Facts and Fallacies reShirdi Sai

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Shirdi Sai Bhakti

Facts and Fallacies about Sai Baba Contributed by Administrator Last Updated Friday, 05 October 2007

Is Ramanavami a birthday of Sri Saibaba? SRI RAMANAVAMI IS NOT BABA’S BIRTHDAYSome devotees believe Sri Ramanavami day is Baba’s birthday. Some recent hagiographies of Sri Saibaba have published this ‘fact’, along with the time of birth, the star under which Baba was born, and the year. There is no basis for this and it is purely imaginary. Baba never said that the day of Sri Ramanavami was his birthday. Even the close intimate devotees of Baba never stated in their writings or reminiscences any facts about Baba’s origins, parentage, or the day of his birth. Famous historians who have thoroughly researched Baba’s life have also confirmed that Baba’s life prior to coming to Shirdi was a total secret. Baba too kept his antecedents a divine secret. The attempt to fix Baba - who is beyond all limitations of religion - into the mould of a particular religion, seems to be the underlying motive behind this propaganda. The attempt to show a love for Baba by making him a member of one’s own religion is repugnant to Baba, as his life and history show. As the devotees started the celebration of Sri Ramanavami themselves, and as it is a tradition in Shirdi, the Saibaba Sansthan continues to celebrate Sri Ramanavami. It is not celebrated as the birthday of Saibaba nor has the Sansthan ever considered Ramanavami day as Baba’s birthday.(Source: Saipatham Magazine April 2001). Dispute after Sri Saibaba's Mahasamadhi is religion differences or opinion differences?On the day when Baba entered mahasamadhi, Panduranga Balaji Kavade and Vaman Ranganath Gokhale interviewed several prominent devotees. Kavade is the author of the Marathi history of Saibaba, Sri Sant Sai Maharaj Yanche Charitra, which was first published 1956. Gokhale wrote Nirvanicha Sakha – Shirdi che Sainath Maharaj Yanche Jeevan Charitra, first published in Marathi in 1965. They had met many of the elders of Shirdi, including Ramachandra Kote Patil, Ratnaparkhi and other devotees, and later published these interviews. An examination of the events of that day shows that, contrary to widely held opinion, the dissension of that day was not between Hindus on the one side and Muslims on the other. Rather it was the result of the differences of opinion about where Baba's body should be interred. Not all those who voted to keep Baba's body in Booty Wada were Hindus, nor were all those who preferred to place it in the burial ground Muslims. Both parties had Muslims and Hindus amongst them. In fact Ramachandra Kote Patil, in the interview, is especially appreciative of the help given to him by a Muslim police functionary during the dispute.(Source: Saipatham Magazine October2002)Did Sri Saibaba sacrifice his life to save Tatya's life? The people believed that Baba had sacrificed his own life to save Tatya’s. Hemadpant brings this out in the 42nd chapter of Sri Sai Satcharitra. “It seemed that they both (Baba and Tatya) exchanged a life for a life and a death for a death. The people believed that Baba had sacrificed his life for the sake of Tatya. Baba alone knows whether this is true or not. In this manner Baba had stated Tatya’s name but indicated his own mahasamadhi.” It was not surprising that the people believed thus seeing that Baba had loved Tatya more than his own life itself. But this is just a blind belief on their part and in fact has no foundation. This is because Baba has clearly stated that he had first arranged for two swings (carriages), one for himself and the other for Tatya. But he had changed his mind and sent one swing back and that only he will be going away. He did not say that he had got only one swing ready for Tatya and that he would be going in that instead of Tatya. Tatya also only requested Baba to send him first but not to send him instead of Baba. Further; Sri Saibaba is an incarnation of god whose birth, growth and death is tied with the karma and salvation of many devotees. Baba had saved many devotees from death and indeed had even brought back alive many who were dead too. To save Tatya from death was an easy task for him, it was not necessary for him to sacrifice his own life to save Tatya’s. As Hemadpant stated, he may have, in his natural cryptic style, indicated his death in advance and said Tatya’s name instead of his own. The feeling of the people that he had sacrificed his life to save Tatya mirrors their belief that he had indeed loved Tatya more than his own life. Please go through the article from Saipatham July – August 2001 for more details: Sri Ramachandra Kote Patil fell seriously ill in 1916. All types of medication were tried but were found to be futile. Everyone thought that his early death was inevitable. He too was resigned to his death and waited with dread for the day. One night Baba presented him with his divine vision and said, “Do not fear. I have stopped your death. You will get well soon. I am only worried about Tatya. He will die in 1918 on Vijayadasami day, but do not reveal this to anyone, especially Tatya. If you tell him this, it will only serve to terrorise him before his death.” Amazingly Ramachandra Patil started to recover his health from the very next day and attained his former good health in a few days. He was an intimate friend of Tatya and knew that Baba’s words were unalterable and had to come true. He realised that Tatya had only two more years left in this world and was engulfed in sorrow. He could not keep this burning anguish within himself for long and shared the secret divulged by Baba with his friend Bala Shimpi alone. As Ramachandra Patil and Bala Shimpi feared, Tatya fell seriously ill as the Vijayadasami of 1918 approached. Baba too fell ill around the same time. Tatya’s condition worsened day-by-day and turned critical one or two days before Vijayadasami. He could not even come to the mosque for the darshan of Sri Saibaba. One day Baba sent word to him to come to the mosque and have his meal there, but as Tatya could not summon enough strength to even rise from his bed, some devotees helped him to go to the mosque where Baba fed him with semolina pudding with his own hands despite his ill health. Tatya could only swallow a couple of mouthfuls with great difficulty. Baba told him, “Tatya, I have arranged for two swings (carriages) for us initially. But I have changed my mind. I alone will go on now presently. Now you may go home.” Tatya understood the import of Baba’s words and started sobbing. He said, “Baba, why do you not send me first?” Baba replied, “I am a fakir, there is no one to cry for me when I go away. But all your people will grieve if you go.” Tatya heard the tone of finality in Baba’s words and his sorrow intensified and he started weeping piteously. He said, “Baba, if I go, it is only my relatives who will grieve. But if you go, you will make many people of this world orphans. If you live on many people will attain salvation by your http://www.shirdisaibhakti.com

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Facts and Fallacies reShirdi Sai by Ganesh Hariharan - Issuu