Sai Baba and the Future of Religion

The chapter

India’s religious future depends, in the author’s view, on bringing Hinduism and Islam into a relationship that does not destroy either faith. Earlier conflicts had damaged social and political unity, so a religion of the future must begin with the fact that both communities belong to India.

Akbar attempted such a union through the idea that one God should be worshipped by people of different religions in a common spirit. He called the experiment Din Ilahi. The author draws the conclusion that every religion must be God’s religion and that God has no exclusive religious label.

Baba applied the principle without forcing a new creed. When Bade Baba brought a convert and announced that the man had changed to Islam, Baba struck the convert and asked, “Have you changed your father?” Baba opposed changing external religion by compulsion. He wanted the heart to change—to lose sinful and brutal habits and move toward God.

Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Parsis came to Baba. He lived in a mosque, accepted Hindu worship and allowed different communities to meet around him. “Live and let live,” freedom to approach God in one’s own form, and conversion of the heart rather than the label are the practical foundations the author finds in Baba’s example.

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.