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Sai Vichaar 1.Feature of the Week: Move the mountains! 2.Sai Activities 3.Experiences of Devotees 4.Devotees Say 5.Question of the week 6.From the Editor's Keyboard 7.Subscribe to Sai Vichaar 8.Disclaimer From the Editor's Keyboard... Let us begin yet another year under the guidance of our Lord. Thanks are due to our ever growing readers for playing an active role in supporting Sai Vichaar. It is overwhelming to see several responses to our new feature "Question of the week". Please visit the appropriate section to know more about readers opinions and suggestions on this feature. If you would like to propose a topic for the "Question of the week" feature, please do so by sending your title to the web site administrator. The question of the week for this week is: "What is the most challenging obstacle to one's spiritual growth?" 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 the Shirdi Sai Baba web site organization is not responsible for the opinions expressed by individual contributors.
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Feature of the week:
Move the mountains!
Another week in a whole New Year. How does the difference of a few hours, whether into a New Year or a new millennium can change our lives? For some, the changes in the calender may not mean much. It is the same concern again and again, problems one after another. Why is that every bud on a tree does not blossom into a flower? Why should one has to go through all the hardship at every stage of the struggle while others have the joys of life presented on a platter to them? It is said that certain events in one's life are predestined and can not be changed, whereas, the outcome of other events can be controlled. The karma of the former type is known as "deha praarabdha" (an attribute that is inherent to one's self and can not be changed) while the latter is called "karma praarabdha" (the consequences of the actions that one has control over). Merciful fakir, the saint God of Shirdi is known as "Karma dhvamsi" (destroyer of Karma). While Sadguru can torch away the karma of the former type, it is said that he can only be a witness to the latter. Thus, our actions determine the consequences to a limited extent. Perhaps may be to a greater extent in the cycle of life and earth. Let our actions reflect His virtues. Let our deeds have His approval. Let us entrust the reins of our lives to the Lord and let Him guide us through the perils of karma. Why should one worry over whether it is a hailstrom or a tonado outside when he is safe in the hands of his master inside? Whatever may be the obstacles this year or the years to come, let us face them with the two strongest weapons we have. Let our faith and patience be challenged. The picture may be unclear, the maze full of wolves and tigers. Let us not, for even one moment, doubt the intentions of the wirepuller. A spark of light can eliminate the darkness surrounding. Patience can find us a place in His kingdom. Faith can move mountains.
Iam very much pleased to share the following information for the benefit of fellow Sai Devotees. Sri Gopalarao Ravada is a crusader in spreading Shirdi Sai Philosophy. He belongs to Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. He is helping Sai devotees in reinforcing their belief in Sai and renovating their life. He has changed the pattern of life of Sai devotees who approached him. His crusade is implementation of Sai tatva and Sai ekadasa sutras (eleven principles given by Sai) in devotees way of living. Maharaj Sai named Gopala Ravada as sai.ba.ni.sa. (in the language Telugu, it is ba- badyatalu, ni-nirvartinche, sa-sanyasi which means the person who obeys the instruction of Sai and implements it) On the eve of Christmas, Lord sai instructed Saibanisa to distribute the cake of Sai philosophy to fellow Sai devotees. A web page is created.the address is http://www.angelfire.com/pa/shirdinityaagnihotri/shirdinityaagnihotri.html This website will be updated every Sunday with six new messages of Lord Sai, which were recorded in the dairy of Saibanisa since January 1991. I wish all the sai devotees to drink the sai nectar. Om Sai Sri Sai Jaya Jaya Sai. In the service of Shirdi Sai. Katta. S Rao.
Anonymous Devotee My husband and I own our own business and since we expanded it, we took on a lot of debt and have had all kinds of financial trouble. The worry has been terrific, as every material thing we own, our house, etc. is on the line. I pray to Baba alot, for help and just for relief from the depression and worry I feel from time to time. I am often overdrawn at the bank and have go to the post office at 9:30 AM to pick up any checks that have come in and deposit them before 11:00 to cover the overdraft. This is stressful, as you can imagine, because I never know what I will get or whether it will be enough. I am scared to bounce my employees checks, for instance, because they depend on us. This Friday, I called up the bank to find out if I was overdrawn. I was $943.60. I prayed, "please help me on this one, Baba." The checks I got at the P.O. and a check I had forgotten in my briefcase came to $943.50. I went to the bank with that and a dime. I am a Christian by birth and my husband is a Muslim. "God is Great!" I said to him, and he agreed, though he is not at all religious. I have a little altar to Baba with a candle on my glass porch where all the plants overwinter. The average person around here has certainly not heard of Sai Baba. "Who is that?" they ask with curiosity. My husband tells them it is
his grandfather!
Shankar Rao, Zambia OM SAI RAM, I am reading Lord Sai Satcharitra, daily and some times weekly parayana with immense relief. However, one question has been bugging back of my mind since a long time, and may be you could answer. The question is:
WHY BABA USED TO ENCOURAGE TAKING TOBACCO AND IS THERE ANY SIGNIFICANCE?
"Do miracles happen? If so, what is the purpose of miracles?" Mukesh Tarachand Bhadresa A Miracle is defined as an event, which does not appear to be the result of any known natural Law or agency. EXTRAORDINARY. Yes Miracles happen all the time. Take the Miracles that happen everyday Take the Miracles that happen extra-ordinarily The Purpose of Miracles. What is Natural for us at the Physical Plane is exactly what is Possible for Baba at the God plane thus Miracles are just natural to him and brings us closer to him. Manish Saxena Jai Sai Ram. Wish you all a many many sweet, good, and Happy New Year. May Saibaba bring joy to all. "Do miracles happen? If so, what is the purpose of miracles?" Yes miracles do occur. It is actually a synonym for luck. It only happens to those who believe in luck. I believe it to be destined. There is no miracle existing in this world. I have not tasted any. I have only tasted bad luck and bad luck all these years. Please if you could buy me some miracles and good luck, I will be more than grateful to you. Soma Somalingam "Do miracles happen? If so, what is the purpose of miracles?" What is a miracle? "EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED". This is the Law. But we do not carry out this law, instead we ALWAYS "expect the expected" If WE happen to experience the UNEXPECTED suddenly for GOOD, we call it a MIRACLE. Who can experience miracles? Everybody can experience miracles and those who have a child's vision and non judgmental approach and consider everything as God's gift, experience more miracles, Because, miracles happen all the time and EVERYWHERE and only the SELF which can identify it as a miracle enjoys the miracles. To a newborn baby everything happening around is a miracle. The water, The food, The bulbs everything is a miracle. But eventually when we become adult, we assume our selves "understood" and lose the joy of experiencing the miracles again. Living in Miracles Human body it self is a miracle. By using the body and mind you can become a miraculous man or woman. No joke! There are evidence that people are still living in Himalaya and other parts of the world that can do miracles. They attained this stage by training their body and mind with spiritual practice. But we here eat three times, sleep twice chat the whole day and expect miracles to happen. Negatives of Miracles The very Bad thing for a devotee of any religion is to wait for miracles to happen. By listening to tales and stories of fellow devotees we wait, wait and wait till the miracles to happen. This is not a good practice. Why wait if everything is miracle around us? So, as a first step we must spend time in finding the miracles around us. The great purpose of miracles All these miracles around us are to know the truth of life, WHICH IS "LOVE". If we go sidetrack, the journey is lost. So we ask God to give us knowledge to spend serving him, so that we will be no different from God him/her self. Meher A. Waheed Sai Ram and a very Happy & Prosperous New Year to all. My personal opinion on above question is that miracles happen all the time to reinforce the faith of mankind in its Creator and the All Supreme, and to guide humanity to follow the right path which leads you to God and eternal happiness. Mekala Srinivasa Rao Response for the question of the week: Miracles do happen. Why? No doubt mother feeds the child along with invaluable, enormous, unconditional & unavoidable love (This is what God showers on all human beings throughout their lives i.e from the moment we came to this world, a crystallization of god, to the moment of merging back with him). But, child loves mother initially, not knowingly, because she fed him. But this grows in to unconscious unconditional love when he is not able to see his mother for a while. We call this state unconscious but that's really the state where we experience God. As we grow we think we are getting more & more conscious. This consciousness of ours is true with this unreal world but what's the use? we have to be conscious with the reality i.e. God. Sunil Naik "Do miracles happen? If so, what is the purpose of miracles?" Miracle is a relative term. It means that an event, which is a miracle for a 3-year-old child, may not be miracle for his father. So "father lifting a bag weighing 25 kg " and " Sun turning blue" are miracles for 3-year-old child. Both are having equal weightage in his mind. You can always define purpose of an event when you understand that event. If you understand the event, it is no longer miracle for you. Raj Ponnaluri Any act of nature that surpasses the threshold of human understanding may be classified as a 'miracle.' Given that humans are still caught up in evolving their minds and physique, any event that attempts to extend their intellectual abilities may be construed not only as incomprehensible but also incredible. Few are masters in all human existence that conquered the unknown through difficult spiritual journeys and have understood the power and inter-connectivity of events stretched by time and space. We, the ordinary, consider such extra-ordinary beings to be the embodiments of love and compassion - spiritual friends, philosophers, and guides. Such beings 'see,' 'smell,' and 'sense' things that the great majority of beings fail to. The spiritual gurus know the sequence of events even before they unfold in remote corners of human habitation. The answer to the question of whether or not miracles occur is bifold in nature, analogous to a coin with two faces on it. While the ordinary beings consider certain events to be miracles, the extra-ordinary view them as being mere ordinary acts in the web of nature. Despite the duality of the answer to the query regarding the occurrence of miracles, their purpose is unique: to offer peace to the spiritual mind and prosperity to the material body for all those who seek with one whole-hearted prayer to the Divine Supreme. The goal is to provide the necessary comforts on the journey to reach the pinnacle of spiritual enlightenment.
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