Feature of the Week: Take the Key from Sai!

Hazrat Babajan is one of the greatest women saints of India. It is probably sad that not much mention is made about this great soul who lived about the time Sainath shone in Shirdi. Meher Baba, another realized soul of our times, reveres Sai Baba as the perfect master. Shakthi Path is the transfer of power from Guru to the disciple. Scriptures say that this transfer is manifested by a remarkable physical, emotional, and spiritual experience that changes the life of the disciple once and for all. Let us see one such experience that Meher Baba had with Sadguru Sainath of Shirdi;

Babajan (Hazrat Babajan) often repeated to Merwan (Meher Baba) "My son, the treasure which you seek and the key to that treasure are not with me! I am not the one to give it to you. The treasure is yours -- it is for you alone -- there is no doubt about that, the treasure is yours! But my son, you must have the key ... You must take the key!" Babajan would always speak about this in a cryptic fashion -- it seemed unclear what she meant. Then one night she spoke in a very clear manner, "the treasure is yours to have now! The key is there, go to Shirdi, my son. There is a Sai -- a holy one there ... Go and see the Sai. See if he will give you the key now ... Take the key from Sai!"

After a difficult journey to Shirdi, the villagers there refused to allow Merwan to see Sai Baba. Merwan spent the night under a tree and the following day Sai Baba sent for Merwan. Sai Baba was then seventy-seven years old, white-bearded with a head of snow-white hair, dressed in a white kafni gown. Khodu, an accomplice that was with Merwan, nervously walked up and bowed at Sai Baba's feet and when he did, the old fakir slapped him on the back so hard that it knocked the breath out of him! Khodu was startled, and then Sai Baba inquired, "Who is your friend? What does he want?". Khodu replied, "His name is Merwan ... Merwan Sheriar Irani; he is very devotional and eagerly desires your darshan, holy one. Babajan, in Poona, has told us about you, Sai". The old fakir's eyes were aflame. "Oh, no!" Sai Baba suddenly cried. "No, I won't ... I won't allow him to see me! I won't let him come!" The old fakir's eyes then gazed upon Khodu and he said, "Give me all your money, all of it!" Khodu did, then Sai Baba said, "Now go and tell your friend I won't see him, he cannot come to me!" Khodu left and reported to Merwan, who shook his head and said, "No!" Let us just wait. I must see him and I will." Later, Sai Baba was on his way after performing his lendi in a field with a large procession following, a band playing and the atmosphere very joyful though at the same time solemn with reverence. Contrary to what Khodu had said, Sai Baba now appeared to be in very good mood. As Sai Baba was about to pass him, Merwan stretched himself full length on the ground in front of his feet. Seeing him in the shashtang namaskar -- bowing at full length to the Master's feet -- in a deep, deep voice as if rising from the very depths of the ocean, Sai Baba uttered one majestic word, the Mohammedan name for Lord Vishnu, "PARVARDIGAR!" -- meaning GOD-THE-ALMIGHTY-SUSTAINER! Sai Baba's eyes were lustrous with universes shining out of them as he conveyed this holy word! The old fakir's lustrous eyes were sending a message to Merwan but to the ignorant, his word was inexplicable. For at the instant when Sai Baba had spoken, Merwan had become all-powerful -- Sai Baba had given him infinite power!

(The contents of the above passage were taken from the stories from the life of Avatar Meher Baba)
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Experiences of Devotees

Ajantha Sriranjan, Ontario, Canada

I have been a Sai Devote for almost four years. Every time I get into trouble, I read Swami's "Shri Sai Satcharitam". Reading his books makes me feel good about the world. I got married on January 31,1999 with Swami's blessings. Every thing was fine for the first four months. My husband got ill in June 8,1999 and he was admitted to Mississauga Trillium Hospital (Ontario, Canada). My life was miserable for a while. At first doctors could not figure out the cause of illness. My husband (Babu is his nickname) was unconscious for a week. He lost his hearing, because of the tumor in his head. That made him hard to breathe. He was in very critical condition. Babu was in intensive care unit for first two weeks. During that period, I was reading Swami's "Shri Sai Satcharitam". The only thing I was able to do was to have a faith in Swami and pray. During those days, I was saying "Sairam" in my mind all the time. A week later, doctors said that Babu had an anaplastic tumor in his head and they do not know how long he could survive. They also mentioned that he had tumor for long time and too late to do the surgery. That time they were not sure whether there is a treatment to cure him. Those days my mother and my siblings supported me financially. Everyone in our families was worried and concerned. We had a bhajan in my sister in law's house. Donmills Sai Devotees organized the bhajan. Dr. Kanasal told every one that other bhajan will be in my house right after Babu comes home. Swami knows what is going on this universe, and I prayed swami to be with Babu and cure him. Both of our families were doing "puja" (worship) at temple. My brother in law and his cousin asked me to come and see the priest. So they could do jakam (big puja), but I refused go. I told them swami was going to save Babu. I knew swami would not let me down. Guess what? Swami did help Babu. I could see his improvement each day, since we had bhajan. Before, no one in my husband's family believed in Swami except my mother in law, but my family has been Sai Devotees for long time. Somehow, they all started to believe in Swami, after this incident happened. Then the doctors said he could have radiation therapy and chemotherapy. He was discharged on June 25, 1999. Then he went for a radiation and chemotherapy for a month at Princess Margaret hospital. His treatment was completed on 3 September. He did not even get any of the effect. Now everything is back to normal. He started to work on November 1999. We both go to community bhajan once a month. We even do bhajan on every Thursday at home. I am planning to come to India to see Swami Sri Sathiya Sai Baba and Shridi Sai Baba's temple. I believe that we are able to get through swami's love and blessings.
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Devotees Say

Srikanth Kalluri, Hyderabad, India
Thank you Sai Devotees for praying for my father through your newsletter. He is fine now and is out of danger. Sai Ram has his own way of reassuring us. On the day of the operation- surprisingly, Prasad and Udi from Shirdi and Puttaparthi had come so had Laddu from Tirupati. I believe, It is only because of the prayers of countless devotees of Sai Baba that this has been possible. Thank you and may Sai bless us all with a stronger faith and happiness and give us the strength to overcome obstacles. With Regards to Mr. Lakshman, Sir, please be sure that Sai does not desert his devotees. He is only testing us. His sayings "Shraddha and Suburi" have a vital lesson for us in order to achieve the state of purity by removing the impurity from our heart just like the Goldsmith removing the impurity from Gold by melting it on hot flame. Please be assured Sai is there and something good will definitely occur.

K. Bharathan, Baba Prayer Center, Chennai, India
Sri Kumar Baba had gone to Shirdi with dozen devotees. He stayed there on 14/2/ and 15/2/2000 and on his way back visited the Sai Baba' Temple at Shivaji nagar Pune on 15/2/2000.Thanks to Saivichar's news item in 20/1/2000 issue, this was possible for him. Even the local people do not know about it. It is situated in Shivaji nagar amidst automobile workshops. The Temple is in 5000 sq. ft area and beautifully maintained. It is fully in marble and there are two padhams (feet) of Sai Baba. Under one was the tooth of Sai Baba the mortal remains of Sai Baba. Kindly publish this in saivichar next issue for making it known once again to all the devotees. Address of temple: Sai Das Mandal, 83/84 Rasne Chawl, Juma Topkhana , Shivaji Nagar , Pune 411005

MRK, Phoenix, AZ, USA
Shirdi Sai maharaj had numerous Muslim disciples. Abdulla Jan is one of them. As is well known Baba continuously strived for Hindu Muslim unity and achieved this oneness and he always preached and practiced equality of all religions. JAN IA PATHAN . He used to move from place to place and wanted to go to Mecca. He used to approach various persons to collect money and go to Mecca. He reached Manmad in this tour. There he learnt that thirty miles away at Shirdi, Baba was distributing lot of money to fakirs. In order to collect money for his trip to Mecca, he proceeded to Shirdi in 1913. When he reached the masjid, Baba accosted him with his divine looks and from then on, he became disciple of Baba. He also gave up his desire to go to Mecca. HE WAS SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD AT THAT TIME. He as a good Pathan and devout Muslim used to hate Hindus in the beginning. By grace of Baba he developed love to Hindus and gave up his hate. He developed great camaraderie with Hindus and used to get upset with religious rites anywhere. This is the transformation Baba affected on his devotee.
Even after Baba’s niryan, he used to see HIM.

Jan was 22 years youth when Baba attained mahasamadhi. He became restless for losing Baba's protection and guidance. By 1926, he left Shirdi and settled down at samadhi of great saint Akoon Baba in Swat. When Jan was staying there, he had a dream that Baba was sitting in a chair by the side of his head. Immediately Jan did namaskar. He realized that he was under Baba's PROTECTION AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF Baba’s maha samadhi and even though he was 1500 miles away. He used to have Baba's darsan once in two to three years and feel exceedingly happy. in 1917, he asked Baba as to what will happen after Baba's samadhi. Baba told him that he will beat his ardent devotees from samadhi itself. Jan mentioned to Pujyasri BVN Swamy on 5 Nov 1936 another poignant incident. One Mirjaman of Kandhahar and others were sleeping around Baba one night. During midnight, Mirjaman said" that these Hindus are destroying you and Islam. If you permit me, I WILL CUTOFF THE HEADS OF THESE HINDUS WITH MY KNIFE".BABA SAID"I AM PAGAL(MADMAN)THESE Hindu devotees who follow mw are also made people. I am responsible for all their atrocities. If you desire to cut somebody's throat, cut main. Then Mirzaman remained silent. That is the love of Baba towards his devotees during his lifetime and after his Mahasamadhi
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Prayer Club

Sekhar
Om Sai Ram Dear SaiBaba, Please save me from the threat of criminal prosecution. I did not ever plan to or cheat anyone in my life. It is my pride/ ego, which took me astray. I have learned from my mistakes. please come to my rescue. I pray to you to give me strength to survive this crisis and come out unscathed , not disgrace my family and friends . I owe money to people and I wish to pay them all to the last cent. I can only do that with your guidance and blessing. Please help me in realigning my life to your path , be a good husband, father , son and all in all to be a good human being. There have been a lot of desires in me both good and bad. Now I truly realize what ones family means to the troubled soul. Please do not punish me any more. Give an opportunity to come in near you.

Murty Gummuluri, (Hyderabad, India) Presently at Chicago, USA. murty_72@hotmail.com
I am in deep financial crisis. I have come here to USA in search of better position and (on H1 status) and to get rid of all my financial problems at the soonest possible time. Though I am here in Chicago for the past twenty days, I did not get any offer so far. Although I am totally surrendered to Sai, perhaps I still need the help of all of you. That is why I got the mail from Sai devotees for the first time on 17-FEB-2000. I now request all the devotees to pray Sai Baba to get rid of my financial problems at the earliest and to give me a good position and to lead a peaceful life.

Monica, USA
I am small bhakta of Sai Baba and I am a student here in USA. I have been blessed by Baba on ample number of occasions he has always taken tears away from me and comforted me. Baba since the time I have come to USA I miss u a lot since I do not know where Sai Baba mandir is here, it is almost 6 months now and haven't been to your mandir though I used to go every Thursday in Delhi. Baba I know you are with me and will always remain with me no matter where I go. Babaji no that my brother is going to India and I will be all alone in this place for a month or so I am little scared as this will be first time in my life that I will be away from all, Babaji please, Baba please merey saath rehana. Baba, I want to achieve success in my career and make my family proud of me as I am the only one unsettled in my family. my whole family will be very happy to see me become something in life as I have passed a very bad phase of my life easily with your blessing. Baba I will apply for my internship also for summer, Baba please get me a good job, I do not want to be selfish, Baba give everything that everyone wants but you be with me I will be happy in that. Baba, be with me always. Baba please help my sister in getting a right match, please find a suitable guy for her. She loves you a lot Baba. Papa, mummy, bahut pareshan hai uskey liye (father and mother are very worried about her). We all believe whatever you do is for our best.

Umesh, New Delhi, India
Respected Baba, I do not get sleep at night because I keep on thinking very negative. I feel that I am going to be finished very soon or something very bad will happen. This keeps me tense. I need some spiritual advice and very simple technique to keep myself peaceful, happy and spiritual. I am an Engineer working in Delhi. Job is also not permanent and I do not have confidence. Please help me out.

Mangesh K Rane
Dear Sai devotees, I am suffering from heavy loss & loans in my business. Please all pray for me to my Saimauli and ask him to give me courage and help to pass out my bad phase and make me strong to overcome all my bad days. Make me strong to do his prachar and prasar. Hoping for positive result from my Sai devotee brothers and sisters.

Jacques Lamour
I am a Sai devotee and I am very depressed. I have no one I can talk my problems with. Please pray to Sai Baba for my welfare.
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Sai Activities

Sai Samsthan USA
Sai Samsthan USA has scheduled Maha Shivarathri Celebrations on March 3, 2000. Please visit www.saisamsthanusa.org for more details.

Shirdi Sai Temple, Dharmavaram town, Anantapur (Dist.). AP, India.
This Mandir is close to the Railway Station in Dharmavaram, convenient to those who visit Puttaparthy. This mandir proposes to start Nitya annadanam(Feeding the Poor) after the inauguration of Prasadalaya on 16/5/2000. Special Archnas/Poojas will be done in the names of devotees who would like a payment of token Dakshina. Donations may be sent to, Sree Sree Sree Shirdi Sai Baba SevaSamithi (Regd). Dharmavaram - 515 671 Anantapur Dist. Andhra Pradesh, India. Tel 08559 41555 Secretary 08559 40842 (Residence)

Vishwashanthi Sai Seva and Prasar Samaj, Hyderabad AP
This center is dedicated to performing prayers profoundly to please Baba in sole interests of, world peace and eschew any calamities to come up. The devotional services of this kind started in February 1999, which was performed for about a week where the chanting of our beloved divine's name went on incessantly among a huge congregation of lakhs of devotees. This similar event is to happen in this new millenium for the same noble purpose, from 24th Feb with more devotion and with extensive kind of programs, which also include 'ANNADAAN' to about 5 lakh people and all efforts are made to amass the pecuniary needs to expend in the event. Sai devotees are requested to realize the purport of such a devout happening and to achieve the desired objectives, be conducive and glorify the auspicious event by making possible monetary contributions. They emphasize that, donations are sought from devotees with spiritual acumen and personal interest. Interested people can send their donations or for more details contact : VISHWA SHANTHI SAI SEVA AND PRASAR SAMAJ PLOTNO:26,RDNO:2, HARIPURI COLONY, RAMAKRISHNAPURAM HYD-500035 INDIA PHNO:040-4030122
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Question of the Week

"How does a Sai devotee define truthfulness in devotion?"

Havovi Medora, New Jersey, USA
Very core of one's devotion is the honesty of one's heart and mind. When you call upon the greatness of the Lord, you have to do it sincerely and honestly, as anything other is useless. I read an article in the Sai Vichaar dated 27 Jan where someone wrote about his wife who professed to be a Sai Baba devotee and actually did a lot of things that were not conducive to the behavior of any Sai Baba devotee. We do not worship to gain materially; it is a worship whereby we get peace of mind, good health and happiness. We ask Sai to help us lead our daily lives with less complication. We ask for his love and his presence in our lives to help us better ourselves. I feel very sorry for this woman who is hurting not only herself, but also her children and husband too. I believe she will change, as Baba had mercy for all. You have to live with yourself, and at some point in time, you do realize your foolishness. On reading the Satcharita, we see many cases where people came to scoff and stayed to pray, and where people came as hypocrites and repented their actions. So stop and think before you pray, and know that if it is not genuinely from the heart and soul it is futile.

"Why is woman and money considered greatest obstacles for spiritual growth?"

A Sai Devotee from Vancouver, BC, Canada
Jai Sai Ram and prayers to all. Sai Baba considered the need for devotees to be free from distractions in order to be able to divert their energies towards spirituality. Sai, for example, believed that even fasting that could affect the ability to concentrate, meditate and pray devotionally, as an impediment. Shri Hemadpant specifically mentions that "Woman and wealth are the two main obstacles in the way of our spiritual life and Baba had provided in Shirdi two institutions, viz. Dakshina and RadhaKrishna Mai. Sai demanded Dakshina from the devotees and asked them to go to the 'SCHOOL' (Radha-Krishna-Mai 's house). A number of instances in Shri Sai Satcharita are indicative of the ways that we can be free from wealth and many of them tend to suggest that practicing charity (Dakshina) is perhaps the best. Incidentally, Sai demanded Dakshina only from those who either intended or owed, because of previous intentions and promises. Not many instances are given to face the weakness for woman in Sai Satcharita. One specific instance is when a Mohammedan lady removed her veil in saluting Baba's Feet and put on her veil again, Nanasaheb, who saw her face, was so much smitten with her rare beauty, that he wished to see her face again. Sai's message is that beauty is the subject of sight and when the heart is pure, there is no need to be afraid of appreciating the beauty. What is important is to curb the senses and to never entertain evil thoughts such that they do not go astray. In order to attain spiritual growth one needs to be free from this 'Maya' that traps us to believe that we are the body that we wear and the name that we bear and creates a snowballing effect. This mundane life is comparable to an ocean with huge and never ending waves trying to engulf us with infatuation for wealth, women and wine; wind blowing us up with ego and eddies trapping with thoughts of 'I and mine'; crocodiles causing fear, anger, anxiety and hatred; and like fish, we nimble and lean towards jealousy, back biting and fault-finding. Perhaps, among all of them, wealth and woman are most powerful in weakening man! The simple solution for spiritual progress, but so hard to follow, is for us to constantly meditate on His name and remember that barring our body and name there exists in all of us that Lord (Sai) Who is the Real Actor and Doer, not ourselves in this apparent body. We need to have that sincere devotion with total faith in Him and patience so that He could effectively shield and protect us from these infatuations, wealth, women, and enable us attain Self-realization. Jai Sai Ram!
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