Satsang SAI - ISM

SAI - ISM
NATIONAL INTEGRATION PERSONIFIED IN SHIRDI SAI BABA '
If one man can make a million people to follow him, then that man
cannot but be considered as a great soul.

One among such saint is Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi. Still it is a
mystery whereform He came, who He was, to what religion He
belonged and what His real name was All that is said about Him,
is that He was called Sai Baba and that by His dress and food
habits he resembled a Muslim. Because He always uttered
"Allah Malik", it was presumed that He belongtd or have had the
association at early stages with the Muslim community.

On the other hand, the way in which He allowed Himself to be
worshipped with "Arathi" during His lifetime and adopted other
Hindu rituals, one can take Him to be a Hindu also.

PREACHED PURPOSE OF BIRTH

In practice, during his life-time, as per records officially
available from the government end, indicate that He gave only
'Vibhuti' to the people as "Prasad". Generally speaking, 'Vibhuti'
and keeping all the time burning fire (akhanda jyothi) before Him
go to prove His habits emanating from Hindu heritage. He left us
still guessing as to which sect He belonged to, because He
practised what was practised by the Muslims as well as by the
Hindus, both in the worshipping methods and observation of
rituals. One thing that He has achieved during his lifetime is that
He was able to personify Himself as a symbol of unity, bringing
together the two warring classes of the society, the Muslims
and Hindus. He had made every attempt to find unity in diversity
in that He allowed Himself to be a party to celebrate all the Hindu
festivals as well as those of the Muslims.

The Urus and the Rama Navami, two fairs and festivals were held
on the same day to unify the Hindus and the Mohamedans.

The principle of national integration, which we preach today, was
practised by Him then. He not only, at every stage of His life,
brought both the sections together but also made them mingle
together on the same platform and at the same place. This is
something unique in His life. Sri Rama Navami, Moharram
Ramzan, Krishna Jayanti, all these festivals of Hindus and
Muslims used to be held in the place where Sri Sai Baba lived
and He was the only presiding diety for both of them at Shirdi.

He ate meat with Muslims and vegetarian food with the Hindus.
It is surprising to find from the records as maintained by the
government that He allowed even goat to be sacrificed although
on the other hand He celebrated the birth of Krishna and Sri
Rama with great splendour and pomp. The biggest question-mark
now is, if a man can make two warring groups to follow him and
have faith in Him and make believe as the son of the God, then
we cannot but call Him as one possessing Godliness.

THE MIRACLE OF VIBHUTI

'Vibhuti' was used as a 'Prasad' and as a medicine for curing the
diseases, by Sri Sai Baba. This reminds us one of the most
important things in life and tickles our sentiments to the fact
that those who are born with life and blood will have to return to
the earth - the dead finding their body being reduced to ashes.
May be, He wanted to tell the mankind that you are made of
earth and you will have to go back to earth. Shri Sai Baba
possibly wanted the mankind to understand the dictum:
"I shall pass this way but once. Any good, therefore, which I
can do, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again".
K. Subramaniam
HYDERABAD-500028

(Source Shri Sai Leela Magazine April 1977)