Baba’s Siddhis, Their Origin, and Their Use
How Baba’s water-to-oil miracle and his refusal to revive the dead explain the use of siddhis.
Sai BabaDevotee experienceVolume 4
The chapter
After returning to Shirdi with Chand Bhai Patel’s marriage party, Baba had nowhere of his own. Mahlsapathy would not let the young fakir stay in Kandoba’s temple because he believed Baba was a Muslim. Baba then stayed under the Margosa tree near his Guru’s tomb and later entered the dilapidated mosque.
The oil merchants refused Baba’s request for oil and falsely said that they had none. Baba washed the last oil from the tin with water, drank the mixture, filled the mosque lamps with water and lit them. The lamps burned through the night.
The author compares this act with siddhis described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the Eleventh Skanda of the Srimad Bhagavata. Baba was not seeking fame as a magician. He concentrated on Allah and his Guru, lived without possessions and kept powers concealed because using them for earthly desires distracted the mind from God.
Kaka Dixit once begged Baba to revive a boy who had died after snakebite. Baba said that he could bring the soul back, but that doing so would interfere with its karma. The power was present, yet Baba refused to use it merely to satisfy grief. A Sadguru, the author concludes, may possess siddhis and still use them only for the devotee’s real welfare.
Editorial note: This page is a concise paraphrase for web presentation and does not reproduce the complete chapter. Please consult the original PDF for the full account and wording.