A UNIQUE SAINT

SAI BABA OF SHIRDI IS A PHENOMENON. In all of India’s history, there has never been another like him. He is not a conventional saint. He wrote no critique of the Bhagvad Gita or the Upanishads or any other holy work. He made no pretensions to scholarship yet he had a profound insight into both Hindu and Islamic scriptures. He founded no ashram or peetham, wrote no tome, initiated no disciple to take over from him. He performed ‘miracles’ but in no manner of means to impress anyone, devotee or otherwise. Sai Baba in every way remains unique.

Born about 20 years before the ‘Sepoy’ mutiny in the 19th century in Marathwada, the home of medieval saints of Maharashtra, he came in his late 20’s to Shirdi, an insignificant hamlet in Ahmednagar district and spent the remaining 50 years of his life there until his mahasamadhi. Today Shirdi is a centre of pilgrimage for lakhs of Sai Baba’s devotees. This book is a complete account of his life and mission.