Sai Baba encouraged his Muslim devotees to celebrate the Eid festival at his masjid. It means ‘Eid of sacrifice’, as Muslims symbolically sacrifice an animal as an act of ‘qurbani’. It is a symbolic rehearsal of high values of faith, and it is required that these values be translated into practical life all year-round.
On that day a Muslim family came to see Baba. Bade Baba and Prof. Narke were also present. As I had hosted both Hindus and Muslims at Dixit Wada, Sai Baba asked me to arrange for their food at Dixit Wada. With a twinkle in his eyes, Baba asked me to record the ‘significance of Eid festival’ in my diary.
As we proceeded to Dixit Wada, I noted two practices of Eid festival one was congregational prayer in the masjid and the then sacrificing of an animal. These two practices reflect the basic spirit of this festival, which is a combination of two important states of mind, modesty through prayer and selflessness through sacrifice.
The Muslim brother explained “Prayer inculcates modesty in a person. A Muslim offers two units of namaz in the mosque. Besides the other prayers, the namaz of Eid includes the ‘Takbir which is recited more than once. Takbir means ‘God is great.’
The true significance of this Takbir is that ‘God is great, and I am not great.’ So, its essence is modesty. In prayer as in all aspects of our lives, we should relate to God through humility and modesty, as God’s servants.” We had seen Baba offering these prayers
God is Great, and we are not great. God is the Giver, and we are recipients. In this sense, the only appropriate way to relate with God is through modesty. Even the word ‘Islam’ has the connotation of modesty. I was told that ‘Islam’ means ‘submission’ or ‘surrender’, indicating modesty. This means that Islam is a religion of modesty.
Our guest further emphasized – ‘Modesty is, in fact, the culture of the universe. All the planets and stars, including our earth, are moving in a completely controlled and orderly way. They modestly follow the command of God. None of them ever rebels or goes against the law of nature. They all willfully submit to the law of nature. The whole universe presents a picture of modesty.’ Following the dictates of nature and Islam, man must also remain modest, both in front of God and his fellow human beings.
The second is an animal sacrifice. Bade Baba had planned this later in the evening. This is an annual re-enactment of Prophet Abraham’s actions. Prophet Abraham dedicated his entire life to the cause of God. The full extent of Abraham’s dedication was demonstrated by his readiness to sacrifice his son for God. Referring to sacrifice, the ‘Quran’ states: “Their flesh and blood do not reach God: it is your piety that reaches Him.”
Going beyond this connotation, Eid has a universal message that humans need to sacrifice individual and collective egos to empathize with those who are not so privileged. Every festival has a socio-psychological message in its womb. We’re required to go deeper to ascertain that. Just the way Allah ordered Abraham to sacrifice his dearest son, humans must abnegate their collective selves and an individual, we can reach the most sublime heights of the self and collective goodness.
Prof. Narke quoted Mirza Ghalib who has stated so tellingly, ‘The ultimate objective of a drop is to finally merge in the vastness of the river, this should be the very objective of every individual, irrespective of one’s caste, class or creed.’
After lunch, we all went back to Masjid and Sai Baba just quipped, ‘Drop your ego and live. This is the most exalted state of human existence.’
The process of sacrificing the seemingly invincible ego begins with the individual. Once an individual rises above his ego by sacrificing it, the egoless entity permeates all beings. We should remember, the fragrance of the highest form of nobility spreads faster than the best of perfumes of Arabia. Likewise, an egoless being touches other lives as well, and soon the world becomes a place for all selfless individuals.
I recalled the words of Emerson, ‘To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.’ This encapsulates the crux of the Eid festival by helping others selflessly, not just on the day of Eid, but always.
Finally, we learned that Eid also disseminates the message of equality among all humans without differentiating between the Hindus and Muslims. That is why Baba asked us to share meals at Dixit Wada.
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