Biography of a Living Legend

Nowadays the trend is that when some member of the family passes away, no one wishes to keep Guru Sahib’s Path in the house, all prefer to complete the religious rituals in some Darbar or temple. Sai says, “It is good to keep Path Sahib in house, due to various reasons. One, this ensures peaceful atmosphere in the house and due to recitation of the Bani and Kirtan, etc the vibrations are serene, which in turn have their positive effects on the surroundings and on the mind! Also, the children in the house learn to respect their religion, come to know and follow the discipline with which such an event is handled, they understand the importance of covering their heads and bowing before Guru Sahib, etc.”

In the year 2000, Sai had visited a devotee’s house for performing Bhog Sahib of Akhand Path. He saw that Guru Sahib was kept in the balcony near the entrance of washroom. Sai just did not like this and asked them that in such a big house, is this the only place you could accommodate Guru Sahib? If you have guests, will you not make them sit in the hall which is clean and decent? Guru Sahib is the most glorious and magnificent mentor in this world!
This is the respect and admiration that Sai has for Guru Sahib!

Sai has a lot of respect and love for holy books like Shastras and Granths. He says, don’t consider them as lifeless papers, they are conscious and have life in them and you can try it if you wish! Whenever there is any disturbance in the mind, just open a page in any religious book that you have faith in and the solution will be in front of you! This is proof enough to realise that these are not mere books and pages, they have life in them and we should not just turn pages thinking that they are just paper!
In 1998, many Saints started removing Guru Granth Sahib from their places of worship, fearing that the Khalsas might take away their temples and their earnings, etc as they were claiming rights over Guru Sahib and such places wherever it was kept.
Since inception, Darbar Sahib Halani has four Guru Sahibs adorned on four specially made wooden platforms and Sai never even thought of removing them! Many Saints approached Sai for guidance on this issue. Sai asked them, “Do you consider Guru Granth Sahib to be just papers or you think it is the Lord? If you think that it is papers, the matter ends there, but if you feel it is God, then He shall Himself be your saviour! Keep full faith in it. We everyday pray in front of Guru Sahib for protecting us all from evil, we do Ardas for the well being of our devotees, will He not safeguard us from this hardship? Glory of Guru Sahib is the greatest, what we need is full faith with determination!”

One devotee once requested Sai to do the Mahurat of an expensive Lord Shankar’s idol, which he had got made with a fountain coming out from the Lord’s long hair in the form of sacred river Ganges and had installed it in his garden overlooking his bunglow. Sai immediately refused and said, “I am a Dharam Guru, and the place for such an idol of the Lord should be inside the house. Outside in the garden, there is sunlight, it is cold and when it rains, it will keep getting wet. This is nothing short of disrespect towards the Lord!” The devotee immediately returned the idol to the sculptor.
Sai also disapproves printing photos of a Guru or any deity on marriage cards or any such invitation cards. He says that generally after the occassion, everyone tears off and throws the cards and this amounts to disregarding and disrespecting the spiritual head or the deity!

During the Bhagwat Katha, Krishna Janam is celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm everywhere. They make some child wear a dress of Krishna, make him sit in a basket and the devotees turn by turn wish and sing his praises! Offerings are also given which are then taken by the person doing the Katha.
When once Pandit Dindayal was doing this Katha in Darbar Sahib, he asked Sai whom to dress up as Krishna, as his birth would be celebrated on the following day. Sai replied that Krishna had taken birth 5000 years back, today who can be made like him? This way Krishna birth was celebrated in a formless way and praises were sung and best wishes offered! The kathakar, the reciter admitted that this is first time that Krishna Janam during the Bhagwat Katha was celebrated by the Lord being in a formless form!
It is a miraculous coincidence that this point has come up on its own for this time, today being Janmashtami!

Every one adopts different ways and means to earn money. It has become extremely difficult to find a true saint and if one finds someone, it is difficult to recognise him. Today people just want money and even saints want devotees who will keep giving them money! Truth and sincerity in worship is completely absent today.
Sai narrated an incident when He visited a temple, where some numbers like 11, 21, 51, 101, 501 were displayed in a showcase, neither were rupees nor paisa written against them. Sai asked the saint there, whether these figures were of some lottery or of coupons? The saint said they are related to the tawiz (mascot). Sai again asked, “Tawiz?” The saint said, yes, may be you do not understand. Sai said, “Yes, I do not understand. God has made me only for eating, drinking, wearing good clothes and roaming around.” The saint further explained that tawiz is like a mantra, the one costing Rs 11 is the cheapest, the one costing Rs 500 is the most expensive and with that wishes are fulfilled faster! Sai said, “Give me the one costing Rs 500, as one of my devotees is going to fail in his exam, I will give it him so that he passes!”
While all this was going on, one 80 year old senior saint was watching all this from a corner, he came ahead and asked Sai, “Please tell us who you really are?” Then he offered a chair to Sai and said, “You are Mathadish yourself, I am sure you know all this!” Sai told him, “You all have become dishonest and untruthful.” The elderly saint broke down and said, “I am very distressed and unhappy. There is a court case going on against me. The trustees have shifted me here, please suggest some good lawyer.”
Sai said, “Why don’t you wear your own tawiz, don’t you trust or have faith in it?”
Sai says that we saints, who are actively involved in katha kirtan, if we ourselves don’t have faith in what we say or do, how can the followers be expected to believe in it?

Whenever the topic of temples comes up, Sai remarks that where earlier the katha and stories of Lord Sri Ram used to be played, nowadays merely His foot prints are kept and worshipped rather mechanically!
Places where Lord Krishna was worshipped, today innocent and simple devotees are being cheated. Temples are being run only to achieve own personal goals and chanting or singing praises of the Lord is completely missing.
Earlier, godmen who would sit in penance and chant, achieve and teach true spirituality, today they are busy filling their stomachs with tasty meals, etc.
This way, all places of worship have been reduced to places of earning a livelihood, there is no sanctity or seriousness of propagating true religion!

Sai once visited Adarsh Nagar Darbar on insistence of many devotees. There many persons from abroad had come and they were constantly taking out money from their purses and giving it to those doing kirtan. Even Sai were requested to sing. During kirtan, Sai pays full attention to it and alerts the listeners too, to listen to it attentively. Sai saw that those same persons were again putting their hands into their purses. He asked them to quietly sit down. After the kirtan, Sai told them that you have to sit with humility and devotion in front of a Saint, money is given this way to snake charmers! They all became quiet and their faces lost colour.
This had a great impression on their minds and in the evening they came to Darbar Sahib to meet Sai. They said we have never met a Saint who explains everything so beautifully. We thoroughly enjoyed your kirtan, please visit us, we all would like to hear your kirtan.
Sai told them that I have visited most of the places all over the world, but have never done kirtan anywhere. If you are desirous of it, you come over here, here 16 hours in a day kirtan goes on. How can a well go to the thirsty to quench their thirst?

Once a devotee from Rajkot informed Sai that we are a group of about 400 Sindhis, who are on our way to visit some religious places like Amritsar, Haridwar, Delhi, Jaipur, Ajmer, etc, especially places where there are Sindhi Darbars. On reaching Ajmer, he again called Sai to request that we all want your darshan and visit Darbar Sahib also. Sai agreed and asked them to reach at 6.45 in the morning the next day and attend Satsang.
They all reached on time, quietly attended the whole session and when they wanted to give their offerings, Sai refused and said, “I have not called you here for offerings. I am glad so many Sindhis have planned to go out together especially with their senior family members.” Dal pakwan with khirni was served as breakfast to all and they were all very happy.
When Sai inquired from them about the expenses of the trip, they informed that we all have collectively shared the same, but since we have visited more number of places than originally planned, the budget has gone up by about Rs 1.5 lakhs, out of which Rs 1 lakh was being contributed equally by 2 rich and well off members of the group and the balance was to be collected from senior citizens, who had been given some concession earlier.
Sai smilingly told them that it gives me great pleasure to see so many Sindhis together, so do not collect this from the senior citizens, I am giving you this balance of Rs 50,000 and Sai happily gave it to them.
Many of them with folded hands told Sai that we have visited so many temples, Darbars, places of worship all over the country, but no where were their offerings not taken and at no place had the Saint interacted with them with so much love and affection. They said that the greatness and glory we had so far only heard about Darbar Sahib Halani, today we have actually witnessed it!

Sai says, the glory of a Guru is greater than that of God himself!
Just like the importance of a doctor is more than the medicine. A medical store is full of medicines, but can we consume any of them, without a doctor diagnosing our problem and then prescribing one suited for our illness? No. Just like the doctor has knowledge about his subject, so is the guidance of a Guru towards devotion to God and accordingly achieving the goal of our lives!