Soul n Peace

The methods used by Shri Sai to completely transform Kashinath Sastri, the pain taken by him to protect the neophyte and the assurance with which he grew this unsure and confused disciple to the state of a Perfect Master, would indicate where in the spiritual hierarchy of this world Shri Sai remains.

Sai Baba, a personification of spiritual perfection and an epitome of compassion, lived in the little village of Shirdi in the state of Maharashtra (India) for sixty years. Like most of the perfect saints he left no authentic record of his birth and early life before arriving at Shirdi. In fact, in the face of his spiritual brilliance such queries do not have much relevance.

Born in Dehu village eighteen miles away from Pune, Tuka or Tukaram (c. 1598-1649 A.D.) is the most popular saint of Maharashtra. His parents were poor agriculturists of Maratha community but of pious and charitable nature.

India has had a deeply developed caste system for centuries. Artificial social differences between humans has existed in the country as of higher and lower castes. But people at large, believed that certain persons who led a pure and virtuous life and constantly engaged in the supreme effort of realization of God were above the caste and creed. These were venerated as saints and highly respected.

Radhasoami is the Supreme Being who appeared in the world as Sant Satguru, the perfect saint and guru, who taught the practice of Surat Sabda Yoga, the yoga or union of the surat, soul, with the sabda, the spirit-current or word. The guru imparts in secret to individuals and small groups the religious exercises, sadhanani, which are occult, Theosophical, and Hindu Tantric in origin.

Hazrat Inayat Khan was a Sufi teacher from India who started "The Sufi Order in the West" (now called the Sufi Order International) in the early part of the 20th century. Though his family background was Muslim, he was also steeped in the Sufi notion that all religions have their value and place in human evolution.

Gopi Krishna was an office worker and spiritual seeker from Kashmir who was born in 1903, and wrote autobiographical accounts of his spiritual experiences. One famous one is Kundalini: Path to Higher Consciousness.Two unlikely events led him to the practice of yoga. First, his father renounced the world to lead a religious life leaving his twenty-eight year old mother with the responsibility of raising him and his two sisters. His mother as a result pinned all her hopes for success on her only son.

The great poet saint Meera, though a historical personage made only too obviously of flesh and blood, has always been regarded somewhat as a mobile miracle more than anything else. Most accounts of her life are extraordinarily free of any connection with reality, except occasionally by accident. Since she is one of the great poets of the National language Hindi,

Born in 1270, Namadeva is an attractive figure, not just for his poetical compositions, the abhangas, in which he had few rivals, but also for the fact that his saintliness was not innate but acquired after many trials and slips when confronted with the ways of the world. This was no pious and pompous saint, doling out prescriptions and condemnations for those whose flesh was weak, for he himself had endured the mortification of seeing his good intentions defeated by the urges of the body.

Meher Baba was born in Pune, Maharashtra, on February 25, 1894 to Persian parents. While all his devotees call him 'Meher Baba', his real name was actually Merwan Shehariarji Irani. His father was a spiritual minded man and it is from him that he drew spiritual inspiration. His father spent a major part of his life wandering in the jungles in search of a higher spiritual experience.