Teachings of Sai Baba
Sai Baba is an epitome of reverence who generates faith and confidence to his devotees who are looking for salvation. Making people become aware of their divine conciousness and exceed their limits of their mortal body was his mission. Among his teachings are the cardinal paths called “Shraddha” and “Saburi”.
Shraddha is a Sanskrit word which means faith with love and reverence. He believes those factors are generated with conviction, which is not a result of a rational belief or intellectual wisdom. A strong love to God is the gateway to eternity, according to him. His teachings, direct or indirect developed the significance of Shraddha.
Saburi means patience and perseverance. To reach a man’s goal, he believes that he needs Saburi through his path. This quality must be engrained to a person from the first day of his life. In case one loses his pace and leaves the path half way, this character will help him continue his journey.
For Baba, Purity is not just about the body, but the inner purity. No physical cleansing could wash a man with his impurities if his mind and heart remained impure. Therefore, he admonished his devotees with asceticism as an end to it, in case they give in into physical mortification.
Sai Baba was also an image of compassion and love. He taught compassion to all his devotees and told them, “Never turn away anybody outside your door, may it be animal or human”.
Sai Baba also put Guru on a high pedestal on reverence. For him Guru was a fundamental base of the path of devotion. He pointed that he is no longer in his physical frame because the Guru is using it as His temple. Thus, a complete surrender to the Guru was what he wanted his devotees to do.
He also had teachings with Udi and Dakshina.
Udi or the sacred ash was made from the perpetual fire called “dhuni”. He explained the meaning of life by the Udi and said that like Udi, all the visible phenomena of the world are short-lived. This example wanted his devotees to understand the difference between the real and unreal.
The Dakshina or alms was demanded by Baba for those who visited him. This simply means the detachment of the worldly things.
