SAI Baba

The recent controversy that Sai Baba is only a Guru, and not a God and we should not worship him, is very much in the air in India. 

It is quite incidental that I was reading a book of Dr. Brian Weiss ‘Messages from the Masters’, and on page 181 he mentioned about Sai Baba. Isn’t that amazing that a person who is by religion- a Christian, staying at Florida, USA wrote about him 14 years back in 2000 which he claims that it was a message from Masters (Guiding souls)? Dr. Brian Weiss was ridiculed and mocked for a decade, when he mentioned first time in early eighties about re-incarnation and some of the teachings of ‘Holy Geeta”, however now he has millions of followers across the world.  It may also be surprising that I mentioned the similar sentences about ‘SAI’ more than a year ago (I had not read this book at that time), when SAI-Sustainable Agro Inc was born. And all these are related to present controversy.  

For those who are not aware about Sai Baba, I would like to give a brief introduction. Sai Baba of Shirdi (1838 (or1842?) – 15 October 1918), was a spiritual guru/master who was and is regarded by his devotees as a saint or fakir. He taught a moral code of love, forgiveness, helping others, contentment, inner peace, and devotion to God and guru. He gave no distinction based on religion or caste, and is revered by people from all religions. Sai Baba remains a very popular saint, and is worshiped by people around the world. His temple at Shirdi (a small place in Maharstra state of India) is visited by millions of devotees every year. During, as well as after his life it remained uncertain if he was a Muslim or Hindu himself. More information about him and Shirdi can be found at www.shrisaibabasansthan.org.

Let me reproduce what is mentioned in Dr. Brian’s book about Sai Baba, which he said is the message from the Masters/guiding souls, “…..he (Sai baba) is love in action and you must be love in action. Our task is not to follow Sai Baba, but to be Sai Baba. Our task is to manifest his loving service” (Dr. Brian Weiss “Messages from the Masters” published by Warner Books Inc., 2000, pp.181-182).

No wonder when I thought about establishing an organization to work with poor people, the word ‘SAI’ came to my mind automatically. I looked for the meaning of this word in dictionary and at google. If you visit our website www.sustainableagroinc.com the first message you will see is “who is SAI”? It is mentioned that “….We are a group of people with Heart of Saints and Mind of Scientists. We are Creative, Competent, and Compassionate with Character (4Cs)”. We are driving a new movement which aims to redefine people living at the Base of Pyramid (BoP). Our clear vision is to work with people from Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and bring them Above Poverty Line (APL) in five years time.  

Don’t we worship our Guru or loving parents, who brought us in this world or who guide us? We worship those whom we believe.There is a shloka in Sanskrit:
 
                    गुरु ब्रह्मा, गुरु विष्णु गुरु देवो महेश्वर, गुरु साक्षात् परमं ब्रह्मा तस्मै श्री गुरुवे नम:
अर्थात- गुरु ही ब्रह्मा है, गुरु ही विष्णु है और गुरु ही भगवान शंकर है. गुरु ही साक्षात परब्रह्म है. ऐसे गुरु को मैं प्रणाम करता हूं.

Means, Guru/teacher is Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh and divine God, and I worship that Guru.