Volume:13 Issue:3
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Quote:
“If one turns all his attention towards Me and worships Me heart and soul, is meek and humble, avoids the company of atheists, irreligious and wicked people, he will get eternal happiness. His dishes will be ever full and never empty.”- Shri Sai Baba
Announcements:
Saibaba.Org announces the start of redesign project of its website. If you are a technical person and would like to volunteer, please fill out contact form.
Upcoming Events:
Shirdi Sai Parivaar invites all devotees to Pranpratishtha and Inauguration of Shri Sai Baba Temple in Milpitas, CA on weekend starting June 18th. Please call (408) 705-7904 for more details.
Devotees Say:
Pradeep
Baba I am grateful to you for chamtkar for direct enquiry for sale of property. Continue to grant me blessings and place at your holy feet and protect my family and me.
Srivalli
WE sincerely thank you for taking care of my daughter's health issues and everything.
Devotee
Thank you for always being there with me. Koti pranams on your holy feet for warding off a potential visit. Please continue to shower your blessings on my family and son and forgive us if we have done any wrongdoing and always be in my thought.
Namita
Thank you so much Baba for finding such a nice life partner for me. I had never imagined that thinks would fall in place so smoothly and so quickly. Bless all Baba!!!
Priya
Thank you so much Baba. My baby is sleeping much better now and we are all able to rest well. Please keep us all blessed all the time.
Devotees Experience:
Devotee
We recently traveled to India for a vacation, before the travel, I transferred some money thru online banking for our expenses in India. I got a confirmation that the money has been transferred and I did not bother to crosscheck the account in India to make sure the amount has been credited. After reaching India, when I went to the bank to withdraw some money, I was told that there is no enough fund in the account to withdraw. I was on the phone for almost a week and a half with both the online bank and my local bank trying to find out where the fund is. It was very frustrating for my family and me, as we had to borrow money from my parents for our expenses.
Finally I prayed to Lord Sai Baba to take care of this for us as I needed the money for our expenses in India (this was on a Saturday) and the following Tuesday we had planned to go to Shirdi for Baba\'s darshan and blessings. Believe it or not, Monday evening I got a call from my local bank confirming the credit of my account and on Tuesday (when we were in Shirdi) my brother confirmed that the amount has been credited when he updated the passbook.
This is truly because of Baba\'s grace and blessing. Thank you Baba for taking caring of my family and me.
A Sai Devotee
Om SAI RAM!!!! My pranam to Baba's lotus feet. Baba, I am nothing without you,
Baba's Leelas are immense & unfathomable!! I had a picture of Baba in my house with all other pictures of God. As a normal practice I used to just fold my hand for few seconds in front of GOD and move on with my life without thinking much. One day something happened in my life that changed my whole life. I was diagnosed cancer and doctors did not give much hope. I started talking treatment. This made me mentally & physically weak. My family was devastated. My husband started running around to different doctors to get help. All of a sudden I saw Baba in my life. I came across startsai website and Baba pulled me towards him. I started praying to Baba and reading more & more about him. I kept reading Sai Satcharitra regularly. How beautiful was the experience of reading Sai Satcharitra the first time. I felt I knew Baba for long time and Baba is with me all the time. Baba took me in his path. So beautiful is the feeling. I know my Baba is my doctor and he will cure me for good. My faith started becoming stronger & stronger. I surrendered myself to Baba's feet. I started praying Baba & doing naap jap everyday. Baba kept showing all positive things. Baba showed me the path to meet so many Sai devotees. My faith became so strong that Baba is now part of me. Amazingly I got so much strength mentally & physically. I went to the doctor and my report started looking good. So many wonderful miracles started happening in my life. I can go on writing on & on. I went back to work and started my normal duties again. I visited Shridi. We had a good darshan of Baba in Shridi. Baba made everything so comfortable for us. Baba's darshan was the most beautiful experience I will never forget my whole life. After coming back from India I went to the doctor my reports looked good. Baba always gives hope to his children who surrender completely to his feet. Baba saved my life. Now I am cancer free. My life is so beautiful; I got more than I can think of.
I am lucky that I had cancer because I got my Baba. I am free of all worries!! If you are reading this, Baba wants you to read this. Please surrender at Baba's feet. All your problems will go away. Follow Baba's path, help people, and be egoless, feed poor people…. Try to do something good every day. Even if it is a small thing like be nice to people. Have faith & patience..Baba is with us!! I can feel him all the time….You can feel him too.. Om SAI RAM!!
A Sai Devotee
My sweet Baba was very kind to our family today. My brother is to appear for the final year exam shortly and was told yesterday that he had shortage of attendance which would make it difficult to appear for the exams.
My mother and I were most worried and very upset by this news. We reprimanded my brother but were most anxious as this would mean losing an entire year. We all prayed to our Baba. That morning in my prayers to him I told him that I felt bad to ask him to help in a situation which has been a mistake on my brother's part for which my whole family is undergoing suffering and to please help my brother. Just as Baba has never let me down,By Baba's loving kindness an acquaintance of ours consented to accompany my mother and speak to the principal. The principal rightly was very angry about the incident. Later he he got his exam halt ticket because of Baba's grace. I sincerely hope Baba will guide him and help him take his exams. Today is his exam. I pray to Baba to change my Brothers attitude and make him serious about his studies and guide his final exam. Baba has shown his kindness today. Baba's loved ones please pray that my brother will be able to perform well in the exams.Thank you.Thank you Baba.
Weekly Question:
Q. Does Shirdi Sai tatva fit into Guru parampara? Explain why? Or Why not?
A. by Jai Talreja.
Om Sai Ram
There is a mention in more than one chapter of Sai Satcharitra (e.g. chapter 4 & 18-19) about Sai Baba serving his Guru for 12 years & about his Guru insisting on "Shraddha" & "Saburi" (the tenets that form the crux of Sai tatva). In fact, there are incidents in which Sai Baba hinted at his lineage / earlier births (e.g Saint Kabir). While Sai Baba never formally appointed a successor, there are innumerable followers (e.g. Shri Satpathy ji) of Baba across the world, who are "LIVING" his teachings in their day to day life & inspiring others to do so...Since Sai Baba is God incarnate ("Avtaar"), he is beyond & therefore never subscribed to or attached importance to the formality or rituals of making the name of his guru public, appointing a successor, setting up his Ashram / Math etc. It may well be that Baba's Guru was no human & he was initiated by the "primordial being"...
So while the Shirdi Sai Tatva may not fit into the commonly understood meaning of the term "Guru Parampara" as both his identity & leelas were full of mystery, yet the links to the Dattaguru / Kabir / Sufi principles of "God is ONE", "Discarding rituals" etc. are evident.
Sai Vichaar Vol 13, Issue 2
Feature: Parvardigar!
Allah Malik! was the phrase Baba was heard saying very often ever since He arrived at Shirdi. He used phrase such as Anal Haq..Yade Haq. It is not known how Baba lived during the earlier years in Shirdi, but those who visited and watched the Shirdi God during later years clearly observed Baba's habits and lifestyle to be different than the sadhus and other ascetics of the predominant Hindu religion. He was heard talking in languages of Islam including Urdu, Persian, and Arabic. His way of life was fakiri and He did not have any possessions, a practice consistent with Sufi adepts of those days in Deccan. But, Baba never said that He was a Sufi and thus it would be inappropriate to call Him one based on how He lived in Shirdi. People saw in Him their own sense of happiness, security, and satisfaction; thus in their quick attempt to profile Saibaba's nature, He verily became the deities, gods and goddesses dictated by their religious backdrop. Is this enough for a true Sai devotee?
Blind acceptance of Sai as another deity without understanding Baba nor the other deity amounts to subtle self-deception. Who is Saibaba to me? The answer to this question starts with that first experience one has with Baba. Having truly touched by Saibaba, one's life cannot remain the same anymore. The natural prerogative of those touched by the Shirdi Saint has to be a lifelong yearning to know more about Baba and enquire about one's relationship with Sai and remain blissfully in that pursuit.
Contributed Article: Is Ignorance Bliss?
One takes shelter behind the shell of ignorance and refuse to allow the light of knowledge penetrate into our being. In fact, we fail to acknowledge that ignorance is the root cause of all the troubles and pain inflicted on us by the world. Given a situation a number of self-prophesied pundits, learned folks, social workers arise who are determined to take the ignorant and down trodden in the correct path of god realization. While doing the work entrusted by god on us, one never stops for a minute to think if they are free from ignorance. Ignorance is bewitching and enticing damsel affecting everyone, learned and illiterate alike. It is Maya as described by BABA, from the clutches of which nobody can be spared. Only the sharp sword of a Guru who is the repository of all virtues and wisdom destroys this damsel.
Ignorance is defined as "unawareness" or "lack of knowledge" in the Thesaurus. In the path of spirituality ignorance appears to have a different meaning. A beautiful exposition of ignorance is given in Chapter 39 of Sai Satcharita by Hemadpant translated by Indira Kher. The meaning of ignorance is revealed when Nana's pride was pricked by BABA during a debate on Bhagavat Geeta. Various forms of ignorance that a sadhak expresses in the path of spirituality are as follows:
1) A Fond outward display of righteousness but with a mind full of doubts within and without the capacity to bear insult even for a moment
2) Inwardly a keen desire for honor and reputation with an outward show of meditation, while anger, lust smolder within
3) In reality, full of wicked deeds, without a place for righteous deeds or good thoughts, but flaunting a knowledge of Brahman outwardly
Few followers of Shirdi Sai carrying out his work have some form of pride in the work that is being carried out, or entrusted to them by BABA. They seek recognition for their work or consider themselves out of league of the common folks, because of the exceptional service they render to the community. Some people who have read Vedas and Vedanta's and spiritual literature make a show of their learnedness. Followers of Shirdi Sai are aware that one must not expect any favors out of service rendered to people in the name of god yet there is expectation. There are also people who take on the drudgery of the household on their heads only to enable their spouses to concentrate on the works of god. Alas!! A man who cannot take the household responsibilities how can such a person take the responsibility of community or world. Service to god starts from house. One must remember that in the path of spirituality there is no room for red tape, nepotism, pompousness and conceitedness. One who considers himself more learned and pious than others has fallen into the pit of unending darkness and cannot be called a sadhak. Path towards god should not be touched by the evils of the world as one might get entangled in it and forget BABA. Guruji Satpathyji said "in compound of your house always keep the path going up to Shri Sai free, so that whenever you are troubled by the problems of life, you can find way to him". All sadhaks are aware of the dos and don'ts while serving god, but unfortunately, are overcome by Maya and repeatedly commit sins. Even Adi Shankaracharya was trapped by this powerful Maya of ignorance and it had to be knocked off by an untouchable.
The mere thought of "I have mastered this", "I do not need a guru", "I can achieve moksha by reading books and need not have a guru" are obstacles in spiritual path and the thought itself is the main obstacle in following BABA. BV Narasimha Swamiji, in his book "life of Sai BABA - Volume II" has given a detailed account of biographies of the great devotees of BABA. In that Swamiji describes that one must have a child like faith and behavior to attain salvation. BABA told Radhabai Deshmukh "I know one thing, the truth taught to me by my Guru. It is not the various Sadhanas and books that are necessary. A study of the shastras is not necessary, what is necessary is absolute surrender to and love for the Guru." One must remember that God does not live there where there is ego or conceit. One should make a conscious effort in curbing the thoughts of ignorance and remember always that what one is now, and what one is doing in the name of God is all but the grace of guru. If God gives one wealth, name and fame, then He can also take it away in a fraction of a second. All the actions are originated from him and will merge in him too. Let us destroy the Teli, wall separating us from BABA. The greatest wealth that a sadhak can accumulate in lifetime is humbleness and humility - and this can be achieved by grace of guru coupled with conscious effort.
Contributed by Anitha Kandukuri, Canberra, Australia