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of agency to the guru was his method of putting devotees on the path of self realization. The primary
moral requisite to such a path was the gradual annihilation of the individual sense of ego.
In this context it becomes easy to philosophically situate Sai Baba’s secularism or more aptly his
indifference to distinctions between organized sectarian religions. Sai Baba was not a secularist in
the sense of being equally tolerant to all religious faiths. Rather he seemed dismissive of distinctions
between faiths viewing them all as ways to the same God. Hence if one looks at how the festival
of Ram Navami was celebrated in Shirdi Baba’s religious syncretism comes to the forefront. Gopal
Gund who was a Hindu and a great devotee of Sai Baba brought up the idea of celebrating a fair or
Urs (Urs are celebrated at the tombs of Muslim holy men) in the year 1897. In consultation with Sai
Baba the day for celebrating it was fixed on Ram Navami day. On the appointed day the Hindus took
out a procession with two flags through the village which were fixed finally at the two corners of the
masjid which was called Dwarkamai by Baba.At the same time another procession was taken out by
Muslim devotees. This was the sandal i.e. chandan procession which is held in honor of great Muslim
saints. The sandal procession also went through the village and terminated at the same masjid. These
two processions took place side by side and are still taken out at the same masjid in Shirdi. After
1912 the fair began to incorporate a Ram Navami festival as well with a kirtan performed inside
the masjid by a haridas [4] on that occasion. From 1913 a devotee named Radhakrishnamai started a
naam saptah (singing the glory of God’s name continuously for seven days).
The critical point is the great ease with which Sai Baba and his Muslim and Hindu devotees both
conceived and were able to sustain the Urs-Ram Navami festival at Shirdi. The mosque was home to
the haridas who sang at a kirtan in glory of lord Ram. The philosophical point that seems to emerge is
that religion rests on faith in the divine. All rites and rituals which form the matter of denominational
faiths are simply of the nature of means to the divine. Those who have become at home in the
spiritual life by forming their own inner relationship with the divine become indifferent about the
denominational differences between such means. They therefore are able to enjoy and participate
equally in any means set by the different sectarian religions. The critical point is the devotee’s own
consciousness of an inner relationship with a God to which he is tied by faith. The real path to that
God is the love of all creatures. Differences between denominational faiths are hence not very
relevant to the truly spiritual inward looking religious life.
This then seems to be the critical message of Sai Baba to a humanity which has almost forgotten God
because of the ideological commitments to various denominational faiths. Sai Baba, by his life and
his way of living, reminded humanity that religion was basically faith in divinity. All else important
as it might be for various purposes, is not essential to religion. The importance of this message and
of his religious syncreticism to a world divided along religious lines cannot be over emphasized.
Those who see their sense of religious identity threatened by the presence of religious others have
much to learn from the life of this great saint who was a deeply religious man without being either
a Hindu or a Muslim.
Bindu Puri, Department of Philosophy, Delhi University
[1]
Census of India, 1961, Vol X; Maharashtra.Part VII B: “Fairs and Festivals of Maharashtra”. (Bombay: The Maharashtra Census Office,
1969), p116.
[2]
Tabut or Tazia is a colorful replica of the coffin of the great martyrs of Islam.
[3]
Marianne Warren, Unravelling the Enigma, Sterling Paperbacks, New Delhi, 1999.
[4]
Hindu devotional singer
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