If people were told this peculiar holy man was responsible for conducting World War I, they would say it was ridiculous. But in the inner realms of spiritual realities, the Qutubs or Sadgurus are the Masters of the universe and nothing ever happens without their divine ordinance. There could be no war without the five Perfect Masters' will and guidance.
Age longs to learn more of this fakir and his austere life, but it is very difficult to "know" much about him. Only a true fakir can know a fakir, and to become one is impossible without crossing the boundary of illusion.
The simple life of this fakir was most deceiving. He was the mightiest king in existence, but he did not mind if people saw him merely as a beggar. However, now that the sun of his divinity has shed its light and he has done his duty, we must do ours and learn more of this true fakir. To research the life of any man-become-God is difficult, because when he is embodied, when his sun is brightly shining, all eyes are focused on it. It is only after the sun sets that our attention shifts to recording his story.
Without becoming a fakir, one can never fathom such a Master's life. Whatever he reveals to the world is just a few rays of his light. And so the true story of every Perfect One cannot be known in detail. We do not even know this fakir's childhood name, but Age calls him Sai , which means the Lord or the Holy One .
Nothing is definitely known about Sai Baba's birth. Some believe that he was born into a Brahmin family, that his parents died and he was then raised by a Muslim ascetic. Others (including most of his biographers) believe that he was born in a Mohammedan family. Whatever the circumstances of his birth and childhood, Age is more concerned with Sai the Master, in whose eyes all are one.
It is said that Sai was born in 1838 in Sailu village in Jintur district of Maharashtra. But other more recent evidence points to his birthplace as being in Pathri village in the Parbhani district. It is believed that his childhood was spent near Aurangabad and that his parents were very, very poor. After his father's death when Sai was still a young child, his mother was forced by circumstances to resort to begging for their livelihood.