Sai Baba's famous parables and His cryptic remarks are well known. Baba's comments were always impregnated with a message directed towards the individual who is addressed. Once, a devotee wanted to take a photograph of Baba. When Baba was approached regarding this, He said, "No, it is enough if he knocks a wall down". The devotee stood confused. Later, an explanation was given as follows: The photograph is one's likeness of Baba. The wall is "I am the body" idea which is an obstacle that interferes with identifying the spirit.

One straightforward remark of Baba has always been "awaken the self". The nature of self is not easily explained. The pursuit to know the self is as varied as the individuals themselves. However, it is said that one must have an honest yearning and God's grace to know the nature of self.

Now, why should one know the "self"? The most famous Hindu scripture The Geetha says, " With the self unattached to external contact, he finds happiness in the Self; with the self engaged in the meditation of BRAHMAN, he attains endless happiness". Swami Chinmayananda on his commentary on The Geetha explains further, "Why should I deny myself the brilliant flashes of momentary joys in exchange for a steady stone-like, impregnable monotony, call it equilibrium or equanimity, peace or God-hood? Any sensible seeker entering the halls of spiritual study with his intellect bright and clear should come to doubt its efficacy and utility. Though the process of self development is essentially a process of detachment, this technique of negation does not take us to an empty and purposeless zero, but when we have negated all that is false, we come to experience and live a total positivity. When the dreamer has renounced all his contacts with the dream world and thrown away his dream personality, he does not become a non-entity, but he re-discovers himself to be the more vital, more effective personality, the Waker". Sadguru Sainath's remarks on awakening one's self refers to this state of awakening that is more vital, blissful and permanent.
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Contributed Article: Brahman is the Reality and the world an illusion?

We have heard the above line many times. But is it convincing? How can smashing two very high towers and killing 6000 people be an illusion? No it is not. Loss of thousands of lives, severe unemployment, anthrax by mail, and so on, these are all very real. On the other hand, our ancient as well as contemporary saints and spiritual teachers are not foolish, nor would they lie to us. Then how is the world an illusion? Let us consider some examples. Once, I went to see a three-dimensional video show by Kodak in Disney World. They organized the show so that the level of excitement gradually increased. In the beginning, we saw hundreds of rats running towards us from the screen and felt something tickling our feet, probably there was a simultaneous stream of air under the chairs. In any case, it felt like real and people laughed and enjoyed. Note that it felt like real but it was not real and recognition of that fact is what made people laugh. The show went on and there was a constrictor coiled itself on the screen. It slowly began to unwind itself and move towards the audience. This time, the audience knew what was going to happen. Some of them started laughing even before they saw the constrictor approached them, some others closed their eyes out of fear! Finally, when the constrictor became very big and came really close to every spectator, the room was filled with roars of laughter, but there were one or two young children who started crying and their mothers covered their eyes. In this example, the pictures were all real, the picture of rats was real, and picture of the snake was real, but not the rats or the snake. There was no real danger although it appeared to be like there was. This is illusion. The event produced different experiences in different people. Some laughed loudly, because they knew that it was illusion. Some closed their eyes, of course they also knew that it was an illusion, still could not take it because it appeared so real! A child cried because it thought that it was in real danger. This is ignorance and most of us are in this state. We are afraid of death, afraid of disease, and afraid of poverty. We do not understand Krishna's words in Geetha saying that weapons cannot break the soul, fire cannot burn it, and wind cannot dry it up. To think that this body and this mind is what I am is the illusion. To think that I will perish along with the body is the illusion. This is the cause of fear and misery. We need not blame ourselves for this ignorance because like the people who closed their eyes during the show, the illusion is strong and powerful and appears real! That is the nature of illusion. There is nothing wrong in wanting to be a millionaire in a game of monopoly and being happy when I win but to feel miserable and not to be able to get over it for ever when I lose the game is foolish don't you think? Therefore, to realize that the world is as real as a game or a Kodak show helps.

(Contributed by Shyamala Hari)
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Experiences of Devotees

SreeLaxmi Paladugu, Austin, TX
Om! SaiRam! Chant the name of Sai continuously with purity in mind and heart and you will find peace. Chant his name not only when you are in troubles but also when you are happy wholeheartedly. The first thing I do when I get up early in the morning is see his face by which I find so much peace and I wish that he should be by me and my family and also with the rest of the world throughout the day. There are some testing periods which we should endure patiently and have faith in him, in the end we will be able to cross the hurdles successfully and with a lot of satisfaction and with more devotion to "Sai". When you are in a depressed mood read Sai Charitra, You will get lot of peace. You have granted my wish of coming to US and finding my husband a good job. Without your blessings, this must not have happened. I have been facing lot of health problems and especially this year it is more. Though I have been waiting patiently that something good will happen, there are times when I get frustrated and start beginning to lose faith in him which I wish I should not do, but the illhealth makes me do so. So I pray sincerely to "Sai" to help me give strength to have utmost faith in Him and wish that I may become well soon. I am hoping for a better future for my family and me and to rest of the world. May Peace be restored in all the countries and may the Good triumph over the Evil.

Sukanya
Om Sri SaiRam. Baba please accept my humble obeisance. You are the father of the universe. Dear devotees, I would like to share my experience. I often read Sai Satcharithra. Three months ago, I read that book and completed within 7days. On the last day I was having a strong desire that today I should distribute prasadam to anyone. With that desire that day evening I went out of our house to make my daughter play. My daughter was playing and I am searching for my friends whom I daily meet. But I could not see them and when I was looking for my friends, I saw an old lady who is 100feet away from me with her grand daughter. Even she was looking at me. I did not know who is she, slowly after sometime she came towards me with a smiling face and introduced herself. Slowly we started talking with each other; we walked towards our apartment. I asked her if she had ever been to Shirdi. She replied, "Yes, since we live in Bombay we go to Shirdi". She told now Shirdi has developed a lot. I suddenly asked her "aunty, today I completed my Sai Satcharitra I would like to give prasadam to you. Will you come to our house". She replied me, "Ok, since you told me that it is Baba's prasadam, I will come and take". Hearing this I felt so happy and I took her to my house. As soon as she came, I gave her the "thirth", coconut water, prasadam laddu. I also packed five laddus to her family, she told she would introduce her daughter-in-law to me next day. But from the next day, onwards I never saw her. Since I had strong desire to distribute prasadam, Baba came in that way to my house I feel. I live in the USA and any where we stay Baba will be back of us guiding us.

NJ, London, UK
On the 25th of October 2001, In the morning as soon as I went to the Office, I was called for a meeting and informed that my services were not required anymore. My immediate reaction was, Alright, Thanks for employing me for so long and told my employers that I perfectly understand due to low volume of business, they had to let me go. This happenned on a Thursday. I had joined this company on a Thursday too. Now this is unbelieveable. On the same day at about 4.00 PM I got a call from one of my ex-colleagues that he had heard what has happened and would like to arrange for an interview in his company. I was overjoyed to hear this and said to my wife that it is all on account of Baba. I did the interview very well and got emplyed within 15 days of being made redundant. I call this a leela shown by Baba. Infact would term it a miracle. My wife who was completely unconsolable, was suddenly feeling very good and confident. Both of us did a Sai Sat Charita sapthah and have decided to do regular reading of Sri Sai Satcharita. Om Sai Ram.
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Devotees say...

Bindu
Dear Baba, Thank you for having been with me always. Baba, I have faced many problems in life to the max extent. With your grace, I was able to cross all those paths. Baba now I need you help at my work. Help me get my job. Baba you are my only hope.

A Sai devotee
I would like to use the Sai Vichaar as a medium to thank Baba for his grace. With Baba's grace, my husband's paper work was approved. I pray Baba for his grace and blessings.

Sashwat Riazada
Dear devotees, Please let me know if there is any Sai Baba temple in or around Cochin/Kochi/Ernakulam in Kerala (India).
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Prayer Club

Mahalaxmi
Jai SaiRam. Sai Ram at present our situation is too bad. Sai Ram please help us in getting assignment as soon as possible. Day by day, we are loosing hopes on getting assignment. If we are doing unknowingly, any mistakes please forgive us with your kindness. Please Sai Baba stay with us and guard us with your merciless. Please Baba help us. SaiRam, without your help we cannot do anything. My husband getting tension for this one Baba. Baba, show your miracle to get a job. SaiRam please help us to settle in the life. All of Sai Devotees please pray for us to get a job.

B.L.Venkatesh Murthy, Madhya Pradesh, India. blvmurthy@yahoo.co.in
My Humble pranams at the lotus feet of our beloved Sai Baba. Baba took me into His fold just after our marriage in 1989, and we performed our first Yatra to Shirdi in November 1991, which was a very blissful experience to both of us. By His grace, we have been performing His pooja every Thursday morning all these years. I must mention here that He has been helping and guiding us in our daily lives, for which I thank Him wholeheartedly. Our two children aged nine and five are growing up well. But we are worried about their education. I am posted at a small hill station where education and medical facilities are quite poor. I have made attempts at securing a transfer to our head office at Mumbai, but due to reasons best known to Sri Sai, I have not succeeded. I did my B.E. in Electronics & Communication Engineering with Honors in 1984, from a well-known REC, and have been working in the same organization since 1985. With a view to update my knowledge in Information Technology, I did Computer courses in 1996 and 2000 in Oracle Application Development and Oracle DBA. I am badly stuck in this job and this remote place, and we have been praying to Him to guide us to a new and better job. My various efforts in this direction have not borne fruit yet. I am well aware that He demands Shraddha and Saburi from His devotees, and that He has blessed me with both. But, I must confess that I have not made concentrated efforts to search for a better job. I pray to Lord Sainath to make me try very hard and seriously, and then guide me through my efforts. May He remove all my negative thoughts and take my family and myself to a better job and place. Please pray for us and help me if you can.

Dilip, Malaysia
My son was born with congenital glaucoma and needed to have both his operated on 2 weeks ago when he was hardly 3 days old.It his possible that he may be afflicted by more ailments related with glucoma.Doctor says he may not be able to see, save a miracle.My friends have mentioned about Sai.I pray that some one can help my dear son of his sickness.I have faith in the almightly.

Kumar
I am writing to seek Baba's forgiveness and blessings. I have become an embittered man since my father's death. I have lost the capacity to care for others. I live a day to day animal like life. My marriage is on the rocks. My contract was not renewed. I am neck deep in debt. I have lost my inner balance and have sinned in many ways - thoughts, speech and actions. I do not know if someone like me will be welcome in Baba's darbar. But having reached the depth of my despair, I have no where else to go. If readers can guide me as to the nidhi, neeti and niyam for sinners like me to prepare to visit Baba in Shirdi and Whitefield, I will be be deeply grateful. Jai Shri Sai Baba Ki

Randy Kemp, IL
Please pray for my friend, Eileen Boone of Winfield, Ill., who is dying of cancer, and is a very spiritual person.
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Quotation of the Week

As for the concept of the Godhead in the Guru Granth Sahib, it sets upon the trinity of sat chit and anand. God is omnipotent and omniscient. He is the Initiator and the End. He is Self-Creator and Self-Propeller. The soul too in its essence symbolizes this trinity or the God within, though quite often it loses the state of bliss as a result of the ego and the identity. Caught in the meshes of power and pelf, it loses its true moorings, and is tossed about by the whirligig of time. - D.S.Maini in "Studies in Sikhism and Comparative Religion"

Question of the Week

Q. "How does one know whether their prayers are answered or not"?
A. A. by Ravin Gnanasambandam, Ithaca, NY, USA

SaiRam. This is in response to devotee Swapna's question on how to identify "Just Wait" message from Baba. I have been thinking about how to answer this question and I realize how difficult it is. Faith is a mostly intangible entity that is hard to communicate in its fullest terms. It is like communicating silence! You just feel it! When we measure the infinite compassion of Sadguru as a response to our time-bound requests, the answer "Just Wait" is completely lost. We often experience how a seven-day parayan of Sai Satcharitha changes some lives forever. We have seen such experiences in Sai Vichaar in the last few years. We also tend to remember the answer "Yes" from Baba quite vividly, all the time because of the material gains He bestows. With a deeper faith, a devotee can also identify the answer "No" and that is precisely when the journey with Baba starts. This communication with Baba has to be nurtured and cherished. The simple means to achieve that is to truthfully believe that He dwells in us and represents the conscious that permeates the time and space, as we know it. Conditioned by the way we live and operate, most of the times, this blind belief defies our logic.

The logical answer to the question on "Just Wait", if any, has to come from my own experiences. I have been a devotee of Sainath for about twenty years, thanks to my beloved uncle, Vijaya Devan, about whom my beloved brother Sai Kumar mentioned in Sai Vichaar a few weeks ago. I have seen several experiences with Baba during these years. He has been in my mind at every occasion, good and bad. Baba saved us on many occasions. Health was restored, marriages were performed, and marriages were saved. Did Baba answer "Yes" every time? No! Not every task initiated remembering Sadguru, succeeded. Not every interview that I attended on Thursdays was fruitful. However, on hindsight, the experience was that every "No" had its purpose that eventually proved to be the way it should have been. So far! In the process, the transformation that look place in lives is indescribable. Faith is Sadguru is like the faith in the Sun. Sun never fails. While logic may help one to understand the "Yes", and the "No", it is only faith that helps one understand "Just Wait".

I would like to refer to a feature in Sai Vichaar several months ago. Titled "Unseen Miracles", these "No's are the way things should have been of which we read in Satcharitha and we forget. Baba did not answer every material pursuit. Neither did He shun away from opening His coffers to those who wanted to seek the stage beyond "Yes", "No", and "Just Wait", where the questions shrink.

One may ask, how easy it is to "Just Wait", when one is about to receive the last paycheck, or when the beloved is painfully suffering from an ailment. The most logical answer I can think of is, "Just Wait". Sun never fails! Bow to Sri Sai Peace be to all.
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Sai Activities

Shri Shirdi Sai Chitra Yatra 2002 organized by saibaba.org
Shri Shirdi Sai Chitra Yatra is the ceremonial travel of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba in the form of a portrait across USA. Baba will stay at devotees homes all through the journey. Yatra is more than a pictorial journey, it is:

* Invoking nationwide prayer for peace and prosperity for all. 
* Active participation of those involved. 
* Serve Baba to the extent each one of us can 
* Seek Baba's grace in the convenience of one's home in the way one wants. 
* Involve in a community event that will bring happiness and peace to one and all. 
* There are no costs or fees to participate. This is purely a spiritual activity.

How can one Participate:

Host Home: Participate by being Host to Baba. Baba's picture can be brought from a Chitra Yatra Anchor Home close to you and return the picture to the Anchor home. Prayers can be offered either alone or in groups in whatever way one pleases. Help and guidance is available for those who want to perform archana, arathis, bhajans, parayan, etc. though it is not necessary. One can spend time in meditation while the picture is at home. What is most required is love and devotion while praying.

Anchor Home: Participate by being an Anchor Home to Baba. An anchor home will receive Baba's portrait and other material(like books, etc) from saibaba.org and will be responsible for keeping Baba for a prolonged time e.g. 4 to 6 months. Will help to propagate the message to others in the community by letting friends and family know about the Yatra to enable them to be a Host home. Send and receive portrait to and from Host homes. Take care of Baba with love and devotion as long as Baba has to stay in the Anchor home i.e. till it is time to go to another Anchor home or to be returned to Chicago. Provide help to other host homes and coordinate with those who want to volunteer. Provide continuous feedback to saibaba.org regarding the activity while Baba is at the anchor home. Help and guidance is available at all times.

Volunteer: Good for students, singles and others who don't have the inclination or resources for participating as a Host or Anchor home but would volunteer themselves at prayer meeting in other Baba devotees home or volunteer to drive Baba's picture from place to place or help in propagating the Yatra information through distributing flyers and posters to the local community via Grocers, temples in your area.

Donor: Good for people who can't participate any other way than voluntarily contributing financial support for the event. This is not a fund raising activity but if this is the only way one can participate, one will not be excluded. All donations are tax deductible. Seek your accountant advice on donation limits and other details.

The yatra is open to all and will start on Jan 1, 2002 from four corners of USA and will proceed till later part of the next year. The Yatra will end based on the overall response from the participants. The closing ceremony and dates will be announced next year.

Hope the information is enough to give you an idea of the concept and help you decide your level of participation. If you have any questions, please contact by email at yatra@saibaba.org or call us at (847) 931-4058.

Please do register yourselves early to enable us to work on the logistics. Any activity is only successful by active participation of all those involved. We invite you to be an Anchor home in your area and involve your family and friends that are close to you.

Please do not hesitate to send us your comments, questions, concerns and suggestions. For more information please visit http://www.saibaba.org/yatra/saiyatra.html. Register now online or download the registration form and send it by fax, email or snailmail.

Saidarbar, Hyderabad, India
Saidarbar will be shortly completing three years from its inception. Sustenance of Saidarbar could be possible only due to the divine blessings of our beloved Baba and the keen interest evinced by all his devotees spread across the globe. Please visit saidarbar.com for more details about various activities of Saidarbar.
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