WHO IS SRI SAI BABA OF SHIRDI?

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25. The question is often asked whether Baba was a Hindu or Moslem. The first remark to make about this question is that the cause for this question should be looked into before it is answered. There is a strong feeling on the part of the Hindus that they should not go near a Moslem whose views run counter to their cherished ideas, and who would destroy their religious emblems and idols. Similar is the repugnance on the part of the Moslems to accept purely Hindu traditions which they consider too idolatrous and unholy. When we come to take an impartial view, we find, whether we are Hindus or Moslems, that the above question is

irrelevant or of very little importance. First about the irrelevancy. The Sufi and the Orthodox Hindu, both agree that when a person has reached perfection, i.e., the level of Brahman, the question of caste does not arise at all. Caste (or ‘Jathi’ as it is called in vernacular) refers to that which has born and that which has ‘janma’. The self-realiser who is identical with God is not born though his body was born. But the body is not ‘he’ and there is no need to go into the question as to whether the body arose from parents who were Hindus or Moslems, or was trained and brought up among 3ither of them. Sri Sankara’s well-known phrase about the realized soul is ‘Jati Niti Kula Gotra duuragam’ - that it is

far above questions of caste, family clan, etc., and Sankara’s Manisha Panchaka repeatedly closes with the line, ‘Chandaalostu Dwijostu sadgururityeshau manaishaa mama’ - ‘Let him be a chandala or Brahmin, he (the realized soul) is my Guru’. What does it matter whether the Kohinoor is lying on a dung hill or in a palace! The Sufis too have exactly the same view as regards these distinctions. However, the reason for raising the question is a strong feeling regarding the necessity of protecting one’s own religious sentiments adequately from being harassed violently by a person of an opposite sect. On this matter, it may be pointed out that whether Baba was a Hindu or a Moslem, he allowed every sect to keep to its own method of approaching God. To Hindus,

he said: ‘Continue your Rama worship, and worship the stones which your forefathers worshipped’. He even presented some lingams, silver padukas, pictures and coins for worship by Hindus. To Moslems, he never gave any of these but allowed them to follow their nirakara (formless) form of worship as far as it is possible. So the real cause for raising the question about one being a Hindu or Moslem does not arise in this case on account of the extreme catholicity of Baba’s views and practice. But prejudices die hard and in spite of all that is said, persons still hanker to know whether Baba was a Hindu or a Moslem. It may be pointed out that though his original antecedents were unknown, his continued residence for about 50 years in a mosque was considered

a sufficient reason for most people to consider him to be a Moslem. There is a Tamil proverb that if one drinks anything, even milk, under a Palmyra tree, he will be taken to have drunk toddy. WHO IS SRI SAI BABA OF SHIRDI?By Shri H.H.NARASIMHASWAMIJI (Founder)All India Sai Samaj (Regd.), Madras - 600 004. http://groups.msn.com/ Do You ?