Of all the religions in the world, Hinduism presents the largest
number of energy-forms known as ‘Devas’ and ‘Devtas’. An ‘Ishta’ or
the desired deity is the one to be worshipped mainly besides others.
There are thirty-three crores of such energy forms. Every Hindu,
therefore, worships a number of them. The important five prescribed
are known as the ‘Panchdevtas’. They are Shiva, Vishnu, Surya,
Ganesh and Hanuman. Again there are ‘Adhi-Devtas’. Most of the
people, it is found, are not clear as to which ones and how many of
these deities have to be worshipped, and for what purpose. As a
result, they visit different temples, carry on worship of one deity
or the other on the prescription of the Pandit, and lack in focusing
their thought on one form or on the qualities of that form. At
times, the roles of some of these deities seem to be cutting-across
those of others. To add to this problem is the method of worship
varying widely in various parts of the country and abroad, and there
is a certain amount of assertiveness among various groups, sects
following different paths. An ordinary Hindu finds it difficult to
cope with this situation.
Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and
Buddhism do not have these problems. The devotees in these religions
only have to focus on the preaching of the divine incarnations that
created their religion and pray to the Almighty. In some of these
religions there have been followers of the main incarnation who
interpreted the roles and preachings of these religions.
Incarnations, have been born from time to time, to reestablish a
society in the process of moral degeneration. The activities of the
incarnations reveal that their divine activities go through a
certain process. Leaving aside the exception of Lord Krishna, whose
divine activities started even before and immediately after His
birth, in case of others the earlier parts of their lives went
through certain amount of trials and tribulations. At times, such
trials and tribulations have been extremely strenuous, but the
incarnations have overcome them. The initial stage is self
experiential for them - God in human form experiencing Himself.
During that period some of the other spiritual souls who are already
born or taken birth during the period of the incarnation also
undergo certain amount of such experience. At a predetermined point
of time, under the leadership of the incarnation a crisis gets
precipitated, often in the form of war. As a result, the evil forces
History of Hinduism in terms of Ramayan, Mahabharat, Muslim
religion in terms of wars conducted by Prophet Mohammed; Sikhism in
terms of activities of the Sikh Gurus, particularly Guru Gobind
Singh, are a pointer towards such role. Thus, destruction is as much
a divine role as creation. After this powerful action of destruction
of evils a new order or society is established based on principles
of Dharma (rules of balanced sustenance), and thereafter the
incarnations leave the human body.
An incarnation, even after He has left His human embodiment, one
aspect of His mission continues in which He guides people in a
subtler form. That is the role of Sadguru. Sri Krishna as an
incarnation changed the social order through Mahabharat but
thereafter, His role remains till today as a ‘Sadguru’ in Geeta.
While following Geeta millions of Hindus are following the path laid
down by the Sadguru aspect of Sri Krishna. Similarly, through Bible,
Koran, Guru Grantha Saheb, Christ, Prophet Mohammed and the Sikh
Masters continue their divine roles. The followers of these
religions don’t worship numerous deities, they only pray to God, the
Almighty and follow the path prescribed by the Prophets or Sadgurus
and their preachings. Search of God, search of self and peace need
not necessarily be a difficult or complicated process. The
Incarnations/Sadgurus have always tried to offer the simplest path
The easiest way to spiritual evolution is:
- to believe that the Sadguru is the divine incarnation to
lead people towards temporal and spiritual development.
- to follow the path laid down by him, as reflected in his
earthly conduct and preachings.
- to understand that no man however he strives, can evolve in
the spiritual field beyond a certain limit without the help and
kindness of a Sadguru. Even incarnations like Sri Krishna and
Sri Rama, in the process of experiencing the God state in them,
had to be helped by Sandeepani and Vasishta, the Sadgurus of
- to focus the entire spiritual consciousness on the Sadgurus,
both in Sakara(formed) or Nirakar(formless), and worship them.
- to believe that the Guru is the repositor of all divine
powers and therefore, He alone should be made the mainstay of
one’s life. All needs, worries and questions should be projected
Experience has shown that the people devoted to Sadgurus, evolve
faster in the spiritual field than those following other methods,
because such devotees believe in surrender to divinity which is the
ultimate requirement for spiritual evolution.
Every devotee of Shirdi Sai, therefore, on this New Year, should
decide whether he wants to hold Baba as his ‘Ishta’ - the only one
to be prayed, worshipped and called in time of need. Personally, for
me Sri Sai is the only one and the ultimate. I don’t seek anything
from elsewhere. Who would like to join me?