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Concept
Sai Baba of Shirdi
Summary
Sai Baba of Shirdi (c. 1838? – 15 October 1918), also known as Shirdi Sai Baba, was an Indian spiritual master and fakir, considered to be a saint, revered by both Hindu and Muslim devotees during and after his lifetime.
According to accounts from his life, Sai Baba preached the importance of "realisation of the self" and criticised "love towards perishable things". His teachings concentrated on a moral code of love, forgiveness, helping others, charity, contentment, inner peace, and devotion to God and Guru.
Sai Baba condemned discrimination based on religion or caste. He had both Hindu and Muslim followers, but when pressed on his own religious affiliations, he refused to identify himself with one to the exclusion of the other. His teachings combined elements of Hinduism and Islam: he gave the Hindu name Dwarakamayi to the mosque in which he lived, practised both Hindu and Muslim rituals, and taught using words and figures that drew from both traditions. According to the Shri Sai Satcharita, a hagiography written shortly after his death, his Hindu devotees believed him to be an incarnation of the Hindu deity Dattatreya.
Among his favourite sayings to devotees were: "Look to me, and I shall look to you", and Allah tera bhala karega (translation: God will bless you).
Most information about Shirdi Sai Baba tends to be derived from a book called Shri Sai Satcharitra written by a disciple called Hemadpant (also known as Annasaheb Dabholkar / Govind Raghunath) in 1922 in Marathi. The book is a compilation based on accounts of various disciples and Hemadpant's personal observations from 1910 onwards. Another devotee, Sri Narasimha Swamy, wrote a book Life of Sai Baba.
Although Shirdi Sai Baba's place and date of birth are unknown, there are some indications that he was born not far from Shirdi, in a town now in the west Indian state of Maharashtra. According to some sources, he was born in the small village of Pathri in Maharashtra, to a boatman called Ganga Bhavadia and his wife Devagiriamma.
Official source
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