Sai Baba of Shirdi

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Sai Baba of Shirdi : biography

unknown – 15 October 1918

Historical sources

Biographers of Sai Baba (e.g., Govindrao Raghunath Dabholkar, Acharya Ekkirala Bharadwaja, Smriti Srinivas, Antonio Rigopolous) have based their writing on primary sources. One such source is the Shirdi Diary by Ganesh Shrikrishna Khaparde, which describes every day of the author’s stay at Shirdi.

Speculation about the unknown episodes of Sai Baba’s life are primarily based on his own words.

The most important source about Sai’s life is the Shri Sai Satcharita, written in Marathi in 1916 by Govindrao Raghunath Dabholkar, whom Sai Baba nicknamed ‘Hemadpant’. Consisting of 53 chapters, it describes Sai Baba’s life, teachings, and miracles. The book compares Sai Baba’s love to a mother’s love: caring and loving, but reprimanding when needed. It describes Baba’s lifestyle, his selfless attitude, and his love for his devotees. The book describes how one should surrender one’s egoism at God’s feet and trust one’s guru. It explains how God is supreme and His devotees should trust Him and love Him. It teaches that God is omnipresent in all living things, so that everything on Earth must be treated with love and respect.

Sai Baba of Shirdi and His Teachings by Acharya Ekkirala Bharadwaja is an in-depth study of Sai Baba’s life routine and activities. Shortly after Sai Baba’s passing, devotee B.V. Narasimhaswamiji compiled accounts by eyewitnesses such as Sri Sai Baba’s Charters and Sayings and Devotee’s Experiences of Sai Baba.

Regarding the original photographs of Shirdi Sai Baba, research still needs to be done to identify the authentic ones, as there are also paintings as well as photographs of other persons of similar appearance in circulation besides the few genuine photographs.

In various religions

Hinduism

During Sai Baba’s life, the Hindu saint Anandanath of Yewala declared Sai Baba a spiritual "diamond". Another saint, Gangagir, called him a "jewel". Sri Beedkar Maharaj greatly revered Sai Baba, and in 1873, when he met him he bestowed the title Jagad guru upon him. Sai Baba was also greatly respected by Vasudevananda Saraswati (known as Tembye Swami).Dabholkar/Gunaji Shri Sai Satcharita/Shri Sai Satcharitra chapter 50 He was also revered by a group of Shaivic yogis, to which he belonged, known as the Nath-Panchayat.Ruhela Sri Shirdi Sai Baba – the universal master p. 27

According to B.V. Narasimhaswami, a posthumous follower who was widely praised as Sai Baba’s "apostle", this attitude was prevalent up to 1854 even among some of his devotees in Shirdi.: "One very closely associated devotee of his, now living, still believes that Baba was ‘only a Mohammadan.’ What can ‘only a Mohammadan’ mean? It means that even after 25 years of personal experience of him and 36 years of his post mortem glories, the devotee treats him as a communalist just as he did when Baba was in the flesh." : "Baba wished to convince the devotee, if he was a Hindu, that he was Mahavishnu, Lakshminarayan, etc., and he bade water flow from his feet as Ganga issued from Mahavishnu’s feet. The devotee saw it and praised him as ‘Rama Vara’, but as for the water coming from his feet, that devotee simply sprinkled a few drops on his head and would not drink it coming as it did from a Mohammadan’s feet. So great was the prejudice of ages that even one,who thought of him as Vishnu, thought he was a ‘Muslim Vishnu’. Prejudices die hard and the devotee wondered and wonders how people can believe that Baba was a Brahmin and that his parents were Brahmins when he had lived all his life in a mosque and when he was believed to be a Muslim."

(In 1940, Indian guru, Sathya Sai Baba proclaimed himself to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi.Lochtefeld, James G. (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Vol. 2 N-Z). New York: Rosen. ISBN 0-8239-2287-1.(pg 583)

Islam

In a minor section of Islam community, Sai Baba is mainly considered a Muslim Fakir. He appears in Sufism as a Pir.