He is still Here as an Invisible Spirit
Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi, organized a Global Summit of Shri Sai Temple Trustees over 11th and 12th December 2016 at Shirdi. The theme of the summit was to exchange the ideas on Shri Sai Baba Samadhi Centenary Year Celebrations 2017-18 and Global Sai Movement.
Following are the excerpts from Dr. Satpathy’s keynote speech:
Baba illumined this holy land with His radiant presence and lived a life of divine absorption, love of mankind and compassion to all creatures, solely for the welfare and benefit of humanity.
In this world, all great men became Great because they took everyone in their stride – irrespective of caste, creed, and religion. They believed in assimilation and not differentiation.
The life and function of Shirdi Sai Baba is comparable to that of Jesus Christ. The first miracle of Christ was turning water to wine. In case of Baba, it was turning water to oil.
Sai Baba was a necessity at the time he appeared in Shirdi, as Religion and Spiritual practices were becoming complex and required simplification.
All of Baba’s temples around the world are built by a group of self-motivated devotees, with whatever they could contribute in terms of time, energy and money, without the necessity of any massive committee or fund-raising.
The people who work for Baba are guided by the following principles:
1. Baba is still present here as an invisible spirit and helping them.
2. Whatever happens, whatever one does is inspired and executed by Baba.
3. Baba believed in togetherness of all sections of people.
4. All are equal before Baba, irrespective of their position in the society.
Like a mother is always worried about her sick child, God is ever concerned about the less deserving ones. We should therefore utilize all available means to help the poor and distressed instead of spending on religious paraphernalia.
Baba’s temples should not be limited to religious centres. They should also function as Philanthropic centres, and serve those who need help. For example, temples could be used to provide shelter, function as a make-shift hospital during natural calamities.
Beware of those individuals who foster blind belief in devotees in the name of Baba.