Biography of a Living Legend

In 1987, there was a gathering of Akhil Bhartiya Sindhi Sadhu Samaj in Indore, where a minister too had been invited. Sai saw that although there were so many Saints of high stature on the dias, the minister did not even remove his footwear before coming up. Sai quietly got up and alongwith His devotees simply left from there.
Once in Jaipur too, during a Sindhi Saints’ function, a politician had been invited, who after delivering his speech wanted to leave immediately. The senior Saints urged him to stay back for some time, listen to the words of the Saints in the form of blessings, but he refused and got up to leave. The senior Saints too got up to escort him and other Saints were left alone on the stage!
When Sai heard this, He queried as to why subject the greatness of the Saints to such situations? Our Shastras show that a Saint, a Guru is also a form of the Lord himself! The glory of a Saint is said to be superior to that of the Lord! This is because it is He who shows us the path towards Him and ensures our union with Him!

Once a devotee asked Sai the meaning of ” मन नीवा मत उची “. Sai explained that _mann niva_ means humility for the mind and _matt uchi_ means high thinking. Sai said this applies both to a Saint and a commoner. Earlier the Saints used to live a carefree life, but now with new times and circumstances, they are influenced by wealth and other worldly things. Sai gave an instance when a bhandara was organised by Darbar Sahib at Budha Pushkar. Apart from Saints from Akhil Bhartiya Sindhi Samaj, a Minister too had come on behalf of the Government, as he was undertaking to get the work of renovation done at Budha Pushkar. There were other Saints too present on the dias. Sai softly advised a Saint, who had got shawls to honour the minister, not to do so, but he refused. Sai again cautioned him, but he got up to offer the shawl and the minister refused to accept it saying that he had promised the Chief Minister that he will not accept any reward or gift from anyone till the work is fully completed. The Saint again insisted saying that this was in the form of blessing only, still the minister being a lawyer too, refused again saying whether blessing or otherwise, he will not accept.
Sai asks, is it the people who should honour and respect a Saint or is it that Saints must honour or garland devotees or a politician?
Whether a Saint and a politician should share the same dias, Sai replied in the negative, saying that a Saint represents “मन साचा मुख साचा” and politicians differ in what they say and do. Even when there is any official work with any authorities, Sai never goes personally, instead entrusts the work to a able devotee.
Sai always says that one should deal with people of one’s own standard and this is the high esteem in which Sai holds the holy Saints community!

Once Sai saw one Saint reciting Ardas with hands kept open. A person who came from behind, put some money in his hand and asked the Saint to do Ardas for his son to get his Dubai visa, which the Saint repeated in the same words in the Ardas. As soon as this was over, another man came forward, put a currency note in the Saint’s hand and this way the Saint did 25 Ardases, which took 20 minutes!
Sai said, “I finish my Ardas in 2 minutes with full concentration, in bliss and with faith. At the time of Ardas, no one should put his hand in his pocket or put any money in the Saint’s hand as concentration of both is disturbed.” On this the Saint said, “If we don’t do it the way we are doing, who will give us any money?” Sai replied, “Why should we Saints be bothered about money? The Lord gives us enough to spend.” The Saint said, “That much faith in the Lord is required.”
Sai asked, “Of what use is the Katha, Kirtan that we do in which we advise our followers to have faith and we ourselves lack in it? We must strictly follow the path of truth and undeterred faith.”

Sai says that our religious scriptures like Shastras, etc propagate strong faith in the Lord. If the devotee keeps strong faith, he is bound to get an answer in the form of blessings!
Once Sai organised Bhagwat Katha by a saint in Ajmer. The narrator explained that we must never get entangled in maya (illusion) and always remain content with whatever we get with ease. Everyone heard the katha attentively and with interest. After it got over, a person from the saint’s team got up and started distributing empty envelopes amongst those present, with the intention that they would fill it up with whatever offering they wished to and return it.
Sai did not approve of this and told the saint, “What is this that you are doing? Just now you have given the discourse asking everyone to remain away from maya and wealth, if you do not follow what you say, how do you expect others to follow?”
Sai always says, we must first practice, what we preach!

Once when a bhandara was organised, a Saint came to Sai and praised the arrangements, the discipline amongst sevadharis and said that the food too was well prepared and tasty. He admitted that it was not possible for him to organise a bhandara at this scale and with this perfection.
Sai told him that Saints should never imitate or copy what others do, as imitating is a trait of worldly people. We Saints must only do what we can and not by looking at what others are doing. Earlier when resources were limited, we never even thought of doing this at such a scale. There were times at the time of Baba Gobinddas Sahib when we would eat very simple meals consisting of only dal and chapati and be very content with that too.
There is a mention in the history book of Darbar Sahib Halani of the times when the Saints would eat chana ( _bhugda_) , drink water and feel satiated, play the conch shell to announce the conclusion of the meal! Never has any Saint of our Darbar asked for anything from anyone. They have always followed the rule strictly of spreading the feet as per the length of the mattress. If we spread them beyond that, we are bound to land up in trouble.
So, we must only do as per what we have and this will certainly result in everlasting happiness!

There is always a lot of depth in what our Sai says or gives us as a message. He once said, “It is good to donate or give offerings to saints, but it should not be by any type of force or as a punishment.”
He explained that devotees bow to Him for blessings everyday and many also offer bheta everyday. Someday suppose one does not have enough money in his pocket, he may feel hesitant or awkward even to come in front of me. This then becomes a penalty, a punishment or a force. Even in Ajmer, Sai asks the devotees to bow once only and not offer bheta everyday.
Sai advises us to always be at ease and not to do anything forcibly. He says that a true saint frees you from any type of bondage, then how can He permit you to be stuck in it!

Everything that Sai does is done very thoughtfully. Once Sai had come to Mumbai for some dental treatment and the Doctor advised Him to stay back for 5 more days. Next day, after the morning Kirtan in Darbar got over, Sai took the mike and asked everyone that till He is here, they should go to their work as usual, and told them that they can come for Kirtan, or to seek His blessings, but He shall not accept any offerings from anyone during these days. Sai knew that those who wished to, had already given Him their offerings, now Sai did not want anyone to feel obligated to repeat the same on the following days. Accordingly, although some devotees urged Him to, He did not accept from anyone during that part of His stay.

Once He had gone to Baroda for an occassion of marriage. As the place was very crowded and there was no place to sit, Sai agreed to go to a devotee’s house nearby and eat His meal too, but refused to accept any bheta, as He said the only reason for coming here was because of the crowd.

In 1995, He had to take a flight from Jaipur, which got delayed. The devotees there requested Him to come to their house and have lunch. Sai agreed, but on one condition that they shall not offer any bheta, as He was going there only because the flight was late.

Sai not only follows such highest set of principles, unknown to many, but also sets an example for others to follow!

Every thought of Sai is an example of distinctive excellence. He says God has given us 32 teeth and one tongue, so that before speaking we properly ponder over each and every word and then talk. Sai also says that He never takes important decisions on His own, He always consults others. He intently looks at all ten fingers each, of both the hands and feet, takes into consideration all financial and other implications and consequences, then decides.
Sai advises that properly thinking before talking or acting is a supreme virtue!

Sai has a fixed travel agent in Jaipur, from whom He gets His flight tickets booked. Once a devotee got his tickets booked from the same agent. She called up Sai to ask whether the discount should be credited to Sai’s account or given to the devotee. She clarified that she was asking this, as in case of other Saints, the discount was always credited to the their account.
Sai said, “The person is booking his ticket from his earnings and accordingly the right to such discount is exclusively his.”
This is how our Sai is different from other Saints and are one and only one of His kind!

Sai disapproves of buying anything on credit or keeping dues pending. On the first of every month itself, He keeps the payments ready and Himself calls up to remind them to come and collect their payments against their bills. In fact they tell Sai that there is no hurry, to which Sai tells them that it is always better to settle the outstanding payments at the earliest and why keep anything pending.
He advises others too not to borrow or buy on credit. Sai also advises the businessmen to run their businesses from whatever they own and have, and also to expand only to a level, till which they can personally control and supervise. That itself would be an optimum level of well being and prosperity.
Sai further says that if at all you wish to be indebted to someone, be indebted to the Lord!
This way, He reminds us to remember the Lord always and live in gratitude!