Shirdi Sai Baba

My Spiritual life was, truly speaking, non-existent before my first visit to Shirdi.Sai Baba's life and teachings have played a major role in shaping my spiritual beliefs. He led a life of such simplicity that still amazes me. Sai Baba was a great spiritual teacher. Though he rarely stepped out of Shirdi, his influence spread far and wide.

I along with my parents, went to Shirdi for the first time in the year 2002. It was my summer break after my first year of engineering. Up until that time I had not heard much about Sai Baba.

We first got Baba's darshan at the evening aarti. Never before had I seen such a crowd at any temple singing aloud in unison and with so much faith and devotion. It was a deeply moving experience for me. But this was nothing compared to what was in store for me at the morning aarti!

The morning aarti took me to a whole new level. I did not know what was happening and I have till date not been able to put my feelings in words and I know better than to waste time trying to do that now. I was so overwhelmed that I had tears in my eyes and they just would'nt stop! It was unusual for me. Earlier, on several occassions I had seen my mother teary eyed at temples and I had wondered how could one get emotional while praying?

Before leaving the temple that day, I bought for myself the "Sai Satcharitra"; his biography written by one his close devotee Shri Dabholkar. It gives one a very good account of Baba's teachings and the way he led his life.

This book opened up a whole new world for me. I understood the difference between religion and spirituality. Until then I was made to think that the rituals and elaborate puja that one does alone, shows ones devotion towards the Lord. His teachings will tell you, this isn't true and I was so relieved to learn this. A heart full of love, devotion and unwavering faith pay a greater role in ones spiritual journey.

Sai Baba helped me get answers to several questions and doubts that I had about a lot of things; things related to my day to day life included. Answers came to me in the form of experiences, situations, books that suddenly came my way and dreams that I had. I have been to Shirdi many times after my visit in 2002 and each time I have had some amazing experiences. And over the years I have realized that it is not just Shirdi, one can feel his presence anywhere, if one calls out to him sincerely.

I bow to this great Master and pray that his blessings
always be upon us.

Does God exist ?

Frankly this question has hardly ever occurred to me. As a child and during my growing up years, I was always surrounded by people who were believers. So GOD's existence was always a fact. It was something indisputable! It was only in college that I came across so called atheists. And now I have met several of them. It seems like the most "in" thing today doesn't it?

Being born in an age when Science has made such progress its natural that one's thinking and beliefs are also shaped by proofs and not mere faith. Hence I understand that I may be an object of ridicule. I might also run the risk of being and sounding "uncool" to the present generation. But I guess I have still chosen to sound ridiculously uncool and let GOD be. Science has always been about proof, but God is all about faith.

To quote a very great yogi, Mahavtar Babaji - " When one can see, there is nothing to believe"