Meaning of saintThe saffron color of the cloth of a saint indicates the color of ripened fruit, which stands for the ultimate knowledge in the spiritual path.
Without such knowledge, the saffron cloth is meaningless. Krishna never wore the saffron cloth, but He was having the ultimate knowledge even from the childhood as we can see from His discourse given to the villagers in resisting the sacrifice to be performed to please Indra. The cloth is only a symbol of the concept and symbol alone without the concept is meaningless. Krishna is the saint without symbol and every present saint is not a saint having symbol only. Shankara is the saint with the symbol. Krishna and Shankara are equal because the inner concept is one and the same and the symbol is not at all important.
The Christian or Muslim or Buddhist or a person belonging to any religion dies with the symbols and concepts corresponding to the specific religion. But in Hinduism, the person should die as a saint at the end leaving all the symbols and concepts of the Hindu religion. A saint means the universal human being rising above every religion including Hinduism. A saint leaves the sacred thread corresponding to the worship in Hinduism. A saint does not worship any form of God like Shiva, Vishnu etc., and is fixed in the unimaginable God, who is the creator beyond the entire creation including space.
At the Lotus Feet of His Holiness Sri Dattaswami
Anil Antony
www.universal-spirituality.org
Universal Spirituality for World Peace