Sai Baba gave different but proper advice regarding money to those seeking self-realization and to those leading a secular life. However his advice was not just a show of words but preaching after practice. For instance, his renunciation of all sensuous delight and gratification is well known.He used to live in the open under a neem tree or in the dilapidated masjid or chavadi. His dress was a patched, long robe and a piece of cloth tied on the head. His seat was a torn piece of sack cloth only. For food he used to beg around in the village. What better renunciation could there be than this?

Later on, as Sai Baba”s fame spread far and wide, devotees started pouring in great numbers. Some ardent devotees prepared a seat with soft cushions, decorated him with ornaments of diamonds and pearls and cast around his body embroidered silk shawls but Baba had no fascination for these. On the contrary, many a time he used to pull them out and throw them away in anger. For the chavadi procession, devotees brought a palanquin but Baba never sat in it. During meal-time, varieties of food were brought as offerings but Baba hardly tasted them and distributed them amongst all the devotees present. Similarly, every day hundreds of rupees worth cash would be collected as a gift to Baba, but he never keep a single rupee for himself. Instead he would distribute all the money thus received so that by the evening nothing was left with him.

However, this generosity was for charity only and that too for the needy only. For other everyday transactions like purchasing grains and condiments for cooking food for the needy, Baba used to haggle a lot with the shopkeeper over the price in order to avoid being cheated. But at the same time, he never used to accept free service from anybody. Whether a potter providing earthen pots for watering flowerbeds or hawker women selling fruits or a boy just bringing a ladder for Baba to climb on the roof of a house, Baba’s payment was prompt and on the spot.

Finally, if we summarize the teachings of Baba in matters of money, his following words are quite noteworthy: “Poverty is the real kingship – much superior to nobility. Allah is the friend of the poor”.