Sadguru Sainath has left no institutions behind Him. Neither did he appoint any successor to His mission. I speak from my tomb, He said. He has been doing so, through some of His blessed children, time and again. Sai Baba’s apostles have appeared on earth from time to time, from all religions and places, all walks of life, with the holy mission of spreading Sai message and His sweet love towards His children. These apostles have brought great solace to the spiritually deprived as well as to the materially aspiring. Some of the apostles are well known to the world, thanks to their work and the others’ commitment to highlight their mission. Sai Vichaar would like to present and highlight those apostles and let us on this beautiful Thursday remember with love and reverence the services of these great men. In this week, let us know more about Sri Pratti Narayana Rao, the writer of Sri Sai Satcharitha in Telugu, the book that is revered by scores of Telugu speaking Sai devotees all over the world.

Sri Pratti Narayanarao hails from Ichhapuram town in Srikakulam district, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. He is the eldest son of Sri P. Kamayya and Srimathi Ramaratnam. Sri Pratti Narayanarao left to Shirdi in the year 1950. He procured a job in Bombay by Baba’s grace, where he used to get Rs.500/- per month. In the year 1953 Baba appeared in his dream and asked him to go to the city of Secunderbad, A.P, and translate Sri Sai Satcharitra from English to Telugu. He advised to approach Sri Papayya the chief engineer in public works department. Pratti Narayanarao got financial help from Sri Papayya, moral support from Sri GVR Naidu garu and the help for printing the book from Sri Chanda Narayana Shresti. Sri Narayanarao gave more than one hundred lectures on Shirdi Sai in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. After performing his untiring service at the lotus feet of His master, Sri Narayana Rao merged in Sai at the age of 56 years.

Sri Narayana Rao had one brother and sister. He worked as a teacher in a tutorial college in Vijayanagaram town, A.P. He got married and blessed with two sons, Pratti Satyanarayana and Pratti Krishnarao. It is said that the last days of Sri Narayana Rao reminded the life history of great Sai devotee Sri Mahalsapathy of Shirdi.

(The information on Sri Pratti Narayana Rao garu is collected and complied by Saibanisa Gopalarao Ravada based on the information furnished by Sri Karri Suryarao of Vijayanagaram, Sri Vittal of Machilipatnam and Sri Rajeswararao of Secunderabad, A.P. )
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Experiences of Devotees

Satish Kumar, Raleigh NC, USA
(Originally posted on Saturday, July 3, 1999) My eyes watered by seeing your web site specially the devotees experiences and inspiration by Sri Janardhan Reddy garu inviting for satsang. I am a devotee of Shri Sai Sadguru past nine years. I have been going to Shirdi every year since I came into contact with my lord. The experiences which Baba gave to me are innumerable but one of those which stick to heart was when I went for U.S. visa, on 15th Oct,1998. I have gone for visa without proper documentation i.e. without My final degree certificate M.B.A which is needed for the proof of my 16th year schooling. The degree certificate was not given out by the University yet. Meanwhile, I received my admission papers from the U.S, and hence I was compelled to go for the visa. I was sure that my visa will be rejected due to insufficient documents. But, in the corner of my heart I had faith on Baba. Well, it happened the same way as I thought, my visa application was rejected. My ego was not accepting the fact and my belief on Baba never proved wrong. The day was very bad for me since my visa was rejected and I came back to my hotel worrying and hoping that Baba will show a miracle since He cannot see his children suffer. The same day evening around 700pm I called up my friend who I met hardly twice or thrice in my life time and told him everything what had happened. That was the turning point. I know in my heart that Baba came in his form to console me and advise me to try again the next day. He also accompanied me to the U.S. Consulate. You may get a doubt how can I go for the visa the next day itself and how can a person accompany into the embassy for the visa. Well, that is the miracle of my lord, I went for the visa the next day and to my astonishment I was obtained the visa at the outside counter itself. This is purely a Sai miracle and it is all due to the grace of SHRI SADGURU SAINATH MAHARAJ.
SHRI SACHITANANDA SADGURU SAINATH MAHARAJ KI JAI. OM SAI RAM,OM SAI RAM................
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Devotees say...

Gautham Kumar, Columbia, SC, USA. Gauthamkumar@hotmail.com
I am a devotee of Sai Baba. I do parayanam whenever I get leisure and I think I am not perfect. Is there any way that should be followed to get the blessings of Baba. I would also like to know if there is any body in or around Columbia, South Carolina, USA who are devotees of Sai Baba. I would like to know their addresses.

Liliana, Argentina
I dont´know how to pray paarayanam, could you please teach me? I read your news every Thursday, which I find very interesting. Keep on, and specially giving experiences and life about Lord Sai Baba. Bless you all. Thanks for teaching me, I need some prayers because I am not feeling well emotionally and physically. I have problems. Thanks

A devotee
I am a devotee from Boston, MA. We recently moved here from Colorado Springs. I would appreciate any information on whether there is any Sri Sai Baba temple in or near Boston area. If I could get the Sai Baba arathi from the web site, I will be very grateful. As our family is the devotee of Baba since long (12 years) Baba graced us from many disasters but recently our family (me, my husband &children) are being tramped in very serious situation but we have complete faith in our Sadguru who is looking down to us & sure he will help us out. This is a real test to BABA itself who assures his protection & helping hand to his devotees will not let them down. I hope I will be provided with the information above. Hope Baba, the wish-fulfilling tree will fulfill all his devotees’ wishes.

Rekha Chaku rchaku@hotmail.com
I would like to know what is PAARAYANAM. Thanks

Sheena Bhatia, Los Angeles, CA, USA
I m thankful to Sai Vichaar for starting such an online thing. It really makes life easy. I thank Sai Baba for everything he has done for us so far. We are all very grateful and surprised with the miraculous escape of our Nonage after a heart attack. This is all Sai Baba's leelas. I bow to Him again and hope that He stays with us all the time with His hand over our foolish heads. thanking our guru again. MAY SAI BRING PEACE TO ALL.

Vrinda Kumar, Sydney, Australia
I would like to say something about the chanting of the Gayatri Mantra.( Krishan Ghosh's query and Anand's response) I was relieved to read that there are no restrictions on women . I find it difficult to understand why there should be any restrictions at all of any kind on women in particular. Why should women be forbidden from saying their prayers or doing puja at any time at all. Why this differentiation between men and women . As Baba's devotees, we should not be doing differentiation of any kind at all. Every human being is entitled to take God's name as and when they like. To my mind, what is more important is a sincere wish to do so . When and how one does is not significant. I have just remembered a mythological story, which I had read in a Chinmaya mission's magazine for children.

"Many centuries ago Hanuman, the devoted disciple of Lord Rama, was going to his durbar in a joyous mood. Suddenly he heard the chanting of Ram-naam. On looking around he found no human being. There was no building in site except a toilet. On going near it, he discovered the sound becoming louder and clearer. This made him very angry. 'Rama is God and look at the dirty place where his sacred name is being taken.,' he thought. He decided to teach the person a lesson. He waited till the man came out. 'Are you mad to repeat the Lord's name in such a filthy place?', he shouted at the old man who emerged. 'I am a devotee of Lord Ram, my child' , said the old man. 'You seem to think that he is only present in his durbar, but he is everywhere. It is the love that matters. His name is as sacred to me in the temple as it is here', said the gentle old man. This made Hanuman furious. He gave the old man a sound slap. The poor man started bleeding from the nose and mouth but he did not say anything and merely saying Rama! Rama ! he left the place. Hanuman saw that his bleeding stopped with the repetition of the Lord's name. On reaching the durbar Hanuman was shocked to see that blood was trickling from Rama's nose and mouth and no one seemed to be paying any heed to it. At the end of the durbar, he asked the Lord why no one seemed to be concerned about it. The Lord merely smiled serenely and said that no one else could see it. Rama explained, 'A devotee was repeating my name and another devotee in his ignorance slapped him hard. He called out to me for help and I had to take over his agony'. Hanuman regretted his mistake and apologized. He had failed to realize the simple truth, 'Love knows no bounds. It is the intensity of the devotion that is important. The place is of no consequence. God is everywhere, where a true devotee is. It can be a dirty room or a sacred temple, a palace or a hut, the heart of poor or a rich man alike'. Therefore, do not hesitate to take Sai's name anywhere and everywhere and at all times. Even during the 'monthly prohibitive days.'

Kamal Rai
I would like to congratulate the team on such excellent work and information that you give to people like myself. I just got familiar with Baba a year ago when I first read the Sai Satcharitra. I've been printing out all your issues and made a file for myself. I look forward to my email on Thursdays. I have learnt a lot from reading the Sai Vichaar and envy the people who felt closer to Baba. I would like to thank Dr Vrinda Kumar of Australia for sharing the thoughts and congratulate Sydney Sai devotees on finishing their joint parayan. I always wondered what was the correct procedure for reading the Sai Satcharitra and it is told so simple and clearly. I wish Sai Vichaar the best and pray for all in need. Thank-you Sai Vichaar for your hard and excellent work!!!!

Vidya
Recently I came to know about Sai Baba's web sit .Believe me I consider that as a happiest day in my life . With Sai’s grace, I got married recently and I am leading a happy and peaceful life. I plan to study now but I feel I am not having the confidence I just hope Sai’s blessings will always be with me and he will lead me in a correct direction. My eyes are filled with tears after I went through the web site. I just hope Sai guides me in the correct path and helps me to become more humble. My dad always says once u do a favor forget it at once u shouldn't remember it after reading one of the Sai devotees article I realized how true my dad was. I pray that Sai will always be with me and guide me to do the correct thing. Help me to be a good human, wife, daughter and a sister.

Bhramara Pulapaka, Australia
I am a devotee of Sai Ram and all our family members from my mothers side are believers in Sai Ram. I am enjoying Sai Vichar every week thank you very much for giving the opportunity to read about Sai's Leelas through his devotees. I am also started reading Guru Charitra and it is a beautiful feeling thanks to the devotee from USA, keep up the good work.

Jyoti Vora
Pranams to the Lotus feet of Shri Shirdi Sai Nath. I am so very grateful to be receiving the Sai Vichar every Thursday. I wrote to you sometime ago that I had misplaced a blue velvet pouch, which contained all my gold jewelry. With Baba's blessings I found it this Saturday & was very relieved to have found it. I am ever so indebted to Shri Shirdi Sai Nath. May Sai Nath shower all of us with his blessings & may his light forever shine on us. May he fulfil all our desires & protect us all. OM SAI SHREE SAI JAY JAY SAI.

Response from Alphanso D’Souza to the question of the week
Many a rituals don't make sense to me, but I do believe that in every ritual, there will always be something more to know, and in the midst of each of them, there is reality somewhere. I also do believe that in doing any ritual, it is not for the human mind to comprehend exactly everything but there needs to be total submission, openness and obedience to enjoy and bathe in one's experience with the Lord. For any ritual to be true and worthy of sacrifice, one is to be honest and open with God, to be sincere and not lie to Him. We tell Him just how we feel and exactly what we're going through. That's what He wants. To have our hearts right with the Lord, we must stop being deceitful and always deal with Him in truth. He already knows our heart, so being truthful in one's prayers can only be a blessing. It's obedience that's more important than the rituals in itself.

Flattery is not communication; it is manipulation. We flatter people because we want something from them. It's bad enough to flatter people, but it's even worse to flatter the Almighty. One can flatter Him with one's mouth, and lie to Him with one's tongue; for if one's heart is not steadfast with Him, nor will any rituals or prayers be complete. How do we flatter Him? First, when we praise Him but we don't mean it. It is so easy to stand in the temple and sing songs of praise with our minds somewhere else and our hearts not in our singing. We simply go through an empty ritual. We also flatter Him when we make promises to Him that we don't intend to keep. We can flatter Him a third way when we pray to Him but don't really seek His will. I do this many a time. It's easy for us to go through routine prayers and make promises. "Lord, Sai today I'm going to... or not going to yield to that temptation...", or "Lord, Sai, if you answer me, then I will... ". But in our hearts, we have no intention of following through. We not only lie to ourselves but to our Lord itself. We do our rituals, hoping to buy His blessing. Sometimes I am even guilty of going through the ritual and the routine of worship, hoping that He would somehow deliver me. That is sure deception and deceitful. Lord Sai, help me to be open and honest with you, never flattering you with dishonesty, insincerity or deception. Keep my heart clean and help me to do the things you would want me to do and refrain from the things, you would not want me to do. Open my spiritual eyes to understand more of you and to see things from an eternal perspective.
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Sai Activities

Sri Shirdi Sai Sansthan, Sydney, Australia

The Sydney Shirdi Sai Sansthan is celebrating Gurupoornima on the 28th July from 7 - 9 pm at our temple . We will be having Bhajans and aarti followed by prasad for all the devotees. On the following Sunday (1st August ) we will be giving food for some poor and needy people as Baba always advocated . A few of our devotees will bring home - cooked food which we will be taking to a city mission where a number of needy people are fed every day.

Baba Prayer Center, Chennai, India

Sri Kumar Baba, Baba Prayer Centre, B-13, Gokul Flats 53,
12th Avenue, Ashok Nagar, Chennai, India - 600083
Phone: 91-044-4892259
email contact: K. Bharathan, kbxy@hotmail.com.

It is proposed to build Nagasanam for Kovai Nagasayee by the Grace of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba. Nagasanam in silver (similar to Sesha Vaahanam) will be a contribution from Sai devotees through Baba Prayer Center for the Sai temple at Coimbatore. The Nagasayee temple at Coimbatore is well known and is even mentioned in Sai Satcarita (Please refer to Ch.XXXV in Sri Sai Satcharithra, the English version by Sri N.V. Gunaji ). The estimated cost for this project is Rs.75000.00. It has been decided by the center to collect Rs.5000.00 each from 15 devotees. Already five devotees have come forward for the noble cause. The 15 names will be inscribed inside the temple in marble. We need ten more devotees to contribute to this cause on first come first accepted basis. Kindly send your DD only after confirmation by email that the donation slots are open. The contribution should be in Indian Rupees DD in favor of Baba Prayer Center, Chennai, India.

Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir, USA
Sai Samsthan USA, 27 W 321 Butterfield Road, Warrenville, IL

Sai Samsthan USA is celebrating Guru Poornima at Shri Sai Baba Mandir on Wednesday, July 28, 1999. Sri Sai Baba is considered as an incarnation of Lord Datttreya, the parama Guru who propogated the "guru" tradition and knowledge. Later, Bhagawan Vyasa propagated the same through his "Puranas". The letter "gu" stands for darkness (ignorance) and "ru" represents its destruction. Guru, therefore, is one who destroys the darkness of ignorance. Sri Sai Baba acknowledges the importance of a Guru when He indicates the need for a guide who can take us straight to our destination avoiding all difficulties on the way. Baba personally instructed His devotees to celebrate Guru Poornima.

As a special event of Guru Poornima celebrations this year, Vishnu Sahasranaama Homa will be performed. The study of Vishnu Sahasranaama purifies the mind and hence Sri Sai Baba thrust this on His close devotee Shama in a unique way. We request you all to participate in the Guru Poornima celebration by sponsoring for one or all events. Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir is located at 27W321 Butterfield Road, Warrenville, IL 60555. Phone Number 630-653-4444. For more information on Sai Samsthan USA, please contact Shri Ananth Sonti at 630-790-3800
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Prayer Club

Rosa, Holland
Please pray for my little cousin Bobby, who just came in this world last month and has a disorder in his kidney. He had an operation recently but no relief. The doctors told us when he recovered they will perform another operation. I would be grateful if you could pray to Sai too for his health. God bless you all.
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