śrī sāīnāthāṃcī āratī

The Marathi arati sung at Shirdi, and its middle verses are a list of things that were witnessed rather than of attributes that are believed. Poverty was taken away and the destitute protected; the diseased were carried across by your ash; the barren woman was contented by the giving of a son; the ignorant were given knowledge and set on the good road; the noose of Yama was cut and devotees released. That is the shape of the whole piece — the general claims come first, that he is the lord of the egg of the universe and is Brahma and Vishnu and Shankara and Ganapati at once, and then the particular relief that people came to him for. One line names the register it wants: you are the compassionate mother of everybody, and the body prickles while your greatness is sung.