Baba was a Hindu or Moslem.

[SS91]

The question is often asked whether Baba was a Hindu or Moslem.

 The first remark to make about this question is that the cause for

this question should be looked into before it is answered.

 There is a strong feeling on the part of the Hindus that they

should not go near a Moslem whose views run counter to their

cherished ideas, and who would destroy their religious emblems

and idols.

 Similar is the repugnance on the part of the Moslems to accept

purely Hindu traditions which they consider too idolatrous and

unholy.

 When we come to take an impartial view, we find, whether we are

Hindus or Moslems, that the above question is irrelevant or of very

little importance.

 First about the irrelevancy.

  The Sufi and the Orthodox Hindu, both agree that when a person has

reached perfection, i.e., the level of Brahman, the question of

caste does not arise at all.

  Caste (or ‘Jathi’ as it is called in vernacular) refers to that

which has born and that which has ‘janma’.

 The self-realiser who is identical with God is not born though his

body was born.

 But the body is not ‘he’ and there is no need to go into the

question as to whether the body arose from parents who were Hindus

or Moslems, or was trained and brought up among 3ither of them.  

Sri Sankara’s well-known phrase about the realized soul is ‘Jati

Niti Kula Gotra duuragam’ - that it is far above questions of caste,

family clan, etc., and Sankara’s Manisha Panchaka repeatedly closes

with the line, ‘Chandaalostu Dwijostu sadgururityeshau manaishaa

mama’ - ‘Let him be a chandala or Brahmin, he (the realized soul) is

my Guru’.  

What does it matter whether the Kohinoor is lying on a dung hill or

in a palace!

 The Sufis too have exactly the same view as regards these

distinctions.  However, the reason for raising the question is a

strong feeling regarding the necessity of protecting one’s own

religious sentiments adequately from being harassed violently by a

person of an opposite sect.  On this matter, it may be pointed out

that whether Baba was a Hindu or a Moslem, he allowed every sect to

keep to its own method of approaching God.


 To Hindus, he said: ‘Continue your Rama worship, and worship the

stones which your forefathers worshipped’.

 He even presented some lingams, silver padukas, pictures and coins

for worship by Hindus.

 To Moslems, he never gave any of these but allowed them to follow

their nirakara (formless) form of worship as far as it is possible.  

So the real cause for raising the question about one being a Hindu

or Moslem does not arise in this case on account of the extreme

catholicity of Baba’s views and practice.

 But prejudices die hard and in spite of all that is said, persons

still hanker to know whether Baba was a Hindu or a Moslem.  

It may be pointed out that though his original antecedents were

unknown, his continued residence for about 50 years in a mosque was

considered a sufficient reason for most people to consider him to be

a Moslem.  There is a Tamil proverb that if one drinks anything,

even milk, under a Palmyra tree, he will be taken to have drunk

today.

OM SAI SRI SAI JAYA JAYA SAI!!!
Let us pray at the feet of Sai Baba who is the incarnation of all gods and protector of all, to show mercy on us, and increase our devotion towards him.