Volume:13 Issue:11
Thursday, Jul 22, 2010
Quote:
“Sai Baba is always full of mercy. What is wanted on our part is whole-hearted devotion to Him. When a devotee has got firm faith and devotion, his wishes are soon fulfilled.”- Shri Sai Satcharita
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:
The full moon day(Pournima) of Hindu Ashada month (July 25th) is desingated to serve the Guru, hence it is also referred to as Guru Pournima. Sai devotees accross the world will be celebrating Gurupournima celebrations either at home or temple. Mark your calendars for a day of prayer and service to Shri Sai. Share your story and picture with other devotees by clicking here.
Devotees Say:
Meenambal
My husband winded up his Computer Centre in the year 2006 & was not taking any job seriously. He was trading in shares. He wanted to do a Shares & Investment based business. We tried in a reputed concern to open ourselves as their sub broker, but the process was so much delaying since 9 months. Finally, they had asked my husband to pass a preliminary exam to qualify as a sub broker. I whole-heartedly prayed Baba for him to qualify in the examination & I assured of posting the article in Sai Vichaar. Now he is qualified and we have opened the office.
Vamsikrishna
Dear Sai devotees I promised Saibaba that I would publish my experiences after those are fulfilled and all my wishes were fulfilled in less time. I have 3 things to share to start with first one we are having one son who is 4yrs old and now my wife is pregnant and we both are looking for daughter this time. We both prayed to Baba to bless us with daughter and the day we heard that it is baby girl we are in full happiness. Second one is I have my visa valid until Sep 2010 and my wife is due in October 2010 and adding to that my current assignment is going to end by June 2010. In current scenarios, getting visa extension is very difficult, couple of my friends got visa extension rejections, and they went back to India. We have faith in Baba that he will look over us after hearing the news of my daughter exactly after 2 weeks my visa was extended and we are in full joy and we immediately went to Baba temple in New Jersey. And 3rd one is we have a 2week bench policy in our company and after 2 weeks either I have to go back to India office or move out of company. Therefore, I was deliberately looking for project personally considering we do not have any projects in our company. I told Baba that I would not eat banana, which is my favorite fruit until I get project. Because of Baba's grace after 2 weeks of getting my visa extended I got two projects, one with my same company and one is contract project. These are my experiences within every 2weeks. We cannot think of our life with out Baba's presence in our daily life. All this happened 2weeks before and yesterday night I got a dream that I was with Baba for whole day and showing me miracles in my dream. This way Baba reminded me that I have to publish my experiences in article. I love Baba very much. The more we love and trust Baba that closure we will be with Baba and are attached to him. Daily I pray to Baba to see every one happy and get settled in there lives.
Sai Eshwari
Devotees are invited to attend Shirdi Sai Bhajans and Sai Naam Jaap organised every thursday at Shri Durga Mandir, Unit #210, 7750,128th St,Surrey,Vancouver, Canada. For further information, please contact 604 329 7858 or 604 594 0093.
Bhaskar
Baba, you helped me on getting my new house. You know how much I went through. You are my savior and the teacher.
Devotee
Om Sai Ram. My sister is a citizen but she could not sponsor him because her salary could not meet the sponsorship requirements (she did not have job continuously for 2 years.). I prayed Baba and told him that I will finish the Sai Satcharitra in one day and he has to show us someone who can sponsor my brother-in-law. I finished reading the Sai satcharitra and on the same day evening, my mother called my cousin and requested her to sponsor my brother-in-law. My cousin agreed to sponsor him and everything went well. He got the green card.
Vidya
Dear Sai devotees, I would like to share a small but amazing experience of our dear Sai's presence. Today, I had been to my therapist for a treatment. I had verified before and was told that one sitting would cost Rs. 1000. So I had taken exactly Rs. 1300, intending to keep Rs. 300 for my lunch outside and travel expenses. When I was waiting for the treatment, I was told by the receptionist that it would cost Rs. 1500. My home is too far away to go and come back and I had no extra cash or credit card or ATM card. Just before going for the treatment, I prayed to my dear Baba to save me from this embarrassing situation. After my therapy, which lasted for an hour, I came to the desk and to tell the receptionist that I would pay the balance amount the next day. But to my surprise, she asked me to pay only Rs. 1000. I was overjoyed. It was not about the amount of Rs. 500, but the strong surge of excitement that Baba had listened to me. He is really great, what else can I say!
Devotees Experience:
Poornima
Baba, I put forward my sincere gratitude and thankfulness at your lotus feet for the miracle that you did for me and for my family in making the impossible quite possible with so much ease. You have reminded me to pursue faith and patience through this delayed but surprising promotion, which finally comes due to your grace only. It was You who made it possible.
How can I express my feelings that always BABA with me like, only one miracle I am sharing i.e. last 7 months back we bought home in NJ that is a foreclosure property; Without seeing a home we won the Auction on Internet; We don't have sufficient money to pay because my husband lost his job; No hopes to get a loan from the bank because we applied loan on my name, they are asking me to show 3 years working experience that I don't have; Already we decided to move NY to NJ because of schools; Before getting a home we joined our kids in NJ school; My husband got a job; My husband daily dropping my kids in NJ school after that he dropped me in Princeton and after that he use to go Philadelphia like that we struggled 2 months. Up and down.
After winning the property, we came and saw the home i.e. Good condition, again a miracle. I kept Baba & Hanumanji's photo in cupboard & I left everything on Baba only, because daily my kids are going back NJ to NY alone from the school. One day one of my Husband's friend he gave money and we paid full amount for the property, after that we got a loan on my husband name and we paid his friend's money back. Now we are in our Dream house because of Baba only.
Jahnavi
I would like to share with all the devotees of Saibaba his miracle for which I am forever thankful to him. My mother underwent quite a few surgeries for minor and major ailments. Again when she was about 58 years of age, she developed an ulcer, which gave a lot of digestion related problems. At the time of her earlier surgeries, I being a little sensitive could not control myself seeing my mother brought out of the operation theater in an unconscious state. I only added to the misery of my elder sister who was taking care of my mother. When she was advised to go for another operation for the ulcer, I was terribly afraid whether she would be able to take it or not with such delicate health conditions. A surgeon was expected from abroad, and he was to operate on my mother. The date was fixed.
Seeing my emotional state my elder sister asked me to be away from the hospital on the day of the surgery. I requested my husband to take me to Shiridi, as I wanted to be at the feet of Baba when the operation was going on. We went to Shiridi and had a wonderful darshana of Baba. In the evening, I called my sister to find out how mother was. To my utter delight and astonishment, I was told that the surgeon who was to operate on my mother, on seeing her medical reports said that there was no need for an operation and it can be cured with medicines. And he has been correct indeed. Is it not a miracle? Even after preparing everything for the operation, Saibaba warded it off. Baba please let us have total faith in your Lotus feet always. I am sure you will help us come out of the few problems we are in.
Weekly Question:
Q. Out of devotees of Sri Saibaba depicted in Sri Saibaba literature who do you like most and why?
A. by Vandana
The only character in the Sai satcharita for whom Sai Baba is like a GURU, FRIEND, PHILOSOPHER is SHYAMA..And this is the character I like the most. Even Shyamaji reacts like a close friend to Baba and every time they fight like kids for small things. This shows how much Baba likes his devotees and his love towards his devotees just cannot be explained in words to be publishes here. Only when we surrender to him we can experience his true love.
Q. Out of devotees of Sri Saibaba depicted in Sri Saibaba literature who do you like most and why?
A. by Kirti
Out of devotees of Sri Saibaba depicted in Sri Saibaba literature I like Shama the most. Shama had heart of a child. Whatever he thought he spoke without considering the circumstances he was in. With Baba, he behaved like a child just like a child would act in presence of his/her mother. I like this innocence in Shama. For Shama Baba and Dwarkamayi was everything, he did not feel the need of visiting Saptshringi Devi, his family deity, just because Baba was his whole world. I like this unconditional devotion and faith Shama had in Baba.
Sai Vichaar Vol 13, Issue 10
Feature: Whom to blame?
I realize that everybody's life comes to a full cycle between birth and death. Life is a dynamic process consisting of multiple activities, physical, mental and spiritual. The spirit of life, which for our understanding at this stage may be defined as the Soul (Atma), is said to be the root cause of human birth. This soul force in each living being brings along with it impressions of past lives. When this soul force creates a living entity like a human being, it becomes a 'Jiva'. This jiva or human being is endowed with certain mental and physical instruments in the form of mental and physical 'indriyas' in order to carry-on its worldly activities (both physical and mental) in accordance with his desires, either created in this life or brought forward from the past lives. Using the various faculties of mind and body, he calculates and strives to achieve his desired objects. While doing so, at times, he succeeds and at time he fails to achieve. When he achieves, whatever he desires, he feels happy and when he fails to achieve his objectives, he feels unhappy. His life goes through a series of achievements and non-achievements till his death. Besides the inherent capabilities of the mind and the body, it is the circumstance in which he tries to achieve his goals which contributes immensely in bringing success or failure. Human beings do try to use the circumstantial advantages to their benefit and control the un-favourable circumstances to the extent it is possible for them to do so. However, no person, the mightiest and the lowliest alike, has ever been able to control the circumstances to the fullest extent in accordance with his desires. History indicates that some mighty rulers had miserable death.
The greatest limitation of the living beings is that they cannot control their circumstances beyond a certain point. When circumstances become favourable, sometimes, one achieves more than what he anticipates and when circumstances become unfavourable, he achieves less than his expectations. A saint or a wise man accepts such limitations, and therefore, lives happily, whereas others who fail to accept such a reality, suffer agony. Take for example a child who has genetic disorders as a result of which his physical organs are defective or his mental faculties are limited. In such a situation, who is to be blamed, if we try to blame someone else, including the parents, nature or God for this miserable state of things? Again for example, when many people perish due to landslide in a hill, then who is to be blamed? Can one get a solution by blaming the hills or the forces of nature? Even if one makes such factors responsible for his misery, does it bring a solution to his satisfaction? Blame the deities one worships or the non-manifested sovereign energy force called God? Many people do so but I do not know if this brings about a solution to their problems.
The Hindu vedic seers have explained such happenings through the theory of Karma. The theory of Karma, elucidated exhaustively in the Gita Mahapurana, simply states that "as you sow, so you reap". This reaping of the seed of Karma can be of this life or the earlier lives. According to the Karma Theory, visible reactions are not always commensurate with visible actions. The blue-print of the invisible action-reaction syndrome is carried forward by the human beings (Jivas) from their past lives. This seems to be a good spiritual solution, but, except for the highly evolved souls, an ordinary man is not capable of mentally accepting such a concept in its totality and holding on to a stoic attitude to life. In such an eventually who is to be blamed? Some human beings have a tendency to blame others, which includes other human beings, society, circumstances and even God for all their miseries simply because they cannot accept the realities of life. They forget that God or nature has created human beings of widely different varieties and has given a right to each one to complete his lifecycle as ordained by destiny. Some of them often hold-on to their so-called moral standards and blame others for not coming up to their level. This is another type of self-created problem by the so-called good people. "If I am so good, they say, "Why should I suffer?" or that "Why should the bad people enjoy life?"
Therefore, it would be wise to avoid such an attitude of blaming others as no human being is even near perfection (spiritually speaking) on this earth. One needs to learn to accept certain realities, how-so-ever painful and make the best use of whatever is good and favourable to achieve reasonable standards of happiness and success in his life cycle.
May Shri Sai bless us all.
A Message by Shraddheya Sri C.B.Satpathyji, New Delhi
Contributed Article: Bhakthi Maala
On the day of GuruPoornima, humbly we offer our obeisance at thy Lotus Feet. Bless us with the choicest gifts from Your Treasure Box. Sri Hemadpant came to Shirdi on account of the stored merit of his Punyakarmas. You were standing in the corner of Sathe's wada. He ran, prostrated before you. Joy knew no bounds. He found more than what he had heard from Nana Chandorkar. All his senses were pacified and he forgot thirst and hunger. As he touched Your sacred feet, he began a new lease on life. You held his hand and never let go.
Gaulibuva came for your Divya Darshan every year and testified with great faith that you are Pandharinath Vithal incarnate, the merciful Lord of the poor and the helpless. Sri Dasganu had a desire to visit holy Prayag You showed with mercy, Ganga and Yamuna flowing from Your Toes. Such is the significance of Your holy feet. That is where live all the Thirthas of your Bhaktas.
You came to Shirdi as a young lad. Just like Krishna, children looked at You with awe and old ladies' hearts swelled up with motherly affection. At Your very first Darshan, Mahalspati heart cried out, YA SAI and You became our Sai. Bless us with the same wealth that You blessed your Mahalspati with.
Saint Gangagir came to Shirdi and seeing you carrying pitchers of water in both hands for watering the garden was amazed at Your Darshan and said, "Blessed is Shirdi that it got this precious Jewel; but He is not an ordinary fellow. As the land was lucky and meritorious, it secured this Jewell". Saint of Anandmath was lucky to find pure diamond like you. Such was the efficacy of Your Darshan that it quieted our Samsar. Mr. Cholkar's desires were fulfilled just by Your Darshan. Mr. Sathe resorted to Your feet and seeing Your form, which was like eternal Brahma, luminous, spotless and pure, his mind became calm and composed.
Such was the efficacy of Your Darshan that Bhakta Pant saw his guru in You and was blessed with fearlessness. Ramdas Bhakta devotee saw her beloved Deity Rama in You. Lala Lakhmichand was so happy to have Your Darshan that he was enrapt with Your Lotus Feet as a bee with a sweet smelling Rose. Kakaji Vaidya found that there was no benediction, no words; just Your Divya Darshan filled his whole being with peace. Darveshis came with their sick Tiger at Your door for You to cure him. Tiger's head hung down on account of luster on Your face. Such fortune to have death at Your Lotus Feet.
Baba, on this GuruPoornima day, bless us with the Vision like you blessed Anandrao Pakhade. Let us decorate our Hridya simhasan with gold and diamonds of all Satwick vrittis. Reside our Deva, take Your Feet out of Your Kafni and let us change the directions of our lives towards the SatyaPath. Let us direct all our senses towards our eyes wherein live You my Sai., We have placed Your Padukas in our heart. Murmur with Your sweet voice, Your eternal message that "THESE ARE THE FEET OF THE LORD".
Baba, instill Your Shashwat Sandesh in our ears, "OH.. WHAT IS THERE IN AKKALKOT, and WHAT IS THERE IN PRAYAG"? THE RANCHOD OF DWARKA IS IN SHIRDI. Come to our house for Bhiksha and let us serve You with our sweet devotion. Be pleased with it and placing Your VardaHasta on our heads, comfort us by saying, "THESE FEET ARE OLD AND HOLY, YOU ARE CAREFREE NOW. PLACE ENTIRE FAITH IN ME AND YOU WILL SOON GET YOUR OBJECT."
(Contributed by Sathyabhama Sharma, Maryland, USA)