I am an agnostic because; I want proof for everything; perhaps there are many like me in the quest of true knowledge, I went through the lives of various masters and their philosophical utterances. When I came to study Shri Shirdi Sai Baba, the whole quest came to a grinding halt. For the first time, I understood that direct communication, heart-to-heart, is possible between two people.
In the past, I had passed through the grinding stone frequently gathering nothing. My definition of Allah as one without beginning and an end was explained to me through Baba's beliefs. 'Allah' means one with endless beginning. There is a vast difference. Sai Baba taught me to take all Saints as one, take all Gods as one-'Sabka malik ek'. I consider Sai Baba of Shirdi himself as an agnostic with a difference. Baba would say, why a negative approach towards God? Baba taught me to accept all gods as one super master-Allah Malik. Why denial and criticism and endless search for something, deep within you?
Baba entertained life as a celebration and treated the short human life as a festive occasion. I find that the positive synthesis of all human thought and evolution culminates in Baba's teachings.
That is why I consider Baba as a process, as a Messiah, who comes again and again to this world to spread the beauty of positive thinking in terms of Shraddha (faith) and Saburi (equanimity). Baba taught me that there is one family, one Caste, one God, one Religion and one Universe. My search has concluded here. I took to Baba's Religion of Love that expresses only service to all existence.
This book is not a biography of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba who Thad had no name; 'Sai Baba' is the name given by one of his ardent devotees Mahalsapati Chimanji Nagre. Until then, he was known as a young Fakir, a Muslim mendicant, who was destined to be the Jagat Guru, the Universal Master. Thus, this book places before the readers the important religious practices before the advent of Sai Baba, in order to fully appreciate the simple teachings of Baba, without spiritual overtones.
Firstly, a run through of the period before Sai Baba was done, followed by a discussion of a brief life history of Baba's previous incarnations. According to the common belief, Sai Baba is Lord Dattatreya's 4th incarnation.
Be that as it may, Shri Sai Baba had grown up in Maharashtra, the state that had a long heritage of mystic saints of Vittala Sampradaya (community) like Gnaneswar, Namdev, Eknath, Tukaram and Ramdas; Yogis called Nava-Naths of Nath Sampradaya such as Matsendranath, Goraknath and Gahanith; and Datta Avataras of Datta Sampradaya such as Sreepada Shrivallabha, Narasimha Saraswathi and Swami Samartha Maharaj of Akkalkot. These saints had continued the Bhakti movement started in the 12th century, which was accelerated in the 15th century by Bhakta Kabir, Baba Farid, Gurunanak, Ramdas and others, to bring forth a unity of divergent faiths, especially Hindu and Muslim Unity. This movement had declined substantially by the 20th century.
The political movement was in a transition stage from Muslim rule to British rule and from renaissance period to modern freedom movement. During this period there was establishment of National Congress. This renaissance movement was started by Mangal Pandey, a Sepoy in East India Company, and accelerated by Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, Tantiya Tope and some Muslim rulers. The political leaders of National Congress Party were Mahatma Gandhi, Annie Besant, Gopal Krishna Ghokle, Lala Lajpatrai, Bipin Chandra Pal, Bala Gangadhar Tilak and many others who are all contemporaries of Shirdi Sai Baba. In the West, vast movements of communism lead by Karl Marx had a beginning.
An educational movement was also started by Madan Mohan Malavya, Sayyed Ahmed Khan, Ramesh Chandra Dutt and others. Lord Macaulay had accentuated introduction of English language in all schools.
The new trends in religious movements took place during Baba's time by Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadutt Maharaj, Chandra Shekar Saraswati, Narayana Guru, J. Krishna Murthy, Khalil Jibran and others.
During this period the world itself was changing rapidly with scientific and materialistic fervour questioning the very foundations of Religion. The scientific movement during Baba's time was lead by Albert Einstein, Thomas Alva Edision, Madam Curie and many others in India and abroad. "The relevance of Sai Baba's teaching has contextual significance, particularly during the period of World War 1(1914); conflicting beliefs leading to human aggression was recognised as one of the main causes for human intolerance."
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