Origins

Little is known of the early years of Sai Baba of Shirdi. Even his name is unknown as Sai Baba is not an appellation in the usual sense. Sai is a term of Persian origin, usually attributed to Muslim ascetics, meaning holy one or saint. Baba, on the other hand, is a Hindi term attributed to respected seniors and holy men, and literally means "father". So the etymology of Sai Baba means "holy father", "saintly father".

To the question, "Baba, who are you? From where did you come?" he replied: "I am the Attributeless, Absolute, Nirguna. I have no name, no residence. He would also say the following: "I am Parvardigar (God). I live at Shirdi and everywhere. My age is lakhs of years. My business is to give blessings. All things are mine. I give everything to everyone. I am in Gangapur, Pandharpur, and in all places. I am in every bit of the globe. All the universe is in Me".

From a dualistic point of view, he would say: "I got embroiled by karma, and came in a body. So I got a name and an abode. The Dehi, that is, the embodied, is my name; and the world is my abode. Brahman is my father and Maya is my mother. As they are interlocked, I got this body. The world is evanescent, mutable."

Sai Baba, from his very first appearance and throughout his life was commonly identified as a Muslim. The name Sai contributes largely to this.The main resons for Sai's indentification as a Muslim ascetic, at least in the beginning, were two: his dress style and the words he uttered not in Marathi or Hindi, but were Persian or Arabic. The few photographs and haiography tell us that Sai used to wear a long white robe, called kafni (or kaphan), and a white cloth around his head in the style of Muslim ascetics. Moreover, the term Sai Baba used for referring to himself was invariably faqir. This word, which literally means "a poor man" is commonly applied to Muslim mendicants who wander about subsisting on alms.

Mhalsapathi, perhaps Sai Baba's closest devotee in the early days, stated that Sai Baba had told him that he was a Brahmin from the village of Pathri, who had been en""