Many devotees experience Bhagavan Sri Sai Baba as their Mother; so deep is His love and His consideration for the comfort and progress of His children.
Baba has Himself declared that He is Siva-Sakthi; He often describes Prashanthi Nilayam to women devotees as 'Your own mother's Home'. Baba is Aadi Sakthi; the energy aspect of Aadi Purusha, if it is conceived as separate. This energy is believed to be feminine and worshipped as such during Navarathri, the festival of the Mother, of Adi shakthi (the Primal Energy). Baba evinces Himself as Saraswathi, Durga and Lakshmi, for He presides over the Vidwath Sabha as the Goddess of Learning; He presides over the Vedic Yagna as Durga, the Goddess of spiritual success; and He distributes largesse as Lakshmi. It is then that one notices and experiences Him most, as Aadisakthi. Baba has vouchsafed visions of himself as Mahalakshmi and Gouri to women devotees. He has the overpowering Love of the supreme mother, the Aadi Shakti, especially towards 'children of all ages' who are weak, defective, handicapped in the march towards God-realization, by excessive scholarship, wealth, authority, ignorance and indigence.