‘Obstacles and difficulties should not frighten us’, says Bhatrulahari. The most admirable character of Sai Baba is ‘Why do you fear, when I am here?’ This itself is the answer to those who doubt and fear about the possibility of a successful life.

God-realization is a personal experience and cannot be obtained or explained by words. Those who are familiar with religious thoughts in Hinduism generally can realize the importance of a Guru and absolute faith in that Guru for the quickening of spiritual growth.

‘All things are possible to him that believeth”.

But faith is founded on experience and confidence is increased by tangible proofs. To create such faith and evoke such confidence, God or a God-sent Guru has to confer wished for benefits on the disciples or devotees and the conferring of such benefits is the instrument with which God works. GOD’s will and program can be carried out more perfectly when a devotee attaches less importance to his bodily or material comforts. Sai Baba took the responsibility of looking after the maintenance, health and prosperity of his disciples and devotees upon his shoulders.

The advent of Sai Baba was for the uplift of mankind.

Till now, a bibliography containing a fair, full and faithful description of his life could not be found. In Marathi, the work that can be thought of when facts about Sai Baba are wanted is Hemad Pant’s alias Anna Saheb Dabolkar’s Sai Satcharitra. This is a brilliantly written poetical work extending to 53 chapters and over 1000 pages narrating incidents connected with Sai Baba’s life, and written in highly florid and resonant Marathi, serving excellently the purpose of Puranic study and daily parayana. Great as the merits of the book are from the standpoint of a Bhakta, it cannot be called a regular bibliography. It is rather a chronicle of reminiscences or anecdotes relating to him having no arrangement, not even chronological. There is a good adaptation of this Marathi work in an English garb by Sri Gunaji. Other small sketches or introduction to Baba’s life have been published in English and other languages, but these also are too tiny to deserve the name of a biography. Das Ganu Maharaj of Nanded issued sketches of a few early incidents in Baba’s life as poetic pieces during the lifetime of Baba in about 1906. He wrote 6 or 7 chapters on the whole about Sai Baba, and he published them as part of big books namely, Bhakta Leelamrutha, Santha Kathamurtha and Bakthi Saramrutha. These 7 chapters are printed in Marathi. H.S.Dixit wrote a short biographical preface to Mrs.&Mr.Tendulkar’s Sai Bhajan Mala in 1917.

Amidoss Mehta issued a very short sketch of Sai Baba’s life in Gujarathi. This was also before Baba’s Mahasamadhi in 1918. Subsequent to his mahasamadhi, there have appeared a few statement or sketches about Sai Baba, but they are scattered and do not deserve the name of a regular biography. Sai Samasthan itself published Rao Bahadur M. W.Pradhan’s book ‘A glimpse of Indian spirituality’ but it ran upto only about 25 to 30 pages and set out just handful of facts about Baba.

A faithful and full account of Sai Baba, based on a careful and critical study of the available material regarding his life and the incidents and anecdotes narrated about him by those who met him before and after 1918 is absolutely necessary. I am of the opinion that his innumerable devotees will appreciate it.

One very closely associated devotee of his still believes that Baba was only a Mohammedan. Even after 25 years of personal experience with him and 36 years of his post mortem glories, if a devote treats Baba as a communalist or ‘only a Mohammedan’ just as he did when Baba was in the flesh, it is a pity.

On the other hand, to Sri.M.B.Rege, a retired High Court Judge, Sai is only God, the Paramatma, and his view he held even in 1914.

Baba wishing to convince the Hindu devotees, he made water flow from his feet, as Ganga flooded from Mahavishnu’s feet. The Hindu devotees believed that he was Mahavishnu, Lakshminarayan, and other Gods. After witnessing water flowing from his feet, they praised him as Rama Avadhara. Taking the water coming from his feet, the devotees simply sprinkled a few drops on their head and would not drink it, as if it is coming from a Mohammedan’s feet. So great was the prejudice of ages that even one, who thought of him as Vishnu, thought he was a Muslim Vishnu. When he was believed to be a Muslim who lived all his life in a mosque, the devotees refused to believe that Baba was a Brahmin and that his parents were Brahmins and Prejudices die-hard. It was only a few persons like S.B.Dhumal who saw clearly that Baba was neither Hindu nor Muslim, but above all castes, sect nor religions.

Few people were there who could rise to the level of accepting Baba’s supreme claim that he was Paramatma in all beings. Such persons naturally worship him as Ishtadevata.

Thus there are vast differences in people’s opinions about Baba. His devotees and strangers alike said that Sai could not be understood and that nobody could know the secrets of Sai Baba. Syama called him Deva, that is God, but did not always behave as he would towards God.

To a Haji who was proud of his Hajj, Baba said, “You do not know what is here”, that is, in the body or personality of SaiBaba. A well-known song is:

“More Babaku Marma na Janare koyi More”.

“None knows my Baba’s secret”.

His tolerance, equality and universality are a unique phenomenon. He showed people how to recognize the presence of GOD in all living beings. Very few recognized his true worth. He was described as “a Diamond upon a dung -heap.” He is one of the finest and rare flowers of Indian Spiritual Idealism and Culture.

The true glory of Sai Baba is extremely difficult to recognize and understand. His actions and utterances often appear strange. Only a person of deep Devotion, intense and unshakable faith and inward purity can measure his nature. He is like unto a man who discovers a rare and invaluable precious treasure.

“I am God, Allah!”

Such statement appeared to them like eccentric words of a mad man. In fact his queer unconventional ways, his habit of accommodating himself to all sorts of people including Hindus, Mohammedans and others, and his fearless and unorthodox originality failed to impress many of his visitors. Sectarian prejudices and narrow views led many to think and pronounce all sorts of opinions about him.

At first sight G.G.Narke and Syama took him to be a mad man. Other such as Londa and Megha took him to be a communalist. A few people took him to be a hypnotist, a black magician while others even denounced him as an immoral and dangerous man who was ruining Hindus and Hinduism. When new comers like Dr. D.M.Mulky tried to go to Shirdi, railway personnel stopped them by their abuse and criticism of Baba.

This kind of attitude to Sai Baba is to some extent prevalent even now. Many are the persons who hate Sai, presuming from the name and residence at the mosque that he must have been an icon of Mussalman, while others are indifferent to him, as they have not been fortunate enough to get proper information about him.

**********************