainath invested the udhi with curative powers, so that even today, if used with faith, the ashes of the holy fire give relief in sickness and sorrow. These are just a few glimpses of the habits,-temperament and way of life of the beloved Guru. To cover all the facets of his life and teachings in a short article is impossible. This can only be done in a complete Charita, and that too, not quite adequately. As Shiva the Destroyer of evil, no less than the Creator and Preserver, did this Maha-Yogi manifest himself. Any chronicle about him, therefore, would always be like an unfinished symphony.

It is but natural that with such an amazing outpouring of love Sai Baba should have favoured Bhakti as the important spiritual path. As a matter of fact, with the advent of Sai Baba there came into force a mighty renaissance of the traditional Bhakti movement. Sai Baba is the greatest apostle of the path of Bhakti—Devotion. As such, he gave importance to the technique of the Nama Japa (continuous repetition of Guru's Name) which is the main plank of the Bhakti Mjarg. One of the sage's most pregnant assurances was that if we simply utter his Name as a japa, he would take us to the portals of the ultimate Beatitude.

On the 15th of October 1918 this sublime Avatar gave up his body. Today, as we commemorate the 50th year of his Mahasamadhi, our hearts are overwhelmed with tender grief, as we feel the isolation of his absence in flesh. But, as we realize and experience the resurrection of his love and compassion in our lives, the grief changes to gratitude and joy, because we know that he will never forsake us.