Sai Baba of Shirdi

Sai Baba of Shirdi (28 September 1835 – 15 October 1918; resided in Shirdi), also known as Shirdi Sai Baba, is an Indian spiritual master who is regarded by his devotees as a saint, fakir, and satguru, according to their individual proclivities and beliefs. He was revered by both his Hindu and Muslim devotees, and during, as well as after, his life it remained uncertain if he was a Hindu or a Muslim. This, however, was of no consequence to Sai Baba. He stressed the importance of surrender to the true Satguru or Murshid, who, having gone the path to divine consciousness, will lead the disciple through the jungle of spiritual training.

Sai Baba is worshipped by people around the world. He had no love for perishable things and his sole concern was self-realization. He taught a moral code of love, forgiveness, helping others, charity, contentment, inner peace, and devotion to God and guru. He gave no distinction based on religion or caste. Sai Baba's teaching combined elements of Hinduism and Islam: he gave the Hindu name Dwarakamayi to the mosque in which he lived, practised Muslim rituals, taught using words and figures that drew from both traditions, and was buried in Shirdi. One of his well known epigrams, "Sabka Malik Ek" ("One God governs all"), is associated with Hinduism, Islam and Sufism. He also said, "Trust in me and your prayer shall be answered". He always uttered "Allah Malik" ("God is King").

Shirdi Sai

Shirdi Sai (Telugu: షిర్డీ సాయి) is a 2012 Tollywood hagiographical film, produced by A.Mahesh Reddy on AMR Sai Krupa Entertainments banner, directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. Starring Akkineni Nagarjuna as the 19th - 20th century spiritual guru Shirdi Sai Baba who lived in western India, it is the cinematic depiction of his landmark life episodes and music was composed by M. M. Keeravani. The music was composed by M. M. Keeravani. Shirdi Sai was released worldwide on 6 September 2012, and has received mixed to positive reviews while Nagarjuna received universal critical acclaim for his performance in the titular role with most reviewers hailing this as one of his career best performances. The film was declared as a Hit at box-office.

Plot

Shirdi Sai (Nagarjuna) appears in Shirdi at an early age and disappears. He goes to the Himalayas and returns to Shirdi after a gap of 9 years. He chooses a dilapidated mosque as his abode. Amazed by his presence and miracles, the local people start calling him Sai Baba. He kept helping people around and spreading communal harmony by saying that there is only one God. Certain local people are suspicious of Sai Baba after they learn about his greatness over a period of time. The rest of the story is all about what Sai Baba did to make Shirdi the only pilgrimage for people of all religions and about he entering Samadhi.

Shirdi

Shirdi  pronunciation  (Marathi: शिर्डी) is a town and falls under the jurisdiction of municipal council popularly known as Shirdi Nagar Panchayat, located in Rahata Taluka (Sub-division) in Ahmednagar District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is accessible via the Ahmednagar - Manmad State Highway No.10, approximately 83 km from Ahmednagar and 15 km from Kopargaon. It is located 185 km east of the Western Seashore line (the Ahmednagar - Manmad road), which is a very busy route. Shirdi is best known as the late 19th century home of the popular guru Shirdi Sai Baba. It is one of the richest temple organisations.

Demographics

As of the 2011 India census, the population of Shirdi stood at 36,004. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Shirdi has an average literacy rate of 70%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 76%, and female literacy is 62%. In Shirdi, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age. But, Shirdi being a pilgrimage centre, it also has a large amount of floating population. On any given day some 25,000 devotees come for darshan. On holidays the number reaches to about half a million people. Due to easy availability of jobs, a lot of migrant population, mainly of unskilled labourers from Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana etc. also reside here.

Shirdi (Vidhan Sabha constituency)

Shirdi Vidhan Sabha constituency (Marathi: शिर्डी विधानसभा मतदारसंघ) is one of the 288 Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) constituencies of Maharashtra state in Western India.

Overview

Shirdi (constituency number 218) is one of the twelve Vidhan Sabha constituencies located in the Ahmednagar district. It comprises part of Rahata tehsil and part of the Sangamner tehsil of the district.

Shirdi is part of the Shirdi Lok Sabha constituency along with five other Vidhan Sabha segments in this district, namely Akole, Sangamner, Kopargaon, Shrirampur and Nevasa.

Members of Legislative Assembly

See also

References

Shirdi (Lok Sabha constituency)

Shirdi Lok Sabha constituency (Marathi: शिर्डी लोकसभा मतदारसंघ) is one of the 48 Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian parliament) constituencies of Maharashtra state in western India. This constituency was created on 19 February 2008 as a part of the implementation of the Presidential notification based on the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission of India constituted on 12 July 2002. This constituency is one of the two Lok Sabha constituencies in Ahmednagar district. It first held elections in 2009 and its first member of parliament (MP) was Bhausaheb Rajaram Wakchaure of Shiv Sena. As of the 2014 elections, its current MP is Sadashiv Lokhande also of Shiv Sena.

Assembly segments

Presently, Shirdi Lok Sabha constituency comprises six Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly) segments. These segments are:

Members of Parliament

Key

  Shiv Sena  

Election results

General election 2009

General election 2014

See also