Sadguru is the substance of all scriptures and He is the wisdom that pervades eternity. The purpose of the seeker is to seek the depths of such an entity in order to quench the thirst; the blessing only mankind is bestowed with in nature. Known as sadhana, such a pursuit is the subject of discussions, arguments, speculations and postulations suited to the human convenience. True, religions and sects all talk about the same, yet we have many religions and sects. Let us not however forget that Baba refutes any argument in the name of God and he said without mincing words, "All are same", and "God is One".

Baba's statement through Anantrao Patankar's episode in Sai Satcharitha that devotion is the most important qualification required to realize the supreme has most profound impression on His followers, then and now. Bhakthimaarg or the path of devotion is sure to lead one to God that exists in the self and elsewhere. Baba had stressed repeatedly the importance of realizing the self; the story of merchant seeking Brahma Gnan (the knowledge of the Supreme that exists within and out) in Sri Sai Satcharita is an excellent example.

How does devotion lead to the pursuit of the knowledge of the self? Even before we ask that question, one may wonder whether something known as "self realization" really exists. The surprising answer to the question is Yes! Mankind completely dwells in the realization of grosser perceptions; the abilities that define the self to its fullest beauty, " I realize, therefore, I am! However, the term self-realization in its spiritual context is completely subtle and not easy to comprehend.

Baba said that His coffers are open and those who seek shall be given. In this context, the subtleties of realizing the self assumes enormous importance if one were to pay attention. Let us all on this beautiful Thursday spend a moment on seeking Sadguru's treasures that lead us to our own subtle nature, the material that is all pervading.
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Contributed Article: Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago and Suburbs

By the grace and blessings of Saibaba Shirdi Saibaba Mandir of Chicago and Suburbs was inaugurated by Guruji Shri CB Satpathyji on August 18 and 19th 2004. The event started on August 18th as with Bhumi Pooja, Kalasa Pooja, and Kumbhabhishek. On 19th Pran Pratishta and havan were performed by priests Sri Nagendra and Sri Sudhakar under the blissful presence of Shri Guruji. The havan was followed by Abhishek and Archana to Baba, Madhyahna arathi, Discourse by Guruji and Mahaprasad.
The evening program started with Sai Satcharitha Parayan, Dhoop arathi, colorful procession of Saibaba on the chariot amidst Sainama Jap, Sainama Jap, Discourse by Guruji and Shej arathi followed by Mahaprasad.

The temple is open daily from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm. Daily program includes Kakad Arathi at 7am followed by Abhisek. Madhayana Arathi at 12 noon, Dhoop arathi at 6pm and Shej Arathi at 9pm. Archana, Homams, Sahasranama and sponsored poojas continue in between the Arathis. To request a pooja for yourselves, your friends and family, please call. Devotees can request water (Abhishek Jal) from the Holy bathing of Baba by sending us an email or by phone. Temple is located 25 minutes drive west of Schaumburg on intersection of IL Route 47 and Plank Road in Hampshire, IL. For more information please call 847-931-4058 or send email to maildrop@saibaba.org.

(Contributed by Support Team)
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Experiences of Devotees:

Ravindran Arumugam
I came to U.S.A end of last year. Though I am an engineer, I could not find the job in my profession. So I had to work some odd job. My family was also with me, we had lots of worries and tense due to my odd job. I was not able to get my profession job. We lost peace of mind. My wife usually browses through net about God. Incidentally, she found this site and started to read daily about BABA. We started having faith in BABA and started praying him continuously for a good job. On one Thursday, she prayed to BABA that she would read and finish Saisatcharita in seven days. Now she finished her first day reading she received phone call from a company for which I have applied long before and lost hope that I get a job in that company. They told me to come for the interview on Monday. I attended it and they told me to join at the same day. It is a good job with good salary. All this happened within the completion of Saisatcharita by my wife. It is a great miracle of BABA in our life. Our joys had no bounce. Now we (myself, my wife and my son) are regularly pray to BABA and reading Saicharita.We promised that we would write our experience to Sai Vichaar so that others who read will also get more faith in BABA.

Rambabu Tallapragada, Tampa, Florida
We would like to share one of the Saileelas that we experienced recently, when we visited India in June this year. My wife and daughter applied for their H4 visa revalidation through drop box in Chennai, but they were refused, asking them for Personal appearance at the consulate and to submit W2s. (I just enclosed pay stubs but not the W2s.) We did have the W2s with us, but in order for us to submit them, it was required to schedule an appointment for personal appearance again through TT Services website. When I tried to schedule an appointment on June 17, I got appointment for September 10,2004. But we got our return air tickets for August 2, 2004 itself (that incurs lot of fine if they were to be re-scheduled). And also our daughter's school commences on August 5, 2004 itself. Hence we prayed Saibaba to show us a way to modify the appointment to a date at least a few days before the journey date. We had tremendous confidence that we will get it by Saibaba's leela. During this time, I tried everyday to modify the appointment. But, I can tell you it is only Sai leela that we got it for July 27,2004. (After trying to logically analyze this and failed.)

From the time the visa was issued to the date of journey, we had undergone some more Saileelas. Finally, on the day of travel to US, the AI flight from Chennai to Mumbai was delayed. When we called Air India, New Jersey they said the international flight from Mumbai to Newark cannot be generally delayed, because a connecting domestic flight was delayed. Hence we thought, my family was going to arrive here only one day later. But, with Sai's leela, again, the AI international flight from Mumbai to US was also delayed to accommodate the passengers from Chennai, in which my wife and daughter were part of. It is our immense confidence that without His blessings this would never have been possible. My family not only reached on the scheduled date to USA, and my daughter started going to school from day one, but He also saved me lot of expenses that I had to incur otherwise. What we learned from these experiences is that Baba showed us the importance of "patience" and "complete surrender" to Him.
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Devotees say...

Usha Viswanath
I think Sainaama is a powerful mantra and say it whenever I can. If I am afraid of a terrible situation, will it help me by chanting Sainam? Sometimes I am just afraid and my mind remains a blank in spite of my faith in baba. It is another thing that baba still helps me. How does one develop the habit of chanting incessantly Baba's name?

Ramakrishna Boga
Sai baba is always present in bad times and good times with me. Unconditional faith is something I am trying to practice and all my life issues are being supported by Baba ever since I visited him long back in 1987 and 1989 at Shirdi. Sai is always clear in my mind and I seek his blessings on all our family members, friends, and relatives. I pray my wife will deliver a healthy baby next year 2005 February. Sai keep us safe from all miseries and god bless us with happiness of the first child. I pray Sai keep our success continuous in work and future endeavors.

Mithun Boda
Baba please increase my devotion toward you and see that I always see your feet. Baba I also pray for other Sai devotees, baba please bless them and see that they are all happy and always feel your presence. I would like to request you something, I want to attend Sai bhajan, I live in a place near Dallas, I request you to kindly post it in this columns, if you are conducting bhajans near Dallas please give your telephone number or email id, so that I can contact you I would really like to attend bhajan of Sai baba. I pray to baba also see that my wish is fulfilled.
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Prayer Club:

Sai devotee
The experiences I have in this last week. I saw dream of lord saibaba. In big hall there was a photo of baba and I saw vibhuti in his right side of face flowing down. I was trying to play dholak(baja) which was torn and I said to one boy that this is not working. I really couldn't understand the signal of dream. Whatever it is I know baba is blessing me and taking care of me. I want to pray to baba that please the person I have chosen as my life partner is good for me or not and hoping to settle down with him in the future. Please Sai show me the right path and give me decision. We want to go another country from here. Please help us Sai. Om Sai!!

A devotee
I am praying Sri Shirdi Sai to help us to come out of our problem. Not a single day passes with out our sincere prayer to Sai to help my son to get a decent job. Eight months have passed after his Masters in Computer science in UTA, Dallas .He is unable to secure a job. He is totally up set. Oh, SAI MAHARAJ, please bless my son to have a good job so that he can settle the loan and mentally free. Please bless him.

Vanita
Baba I am alone with my children at Tirunelveli district is in Tamil Nadu state (India) and my husband is at Dubai. Please Baba help him in his business. I need your help Baba I also want to help my husband but I am helpless. Please Baba give me and my husband strength for come out of this problems bless my children also in their studies. Koti koti pranam Baba. Bholo Sai maharaj ki jai.

Sai Devotee
Baba, I believe that you are My Father, Mother, Friend, Philosopher, and Guide. You know I don't have anyone to help me other than you. Why am I not getting married? I lose whatever I love the most. Why is this happening to me Baba? Baba I don't have anybody else to help me other than you. Please Baba help me. Sai devotees please pray for me.

Padma
Sri saibaba Shirdi baba meeku koti namaskaramulu. When I was suffering without employment you have saved me in getting new job. You know I am not able to survive in rented houses. I had already prayed to please help me getting housing loan. Please help me baba in my children's education. Om Sai sri Sai jaya jaya Sai.
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Quotation of the Week:
"If we see all actions as God is doing, we will be unattached and free from karmic bondage"-Sai Baba of Shirdi
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Question of the Week:

Q. How far is the practice of seeking answer to a specific question by turning a page of Sai Satcharitha OK?

A by Rajendra Gutta

I think that it is a very good idea to seek answer to a specific question in Sai Satcharitha. All of us would be faced with multiple scenarios when we need to decide between options. In that case, it is not satisfactory to get the answer from anybody we know, because we would still be having doubts, but if we sincerely meditate on The Lovely Sai Baba and open the Sai Satcharitha with Shraddha, Love and Bhakthi, the answer is given by our Loving Guru. Sai baba knows about our infinite past lives and about our infinite future lives, His answer would without a question be the best for us. It is our fortune we are even allowed to pray to Sai Baba, like Sai baba said, without his grace, we cannot even think of him, forget about praying to him. In the world filled with all kinds of people, his presence is the guarantee for any situation and enough to safely ferry us across the world.

Q. How far is the practice of seeking answer to a specific question by turning a page of Sai Satcharitha OK?

A. by Gayatri

Last year starting with a terrible thing of our life, for no fault of ours we were dragged into some legal matters during my son's final exams in Feb 2003 I will never forget that particular night when govt. officials came to our house and left our place as late as 01:00a.m. We all three (Me, My husband and my son) were sitting without any clue what to do next, and praying to Baba to guide us whether we continue staying in our house or go some where else to avoid humiliation and unnecessary harassments of these official. I picked up Sai Satcharitha and the lesson at random which I picked up stated "This is our Dwarakamayi, where you are sitting. She wards off all dangers and anxieties of the children, who sit on her lap. This Masjidmayi (its presiding Deity) is very merciful, she is the mother of the simple devotees, whom she will save in calamities. Once a person sits on her lap, all his troubles are over. He, who rests in her shade, gets Bliss". We took it as Baba's answer and continued staying in our own house. Although we had to do lots and lots of running around, but at the end of all this by Baba's blessings we got the clean chit from the Government officials. So this entirely depends on an individual, if you want solace in Sri Sai Ma's lap she will always welcome you with open hands. Om Sri Sai

Q. How far is the practice of seeking answer to a specific question by turning a page of Sai Satcharitha OK?

A. by Sai devotee

Whenever the ego is in confusion and situations are too perplexing, it starts turning inwards searching for answers. The methods of inner search may be different, but the goal is the same. That is, inner peace and bliss. Reading Sai Satcharitha in times of crisis is one of the ways to call for divine assistance. In Sai Satcharitha, Sri Hemadpanth repeatedly stresses the fact that Sai samarth is the real narrator of the stories and he alone, writes them and gets them written. Saisatcharit is sri Sai himself. . Further, Sri Sai assured us that, "you look to me, (surrender to me) I look to you. (Sai's grace flows on to us)". Surrender starts the purification of heart and grace completes it. Seeking an answer in Saisatcharit does not mean we are running away from problems, the faith instills more confidence and strength to face the same problem in a better way.. But ,there is a word of caution here. Until unless our faith is strong, whatever message we read, there is a chance of misinterpretation, which leads to doubting mind. So, let us always pray to Sai to grant us Shraddha and Saburi and to keep our mind steady despite of the different situations in life. Some times, the answer may not be connected to the question, still, in my experience, I found that praying to Sai with sincere heart will make things clear .In difficult times, Sai will give us the strength and inner peace to bear them -. This is his grace. Sai, the indweller of our heart is always there inside to guide us and to inspire us. OM ANTARYAMINE NAMAHA.
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Sai Activities:

Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago and Suburbs, Illinois, USA
Shirdi Sai temple is open daily from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm. Daily program includes Kakad Arathi at 7am followed by Abhisek. Madhayana Arathi at 12 noon, Dhoop arathi at 6pm and Shej Arathi at 9pm. Archana, Homams, Sahasranama and sponsored poojas continue in between the Arathis. To request a pooja for yourselves, your friends and family, please call. Devotees can request water (Abhishek Jal) from the Holy bathing of Baba by sending us an email or by phone. Temple is located 25 minutes drive west of Schaumburg on intersection of IL Route 47 and Plank Road in Hampshire, IL. For more information please call 847-931-4058 or send email to maildrop@saibaba.org.

Shirdi Saibaba Temple, Vasantapura, Bangalore, India
I am excited to inform that Sri Sai Spiritual Center Trust at Thyagarajanagar, Bangalore inaugurated a second Shirdi Sai temple in the Banglore metro area. The new temple is located at Vasantapura, which is at the southern part of Bangalore near the ISRO layout. The temple was inaugurated on Aug22 2004. The temple has a beautiful marble idol of Shri Saibaba and it has the idols of Sri Narashima Swamiji and Shri Saipadananda Radhakrishna Swamiji. Shri Narasimha Swamiji was a main Sai prachar sevak in the early 50's in south India and the President of All India Sai Samaj. Sri Radhakrishnan Swamiji arrived in Bangalore in 1952. By 1956, Swamiji shifted his lodging to an upstairs room in a house near the N.R. Colony bus stop. This also became the home of Sai Spiritual Center (SSSC) and here Swamiji lived for about seven years until a permanent building for the center was constructed. More info about the SSSC can be obtained at http://www.ssscsaipadananda.org

Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, Minnesota
Regular Sai activities in the Twin Cities, MN are being conducted at Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, 725 Lake St NE, Apt #139 Hopkins MN. For details, please contact hamaresai@yahoo.com, or call Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center at 952-938-2983, and to read the monthly newsletter Sai Sandesh, visit www.hamaresai.org.

Shri Shirdi Sai seva camp, Krishna Pushkaralu - 2004
With the grace and blessings of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba and with the divine inspiration given by Guruji Shri C.B.Satpathy ji, it is proposed to run a multi service camp in the name of Shirdi Sai during Krishna Pushkaralu from 27th August to 8th September, 2004 at Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. This is similar to that of Kumbh mela which comes once in 12 years at Nasik, Haridwar, Allahabad(Prayag) and Ujjaini. We appeal to the devotees to take part in the proposed camp in whichever way the merciful Sai inspires you. We pray and wish that you would join us in this noble endeavour to serve humanity in the name of Shri Shirdi Sai. For further details and enquiries, please contact Shri Shirdi Sai Kalyanam Trust, 7-46A, Vasavi Nagar, M.R.Palle, Tirupati - 517 502, AP, India. Telphone: 91 877 2244123 Mobile: 91 94402 73873 email: saichandrabhanu@rediffmail.com
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