Faith and Patience - Essential In Sai Devotion
The core values of Sai spirituality are Shraddha (Faith) and Saburi (Patience). If one is there; other has to be present. We may not gets fruits immediately, today or tomorrow while walking on the path of devotion for which we should not get disappointed. We must take care that our love and trust should not decrease by not getting the desired results early. Our devotion should be strong enough to wait for the right time to get the results. Shraddha is the foundation of the path of devotion and Saburi is the time taken to walk on that path.
Sai Baba was a great saint and guiding force for his devotees who look for salvation. He hasade many teachings for the sake of his devotees. Among all the spiritual teachings of Sai baba, there are two principles called “Shraddha” and “Saburi”. Sai baba always looks for these two qualities in his devotees.
His philosophy ingrained Shraddha meaning faith and Saburi meaning compassion. According to him shraddha and saburi were the supreme attributes to reach the state of godliness. Baba spoke about faith and patience to Radhabai Deshmukh who had sought a mantra from Baba and had gone on to fast till Baba answered her prayers. While talking to her, Baba went on to narrate the story of his Guru and how his guru asked for Daskshina in the form of two coins- Faith and Patience.
Shraddha or devotional faith is the most difficult state of mind to achieve. If one has absolute faith in his Guru then sooner or later he will even look like the Guru with all his attributes.
Sadguru Shirdi Sai Baba often said that Shraddha (Faith / Trust) and Saburi (patience / endurance) are mines of virtues. If his devotees could develop these virtues in themselves, they will cross this ocean of worldly existence without the least trouble and easily.
Shraddha is a Sanskrit word which roughly means faith with love and reverence. Such faith or trust is generated out of conviction, which may not be the result of any rational belief or intellectual wisdom, but a spiritual inspiration. According to Sai Baba of shirdi, steadfast love in God is the gateway to eternity. To have faith in God or Sai is to install sai on the throne of our hearts. Shraddha means, to trust in the omnipotence of God and to firmly believe that God answers our prayers. A man of faith stands in firm faith of God when everyone deserts him.
“Saburi”! means patience and perseverance. Saburi is a quality needed throughout the path to reach the goal. This quality must be ingrained in a seeker from day one, least he looses his stride and leaves the path half way.
Shraddha and Saburi are not some mere words to be spoken, they have to be put into practice and become part of one’s life. One has to toil and work very hard every second to develop unswerving faith and patience in the master.
The main aim of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba was to spread the feeling of unity and brotherhood throughout the world. He preached that there is only one God, who is the master of all the human beings. God loves each and every person, irrespective of his/her vices or virtues. Similarly, we should also love each other, irrespective of the religion, caste, creed, etc.
We must have to trust that God is there. If you want to worship the shining Sun then you must have a patience to wait till the night is over. If you want to see the bright sky then you must have patience to wait till the dark clouds disappear. And if you want to enjoy the victory you must have patience to contest the competition. First if you have faith in yourself then only you could have faith in Sai (God).
Contributed by: Shikha Mishra
