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Should we allow these questions about Shirdi Sai Baba and his teachings on this site?

Also, in general, if a group of Hindus start following a new guru (of Hindu origin or not), do questions about the new guru automatically become on-topic for this site?

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    Also, in general, if a group of Hindus start following a new guru (of Hindu origin or not), do questions about the new guru automatically become on-topic for this site? -- That we will see when they start ..
    – Rickross
    Mar 13, 2019 at 6:08

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Shirdi Sai Baba was a very very revered saint who has been respected by many aspirants and tapasvins of different religions. His idol or image has been consecrated in many hindu temples.

He never preached anything that goes against any sect or religion and guided many hindu aspirants towards realisation. One who realised the Truth and can take others to that goal is beyond the boundaries of any religion and can so no question on his life and teaching should be off-topic for any site on hinduism which has always been inclusive for thousands of years.

If someone is not interested, he or she can easily avoid reading the answers.

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    'His idol or image has been consecrated in many hindu temples' - if you go by temples, there are temples for some Indian actors and politicians also.
    – Say No To Censorship
    Mar 13, 2019 at 14:51
  • @sv. so what? First I have mentioned that He has been accepted by many saints like Ganjananda Maharaj.And second, God is in every being and anyone is free to worship Him as Guru. This can not be comoared in anyway with worshipping of actors and politicians.
    – user17294
    Mar 13, 2019 at 15:01
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    I'm just saying having a temple cannot be a criteria as you can make that argument for any popular Indian actor or politician also. 'has been respected by many aspirants and tapasvins of different religions' - this too I don't think can be a criteria. BTW, I've asked a similar question on Jiddu Krishnamurti here.
    – Say No To Censorship
    Mar 13, 2019 at 16:14
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    @sv. krishnamurthy was an intellectual and not a saint
    – user17294
    Mar 13, 2019 at 16:17
  • Ok, but do you think Jiddu Krishnamurti questions are on-topic for the site? What is the deciding factor? No. of followers? Temples? Has to be a saint/avatar?
    – Say No To Censorship
    Mar 13, 2019 at 16:19
  • @sv. i mentioned i personally value the opinion of the saints the most and my list ends with Sri Mohanananda Brahmachari.
    – user17294
    Mar 13, 2019 at 16:21
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    You think indian actors, politicians and Shirdi Sai Baba, who is revered by so many Hindus as a Saint, are the same? You are so innocent @sv.
    – Rickross
    Mar 14, 2019 at 11:13
  • @Rickross you nailed it!
    – Agamas Tantras
    Mar 14, 2019 at 11:25
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    I don't think they are same but the basis/criteria is the same. I've nothing against Sai Baba or his followers or someone who wants to build a temple for a politician and start conducting pujas daily. People are free to pray to whoever they want. I'm simply asking, is that a good enough reason for the personality to be accepted as a topic on this site. @Rickross
    – Say No To Censorship
    Mar 14, 2019 at 19:02
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In my opinion, questions related to Sai Baba or Satya Sai Baba or any other Guru of present days should not be allowed on the site as we give answers based on the scriptures being neutral and not being a follower. However, regarding these saints of today, the books available are generally published by themselves or their trusts which are already followers so these are full of their praises and sometime unverified stories too. So due to non availability of real authentic scriptures it will be really hard to give answers and verify answers for them. If authentic source books are available then we might consider giving answers from there.

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  • How do you define 'present days'? What are the authentic books? Some Purana brands Adi Shankaracharya a cheater, Madhvacharya an incarnation of Vatapi, .are these authentic because they are old?
    – user17294
    Mar 13, 2019 at 8:35
  • @Partha Present days or whatever days but we should be referencing only the vedas, puranas, upnishad, etc major authentic books only. In case of any Guru if there is any mention in these books then that should be referenced. I am not in favour of the new books as most of them are published by the 1st person (Gurus) or 2nd person (their followers) only and are for popularizing the Guru. I myself have read some of such books and they are full of praises and stories from followers which seriously looks like a pure advertisement.
    – Aby
    Mar 13, 2019 at 9:04
  • In sometime (even today also it happens) people will start claiming these Gurus to be Incarnations or Gods and then while referencing these books in our answers, our answers will also be no less than another advertisement for them
    – Aby
    Mar 13, 2019 at 9:06
  • I agree with you about the current gurus. My point is that Shirdi Sai Baba was a saint respected by many other saints and if some later gurus who did not get any recognition from any saints are gettìng so much exposure and being quoted so often, there is no harm is accepting Shirdi Sai Baba. And question about Avatarhood of any individual should be avoided according to me as thats a matter of belief of his/her followers alone.
    – user17294
    Mar 13, 2019 at 9:14
  • Do we have any authentic book about Sai Baba which most of the followers believe in.? If yes then may be we can base our answers from that else some people will be referencing one book while others another book and answers will no longer be correctly verifiable.
    – Aby
    Mar 13, 2019 at 9:22
  • I have read about him in bengali books like 'bharater sadhak' etc. Unfortunately most such books are not available online and so excluding them would cause missing a huge body of informations/wisdom.
    – user17294
    Mar 13, 2019 at 9:24
  • I think you are answering this question " Are Sai Baba's teachings considered valid as sources in answers?" but the question here is "Are questions about Sai Baba on or off-topic?" @Aby
    – Rickross
    Mar 13, 2019 at 10:25
  • @Rickross No I am trying to put my points regarding the question asked here ie 'Also, in general, if a group of Hindus start following a new guru (of Hindu origin or not), do questions about the new guru automatically become on-topic for this site?'. The question starts with Sai Baba but then moves focus to other current/future Gurus, so I am trying to convey a situation wherein if we allow questions about Sai Baba for whom we don't have records in our Hindu scriptures, then we have to open way for questions to other present/future Gurus which will make answers non verifiable
    – Aby
    Mar 13, 2019 at 20:57
  • Seeing the second part of the question, it is clear that the question in total is clearly not about Sai Baba in particular but the Gurus/Saints for whom we have no records in our Hindu scriptures but they are/will be worshipped/followed by many of the followers as gods/incarnations.
    – Aby
    Mar 13, 2019 at 21:05
  • @Aby For that query a separate question (or questions) are required .. let OP name the Gurus which he has in mind .. for me this Q is only on a particular personality called Shirdi Sai Baba .. No need to speculate "what happens if" ... we will see when the situation presents itself .. no need to answer hypothetical questions
    – Rickross
    Mar 14, 2019 at 7:44
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    While your answer is good, how will you respond to: Why are Vivekananda-related posts allowed here but not Sai Baba's (Satya/Shirdi)? Are Complete Works of Vivekananda valid citations/scripture? @Aby
    – Say No To Censorship
    Mar 14, 2019 at 19:19
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If any Mr. X hasn't or didn't publish(ed) any 'Hindu' content then his material shouldn't be used in the answers here.

What I mean with 'Mr. X with Hindu content' -

  • Commented on any religious text like GItA.
  • Got initiated or himself initiated someone who commented on/has written/wrote at least one religious text. (This point also covers the one belong to some religious lineage)

Example, Sir Osho has written commentary on Bhagwat GItA & ViJNanabhairava tantra so his content can be given ticket to have place here in the answers - He is 'Mr.X with Hindu content'.

But what about Sir Shirdi Sai Baba? Is he 'Mr. X with Hindu content'? As far as I know, he didn't publish any 'Hindu content'. So, Sir Shirdi's content shouldn't yawn here.

If his content can crawl here in answers, then I don't see why 'Tao Te Ching' or 'The power of now' can not crawl here in answers.

PS: Of course, their content can be added in answer extraneously.

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  • what about Jaggi Vasudev?
    – DirghaChintayanti
    Mar 30, 2019 at 15:36
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    I think you've misunderstood the question. It's about questions regarding Mr. X's life/philosophy/diet/parents, it's not about citing Mr. X's BG commentary in answers (which is already allowed).
    – Say No To Censorship
    Mar 30, 2019 at 20:43
  • @sv. I think we should not allow answers to be written from what mr. x said about the topic when the question is generic. That just reduces the quality of the answer. Cite from scripture. Only in absence of any clear answer, we should go to what Mr. X said about it.
    – Krishna Varna
    Mar 31, 2019 at 17:19
  • Problem with what you propose is, not everyone here is an expert in scriptures. See this and this @KrishnaVarna
    – Say No To Censorship
    Mar 31, 2019 at 17:38
  • @sv. I am not against what Mr. X said about a topic when question itself asks it. But it won't be a quality answer if question is generic. Of course we can't say answers are not allowed. users should be intelligent enough to upvote/downvote and accept an answer.
    – Krishna Varna
    Mar 31, 2019 at 17:44
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    The Q is about something and ur answer is talking about something else
    – Rickross
    Apr 2, 2019 at 5:50

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