Once, a mother engaged a tutor for her mischievous son. She could not tolerate the tutor's scolding and beatings to her dear son. The mother wished to have her son's manners corrected and cultured but could not suffer the sight of the son being put to trouble with arduous task and punishments. All her efforts were directed in keeping the boy attractive. As days passed by and years rolled on, tutor after tutor came and went but the brain of the boy remained, as it was when it came into this world. Nevertheless, the boy grew into a handsome youth and then into a man. He could not pull-on in this world as he had neither intelligence nor money, and the ability to get along with the remaining members of the family or of the society. People scoffed at him and condemned him. He was lost to 'himself' and to the world.

Similarly, Your aspiration is like mother and your body and external habits are like the mischievous son. You go from teacher to teacher because you cannot undergo the ordeal of patiently obeying any teacher. Your Abhimana to the body is so great that you cannot forget it for a few minutes and sit in Sadhana. During this wandering, you will not be able to assimilate anything. So, you will be to lost yourself and to the world. Remember, A rolling stone gathers no mass. O Man, practice Sadhana while you are young. Leave out this Abhimana for body. The hardship that you undertake is nothing when compared to the bliss that you shall reap as the harvest.

The attachment towards the Universal must be sincere and steady. Bhakthi is neither a matter of beads and beards nor worship that consist of flowers and camphor. Do not address the people immersed in these as "bhakthas" (devotees). Bhakthi cannot sprout or bloom with crooked vision, character, thoughts and feelings. Plant the seeds, water the field, remove the weeds; keep away stray cattle, manure the plants; dust them with pesticides, and then, you can collect the crop.

Saadhana (spiritual discipline) means and includes all these steps. You are judged by your spiritual discipline but not by the number of temples you have gone. Have the name of the Lord in your thoughts so that you can brave any calamity. A fakir (holy man) is one who has no fikar (worry). Always have an eye on the number and volume of your desires. Discriminate and discard superfluous attachments and acquisitions. Do not welcome the worries and fear with a load of wishes in your heart. Carry only one load i.e., the desire to win the Grace of God. He will confer what is best for you. Once you love God, you will realize that Nature is only his garment.

Perform action but do not hanker after the fruit. The best means of liberating yourself from the consequences is to ignore the fruit and do perform action for the sake of action only. If you crave for the profit, you will have to be prepared to accept the loss also. You are free once you give up the desire for remuneration. This is the secret of "renunciation of the fruit of action" (karmaphala-thyaaga).

Yoga is explained as union, which is possible after Chiththavriththi nirodha i.e., the curbing of mental agitations. You can know your 'self' only by intense spiritual discipline that is not marred by anger, envy and greed that sprout from the Ego. The Ego will fall away itself when one grows in Wisdom. So, Develop Wisdom and know the ephemeral nature of all objective things so that the tail (Ego) will no longer be evident. This must be your deeksha (steady pursuit). The deeksha must express itself in practice as Nishtha (discipline of an unflinching kind) and Sikshana (Training of the senses and emotions), which are essential for crossing safely the flood of "birth-death-continuum".

Water or fire as such cannot move a train; they must both co-operate to produce a third thing, steam. Similarly, Bhakthi, jnaana, or karma must all lead to the achievement of equanimity; otherwise, they are simply pseudo.

Clouds that flit across the sky cannot induce the blue depths of space. Similarly, Sorrows and disasters cannot injure one who has determination and faith.

(Contributed by Sai devotee Sathyanarayana)
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Contributed Article: Shri Sai - My Saarthi

The Lord Shri Sainath very often described the role of the Guru as a guide to take us easily to our destination. He would further tell us that He, Himself, is our Sadguru i.e. He is our guide.

The Lord Shri Krishna also acted as a guide. In the Mahabharat, the ruler of all the three worlds guided the Pandav prince Arjun through the vicious war of Kurukshetra, and ensured him victory over his enemies. Lord Krishna was Arjun's charioteer (Saarthi).

I find that, in a similar way, my sweet Lord Sai is like my Saarthi. The body is the chariot. The horses are the senses. My mind and soul are Arjun. The path we take in life is Kurukshetra. Life, itself, is like the war against our various enemies such as lust, anger, desire, ego, impulse, hatred, jealousy, and many more. Just like Arjun's enemies were many in number, so are mine. However, when the God of gods is my Saarthi, what is the need to fear? As Shri Krishna did for Arjun, my Sai will do for me. He will ensure I cross this Kurukshetra and reach my eternal abode at His lotus feet. Just as Shri Krishna gave Arjun true knowledge via the glorious Bhagawad Gita, my Lord teaches the same through his sweet leelas, direct experience, His Satcharitra, or in any way He feels is best.

However, we must have the two wheels of Shraddha and Saburi on our chariot, or else we move nowhere. If we do not have faith and trust (Shraddha) in Baba, it means we are not giving Him the reigns to control our horses and chariot. Without patience or forbearance (Saburi), how do we hope to pass even the first hurdle? The path is long and difficult. At times, it becomes very rough and unpredictable. Always remember our Sai knows the way through it. It is only when we surrender to our Sai, and offer Him our Shraddha, Saburi, intellect, senses, verily our whole being, that He will truly become our Saarthi and take us safely to our goal.

Readers, I request you all to now mentally prostrate before our ever kind and merciful Lord and gratefully thank Him for all He does. O Lord Sai! Please bless all your devotees. We love you sincerely from the bottom of our hearts. O my Baba! Please become our Saarthi. Guide us to your lotus feet, through the whirlwind Kurukshetra of life. May we all be given the chance to serve you to our hearts' content. There is no greater honor in all the three worlds than to be called your devotee.

(Contributed by Akhil Gupta)
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Experiences of Devotees:

Duvvuri Venkata Ratna
Since my child hood I am devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba. I perform my pooja along with arati daily at 4 am in the morning. Last year I wanted to perform my pooja with Bilva Patra (a variety of leaves by which Lord Siva's archana is performed). But prior to my pooja I forgot to bring Bilva Patras from the market. Early in the morning as usual I prepared to perform pooja but I was repenting that I forgot to bring bilva patras from the market. To my surprise, by 5.30 am in the morning, my husband went to one remote place about 5 kilometers away from our house and brought Bilva Patras, which I did not even ask him to bring. I asked him, how he brought the leaves and how he came to know about my special pooja with Bilva Patras. He explained that somebody woke him up at early in the morning and told him to bring Bilva patras for my pooja. I am definitely sure that Saibaba only did this miracle to fulfill my desire. He is great and infallible Jagatguru in this world.
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Devotees say...

Ravi Anil Kumar
Sai Baba, thank you for all the help you showered on me and my family. want to share a recent experience with Saibaba's grace. I prayed to Sai Baba to give me death, so that I can be relieved from this artificial world. But Baba makes me realize how important life is. Me and my two friends in the night went on a motorbike. When my try to overtake the lorry in front, to our shocking there was a divider and both my friends were severely injured. When I opened my eyes, I was in front of Baba's eyes straight from the Sai Baba's temple. Thank you very much baba. Now I am bit confused about why I am in this world? Please show me the right path. My long lasting wish is to go to USA. My koti koti pranams to Baba. I pray to Baba to shower his blessings upon each one of you including my family.

Veena
Om Sai Ram. I just want to thank sai baba for whatever we have today. I thank sai baba every day of my life for what he has given us .I pray he has mercy on us and continue to shower his grace and blessings on my family, my mom, dad, my sister and her family. Continue to give us food, shelter and clothing to my family. Saibaba, when I asked you to give me a job in US, you answered my prayer. Then I wanted a job in the IT industry, you fulfilled that wish of mine too. I learnt that everything happens for the good and happens at the right time .I learnt the two principles of life which Baba always preaches- Shraddha and Saburi. One should have Shraddha and Saburi then I do not think they would have any hurdles in their lives and even if they do, Baba is there to wipe the hurdle off. Baba, I have a humble request. Please listen to a prayer of mine: Help my sister, listen to her prayers, and please listen to her prayers, please.

Sai Kiran
Sai, please accept my humble pranams to you and I am profoundly grateful sincerely for showering mercy on me. I have been out of job for good four months now and been searching for a position quite fervently, but all the while keeping Shraddha and Saburi in mind, hoping SAI maharaj will guide me through my misery, I attended an interview on March 8th Tuesday for a very short term assignment and the next day my agency notified me that I was thru the interview and client wanted me start the job from the following Monday. I prayed to Sairam to make a project a long-term project and started the Satcharitha Saptaha Parayana from the next day, Thursday. After finishing the first day's parayana, to everybody's surprise, my agency called and said, the client had a last minute interview with someone else and chose that person and sorry for letting me know about it. I was shell shocked like touching a 40000 volts live wire, but contained all my anger, tears within me, so as not to show my feelings to my family and kept patting myself the words Shraddha and Saburi and continued with the parayana for the next 6 days and Udyapana the following Thursday. Then a Miracle happened, I got a call out of the blue, to attend for an interview on Tuesday and on Thursday and on March 24th, I got confirmation for the job with a very long term contract. My joy now, has no bounds; I am deeply indebted to Sairam for his various forms of leelas. Thanks Sai, I urge you to please shower me with your cool smile and show me the path to destiny.

Komal Patel
I know that you know everything. Please you help me in this situation. I am very worrying about my grades that are due soon. But I think that I will not get good grades and I am so much worried. But I trust You that you will help in this and will get me good grades so please Baba do something.
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Prayer Club:

Renu
I request all the devotees to pray for my brother's job. I pray to Lord to make him emotionally strong and bless him with a nice and respectable job. Baba, please listen to our prayers.

Usha Madhuri
Sai, please help me and be with me in choosing a right partner. I am very much tensed and getting panic regarding this. Sai, I offer myself to you, I just look at you, and Trust you. Fill me with your love and namam. Guide me all through. Sai devotees please pray for me to get a good husband and have a peaceful and pleasant life.

Sai devotee
Baba, please bless me with a job. I want an entry-level job. Baba I want the job in the city where I am living right now. You know I cannot stay alone that too leaving my husband. See that I get the job as early as possible. If I get a job so many of my problems will be solved, very importantly I can be with my son.

A devotee
You saved me in all the difficult situations. Please save me now also Saibaba. Please see that everything should go well. Please Saibaba. I am doing your charithra parayana daily. Please see that my health should be good and everything should go well

Harini
Baba, I have been going through lot of trials in my life at the present. I am in need of your blessings desperately. It is a question of life that I have to decide upon. I am confused to take a stand. Please help me!

Srikala
Baba, I pray you not to give my kind of life to any other girl in this world. This is worse than any disease in this world. I know that you are there for me like a father who always helped me in so many ways. But the situation I am in from past two years is so much pain I am unable to take it.

Venkat Rao
Today, I am left in this wide world all alone and I have really none to depend on except you. I know, my lord, your courtship is more than anything for me to achieve my goal. But, Baba, out of frustration, I sometimes, fail to heed you. Kindly forgive me for all this childishness and be pleased to guide me towards my destination.

Vivek Singhal
Baba, please guide me and my family so that we achieve our goals. Please forgive us for all our sins and mistakes and please bless us that we do not make those mistakes again (willingly or unwillingly). Please answer all your devotees prayers.

Sonia
Baba guide me in making a right decision, I don't know, whenever I am close to achieving any thing something goes wrong, baba help me in making a good decision so that I get a job

Ravi Rajasekharuni
I pray that I should practice your teachings and live a life of contentment and concern for fellow people. I do not know what to ask you Baba. Each time I plan to ask You something, a part of me feels that I must ask for something better i.e., regarding my state of realization and not just for material objects. Also, know that you have been taking me through all the low phases in life which, otherwise, I couldn't have crossed with so much ease.
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Quotation of the Week:
"I think of my people day and night. I say their names over and over"-Saibaba
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Question of the Week:

Q. What lessons can one derive from the episode of Anna Chinchanikar vs. Mavsibai in Sri Sai Satcharita?

A. by Manav Sharma

Generally, all people like wit and humor, however they do not like it if it is cut on their expense. But, Baba's method was unique and interesting and people did not mind, even if they were held up to the ridicule. This incident of Anna Chinchanikar vs. Mavsibai is interesting in this regard.

Anna Chinchanikar was very simple, straightforward and good natured and he was an ardent devotee of Sai Baba. One afternoon, he was serving Baba by shampooing the left arm of Baba. At the same time, one widow lady, Venubai Kouljalgi alias Mavsibai, was messaging the abdomen of Baba. She was also good-natured lady and an ardent devotee of Baba. She was doing so forcibly that her faced moved up and down with each stroke. At one instance, Anna face came very close to Mavsibai. Being witty, Mavsibai made remarks that Anna is lewd and he wants to kiss her even if being old. Anna got furious on this remark and retorted back. At this, time Baba who loved both of them equally, pacified the situation, by telling Anna that what the harm if somebody kisses his mother. Both became cool and other devotees who were present that time, laughed merrily.

This incidence shows the wit and humor of Baba and how skillfully Baba managed the affairs of devotees.
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Sai Activities:

Sri Ramanavami celebrations in Chicago, USA
Sri Ramanavami and Urs festival celebrations are the first major celebration of the year for Shirdi Sai devotees. The tradition started in 1910 and continues each year. Shirdi Sai temple, Chicago will be celebrating the event for three days starting from Friday evening April 15th to Sunday April 17th. The program comprises of Aartis, Maha Abhishek, Homam, Palki procession, Satcharitra parayan, bhajans and much more. For complete details please visit www.saibaba.us or call 847-931-4058.

Sri Ramanavami - Baba's Urs Celebrations in Minnesota
Shirdi Saibaba Prayer center, Minnesota invites Sai devotees to participate in the Sri Ramanavami-Urs celebrations on Saturday, April 16, 2005 at Geeta Ashram, Brooklyn Park, MN. The event includes, Sai aarthis, Devotees' experiences, Bhajans, Kirtans, Chandan Utsav and Palki Procession. Please write to hamaresai@yahoo.com. Regular Sai activities in the Twin Cities, MN are conducted at Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, 725 Lake St NE, Apt #139 Hopkins MN. For details, please visit www.hamaresai.org or write to hamaresai@yahoo.com. Or call Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center at 952-938-2983.

Shirdi Sai- Ramanavami Celebrations in Bay area, CA
We welcome all of you with family, to join us for Shirdi Sai- Ramanavami celebrations in the Bay Area, CA on April 23rd (Saturday) in Sunnyvale between 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Las Palmas Park Building, 850 Russet Drive, Sunnyvale, CA (located off of Remington Dr. and Spinosa Dr.). For more information please contact: saibandhu@yahoo.com or call 408-564-6704

Shirdi Sai- Ramanavami Celebrations in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
Welcome to Sri Shirdi Sai Baba temple at Dallas-Fort Worth, a place of worship for the devotees of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba. Ramnavami will be celebrated on April 17th 2005. For details on Sai activities and services please visit http://www.shirdisaidallas.org or write to shirdisaidallas@yahoogroups.com

Sri Ramanavami celebrations in Toronto, Canada
Shirdi Sai Baba Sansthan of Canada cordially invites all to join in celebrating Shri Ram Navami Festival on Sunday, April 24, 2005 at 03:30PM at Vishnu Mandir 8640 Yonge St. Richmond Hill L4C 6Z4 For more Information and to Volunteer, please contact us at 905-887-1752 or 905-472-5899 or email: saileela99@yahoo.com

Sri Ramnavami celebrations in Sydney, Australia
Shree Shirdi Sai Sansthan Sydney invites you with family and friends to join for Ramnavami festival on on 16th, 17th and 18th April 2005 at 420 Liverpool Road, Strathfield South, NSW 2136, Australia. For detailed programme or Sansthan's activities, please contact Sansthan Info-Line at 0500 524 724.
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