Shirdi Sai : A Talkathon Testimony

Shirdi Sai, a mini epic in verse offers my engagement with Sai. It is an attempt to inwardise him. He is seen in the Phakar Fakir tradition, the oldest tradition of mysticism still vibrant in India. In the Fakir tradition spirituality transcends institutions, religions, and cults, though a cult in course of time crystallizes around a fakir. Shirdi cult now is not just Pan-India but has appeared in foreign shores. The cult is sustained in Shirdi’s case by the devotion of millions and their experiences of his help and intervention in their lives for material weal and spiritual transformation. In many places in the waxing poem comparisons have crept in with Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Buddha, Krishnamurti, Kabir. The comparisons are contextual and show how being a Fakir he is different. Comparative nuance should not read judgmentally. The poem is a response of a poet, a maverick testimony.