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Sai Vichaar 01.Feature of the Week 02.Contributed Article 03.Experiences of Devotees 04.Devotees Say 05.Sai Activities 06.Prayer Club 07.Quote of the Week 08.Question of the Week 09.Subscribe to Sai Vichaar 10.Email Newsletter to a friend 11.Submit Articles to Sai Vichaar 12.Un-Subscribe Sai Vichaar 13.From the Editor's Keyboard 14.Disclaimer From the Editor's Keyboard... Sai devotees posting prayer request are requested to state their needs briefly and be specific about their prayer needs. This will help with good use of space and allows more requests to be posted every week. A Sai devotee suggested the "Question of the week" for this week as follows: Chapter VIII of Shri Sai Satcharita says, "Those souls whose merits preponderate, go to heaven and live there till they enjoy the fruits of their actions and when this is done, they are cast down; while those souls, whose demerits preponderate go to hell and suffer the consequences of their misdeeds for as long as they deserve it. When their merits and demerits balance each other, they are born on earth as human beings and are given a chance to work out their salvation. Ultimately, when their merits and demerits both are worked out completely, they get their deliverance and become free." This quote by Hemadpant (as inspired by Baba) means that since we are born as human beings, our merits and demerits balance each other and we should concentrate on working out our salvation. Q. How can we, the devotees of Sai Baba, ensure that our merits and demerits both are worked out completely so that we get our deliverance and become free? Humbly Yours, The Editor
Disclaimer Sai Vichaar is devoted to the philosophy and teachings of Shri Sadguru Sai Baba of Shirdi, and will take every measure to avoid topics or themes contradicting the same. Sai Vichaar team or saibaba.org is not responsible for the opinions expressed by individual contributors.
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Feature of the week:
Carrots and Sticks
Baba said, "There are several ways. One is from here", meaning that He is the Sadguru capable of helping one in the pursuit that a life may have. Having dissolved the myth the surrounded the requirements for a spiritual upliftment, Baba further simplified the path saying, "You can reach God from where ever you are". Does the path simplified render the pursuit any simple? Baba also cautions the seekers to be vigilant about the wolves and tigers from the outside and those within. The way Sai guides His children should emphasize one fact of spirituality. There are several ways by which one could pursue the spiritual path. Sai did not set a particular protocol nor did He force upon His believers, a rigid path to traverse upon. Even while some of the Gurus looked at people dissecting straight into their social status, religious standing, and origins, Sai embraced the untouchable, the Moslem, the leper and the likes with equanimity. He had a different way of gauging the merits of those who flocked Him, then and now. Some were outright reprimanded for their behavior while some were reformed without a word spoken. The learned had to wait while Baba welcomed the vagabond. The Antaryami showed the avaricious Madarasi, the path of truth through a peculiar vision. Dasganu's scholarly question was promptly directed to Kaka's maid. While Sai worked internally on some, His outrage was visible in case of others. While the drunkard was forced to quit the habit, blessings were forced upon His children such as Purandhare. It was the wrath of the stick for some while for the other it was the sweet carrots. Truly unfathomable are Sai's actions. The communication between Baba and His child is unique and the rarest of its kind. Let us on this Thursday contemplate on that individual communication we have with Baba. The goal is as universal as the pursuit individual. Perhaps an important aspect of spirituality may lie in understanding the significance of these carrots and sticks.
Contributed Article: O Sai! Thou art the Datta Tatva(continued from last week)
O Sai! Armed with full faith in Your words, Das Ganu left Shirdi and came to Vile Parle, and stayed with Kakasaheb Dixit. There the next morning, while Das Ganu was still half-awaken, he heard a girl singing a song in clear and melodious tones. The subject matter of the song was a crimson colored Sari, how nice it was, how fine was its embroidery, how beautiful were its ends and borders etc. He loved the song so much that he came out, and found that it was being sung by the maidservant of Kaka Saheb. The maid was cleaning utensils, and had only a torn rag on her person. On seeing her impoverished condition, and her jovial temperament, Das Ganu felt pity for her. Next day he gifted her a sari. Like a starving person getting luckily good dishes to eat, her joy knew no bounds. Next day she wore the new Sari, and out of great joy and merriment, whirled, danced round and played `Fugadi' with other girls and excelled them all. The day after she kept the new Sari in her box at home and came with the old and torn rags, but she looked as merry as she did the previous day. On seeing this, Das Ganu's pity was turned into amazement. He thought that the girl being poor had to wear a torn rag, but now she had a new Sari which she kept in reserve and putting on the old rag, strutted herself, showing no trace of sorrow or dejection. Thus he realized that all our feelings of pain and pleasure depend upon the attitude of our mind. On thinking deeply over this incident, he realized that a man ought to enjoy whatever God has bestowed on him in the firm conviction that He besets every thing, from behind and before, and on all sides and that whatever is bestowed on him by God must be for his good. In this particular case, the impoverished condition of the poor girl, her torn rag and the new Sari, the donor, the dance and the acceptance were all parts of the Lord and pervaded by Him.
Hence, Das Ganu got a practical demonstration of the lesson of the Upanishad - the lesson of contentment with one's own lot in the belief that whatever happens is ordained by God, and is ultimately good for us. O Baba! To those who say that it wasn't necessary to send away Das Ganu to Vile Parle and that, You could have Yourself taught him, the simple answer is:
O Sai! Thou art the Datta, Who teacheth us to learn from everything.
O Sai! Lord Dattatreya had twenty four teachers from Nature. "Many are my preceptors," he told King Yadu, "selected by my keen sense, from whom acquiring wisdom freely, I wander in the world." Aye, Baba! Aye, once he saw an eagle flying with a piece of meat in its beak. Then another eagle snatched the piece of meat, and the eagle that lost the piece of meat was left free. But the other eagles started fighting over that piece of meat. O my Sadguru! Datta realized from this experience that where there was accumulation, there was insecurity. Where there was no accumulation, nobody cared. There were no robberies in a beggar's house.
In twenty-four different situations, Dattatreya gained knowledge from earth, air/breeze, sky, fire, the sun, pigeon, python, sea, moth, elephant, ant, fish, Pingala the courtesan, arrow-maker, infant/playful boy, the moon, honeybee, deer, bird of prey, maiden, serpent, spider, caterpillar and water. They are his twenty-four preceptors. O Baba! You are an incarnation of Lord Dattatreya:
O Sai! Thou art the Datta , Who teacheth us to learn from everything.
Lord Dattatreya appears with a Jhola (a bag) hung on his shoulder, and so do You, O Sai! He has all the powers of God viz. creation, preservation, and destruction, and so have You, O Baba! He lives as a Fakir (a beggar), and so do You, my Lord! He goes for Bhiksha or alms, and so do You, O Brahmaanda Naayaka! The spiritual meaning of this Bhiksha or alms-begging by You is that You are asking Your devotees, "Give Me all your sins". You ask for the sins of the devotee's past and present lives. You collect, and swallow, and digest these sins:
O Sai! Thou art the Datta , Who teacheth us to learn from everything.
O Sai! Your required no special place, nor any special time for giving instructions to Your devotees. Whenever any occasion demanded, You taught them freely. Once it so happened that one of Your devotees reviled his brother behind his back in the presence of so many of Your devotees. O Sai! You have your own method of correcting the scandal-mongers. When You met the slanderer, You pointed out to him a pig that was eating filth near the fence and said to him - "Behold how, with what relish it is gorging dung. Your conduct is similar. You go on reviling your own brethren to your heart's content. After performing many deeds of merit, you are born a man, and if you act like this, will Shirdi help you in any way?" (Shri Sai Satcharita, Chapters: 18-19) O Baba! Needless to say, that the devotee took the lesson to his heart, and went away:
Anjali Suddenly in evening at work, I got free time (which normally is impossible); I was able to finish remaining pages. My husband was waiting to hear results of his interview, I kept on telling Baba that I will be happy with whatever the results are and had firm faith that whatever He does is for our best. When I went home at 10.00 pm, my husband told me that he couldn't succeed in his interview. I cried a bit, but then suddenly got relaxed and told Baba, if You think this is best for us, I accept it as Your prasad. Then next day my husband got a call from the same company that there was a mistake, my husband has got selected for the job and should join soon. Many times when my wish was not fulfilled, I use to go to Baba, cry for sometime and then stop talking to Baba for some days. This time, I had firm faith that He will do the best, I was so happy and felt as if Baba tested me and I passed in His faith test. Looking back, I feel that every thing happened by His wish and for a purpose. My husband could stay with his father for 6 months before his father passed away. And he was able to sort out everything by Baba's grace. All this would not have been possible if he had a job. Always shower Your mercy on both of us. Ranjeeth On 15th June 2003, I left for Shirdi with my mother, younger son and a group of devotees from Chennai and I stepped into Shirdi on 17th June 2003. My mother, son and other devotees departed to Chennai after two days leaving me behind. 42 days of stay in Shirdi was a will of Shri Sai and I am extremely delighted, honored, blessed that as stated by our beloved Sai in " Sai Satcharitra", I as a sinner was called to Shirdi. None can visit Shirdi without His will and even if one is called, he cannot overstay without the will our beloved Sai. Dear devotees! my 42 days stay in Shirdi was a divine one, witnessing miracles around me. During my stay Sai blessed me to daily visit the famous Neem tree, Gurusthan, Dwarakamai, Masjid, Samadhi mandhir, Hanuman temple, Radhakrishna mai's house, Kandoba temple and above all the morning, noon, evening, night arathis and the Thursday phalaki procession. Can anyone be more bleessed or luckier than me? After my return from Shirdi, my life changed and toady Sai is everything to me. Sai is with me and I am one with Sai. Have true faith on our Sai and experience by yourself the experiences you would not have experienced. Today, we are a happy family, my son is a software Engineer with a leading MNC, my younger son is in 11th Standard and my beloved parents are leading a very peaceful life. All this would not have happened, but for the grace showered by my beloved Sai.
Fatima Sanjeev Ravikumar Varsha Jyotsnavi Sai devotee Raghav Krishr Meenakshi Sonia Sai devotee Sai Devotee
Quotation of the Week:
"Read the Pothi everyday and while reading it understand with love and devotion"-Shri Sai Baba
Q. How can we, the devotees of Sai Baba, ensure that our merits and demerits both are worked out completely so that we get our deliverance and become free?
Sri Ramanavami celebrations in Chicago, USA Sri Saibaba Mandir, Minneapolis, MN Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas Shirdi Sai Temple of New England, Boston Area Shirdi Sai Center in Bay Area, CA Shirdi Saibaba temple, Los Angeles, CA Saibaba Temple, Columbus, Ohio Shirdi Sai bhajans every Thursday at Maitland, Florida
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