Sai Baba: Is He Man or God? Or, Does It Matter?

Sai Baba is fighting for his life in a hospital in India. Though he has shown some improvement in recent days, the 85-year old guru may be deep into his last days. He is considered by some to be a god. In Chennai, every Monday evening, just after sundown, there’s a group of his devotees that gathers just outside my window to chant and pray by flickering candlelight and the smell of incense.

Sai started out by performing magic tricks for audiences. He lost followers when he started calling himself ‘God’. They said, not even Jesus referred to himself as ‘God’. But, at the same time, his admirers only grew in number.

I love the Indian greeting: One brings one’s hands together and bows slightly. “Namaste”, one says. It means, “I recognize the God within you.” To me, it makes no sense to quantify God and to assign to it a specific place (within the body) in terms of ‘how much God’ and ‘where’ specifically. If there is God and He is within someone, that someone is essentially God. Let him (or her) be God, or not be God. It makes no difference. (I recommend R. K. Narayan’s delightful novel ‘The Guide’ for an insight into how a common man can become holy in India.)

An awareness of God – or transcendence – comes about when experiencing something that touches one – a U2 or Phil Collins concert; a good play; love; the birth of one’s child; a church service, complete with organ music …or silence.

When I write, I seek a responsive chord within you. When anyone writes, it is to give shape to a truth and putting a frame around it (even while recognizing that the truth cannot be captured by mere words). It’s called ‘inspiration’. It matters not whether you agree or disagree. If you should disagree, it simply means that you have found a better way of saying it - or not saying it at all. There is no sin in that. In fact, I would commend you. I am under no illusion that what I or anyone else says is necessarily the best way of saying anything. The best one can hope for is to remain consistent.

The point is that Sai Baba spoke to millions and they felt uplifted by it. And that, in my book, makes him a God.

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