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Saibaba had no formal name, no family to which his origins could be traced and no ancestry to which he
can be recognized. He left no Order, no direct supporter and has no manifestation. Most importantly, he
also did not limit himself to either of the two predominant religions of the times, Hinduism and Islam. His
life is thus only one of its kind.
The simple public of Shirdi surprised who this young teenager was who sat under the tree in deep
meditation. It was the interest and concern of Bayajabai, wife of Kote Patil the village chief, that made
her occasionally enquire after his welfare, and soon she started bringing food for him. Thus grew a bond
between Sai and Bayajabai, which took on shades of mother-son relation.
The village priest, Mhalsapati, was often possessed by Lord Khandoba (Kuteenagerevta of the region)
and once while in a daydream, he expressed that there was a holy spirit amongst them, pointing to the
young teenager. The young yogi pointed to the tree and said, dig under it. The villagers did as they were
told. There, under layers of earth, was a stone wedge, under which was a room where a set of oil lamps
burned. There was no air, no oil supply underground, then how did this happen? A rosary and a
goumukhi kamandal (cow-mouth shaped vessel) too was found in the same area, on a wooden seat. All
this recognized that this was indeed the place of meditation of a great soul.
The teenager clarified that this was the place where his guru of previous manifestation had done tapaya
(penance) and hence this was his guru's sthan (abode). He further instructed the fascinated villagers
that instead of worshipping him, they should worship this place and leave it untouched, never to be
opened again. Till today, the neem tree sprouting Gurusthan is a first-stop on a pilgrimage to Shirdi and
the except bitter leaves of neem are sweet here.
Having established the holiness of this place, Saibaba left Shirdi, only to return many years later in a
wedding party. The tribal chief of Dhoop village, a Muslim called Chand Patil, roamed miserable at having
lost his stallion. In his search, he passed a fakeer, who asked him why he looked so sad. On hearing of
his loss, the mendicant, who was none other than Saibaba, told him to look for his mare along the
riverbank. Patil said that he had just come that way and seen nothing. On being told to look again, a
distressed Patil did so and to his delight, found his mare nibbling by the riverbank. Pleased he went to
the mendicant to thank him. Baba was then in the process of preparing his chillum (clay pipe) and was
looking for water to wet the cloth for his pipe. Finding none, he just struck the ground with his satka
(short stick) and water came gushing! Next, Baba looked for fire to light his pipe and hitting his satka
again, up came a flame to light his pipe. Baba offered Chand Patil a smoke and at this point, seeing all
these miracles, Patil was beyond himself and fell at the feet of this great soul. Realizing Baba was an
aulia (one who answers prayers and is a saintly guide as per Islamic traditions), Patil requested him to
come home, so he could return some of his kindness with hospitality. Thus, Baba came to Shirdi again as
a baraati, or an honoured member of the groom's family.
Sai was walking towards the Khandoba temple when the priest Mhalsapati welcomed him with the
words Ya (Aao) Sai! But as Sai was about to enter the temple, Mhalsapati got agitated that a fakeer, a
Muslim mendicant, was defiling a Hindu temple by entering it. Such was the rigidity of religious customs
and practices those days that lines between the two communities were drawn rather tightly and
without reason. Sai stopped but questioned the priest, saying God has created us all, so why should
such distinctions be drawn? Having stated what he set out to, Sai started walking back but Chand Patil
took affront to this treatment and asked why had they insulted his aulia? For Chand Patil, as head of
another village and head of the wedding-party, to give this place of honour to Sai meant Shirdi and its
denizens too had to be respectful to him.
Mhalsapati then realised that he had met the man many years ago as the young teenager of sixteen
who sat under t he neem tree. Sai was now about twenty. Mhalsapati then remembered he was
"possessed" by Lord Khandoba when he had first met Sai, and how Sai had helped establish the
sacredness of gurusthan. Realising Sai's greatness, he fell at his feet asking to be pardoned. He
welcomed him and insisted Sai stay in Shirdi. Never to return to Dhoop. Sai stayed in Shirdi for another
sixty years, till his mahasamadhi in 1918. Prior to making an old masjid his home in Shirdi, he lived in a
nearby place called Takia, where he often used to dance in delight with small ghungroos (bells) tied on
his ankles.
Hemadpant records that nobody knew of Sai's parents, birth or birth-place. Many a times enquiries
were made and questions asked of Baba and others, but no clear or satisfactory answer ever marked.
By one account, he was said to have been born to a Brahmin couple who gave the child away to a Sufi
saint, Roshan Shah, for upbringing. But this is not substantiated. Saints like Namdev and Kabir were in
the same league; none knew of their birth since they were found as infants in shells. Namdev was
found on the bank of Bhimrathi River by Gonayi, and Kabir on the bank of Bhagirathi River. Sai was
"found" in Shirdi. In keeping with the Bhakti trend widespread at the time, it seems Saibaba was an
successor of the ethnicity of Maharashtra.
