I had the pleasure of going through the manuscript of This this book, Message of Shri Sai, written by Shri Suresh Chandra Panda. Shri Panda, a senior officer of the Indian Administrative Service, has also written a book titled Shirdi Sai Baba-The Perfect Master, co-authored with his wife, Mrs Smita Panda. He is an ardent devotee of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba since the last two decades.
This book contains articles on the preaching and divine activities of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba during His earthly sojourn. A close study will indicate that Baba practised and prophesized rendering service in two ways-Service to God and Service to Mankind. Further analysis will show that He practised and propagated the theme of service not only towards the human race, but also to other species as well. For some of His devotees He was an incarnation, for some He was a Sadguru, and for many others He was a father figure. He cared much for His devotees and reared them with filial love.
Through this book, the author attempts to present some of the divine attributes of Baba like humility, compassion, forgiveness, selfless service, dispassion, and benevolence. This book also brings to fore the other aspects of His personality like His moods of divine ecstasy, control and utilization of Yogic powers for individual and social good, and his divine knowledge of spiritual and religious issues. His divine majesty and spiritual magnificence endear Him to all that happen to come into His contact. Truly, He was the Qutab (a pivot around which things rotate) around which the pulsating life of Shirdi revolved. In the life of the devotees, He was the beginning and the end.
The intention of the author in writing this book becomes clear while reading it. He, in a subtle manner, sends a message to the readers to imbibe the qualities of a Sadguru. A study of this book will help the devotees to harmonize with the thought process and idealisms of Shri Sai. The readers will be immensely benefitted if they go through this book with the sincerity it deserves. May I expect the author, Shri Panda, to endeavour to write more books on such topics.
This book was originally written in Odia under the title T Sai Sandesh and has seen three editions. It has a very humble beginning. With the inspiration of Guruji Shri Chandra Bhanu Satpathy, it was decided to build a temple of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba at Bhubaneswar. Further, Guruji cherished a noble thought. He was of the view that prior to the commencement of construction of the Sai Temple, the message of Sai should be spread among the people of the capital city of Bhubaneswar and, for that matter, the entire State of Odisha. This was more important than the building of the temple itself. Hence, the ideals and message of Sai Baba should be spread through print media, bhajans, and satsang.
As luck would have it, a small, beautiful statue of Shri Shirdi Sai came from Mumbai, gifted by a Sai devotee, Shri Amiya Kumar Sahu. I was moved by the speed with which things were happening. The construction work had not even commenced and Baba had arrived! I consulted with Guruji. Guruji made it very clear that Baba's statue should be kept in our house and worshipped daily while the temple was being constructed.
So the Sai movement, as desired and envisioned by Guruji, started. Daily worship of Baba began at our house at Palashpalli, Bhubaneswar. Every Thursday bhajan was conducted there with many people from nearby areas coming to attend it. A quarterly magazine, Sai Bani, in Odia, was started with a view to create awareness about the life and ideals of Sai Baba. I contributed articles on Shirdi Sai Baba and His message to mankind in several Odia newspapers (The Samaj, Dharitree, and Pragatibadi) quite regularly. As the articles were very popular among Sai devotees, there were requests from friends and well-wishers to compile them and publish them in the form of a book. So the Odia book, Sai Sandesh, with all these articles, was published in the year 1998. And now, by Baba's grace, this book, which is its English version, has also arrived due to the dedicated effort of my dear wife Smita in translating it into English.
Sai Baba never used to give any mantradiksha or sermons to the people. He has said a number of times that Mein koi Kaanphukana Guru nahin, meaning "I am not a Guru (Master) who gives any mantra in your ear." He used to have a durbar in His dilapidated masjid, fondly called Dwarkamayi, with His devotees and visitors. He used to talk to them, listen to their mundane problems, share jokes with them, and gave them assurance and solace. He used to go for begging to Shirdi village and partake whatever He used to get as offering, along with His dear devotees and followers. He would sometimes accept dakshina (monetary offering) from some devotees and except for using a small amount of the dakshina for purchasing tobacco for His chillum and fuel for the ever-burning dhuni, He would donate the rest of the amount among poor people, musicians, and the needy devotees.
His life was His message. His simple talks with devotees and followers, His gestures and instructions, had more universal message than any instruction or mantradiksha. Though in the initial days of His stay at Shirdi, He was regarded as a mad fakir, slowly and gradually more and more people started visiting Him and towards the last part of His bodily sojourn at Shirdi, hundreds of devotees used to come to Shirdi to see their beloved Master, Sai.
Baba has said to some of His dear devotees that a large number of people will come to this place (Shirdi) like ants forming a long line and it will dazzle with lights and other modern amenities. Many could not believe this in those days because Shirdi was a village with forty-fifty houses and without any signs of a town life. But those of us who have been to Shirdi in the recent past would have seen the large crowds of visitors on any day, the large number of hotels, restaurants and other amenities for the surging crowd, and the tall and brightly lit buildings.
I hope this humble contribution from both my wife and I will help to spread the universal message of Sai, which has an appeal for people of all ages, all religions, and creeds, all over the world. Ultimately, the real happiness lies in understanding, assimilating, and following the ideals of Sai Baba.
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