Eleven Sayings of Sai Babaसाईं बाबा के ग्यारह वचन

The eleven sayings of Sai Baba, known in Hindi as the एकादश वचन or ग्यारह वचन, are eleven assurances that devotees hold dear as Baba's promise to all who turn to him. They speak of Shirdi, of his Samadhi, of his presence after he left the body, and of the care he gives to those who take refuge in him. Many devotees recite them every Thursday, after the aarti, or whenever they feel anxious.

Sai Baba left no writings of his own. According to publications of the Shri Saibaba Sansthan at Shirdi, these assurances were put into Marathi by the devotee Mohaniraj Pandit, and the English and Hindi forms in common use come from that tradition. The Hindi version below is the rhyming one sung in homes and temples across North India. Its lines follow the same eleven ideas, though the wording is a free poetic rendering rather than a literal translation.

The eleven sayings in Hindi

Transliteration

Meaning of each saying

1. Whoever comes to Shirdi

Whoever sets foot on the soil of Shirdi will find their troubles driven away. Devotees understand this both literally, as the blessing of pilgrimage, and inwardly: to come to Shirdi is to come to Baba with an open heart, wherever one lives.

2. The steps of the Samadhi

Those who climb the steps of his Samadhi leave their sorrows beneath their feet. The Samadhi Mandir at Shirdi, where Baba's body rests, is seen by devotees as a living place of grace, not a memorial.

3. "I will come running"

Even after leaving the body, Baba says, he will hurry to the side of his devotees. This is one of the most loved assurances, and many devotees' accounts describe help arriving at the moment it was needed.

4. Firm faith

Keep steady faith in the heart, and the Samadhi will fulfil one's hopes. Here the stress is on Shraddha, the first of Baba's two great words, and on the trust that every sincere prayer is heard.

5. Know me as ever living

Know him to be always alive, and recognise this truth through experience. Baba points beyond belief to personal experience: the devotee is invited to find his presence in daily life.

6. No one goes back empty

If anyone who came to his refuge went away empty-handed, let them come and tell him. It is a gentle challenge that expresses his complete confidence in the guru's care.

7. As the feeling, so the form

Whatever feeling a person brings, in that form Baba responds. Devotees have seen him as Rama, Krishna, Shiva, Dattatreya or as a Muslim fakir, and this saying explains why: he meets each person in the way that person's heart can understand.

8. Your burden is mine

Your burden will rest on him, and his word will never prove false. This saying asks the devotee to lay down worry, while still doing their own duty, and to trust the guru with the rest.

9. Ask and receive help

Come and take help in full measure; what you ask for is not far away. Devotees read it as an invitation to pray openly and with confidence, accepting with Saburi (patience) whatever the guru knows is best.

10. One who is absorbed in me

To one who is absorbed in him in word, mind and body, he remains forever in debt. The guru, Baba says, never forgets wholehearted surrender.

11. Blessed is the devotee

Blessed, twice blessed, is the single-minded devotee who has no refuge other than him. The last saying praises ananya bhakti, devotion that looks to no one else.

How devotees use the eleven sayings

• They are often recited after the Thursday puja and aarti, and during the nine Thursdays of the Sai Baba vrat.
• Many homes and shops keep a framed card of the eleven sayings beside Baba's picture.
• Some devotees read one saying each morning and keep its thought through the day.
• They are sung as a short bhajan, especially in North Indian Sai temples.

The sayings are best read as words of reassurance and as a guide to faith and surrender, in the spirit of Baba's wider teachings. They are not a promise of any particular worldly result, and devotees are encouraged to keep doing their own work and duties with honesty.