Sai Baba of Shirdi was a very a very popular yogi, Indian guru and a fakir. Both Hindu and Muslims are devotees of Sai Baba. According to Hindu devotees, he was the embodiment of Lord Dattatreya and many believe that Sai Baba was a Satguru or an enlightened Sufi. He is popular in many countries of the world; however his maximum devotees are in India.
Sai Baba of Shirdi :
Real name of Sai Baba is unknown. He got his name as ‘Sai’ on his arrival at Shirdi. There is no information available about his birth place or birth date because Baba never shared his past life with anyone.
Word ‘Sai’ is originated from Sanskrit language whose meaning is ‘Sakshat Eshwar’ and meaning of word ‘Baba’ means father or old man.
Baba had never used any luxurious things and self realization was his sole disquiet. He gave lessons of love, charity, helping others, forgiveness, inner peace and devotion to God. Teachings of Sai Baba include elements of both Hinduism and Islam. He was used to practice rituals of both Hindu and Muslims, lived in a mosque and gave it a Hindu name Dwarakamayi. He used to teach lessons based on both the religions and in the end he was buried in a Hindu temple at Shirdi.
His well known saying ‘Sabka Malik Ek’ is connected with Sufism and Islam and he always spoken ‘Allah Malik’.
There are so many leaders of Hindu religion who were the devotee of Sai Baba. Some of his followers got famous as saint or spiritual figures such as Saint Gangagir, Upasni Maharaj, Mhalsapati, Sati Godavari mataji, Saint Bidkar Maharaj, etc.
There is a temple in name of Sai Baba located at Shirdi and many people come here every year to get blessings of Sai Baba.