Of all the religions in the world, Hinduism presents the largest number of energy-forrns known as Devas and Devtas. An 'Ishta' or the desired deity is to be the one to be worshipped mainly besides others. There are thirty three crores of such energy forms. Every Hindu, therefore, worships a number of them. The important five prescribed are known as the Panchadevtas. They are Shiva, Vishnu, Surya, Ganesh and Hanuman. Again there are 'Adhi-Devtas'. Most of the people, it is found, are not clear as to which ones and how many of these deities have to be worshipped and for what purpose. The result, they visit different temples, carry on worship of one deity or the other on the prescription of the Pandit and lack in focusing their thought on one form or on the qualities of that form. At times, the roles or parts of it, of some of these deities seem to be cutting-across those of others. To add to this problem is the pooja methods varying widely in various parts of the country and abroad and there is a certain amount ascertiveness among various groups, sects following different paths. An ordinary Hindu finds, it difficult to cope with this situation.

Christianity, Muslim, Sikhism and Buddhism does not have these problems. The devotees in these religions only have to focus on the preachings of the Divine incarnations that created their religion and pray to the Almighty. In some of these religions there have been followers of the main incarnation who interpreted the roles and preachings of these incarnations.

Incarnations, have been born from time to time, to restabilise a society in the process of moral degeneration. The activities of the incarnations reveals that Their divine activities goes through a certain process. Leaving aside the exception of Lord Krishna, whose divine activities started even before and immediately after His birth, in case of others the earlier parts of their lives went through certain amount of trials and tribulations. At times, such trials and tribulations have been extremely strenuous, but the incarnations have over come them. The initial stages is self experiential for Them - God in human form experiencing Himself. During that period some of the other spiritual souls who are already born or take birth during the period of the incarnation also under-go certain amount of such experience. At a predetermined point of time, under the leadership of the incarnation, a crisis gets precipitated, often in the form of a war. As a result the evil forces are annihilated History of Hinduism in term of Ramayan, Mahabharata. Muslim religion in terms of wars conducted by Prophet Muhammed; Sikhism in terms of activities of the Sikh Gurus, particularly Guru Gobind Singh, are a Pointer towards this role. Thus, destruction is as much a divine role as creation. After this powerful action of destruction of evils a new order or society is established based on principles of Dharma (Rules of balanced sustenance), the incarnations leave the human body.

An incarnation, even after He has left His human embodiment one aspect of His mission continues in which He guides people in a subtler form. That is the role of Sadguru. Shri Krishna as an incarnation changed the social order through Mahabharat but thereafter His roles remains till today as a 'Sadguru' in Geeta. While following 'Geeta' millions of Hindus are following the path laid down by the Sadguru aspect of Shri Krishna. Similarly through Bible, Koran, Guru Grantha Saheb, Christ Prophet Muhammed and the. Sikh Masters continue Their divine roles. The followers of these religions don't worship numerous deities, they only pray to God the Almighty and follow the path prescribed by the Prophets or Sadgurus in Their preachings. Search of God, search of self and peace need not necessarily be a difficult or complicated process. The incarnations/Sadgurus have always tried to give the simplest path to humanity.

The easiest way to spiritual evolution is to:

1. Believe that the Sadguru is the Divine incarnation to lead people towards temporal and spiritual development.
2. To follow the path laid down by Him as reflected in His earthly conduct and preachings.
3. To understand that no man how much ever he strives, can evolve in the spiritual field beyond a certain limit without the help and kindness of a Sadguru. Even incarnations like Shri Krishna and Shri Rama, in the process of experiencing the God state in Them, had to be helped by Sandeepani and Vasishta, the Sadgurus of the time.
4. To focus the entire spiritual conciousiiess on the Sadgurus, both in Sakara (formed) or Nirakar (formless) and worship them.
5. To believe that the Guru is the repositor of all Divine powers -and therefore, He alone should be made the mainstay of one's life. All needs, worries and questions should be projected to him

Experience has shown that people devoted to Sadgurus, evolve faster in the spiritual field than those following other methods because such devotees believe in surrender to divinity which is the ultimate requirement for spiritual evolution. Every devotee of Shirdi Sai, therefore, on this New Year, should decide whether he wants to hold Baba as his 'Ishta' - the only one to be prayed, worshipped and called in time of need. Personally, for me Shri Sai is the only and ultimate. I don't seek anything from elsewhere.

Who would like to join me?
C.B. Satpathy