Bibliography

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Kamath, M.V., and V.B. Kher. 1991.

Sai Baba of Shirdi: a Unique Saint. Bombay: Jaico Publishing House.
Kirkland, R. 1997.

"Religions of India in practice." Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 65 pp. 230-234.
Melton, J. Gordon. 1996.

Encyclopedia of American Religions. Detroit: Gale. p. 868.
Murphet, Howard. 1978.

Sai Baba Avatar. India: Macmillan Company of India Limited.
Myers, Helen. 1994.

"Singing with Sai Baba: The Politics of Revitalization in Trinidad." American Ethnologist. Nov. p. 1099.
Narasimhaswamiji, H. H. 1966.

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Rigopoulos, Antonio. 1993.

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Sai Baba and his Message. Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd.

Shirdi Sai baba biography

Name: Shirdi Sai Baba (group)

Literal meaning: Shirdi is a village in India and Sai Baba is "divine mother and father" or the "divine God." a.k.a S.A.I. Foundation or Sai Organization

Founder: Sathya Sai Baba

Date of Birth: November 23, 1926

Birth Place: Puttaparthi, South India

Year Founded: Sathya Sai Baba declared his religious mission on October, 29, 1940.

History: Shirdi Sai Baba's family were believers of the Hindu tradition;

His original name was Sathya Narayan Raju. Shortly after he was born, legend says that strange things began to happen in his house such as musical instruments playing by themselves and a cobra snake appearing next to the infant, doing him no harm.When he became fourteen, Sathya Narayan Raju proclaimed that he was the incarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi village and from then, he went by that name. This first Sai Baba, a holy man and miracle worker, laid the foundation for the Muslim-Hindu unity and was influenced to teach the Hindu traditions and emphasize certain parts of the text. Before his death in 1918, he had proclaimed that he would be reborn eight years later; the second Sai Baba was born exactly eight years later. Thus, the present Sai Baba had to continue his mission of turning people toward God and urging them to lead moral lives as well as build a world community based on peace. (Robinson, 1976: 4-9)

Sacred or Revered Texts: Sai Baba and his followers quote and study the Koran, the Muslim religious text, but more importantly, they follow texts from the Vedas. The Vedas are ancient scriptures comprised of four stories written by great seers. (Murphet, 1978: 288) The Upanishads, religious stories in the Vedas, and the Purana, supplements to the Vedas, along with many other writings influence the teachings of Sai Baba. These texts incorporate a variety of themes from religious endeavors, mythology of the Gods, philosophy, history, political treatises, entertaining religious folk tales, and other stories stressing devotion to the Gods. (Rigopoulos, 1993: 261-263)

Cult or Sect: Negative sentiments are typically implied when the concepts "cult" and "sect" are employed in popular discourse. Since the Religious Movements Homepage seeks to promote religious tolerance and appreciation of the positive benefits of pluralism and religious diversity in human cultures, we encourage the use of alternative concepts that do not carry implicit negative stereotypes. For a more detailed discussion of both scholarly and popular usage of the concepts "cult" and "sect," please visit our Conceptualizing "Cult" and "Sect"page, where you will find additional links to related issues.

Size of Group: In 1993, Rigopoulos reported that there were close to ten million devotees. (p. 377) Today, there are 1,200 Sai Baba Centers for promoting the religion in 137 different countries. Another source says that there are over 6500 Sai Baba Centers in different countries. A few gurus such as Narayana Baba made several trips to Europe and the United States to spread the mission of Sai Baba. Though it did not reach high popularity in the U.S., the gurus were still able to teach many of the religious concepts. (Rigopoulos, 1993: 375)More recently, in 1967, lectures on Sai Baba were given at the University of California and interest in this group began. During the 1970s, the pace of the movement grew and Melton reports a growing number of groups in North America, especially the United States. In addition, Sai Baba's group formed a S.A.I. foundation in California and they also publish a Sathya Sai Newsletter there. (Melton, 1996: 868)

Contemporary Issues: There have been several reports indicating that Sai Baba's claim to be able to perform magical tricks is false. Committees for the Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal video taped his performances conclude that they are plain magic tricks.

II. Beliefs of the Group
IntroductionSai Baba believes that he is a reincarnate of the original Sai Baba and thus continues his teachings. He believes strongly in the one God and encourages others to do so through devotion. Most of his ideas are based on the Hindu tradition but he takes a more practical approach; he expands the context to include doing pious works and helping the world. Thus, he and many of his followers do volunteer service in India and other countries. Below are more details of his beliefs.

Dedication to the Guru and GodIn the Sai Baba religion, there is only one true God although he is called by many names: Allah by the Muslims, Krishna or Vishnu by the Hindus, or Lord by the Christians. It does not matter what people call him as long as they believe in him because only an unreligious person is wrong. Thus, Sai Baba welcomes all religions and encourages unity although he mainly takes his ideas from Hinduism.Guru is a Sanskrit (ancient Indian language) word meaning teacher. In this case, Sai Baba is the teacher who leads his followers on the path of God. Followers must be devoted and hold trust in the Guru. They must also offer puja, religious offerings such as food, to God. There is a spiritual progress, or a bond of the guru and disciple, in the process of Bhakti; Bhakti is when God communicates to the devotee and the devotee participates in the love by offering himself only to God. Sai Baba is a divine incarnation (not God himself) destined to be the intermediary in this process. Devotion to God is foremost important and it can come in many forms.

The forms are:

1) Repeating God's name, or mantras, many times.

2) Reading holy texts or listening to religious talks.

3) Singing God's hymns while talking about his exploits.

4) Deep contemplation or meditation called dhyana

5) Murmuring passages from the Scriptures.

6) Sitting quietly and clearing the mind to attain moksha.(Rigoplouso, 1993: 270-285)

The Knowledge to attain EnlightenmentEnlightenment is what most Sai Baba (and Hindu) followers strive to achieve. Enlightenment is a spiritual process in which the devotee is "one with God" and will have eternal life when he dies. To gain Enlightenment, the follower must have pious faith and resignation toward the Guru; direct all his thoughts, feelings, and actions toward God; he can no longer think of himself as an individual or think of material rewards; act like he is totally vulnerable at the grace of God; and surrender all material things and live in near poverty.

Sai Baba himself begs for food sometimes and lives in old huts around India.Knowledge of God or religion is the most important value that a person can have. One cannot become smart by knowing material subjects such as the sciences but he can only become smart by reading the scriptures and following it. Knowing Enlightenment and devotion to God is the ultimate knowledge. People's flesh and bodies are nothing; it is their eternal conscience which matters and if they direct it toward God, their thoughts and actions will be noble. In fact, Sai Baba encourages people to help others more than just sitting and praying. Sai Baba strongly encourages people to follow moral and good behavior each day and follow the values of truth, proper conduct, peace, selflessness, nonviolence, and morality. Therefore, the followers of Sai Baba strongly believe in doing good deeds. (Rigoplouso, 1993: 285-290)

Sai Baba's Beliefs through ActionSai Baba believes that good action and helping people is more important than sitting down and simply praising God. All followers should act with love, care, and selflessness and dedicate themselves to helping people. Sai Baba strongly encourages helping the helpless and needy around the world. He mostly concentrates his work in India but he has traveled to Africa to do work. He has opened schools, hospitals, and helped to transport food and water to the needy in India.

He has also completed several other innumerable works and several community projects for India in education, health, and teaching people the Sai Baba religion. He also has an ashram, a complex for promoting religious studies and education. He does not believe in getting merit or praise for his work. His bigger goals are to create a spiritual change in each man in the whole world to believe in God. He wants to build a world community based on peace and love where people help each other by working together. God will be the being who binds all the people of the world in one "family." (Robinson, 1976: 138) Today, all the centers in the 137 countries work to promote the religion and do good deeds.

Sai Baba's MagicSince Sai Baba claims that he is an reincarnation, he also can perform certain magic tricks to prove his divinity. He can raise the dead, produce gold things from his hand, recover from serious illnesses and poisonous bites, and cure extremely ill people. Religious witnesses claim other specific instances such as him converting water into oil, sleeping on a plank held by threads hung to the ceiling, and making coins smooth out by simply speaking. Sai Baba states that the soul of the original Sai Baba is helping him perform these feats; these ideas and tricks were always part of the original Hindi tradition.
(Narasimhaswamiji, 1966: 48)

ConclusionTherefore,
Sai Baba's group is not only a religious sect but they benefit the world through their charitable works. It is an outgoing and sharing sect based on devotion, belief, and love. Their dedication to God motivates them to serve. As Sathya Sai Baba says, "there is only one religion, the religion of love. There is only one language, the language of the heart. There is only one race, the race of humanity. There is only one God, and He is omnipresent."

Sai Baba of Shirdi never sleeps ........

I Was reading an interview of Sri Martand Mhalsapati, the son of Mhalsapati, the devotee of Sai Baba who accompanied Sai Baba most of the time and also slept with Sai Baba in Masjid (Dwarkamai) and Chavadi.

Martand Mhalsapati's age was around 100 years while this interview was taken. On questioning about how long he served Sai Baba the answer was that he served Sai Baba with his father (Mhalsapati, Much known devotee of Sai Baba) till the age of 45 years.

One of the questions put to him was that It is said that Sa Baba was never seen sleeping. They say that He was always awake! What would you like to say?Answer : Sai Baba use to lie down in half-lying posture, supporting his head on his hand thus only relaxing.

My father (Mhalsapati) use to press his limbs. Some times my father felt drowsy in the middle of the night and the pressure of the hands on Sai Baba's limbs relaxed Sai Baba would strike him with his Satka Satka : (Short Stick which Sai Baba always use to keep with him, one of which was presented to Mhalsapati, and can still be seen at Mhalsapati's home in Shirdi and other one is kept in Samadhi Mandir (Temple) and on every Thursdays kept with Sai Baba's footwear at the feet of Idol with the picture placed in Chavadi, all of this taken in a huge procession after the night Arati, from Samadhi Temple to Chavadi again).

The posture of head resting on hand in half lying posture brings the similar posture of lord Vishnu shown in pictures, that of Gautam Buddha and few more enlightened souls.Also Sai Baba of Shirdi is known for the unique, miraculous, activities. Which brings to the mind the mention of Sai Baba sleeping on the plank of wood suspended, on the ceiling of the Masjid.

In Sai SatCharitra it is stated that " Mr. Nanasaheb Dengale brought, for Sai Baba, a wooden plank, amount 4 cubits in length and only a span in breath, for sleeping upon." :) this brings to mind, that what was it that inspired Nanasaheb Dengale to bring such a piece of wood to sleep upon and seeing the size mentioned, it would in no way a comfortable place to sleep on.

And Sai Baba, no wonder he was consider Crazy Fakir in the beginning and even afterwards by very few, accepted and hung it like a swing with few slender pieces of torn clothes. Das Ganu Maharaj another eminent devotee of Sai Baba of Shirdi, who had witnessed Sai Baba sleeping upon this plank wondered how the plank was suspended so high i.e. about 7 to 8 feet above the floor and 1 to two cubits below the roof.

We can still see the place where it was hung in Dwarkamai it we care to look upward just after the Dhuni ends and in front of the Nimbar.Also it is mentioned that four earthen lamps were put loosely on the four corners of the plank. The strength of the rags with which the plank was suspended were just good enough to bear the weight of the plank and the earthen lamps placed on them. This shows us the command of Sai Baba over his physical body.

Firstly it would have needed aviation of the body to reach on the plank, and also aviation required to stay on the plank looking at the strength of the rags that supported the plank, also the loosely put earthen lamp would fall down on the slightest swing we can assume. Sai Baba would have been staying there with aviation of his physical body and bestowing grace for his devotees from there.

Naturally after few people of Shirdi including Das Ganu saw Sai Baba sleeping in this unusual manner, people began to wonder how Sai Baba climbed up the plank and came down but none could discovered it, upon people trying to see this wonderful and miraculous feat, Sai Baba one day got enraged and broke the plank and threw it away and continued to sleep(?) on the floor.

Also mentioned in Sri Sai SatCharitra chapter 45 "Once Baba was describing the greatness or importance of this plank to Kakasaheb. Hearing this the latter said to Sai Baba "If You still love the wooden plank, I will again suspend or hang up one in the Masjid again for You to sleep at ease." Sai Baba replied - "I won't like to sleep up, leaving Mhalasapati down on the ground." Then Kakasaheb said "I will provide another plank for Mhalasapati." Sai Baba "How can he sleep on the plank? It is not easy to sleep up on the plank. He who has many good qualities in him can do so.

He who can sleep 'with his eyes wide open' can effect that. When I go to sleep I ask often Mhalasapati to sit by My side, place his hand on My heart and watch the 'chanting of the Lord's name' there, and if he finds Me sleepy, wake Me up. He can't do even this. He himself gets drowsy and begins to nod his head. When I feel his hand heavy as a stone on My heart and cry out - 'Oh Bhagat', he moves and opens his eyes. How can he, who can't sit and sleep well on the ground and whose asana (posture) is not steady and who is a slave to sleep, sleep high up on a plank?

After reading the above paragraph, i always try this while sleeping, i try to sleep with the awareness on the body posture but at the time of sleep the heaviness and unconsciousness start taking the charge, as it becomes heavy on the body the awareness is shifted on the brain and the chanting of Sai Baba's name or his picture of the grace is kept, until the unconsciousness takes over till the what we term as awakening happens the next morning. :)