A housewife was suffering from severe and chronic headache. All medical aid proved futile. At last she resorted to Baba. As soon as she bowed to him and sat in his presence her ailment vanished quite mysteriously. When she told Sai Baba about it he said, "Mother, you have been feeding me sumptuously, I have been watching you since you were a girl."
The lady was surprised and said, "Baba, I am blessed with your darshan just now. How could I have fed you sumptuously?" Sai smiled most benignly and said, "Whom do you worship at your home?" She said that she had been a devotee of Lord Ganapathi and that she worships Him everyday. "At your mother's place?" Baba asked. "There too I used to offer flowers, fruits and sweetmeats to the same deity," she replied.
Sai said, "All those offerings of yours have reached me. That's how I have known you since your younger days." Mythologically, Ganapathi is a deity who fond of sumptuous food and Baba had identified himself with him. This miracle demonstrated that hearty offerings and worship rendered even to an `inanimate idol' in a true spirit of devotion and faith are sure to reach the Spirit which pervades all. Saints, animals, and even idols. It is the spirit behind the worship that is of prime importance.
Hence Baba did not condemn idol worship. It is a valid form of spiritual practice for those who are by nature made for it.
(Written by: Pujya acharya E. Bharadwaja in Sai Baba the Master)
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