I feel pleasure in placing before the public this short sketch of the life and teachings of the late Divine Master, Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi, by Rao Bahadur Moreshwar Vishwanath Pradhan of Sai-Pradhan Baug, Santa Cruz.
He has taken his standpoint by the translations of the various incidents in Sai Baba's life, as they have appeared in Shree Sai Leela a Marathi Monthly Journal - written by the able pen of the late Hon'ble Mr. Hari Sitaram Dixit, an eminent solicitor of Bombay, and an equally eminent and sturdy devotee of Shri Sai Baba.
In a translation, it is always difficult to convey the exact meaning of a theme from one language into another; nevertheless, it will be admitted that Rao Bahadur Pradhan had done his very best.
I trust, therefore, that readers will kindly forgive me if I take the liberty to mention, from out of the numerous personal experiences, an incident or two as a foreword.
Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi was undoubtedly a great man - a superman a man who had attained the realization of the All-Pervading Self, according to the tenets and experiences of the highest Hindu thought.
His attainment was such, that gentlemen of the highest University attainments, men of unimpeachable social position as well as mental culture, and almost all the then leading men of Maharashtra, in Government service and without, great journalists like the late Mr. B. G. Tilak, Deputy Collectors, eminent lawyers, advocates, solicitors, engineers, doctors and mathematicians, flocked to his feet for his blessings.
Some of the most orthodox Hindu Shastrees, Christians, Parsees and Mohammedan Maulvis, and even butchers from Bandra, vied with each other to pay their obeisance to him.
The place where he used to sit looked to all outward appearances as a tumbled down old ramshackle sort of a construction. But in that small oblong room, Sai Baba sat in the North-east corner. In front of him in the opposite corner was the sacred fire burning night and day (it is still kept burning by the Sansthan Committee). Next to this sacred Dhuni (fire) were earthenware pots filled with water for Baba to drink and perform ablutions. The wall had a niche, in which were placed a number of earthenware chilims (clay pipes).
Next to Shri Sai Baba's place and on his right hand were a couple of grinding stones, where occasionally he used to grind corn and pulses, and in doing that he was assisted by the village women, as well as high caste Hindu and Mohammedan lady visitors who happened to be there, eagerly, and without the slightest feelings of caste, creed and untouchability.
There was also a sack of wheat and a sack of country tobacco. This tobacco was put in the earthen pipes and smoked, the pipe being offered to various devotees, smoked by them and passed on to and fro to Baba.
Ever since the beginning of 1933, when the first edition of this book was published, devotees from all over India have been, as before, continuously going to Shirdi, more especially from Southern India. This attraction of South India to Shirdi, has completely exhausted the stock of books of the first Edition. Therefore, the Shirdi Sansthan Committee has, per force, to go in for the second Edition, during the present war time, as the demand for the book is very keen. During the last ten years, Sai Baba's omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience are being unabatingly realised and experienced as before, by thousands of devotees, who concentrate on Sai Baba with love and devotion, whether they be in Shirdi or thousands of miles away in their own abodes. To broadcast all the experiences and the inner joy of such countless people individually is physically impossible. However, the real facts about Sai Baba's divinity, contained in the first edition, were spread far more extensively by the devotional propaganda of Mr. BV Narsimha-swami, who, by his innumerable publications about Sai Baba's divinity in English, Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, Canarese, Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati and Bengali, and by his personal tours throughout the length and breadth of India, has been carrying the knowledge of the peculiar Avatar of Sai Baba of all the classes and creeds of India.
It gives me great pleasure to edit the Second edition of "Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi" written by Rao Bahadur M. W. Pradhan, which gives a short sketch of the life and teachings of Shree Sai Baba of Shirdi - a great saint of Maharashtra during the early period of the 20th century. If biography of Saints is difficult, that of Shree Sai Baba is attended with difficulties almost insuperable. A cloud of mystery hangs over all the affairs of His life and completely veils off His birth, parentage and early life. None knows definitely anything about that period. In spite of such difficulties, Rao Bahadur Pradhan has made a successful attempt in giving a short but vivid account of Shree Sai Baba's life, which has become very useful, especially to those who had no occasion to see Him personally, and for this, the Shirdi Sansthan Committee is greatly indebted to Rao Bahadur. In this edition, the Author has naturally surveyed the main incidents regarding the Shirdi Sansthan during the last 10 years.
2. Other features of this Saint that struck even casual observers were his unaccountable and marvellous knowledge of things and events far removed from Him in the sense of time and space, and a remarkable power to foretell coming events or to force events to come to pass in accordance with His supreme will. Visitors noted, with devout admiration, that he was frequently mentioning, either expressly or by allusion, their innermost secret thoughts, their remote past, of which they had lost all memory, and incidents that occurred hundreds of miles away from his residence which none could possibly have communicated to him. Such miracles are seen to happen at the desire of great Saints. Some Vedantis (वेदांती) think that all miracles are brought about by the use of Siddhis (सिद्धी) and the Siddhis (सिद्धी) being obstacles on the path of self-knowledge, they express their disapprobation regarding such Siddhis (सिद्धी), and to some extent, are even afraid of them. It is no doubt true that Siddhis (सिद्धी) are obstacles on the spiritual path, but we must distinguish between different kinds of Siddhis. (सिद्धी) The Siddhis (सिद्धी) acquired by the practice of Hatha Yoga (हठयोग) by Changdeva (चांगदेव) are quite different from the Atma-Siddhis (आत्मदेव) of Shree Dnyandeva (श्रीज्ञानदेव). The miracles that happened at the desire of Shree Sai Baba were the Siddhis (सिद्धी) of the latter sort. By such divine powers, many persons were first attracted to Shree Sai Baba to secure only temporal gains, but ultimately, He made His devotees aspire to secure spiritual happiness and attainment of self-realisation, which is the real mission of Saints.
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