Shirdi Sai Baba movement

The Shirdi Sai Baba movement is the religious movement of the followers and devotees of the 19th- and early 20th-century Indian saint Sai Baba of Shirdi (or Shirdi Sai Baba).

History

The Shirdi Sai Baba movement began in the 19th century, during Sai Baba's life, while he was staying in Shirdi, India. A local Khandoba priest named Mahalsapathy is believed to have been his first devotee. However, in the nineteenth century Sai Baba's followers were only a small group of Shirdi inhabitants and a few people from other parts of India. It started developing in the 20th century and even faster in 1910 with the Sankirtans of Das Ganu (one of Sai's devotees) who spread Sai Baba's fame to the whole of India. Since 1910 numerous Hindus and Muslims from all parts of India started coming to Shirdi. During Sai's life Hindus worshipped him with Hindu rituals and Muslims revered him greatly, considering him to be a saint. Later (in the last years of Sai Baba's life) Christians and Zoroastrians started joining the Shirdi Sai movement.

The Sai Baba mandir in Shirdi is active and every day worship of Sai is conducted in it. Pilgrims visit Shirdi every day. Shirdi Baba is especially revered and worshipped in the state of Maharashtra. A religious organisation of Sai Baba's devotees called the Shri Saibaba Sansthan is based there. It maintains a complex of Sai Baba temples and publishes publications about him. It also conducts free charity, social and medical work and ensures the development of Shirdi. It is governed by a board of trustees. Leading the Shirdi Sai Movement, an ardent devotee Guruji C. B. Satpathy has been instrumental in creating more than one hundred and fifty temples of Shirdi Sai Baba in India and abroad. He has also had an important role in the development and propagation of the Shirdi Sai Baba movement.

The devotees of Shirdi Sai Baba have spread all over India. According to the Gale "Encyclopedia of Religion" there is at least one Sai Baba mandir in nearly every Indian city. His image is quite popular in India. Some prominent non-religious publishing houses (such as Sterling Publishers) have also published books about Shirdi Sai written by his devotees. According to the book "Modern World Religions: Hinduism - Pupil Book Core" Shirdi is among the major Hindu places of pilgrimage. According to estimates the Sai mandir in Shirdi is visited by around forty thousand pilgrims a day and during religious festivals this number amounts to a hundred thousand.

Beyond India the Shirdi Sai movement has spread to other countries such as the USA and the Caribbean. Sai Baba mandirs and organisations of his devotees have been built in countries including Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and the USA. According to the book "The South Asian Religious Diaspora in Britain, Canada, and the United States" the Shirdi Sai Baba movement is one of the main Hindu religious movements in English speaking countries.

The Shirdi Sai Baba movement has developed mainly thanks to the Shri Saibaba Sansthan and other organisations of his devotees such as the All India Sai Samaj, authors of publications about Sai such as B. V. Narasimhaswamiji, Swami Sai Sharananand, Guruji C. B. Satpathy, as well as numerous mandirs dedicated to Sai Baba.

Beliefs

Many members of the Shirdi Sai Baba movement consider him to be an avatar of Shiva and Dattatreya, a saint as well as a sadguru. They believe in the miracles he performed when he was alive and which he will continue performing despite not being physically present. Many followers and devotees of Sai Baba think that such a great saint seldom appears on Earth.

Among Sai's devotees the belief that he is the next incarnation of Kabir (which is based mainly on his own words) is quite common. Some of them also believe that he and Akkalkot Maharaj are the same soul who came to Earth in two different bodies.

Practices

The practices that Shirdi Sai Baba's devotees use in worshiping him are mainly traditional Hindu practices such as puja, ritual washing of his images, singing and repeating his name, worshiping his feet (which is a common practice in Hinduism) going on pilgrimage to Shirdi, singing arati or reciting a mantra (Om Sai Shri Sai Jaya Jaya Sai). The anniversary of Sai Baba's Mahasamadhi is an important festival for them. Despite these particularly Hindu practises, Sai is worshipped by people of many religions.

One more way by which Sai Baba is remebered by his devotees is by reciting Sai Satcharita which describes the leelas of sai baba. By reciting Sai Satcharita, devotees not only get enlightened towards spritual path but at the same time feel the presence of sai baba around them.

It is also common for Sai Baba's devotees to call him "Sri Sainath" or "Shri Sainath Maharaj" or to use the greeting "Sai Ram".

References

*Chandra Bhanu Satpathy., "Shirdi Sai Baba and Other Perfect Masters", Sterling Publishers,ISBN 8-1207-2384-8
*Chandra Bhanu Satpathy., "Sai Sharan Main(Hindi)",Sterling Publishers, ISBN 8-1207-2802-5
*Ruhela S. P., "Sri Shirdi Sai Baba - The Universal Master", Limbus, 2004, ISBN 83-7191-120-3 (Polish edition)
*Smriti Srinivas, "Sathya Sai Baba Movement", in: "Encyclopedia of Religion", t. 12, ISBN 0-02-865981-3

External links

* [http://www.heritageofshirdisai.org Heritage of Shirdi Sai]
*http://www.saibaba.org
*http://www.shirdibaba.org
*http://www.shirdisainath.org
* [http://www.baba.org A Website about First Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple in USA - Pittsburgh, PA]