Book Review: Lesser-Known Facts Find Place In ‘Shirdi Sai Baba: An Inspiring Life’

Sai Baba of Shirdi is one of the greatest Indian saints of the nineteenth century, revered by millions of followers in India and abroad. The book, ‘Shirdi Sai Baba – An Inspiring Life’, by Dr Chandra Bhanu Satpathy, recently published by Harper Collins, brings the great saint alive to millions of followers through meticulously researched evidence-based facts, throwing light on many lesser-known facts on the life of Sai Baba.

Dr Satpathy has been leading the Shirdi Sai movement in India and abroad for three-and-a-half decades, drawing more and more people into the folds of Shirdi Sai. Through this journey, Dr Satpathy has delved into every possible fragment of historical material, including oral and written testimonies, physical objects and articles, as well as assigning possible time frames and dates to events that remained undated, in order to fill any gap and resolve any complexity that may have existed in the life story of Shirdi Sai Baba. The incisive and realistic approach to the research over decades has resulted in a fine exposition that reflects Shirdi Sai Baba’s exalted life and philosophy, a life that was an unblemished study of the highest principles of non-dualism, equanimity, universal brotherhood, right action, and, meditative contemplation.

In this book, Dr Satpathy expertly balances the multiple aspects of Shirdi Sai Baba as a mystic fakir, a miracle saint and a perfect Master. Through his miracles, Shirdi Sai Baba is believed to have alleviated the distress of the people who surrendered to him, so profound and intense was his love for his devotees. However, this existence on a mundane plane in the tiny hamlet of Shirdi did not deter him from parallely exercising a consciousness at a higher realm, the realm of the ‘Jivanamukta’.

The gamut of spiritual philosophies, from Bhakti to Advaita, from mysticism to Vedanta, resonated in his teachings, which were cloaked in simple language to facilitate easy absorption by the devotees. Shirdi Sai Baba quietly worked on the minds and hearts of the devotees, holding their hands with love and patience to enable them to traverse the difficult journey from the material to the spiritual.

Dr Satpathy scans the life and times of his extraordinary Guru, Sai Baba of Shirdi, through the lens of unflinching devotion and the spirit of undaunted exploration, giving devotees and readers a narrative that becomes a reverential prayer and a ‘Parayan’, to be read in an immersive state of mind, as an offering to the Samarth Sadguru, Sai Baba of Shirdi. This work will further Dr Satpathy’s relentless service towards his Guru, by initiating more people into the timeless values and principles of the great Master Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi.