Does the message die when the messenger has died?

It is recurring problem – a Godman offers his message of peace, love and harmony and the world listens. After his passing, “ownership” of this Godman comes up with devotees/followers justifying whys and wherefores.

In the case of Shirdi Sai Baba, it probably was the first time in recent memory that the West also listened, and avidly at that, to the messages of hope that Shirdi Baba brought us over a century ago.

Increased global travel in the late 19th Century (however slow) and the opening up of the mind for things Indian saw the popularity of Shirdi Baba escalate and, probably for the first time, the world outside of India knew of the elevated philosophies and the godmen that the Indian culture had to offer to the mankind. Later, Swami Vivekananda and others saw to it that this philosophy was actually taken to the West, where many embraced them.

The advent of Shirdi Baba was also in those times a uniting force that was felt by the Indian people – not based on caste, creed or calling but on universal humanity. He taught a spirituality of oneness, of universality. No one was exempt from his grace and the sincere of all races were welcome. His miracles may have fuelled his advent but it was his messages that have endured – or at least should have.

Sadly, most modern available writings on Shirdi Baba are rather based on the miracles he performed, or the devotees he saved (and they were many), or a hagiographical chronicling of his life. I, for one, find it hard to retrieve much of the messages of Baba – the writings on these are almost by the way, and lost among the various narrations of the miracles he performed.

And now it is sad to see the followers of Shirdi Baba at loggerheads with each other. Sadder still, this is not an uncommon practice. Organised religion is prey to politics, as vulnerable as any other organisation when it comes to who wants it done their way. The worst part is we, on the outside, may not know what the real stories behind the rifts are, for the simple reason that no one actually believes his “truth” to be wrong. All have valid reasons for doing what they are doing, and all believe themselves to absolutely right, some even divinely prompted.

What they lack is the objectivity that a spiritual life renders, and which is the fulcrum of Hinduism. From Gorakhthan, to Kabir, to Shirdi Baba, devotees have been asked to focus away from the mundane and the worldly and onto God. Yet, the world is as much inside us as outside us because we allow this to happen. One reason for this is the belonging to a group.

For the minute you belong to a group, you swamp your individuality by the forces that teem in group mentality. You then have little recourse of asserting that divine individuality [The Self] because the group seeks the lowest common denominator of understanding and will not tolerate your solo path.

Congregational worship is a good step towards divinity but in the end it has to be the individual effort that is needed to attain it. Shirdi Baba promised to guide all individuals towards this goal but I doubt he did any group/collective enlightenment sessions.

It is this lack of objectivity, of being swamped by group think that destroys both the organisation as well as its followers. Having your own band of followers is a crime in such an organisation for it foretells your ambitions of control and power. A person can so easily be misled into doing wrong just because he has some people who agree with his opinions and who lend him support to make these “changes”.

So, who was Shirdi Baba?

Some say he was a Muslim fakir, others a Hindu orphan brought up by Muslims, others still tell of different parentage. Each faction chooses to bestow their own genealogy to Baba, setting him up as of their particular ilk, and thus benevolent to them. Yet, one of the abiding messages of Shirdi Baba was the unity of mankind, especially at a time when Hindu/Muslim differences were tearing the country apart. Really, in the end, does it really matter where Shirdi Baba came from, what jaat he belonged to, and who have the right to worship him?

The question is: Are we following his teachings, those grand messages of hope and salvation he brought us? Take the conversation between Shirdi Baba and Nana below to see the gift Baba brought which we have not received:

Nana had asked him why he was scrutinising the same coins again and again. Baba said something like this: "… thousands of devotees are coming to me. Are they all ripening into good devotees? Many drop away in the middle. Some come for getting their desires fulfilled. Some seek wealth. Many are coming either for study or in connection with jobs, marriage or other personal desires of their own. In each of them, there is some defect or other. No one comes for My sake. I have a precious thing to offer in my coffers. But no one seeks it. It is for this reason that I am examining them (coins). Among these coins there are some which are worn out, some which are debased, and some which are twisted and worthless.

"Just as I am examining the defects in these coins, I am also looking for the defects among the devotees who come to Me. I am trying to find out what defects are there in these people and whether, with those defects; they can really comprehend My Truth.

They want Me, but all their desires are related to mundane objects. How can they attain Me with this attitude? How can you reach your destination if you get into a wrong train going in some other direction? They want Me, but they don't make efforts for realizing Me. Among those who come to Me, it is only one in a thousand who really makes the efforts to realise Me."

Those of us who follow Shirdi Baba best keep one thing in mind – Baba was not beyond anger. In fact, he had little patience for idiocy, arrogance and hubris. I remember the retelling of anecdotes of when he lost his temper – even throwing objects at those who had come to ask him of trivial things or chasing them away with his stick. If we really believe that Shirdi Baba is God, keep in mind that he is privy to our thoughts and is quite capable of bringing down, if not the wrath of God, at least, a set of events to teach us a lesson in humility and true service.

And those who don’t believe in the omniscience of Baba, better start relooking at your purpose of being in the organisations. However much you believe you are doing right, you can not actually see the consequences of your present actions. Let His Will Prevail, for Shirdi Baba has promised he knows us better than we do ourselves and that we need to allow him to control our lives.

* Nalinesh Arun is a former Fiji journalist who lived in Puttaparthi, India, for many years. He is now based in Christchurch