Sai Service Newsletter-04

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SAI SERVICE Newsletter – 04

Issue May 02, 2002

 

Sai Service Newsletter is a Weekly newsletter distributed every

Thursday and is

devoted to the life, philosophy and teachings of Sai Baba of Shirdi.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to your interested associates.

Our contact e-mail address is: essgee

 

This Thursday's Message: "I will be with you, the moment you think

of me, at any place." – Baba.

 

a) Baba's Talk with Devotees

b) Weekly Article: Fears and Problems

c) Devotees Page

d) Our Prayers to Baba

e) Baba's Help

 

a. Baba's Talk with Devotees:

 

A devotee objected to people going to Baba for temporal benefit e.g.,

employment, money, children, cure of disease.

 

Sai Baba: Do not do that, My men first come to me on account of that

only. They get their heart's desire fulfilled; and comfortably placed

in life, They then follow me and progress further. I bring my men to

me from long distances under many pleas. I seek them and bring them

to me. They do not come (of their own accord). I bring them to me.

However distance – even thousands of miles away- my people might be,

I draw them to myself, just as we pull bird to us with a string tied

to their foot.

 

 

b. Weekly Article:

 

FEARS AND PROBLEMS

 

The most admirable charters of Saibaba is "Why do you fear, when I am

here!" This itself is an answer to us for the success of our life. It

is universal phenomenon that a success cannot be achieved without

overcoming troubles. The art of facing trouble and converting them in

to success is easy to all Sai devotees and methodology is clearly

explained in Sri Sai Satsaritram.

 

This world has numerous problems and freely distributed gift to us

according to our materialistic ambitions. If your ambitions are

totally controlled by `maya' then your struggle in the life is

unending. The so called modern needs of life, such as prestigious

profession, overflowing pay and perks, luxurious shelter, beautiful

wife, handsome husband, genius children, reliable relations,

confidential friends etc, Do you think these are the things that will

provide you real pleasures in your life? Be honest in your judgement

with practical current situations.

 

If you are very sincere in your judgement, the answer will be a big

`no'. Your neighbor in a rented house, earning meager salary in a

private commercial establishment, children studying in government

school is happier than you. Your countless problems on taxes, falling

profits, inability to meet business target, ever increasing household

and business expenditures, disturbed / sleepless nights, mis-

understanding with wife, careless children. etc. etc. is a partial

list. Despite with all these odds, if you are peaceful and happy

that is because of your faith on Sri Saibaba and leading life as per

His teachings.

 

Baba declared that he had come to give blessings to people, temporal

and spiritual wealth, and that He draws them under various pretexts.

In this world, material aims and objects cannot be ignored and man

cannot be blamed if worldly prosperity is one of the main motives of

their devotion to God. This fact has been recognized not merely by

Saibaba, but by Lord Krishna Himself.

 

Chaturvidha Bhajante Mam

Janah sucrutino Arjuna

Aartho Jijnasuh Artharthi

Jnani cha bharatarshabha.

 

This means, `Four sorts of men are drawn to Me. They are all blessed.

They are a) the distressed, b) those seeking knowledge, c) those

wanting worldly objects and d) the man of perfect wisdom. The

distressed people are the largest number in the world and it is not

surprising that they were the earliest to approach Baba. Persons are

indifferent to God and Saints, so long as they are well off. But once

distress besets them, they feel helpless and seek the aid of a Higher

Power. When distress enters, all fancied obstacles of inability to

understand, doubt and carping fly and leave the man with a ready

receptive heart and make him rush to the one who he believes – and

his distress makes him believe- to be gifted with power to redress.

Distress rouses hope and faith and these work wonder of turning a

skeptic into a believer. This has proved thousands of times and it is

true all times.

 

Baba's message to His distressed devotees " Cast off your anxiety,

your sufferings have come to an end. However, oppressed and troubled

one may be, as soon as he steps in the Masjid, he is on the pathway

to happiness" (Sri Sai Satsaritram Ch. xiii).

 

Hence Saibaba of Shirdi is our savior and protector,- why fear, when

He is always with us.

 

 

c. Devotees Page:

 

With regard to the issue of Sai Service Newsletter, we are pleased to

reproduce the letter of Saibandhu D. Sankaraiah forwarded to

Saibandhu K. Ramaswamy, Past President, All India Sai Samaj (Regd),

Chennai.

 

Respected RamaSaiji,

 

SaiRam.

 

1.I'm of the opinion the whole issue of Newsletter appears to be

Baba's inspiration only.Please go ahead.H.H.B.V.N.Swamiji in his

letter dt. 03.02.1946

stated "The more we work for others,the greater is our Punya and the

greater the love Saibaba has for us."Having atmost faith in this

statement,let's go ahead.

 

2.In a way we all owe a spiritual debt to H.H.B.V.N.S for his service

in bringing Sai to the doorsteps of Non marathi knowing devotees.If

we work on the lines

of Sai vyasa in the south,we shall be redeeming our debt.

 

3.H.H.Sivanesan Swami of Shirdi told me several times to take up Sai

seva in a positive way,ie.,we should prove that Baba is more alive

now than when He was in flesh and blood.

 

4.On my part i'm ready to lead a nama sankeertan and bhajan mandali

if a week in a month is devoted to Sai prachar in south.

 

5.Can we organise a function in the place where B.V.N.Swami lived in

Salem.

 

6.Discuorse on Sai,distribution of Udhi and Baba's photos followed by

Non Stop Sainama Japa will revive Sai spirit in south.Ofcourse

distribution of brouchers

on Shirdi Sai baba will help present day devotee.

 

7.We must make ourselves doubly sure we are not Gurus,Swamijis,babas

and Matajis to use babas name in exploting innocent devotees. I shall

further discuss with Sai's grace on receipt of your comments.

 

D.Sankaraiah

 

d. Our Prayers to Baba:

 

This week we are providing an article on Effective Prayer.

 

Effective Prayer

 

Prayer is an integral part of our life. If you know how right ways to

get maximum yield on your prayers, then you may not face much

difficulties in your life.

 

Even though prayer and reward are inter-linked, one must clearly

understand the effective time of reward will vary between a fraction

of second and decades. Never mind on rewards, just go on in your

efforts to reach God. Also one must not forget that the reward may

not always be positive, it is purely depending on your accumulated

karmic balance of your past and present life. It is well defined

divine law that there is no escape for your debts, murder and enmity.

One must face the realities of karma; your steadfast sincere prayers

will provide some comfort on your sufferings.

 

Prayer is the greatest power available to the individual and the

benefits of prayer power are astonishing. To discover amazing power

of prayer, the following are ten rules outlined by Norman Vincent

Peale:

 

1. Set aside a few minutes every day. Do not say anything, Simply

practice thinking about God. This will make your mind spiritually

receptive.

2. Then pray orally, using simple, natural words. Tell God anything

that is on your mind. Do not think you must use stereotyped pious

phrases. Talk to God in your own language, He understands it.

3. Pray as you go about the business of the day, on the subway, or

bus or at your desk. Utilize minute prayers by closing your eyes to

shut out the world and concentrating briefly on God's presence. The

more you do this every day the nearer you will feel God's presence.

4. Do not always ask when you pray, but instead affirm that God's

blessings are being given, and spend most of your prayers giving

thanks.

5. Pray with the belief that sincere prayers can reach out and

surround your loved ones with God's love and protection.

6. Never use negative thoughts in prayer. Only positive thoughts get

result.

7. Always express willingness to accept God's will. Ask for what you

want, but be willing to take what God gives you. It may be better

than what you ask for.

8. Practice the attitude of putting everything in God's hand. Ask for

the ability to do your best and to leave the results confidently to

God.

9. Pray for people you do not like or who have mistreated you.

Resentment is blockade number one of spiritual power.

10. Make a list of people for whom to pray. The more you pray for the

other people, especially those not connected with you, the more

prayer results will come back to you.

 

Sai Service Prayer Club is giving us an opportunity to pray for all

Sai Bhaktas who are suffering. Let us list them; pray for them on all

Thursday evenings at our nearby Sai Mandir or at our home. Please

feel free to post your prayer requests to us and we will prompty

include in our newsletter.

 

Om Sai Sri Sai Jaya Jaya Sai.

 

N. Sivanandam, Coimbatore, India

 

 

e. Baba's Help:

 

Beloved Sai Brothers and Sisters,

 

While doing Sai service, if we face any unexpected disturbances, we

feel irritation, no matter what we read in Sri Sai Satsaritram over

the years. The moment if any resistance or opposition raised by

someone, either known or unknown persons. Even though our anger may

last for just a fraction of second, yet our mind is not tolerating.

After all, we are normal human beings, always praying to our Lord

Saibaba to guide us in all walks of our life. Here I wish to narrate

one such incident happened to me recently.

 

After visiting various web sites on Shri Shirdi Saibaba, I thought of

publishing a monthly magazine on Saibaba in our local language Tamil

and supply free of cost to the poor people of Coimbatore. I humbly

appeal Sai devotees all over the world must think of poor people

around us and make them to understand and follow Sai messages in such

a way they easily understand, especially in a country like India,

poor people do not have any access for English language education and

most of them just know their local language alone.

 

It was second Thursday April 11, 2002; I decided to distribute the

copies to the Sai devotees who attended Evening Pooja at Shri Naga

Sai Temple, Coimbatore, India. I distributed one copy to each in

Prasadham counter, and all were very happy to have a copy of the

book. After 10 minutes, one volunteer came and asked me to stop the

books distribution. I politely said, "It is a Sai Service, for the

benefit of Sai devotees, I am supplying these books free of cost to

spread Sai Philosophy". The person got angry because of my argument

and disrespect shown to his ego, then finally he warned me to get out

of that place. As a normal human being I lost my temper for a

fraction of second, then I apologized to Lord Sai for my act.

 

I didn't get peaceful sleep during that night, I prayed to Baba to

give me some direction or His opinion on my act, whether to continue

this Free book publication or discontinue? I didn't get any clear

answer during that night, I consulted my Sai friend, Shri K.

Ramaswamy, Past President, All India Sai Samaj (Regd), Chennai-4,

India. He advised me not to stop this kind of prachaar work,

especially in local language, because such kind of prachaar is need

of this hour. I made up my mind to continue to publish this monthly,

but I was awaiting for clear signal from Baba on proper method of

distribution.

 

Today is 4th Thursday, April 25, 2002, after completing my morning

prayers, at His inspiration I realized and got clarification on my

doubt on distribution of books from Saibaba. As the book was

primarily designed to the benefit of poor people who DO NOT know

about Sri Saibaba. (The contents of the book – Vedic Prayer- one

page, selective sentences of Sri Sai Satsaritra- one page, Devotees

experiences- 14 pages, His Highness B V Narashimaswamiji's work – two

pages, etc.) Majority of Sai devotees who regularly visiting temple

must have read these items and any repetition is not called for. The

entire work must have to go who do not know about Sri Shirdi Saibaba.

 

I thanked Baba for guiding me to choose correct channel of

distribution for Sai Prachaar work. Nothing is impossible with Baba

and all our prayers will be addressed to by Baba, just have full

faith on Him and constantly seek His advice on all matters in your

life.

 

Om Sai Sri Sai Jaya Jaya Sai

 

Yours in Sai Service,

N. Sivanandam, Coimbatore, India

 

 

Publisher's Note:

 

Mailing Address: Vasuki Mahal Shri Shirdi Saibaba Trust, Vasuki Mahal

Compound, Gandhi Nagar, Edayar Palayam, Coimbatore 641025, India. e-

mail to: essgee.

 

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