Baba’s Earliest Period
The early setting and circumstances that shaped the public story of Sai Baba.
Sai BabaSpiritual studyVolume 1
The chapter
Very little is known with certainty about Sai Baba’s birth or parentage. Villagers remembered that he appeared at Shirdi as a striking, solitary boy, without a moustache and without any known family or worldly connections. He came and went in his early years, often sitting beneath the neem tree, wandering through the fields and living like a fakir who had no fixed home or interest in possessions.
From mystery to a life of renunciation
One of Baba’s later returns to Shirdi was connected with the wedding procession of Chand Bhai Patel, a wealthy village headman from Dhupkeda. After this period, apart from a short stay away and occasional visits to nearby villages, Baba remained at Shirdi for the rest of his life. When people questioned him about his parents, he usually answered in symbolic or puzzling language, saying that his father was Purusha and his mother Maya or Prakriti.
Late in life he told Mahlsapathy that his parents had been Brahmins from Patri, but that, as a small child, he had been given into the care of a fakir. This account helps explain the unusual meeting of Hindu and Muslim influences in Baba’s life, while leaving much of his earthly biography deliberately veiled.
The making of a spiritual life
After the fakir died, Baba was placed under the care of Gopal Rao Deshmukh of Selu, whom Baba later called Venkusa. Deshmukh was a powerful rural chieftain but also a deeply devout worshipper of Lord Venkatesa. The young Baba stayed close to him in the garden, during worship, in the fields and in public affairs. Though he received little book learning, he absorbed an education in devotion, self-control, truthfulness, generosity and service.
The chapter recounts the extraordinary influence of Venkusa: his courage before a spirit, his uncompromising purity, his repentance after a momentary impure thought, and his healing power through prayer. These episodes explain how the qualities of the Guru—chastity, rectitude, compassion and spiritual strength—were formed in Baba.
The Guru’s final gift
When jealous retainers tried to injure Baba with brickbats, Venkusa protected him and was struck instead. Knowing that his own departure was near, the Guru prepared to transfer his spiritual power to the young disciple. He asked Baba to bring milk from a barren black cow; after Venkusa touched it, the cow yielded milk, which Baba received with the Guru’s blessing. When the attacker died, Venkusa directed the men to seek Baba’s help, and Baba revived him with dust from the Guru’s feet.
Venkusa then left his body at the hour he had foretold, in full consciousness and surrounded by worship. His final gesture directed Baba westward. Baba gradually travelled from Selu to Shirdi, carrying with him the living spiritual inheritance of his Guru.
What this account invites us to reflect on
Baba’s obscure beginnings are presented not as an absence of meaning but as the setting for a life shaped by renunciation, service and Guru-bhakti. The chapter links the mystery of his origins with the visible qualities he later embodied at Shirdi.
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.