page_title: Sai Baba of Shirdi
section_title: Early years
hierarchical_section_title: Sai Baba of Shirdi / Early years
caption_attribution_description: English: Sai Baba of Shirdi with devotees (abdullah and others), sitting on the steps of his mosque Dwarakamai
context_page_description: Sai Baba of Shirdi, also known as Shirdi Sai Baba, was an Indian spiritual master who is regarded by his devotees to be a manifestation of Sri Dattaguru and identified as saint & a fakir. He is revered by both his Hindu and Muslim devotees during, as well as after his lifetime.
  According to accounts from his life, he preached the importance of realization of the self and criticized love towards perishable things. His teachings concentrate on a moral code of love, forgiveness, helping others, charity, contentment, inner peace and devotion to the God and guru. He stressed the importance of surrender to the true Satguru, who, having trod the path to divine consciousness, will lead the disciple through the jungle of spiritual training.
  Sai Baba also condemned distinction based on religion or caste. It remains unclear if he was a Muslim or a Hindu. This, however, was of no consequence to Sai Baba. His teachings combined elements of Hinduism and Islam: he gave the Hindu name Dwarakamayi to the mosque in which he lived, practised both Hindu and Muslim rituals, taught using words and figures that drew from both traditions and took samadhi in Shirdi.
context_section_description: Although Sai Baba's origins are unknown, some indications exist that suggest that he was born not far from Shirdi. Historical researches into genealogies in Shirdi give support to the theory that Baba could have been born with the name Haribhau Bhusari. Baba was notorious for giving vague, misleading and contradictory replies to questions concerning his parentage and origins, brusquely stating the information was unimportant. He had reportedly stated to a close follower, Mahalsapati, that he has been born of Deshastha Brahmin parents in the village of Pathri and had been entrusted into the care of a fakir in his infancy. On another occasion, Baba reportedly said that the fakir's wife had left him in the care of a Hindu guru, Venkusa of Selu and that he had stayed with Venkusa for 12 years as his disciple. This dichotomy has given rise to two major theories regarding Baba's background, with the majority of writers supporting the Hindu background over the Islamic, while others combine both theories (that Sai Baba was first brought up by a fakir and then by a guru).
  Baba reportedly arrived at the village of Shirdi in the Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra, India, when he was about sixteen years old. Although there is no agreement among biographers about the date of this event, it is generally accepted that Baba stayed in Shirdi for three years, disappeared for a year and returned permanently around 1858, just after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. This posits a possible birth year of 1838. He led an ascetic life, sitting motionless under a neem tree and meditating while sitting in an asana. The Sai Satcharita recounts the reaction of the villagers
  The people of the village were wonder-struck to see such a young lad practicing hard penance, not minding heat or cold. By day he associated with no one, by night he was afraid of nobody.
   His presence attracted the curiosity of the villagers and the religiously-inclined, such as Mahalsapati, Appa Jogle and Kashinatha, regularly visited him, while others such as the village children considered him mad and threw stones at him. After some time he left the village and it is unknown where he stayed at that time or what happened to him. However, there are some indications that he met with many saints and fakirs and worked as a weaver; he claimed to have fought with the army of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
caption: Sai Baba (right) and some of his devotees at Dwarakamai, his own temple.
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