Preface
SHIRDI SAI BABA (HENCEFORTH REFERRED TO AS SHIRDI SAI, Sai Baba or simply Baba) has countless devotees in India and abroad. Within a century of his Mahasamadhi in 1918, the manner in which his spiritual thoughts and deeds propagated is phenomenal. If a study was to be undertaken, it would reveal that devotees were drawn to him not due to any organized propaganda, but rather spontaneously due to his grand personality and irresistible spiritual pull. Baba appealed because of his kindness, divine powers, simplicity and approachability.
After his advent in Shirdi, an insignificant village in the Indian state of Maharashtra, he was noticed as a lonesome spiritual practitioner, meditating in the thickets of the village. Today, that one-person factor has spread and turned into millions, in the form of his devotees. The place where he took Mahasamadhi is today known as the Samadhi Mandir and is visited by about 30,000 devotees on average per day. The number goes up to a few lakhs on festival days. Many widely known personalities, such as the presidents and prime ministers of India, have visited the Samadhi to pay homage to this great saint of India, This book documents Shirdi Sai's life in a structured and chronological manner to the extent possible. It uses certain primary sources and documents which were hitherto unknown, to shed light on some of the presumptions lingering in the minds of readers on various issues pertaining to Baba. Such documents were collected and collated by the author over the last three decades from various sources. The author has taken care to avoid the classical literary style or the use of oriental and occidental hyperbole. Instead, the book is written in simple language to bring to the fore Shirdi Sai's divine personality, noble deeds and philosophy for the easy reckoning of devotees, readers and other researchers. Hundreds of books have been written on Shirdi Sai Baba in almost all the Indian languages and some in foreign languages. The first book on him, Shri Sai Satcharita written in Marathi by Govind Raghunath Dabholkar, was published by Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi, in 1929. Since then, millions of copies of the book have been published in different languages. Shri Sai Satcharita has been used as the main reference book. However, other books/magazines, etc., such as Dasganu Maharaj's Bhakta Leela Amrit and Sant Katha Amrit, and magazines such as Shri Sai Leela and Shri Sainathprabha are also pertinent sources. Shirdi Sai Baba had a novel way of pulling out his devotees from the dogmas and prejudices of bigotry and bias. To them, he offered a sense of reassurance, protection and solace even while playing pranks or joking. Shirdi Sai's touch, gaze and words had a sudden and magical effect on whosoever met him. This book tries to fill the gaps in the perception of devotees by providing a logical and palatable flow of thoughts.
About The Book
'He appeared in Shirdi, he served the people and he conquered their hearts.' Sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, a sixteen-year-old boy arrived in Shirdi, a small village in Maharashtra. Greeted as 'Sai' by the local priest, Mhalsapati, he began to be addressed by that name thereafter, and proceeded to touch and transform the lives of millions of his devotees. Shirdi Sai Baba: An Inspiring Life captures the life of the great saint in the most comprehensive manner till date. An authoritative scholar on the subject, who has devoted his life to spreading Shirdi Sai Baba's teachings throughout the world, Dr Chandra Bhanu Satpathy has delved into rare archives and intelligence reports from the British Raj, and has interviewed hundreds of devotees, including direct descendants of Baba's closest disciples, to provide an objective, factual and comprehensive view of Sai Baba's life. Here is a book that paints a beautiful portrait of an inspiring biography.
Vedas (1182)
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