Viewed from the vantage point of the present, the whole of Nelson Mandela’s life seems to have carried the energy of legend and the weight of epic narrative. His story was woven into the story of South Africa’s journey from colonialism, through apartheid, to democracy. That long walk to freedom of a nation was unimaginable without Mandela’s personal long walk. But it was during the more than twenty-seven years of his incarceration that his life assumed its epic proportions. Mandela became an international symbol of the struggles for justice. He was without doubt the most famous prisoner in the world. A prisoner ready by 1990, on his release, to stride across a global stage.
The scriptures of India, the Vedas, pronounce: Na Karmana Na Prajaya Dhanena Thyagenaikena Amrutathwa Manasu (not by action, not by progeny, not by wealth, but by sacrifice alone is immortality obtained) . In this article, we look to the life, writings and actions of Nelson Mandela. Mandela originally trained to obtain freedom for South Africa by way of conflict. His soul blueprint did not allow for this to happen, and Mandela was imprisoned. This person, this soul-blueprint, was for the World, and not just for South Africa as we shall read.
Nichiren also known as “Nichiren Shonin” or “Nichiren Daishonin” was a Japanese Buddhist priest who lived during the Kamakura period (1185–1333). Nichiren is known for his sole devotion to the Lotus Sutra, asserting that it was Shakyamuni Buddha’s ultimate teachings and was the exclusive method to attain enlightenment. Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of the “Kamakura Buddhism” schools.
Won is a modern school of Buddhism, established in Korea in 1916. Won’s founder, Sotaesan, adapted traditional Buddhist teachings to apply them to the modern world. The name “Won Buddhism” comes from the Korean words won (“circle”) and bulgyo (“Buddhism”), literally meaning “Round Buddhism” or “Consummate Buddhism.” By “consummate,” Won Buddhists mean that they incorporate several different schools of Buddhist thought into their practice.
The Shirdi Sai Baba movement began in the 19th century, while Sai Baba himself was living in Shirdi. A local Khandoba priest, Mhalsapati Nagre, is believed to have been his first devotee. In the 19th century, Sai Baba’s followers were only a small group of inhabitants of Shirdi, and a few people from other parts of India.
Because of Sai Baba, Shirdi has become a place of importance and is counted among the major Hindu places of pilgrimage. The first Sai Baba temple is situated at Kudal, Sindhudurg. This temple was built in 1922. It is believed that Sai Baba gave one Rupee to Dada Madye ji with which he built the temple in Kudal. Today, The Sai Baba Temple in Shirdi is visited by an average of 25,000 pilgrims a day, and during religious festivals, this number can reach up to 100,000.
There are many stories of the childhood of Sai Baba of Shirdi; he is in a league with the childhood of Jesus, for there is a palpable lack of written records. What is given here is sources from ‘sruti, that which is heard, a form of divine revelation given to seekers of the Divine those who seek the divine and nothing else in their lives. It is meet and fitting to consider that Sai Baba of Shirdi remained in one location for sixty years, and called devotees to him, those who were his bhaktas in ages past. Time is a plaything for the One who is master of time and space, the kalapurusha. Read on and consider the ‘sruti appended.
Little is known of the early years of Sai Baba of Shirdi. Even his name is unknown as Sai Baba is not an appellation in the usual sense. Sai is a term of Persian origin, usually attributed to Muslim ascetics, meaning holy one or saint. Baba, on the other hand, is a Hindi term attributed to respected seniors and holy men, and literally means “father”. So the etymology of Sai Baba means “holy father”, “saintly father”.
Dorothy Day (1897-1980) began her adult life as a socialist seeking religious truth and ended it as a Catholic influenced by socialist ideals. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Chicago, her early adulthood included work as a progressive journalist reporting on social issues of the day. In November 1917 Day went to prison for being one of forty women in front of the White House protesting women’s exclusion from the electorate.
In 1927, following the birth and baptism of her daughter, Day was received into the Catholic Church and became committed to using Catholic teachings to fight poverty and social injustice. In 1933 in New York City, she co-founded (with Peter Maurin) the Catholic Worker newspaper that advocated pacifism and positive social action. Day opened homeless shelters across the country and later led movements protesting nuclear war, militarism, and racial bigotry.
Swedenborg was a respected academic who methodically described the spiritual world, and left a strange collection of works which captivated the most eminent thinkers. Swedenborg derived inspiration from dreams and visions, and claimed to be able to visit heaven and hell at will. His works were widely read after his death and highly regarded by poets, writers and mystics such as Blake, Baudelaire, Strindberg, Balzac, Yeats, Jung, and William James.
The question, “What is a Saint?” arose recently, for a description of a saintly person was encountered. That description was really a listing of what discouraged happiness in a saintly person. It went something like this: “discourage happiness due to wealth and family, possessions, marriage and sexuality, or material longevity“. That gave me pause. I had to stop and think, What is a saint? And so this website has come about.
I suppose there are many things you can say about saints. I’d like to open a window not just to the plaster saints, halos and statues, but also to the saints and saintly people from other religions. Why shouldn’t great saints, (or the sant tradition in Northern India), mystics and muslim pirs be excluded from consideration as saints? Don’t they inspire people too?
So there is my first conclusion about saints. They inspire.
Saints come from all traditions. Most of the well known saints come from the Christian faith. Hinduism has saints also: think of the guru’s who are entombed alive, and continue to guide their devotees when the body no longer exists. In the north of India, there is the Sant tradition, which includes men and women, poets and philosophers. We might also consider gurus from the Sikh tradition. Would you call them saintly people, the ten gurus of Sikhism? Then we might look to those who died for their faith, martyrs. Pope John Paul II made hundreds of saints; he simply proclaimed them martrys for the faith, and that was it!
Martyrdom was a little more serious than a simple proclamation: St Thomas More, Henry VII’s Chancellor, was executed for refusing to take the oath of supremacy of the Crown in the relationship between the kingdom and the church in England. Martin Luther is another well known dissenter, as was the more modern Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was shot at the altar while celebrating the rites of the Christian Church.
There are others we might consider saints: the great artists Michaelangelo and Rembrandt. Others might include Fra Angelico, and the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Poets and pilgrims are also mentioned as saintly persons. What is the character of a saintly person, a spiritual beacon? What attracts us to them?
We might say they are role models of duty, devotion and discipline. Many people are termed saintly for they bear their lot in life without complaining; said to be long-suffering. Some are said to be exemplars: they set an example to follow in adherence to faith and practice of devotion. Some might aver that saintly persons are people who found that self-effulgent light, within, without, and shared the pathway to the light for others to follow. Thomas à Kempis and his work, Imitation of Christ is one such example followed through the ages. The Sufi mystic Kabir and his poems are honoured by Sikhs and Hindus.
Pilgrimages to Shrines of Saints are common in many religions. Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, and people of the Jewish faith all go on pilgrimages. Pilgrimages are an exercise of faith; people go to the shrine or temple, in order to obtain spiritual benefits. One ancient pilgrimage has recently been promoted as a film, starring Martin Sheen. This is called The Way. Thomas Avery is an American ophthalmologist who goes to France following the death of his adult son, Daniel, killed in the Pyrenees during a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James), a Catholic pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Tom’s purpose is initially to retrieve his son’s body. However, in a combination of grief and homage to his son, Tom decides to walk the ancient spiritual trail where his son died, taking Daniel’s ashes with him.
Pilgrimages and yatras aside, we might say that saints are departed individuals of recognised sanctity who are venerated in a religious environment. Death of the saint is no barrier to communion with or veneration of the saint. The saint may be said to have restored the image and likeness of God, and to be in the company of the Divine (or closely united) and whose intercession or benefices or teachings has efficacious results. This might relate to one or another aspect of any saint in any religious tradition. Saints inspire. You might say that they give us a “hand up” on the ladder of divine ascent, as do saintly persons.
Some of the material herein has had a previous incarnation: Spiritual Stars of the Golden Age. The Spiritual Stars have moved home six times since their inception in 2001. And more saints, pirs and heroes of humanity have been added since then. Let’s hope that this website inspires you to look deeply into the lives of saints and saintly persons, for your inspiration!
You may browse the articles in the Saint’s category here, or choose from below:
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