Sai Service Newsletter -14

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SAI SERVICE Newsletter – 14

Issue July 11, 2002

 

[shri Shirdi Sai Baba's Messages, Life events, Articles are available

in / ]

 

Baba's each and every word, whatever He uttered during His lifetime

was recorded by Baba's crow and these Divine Words are still relevant

and proved to be correct. Read related Divine History in the above

web link.

 

List of Messages posted during the week:

July 04 - Baba's Advance Intimation on Termination of His Fleshly

Body.

July 05 - Shri Sai The Superman – Removal of Embarrassments

July 06 - BABA EXPLAINS – Who is God, How are we to see God?

July 07 - BABA EXPLAINS – Method of Reaching God

July 08 - BABA EXPLAINS – Suddha Chaitanya

July 09 - BABA EXPLAINS – Who is Maya?

July 10 - Virodhi Bhakti and Sai Baba

 

This Thursday's Message: (Baba said)

 

Gnana marga is like Ramphal. Bhakti marga is like Seethpal (custard

apple), easy to deal with and very sweet. The pulp of ramphal is

inside and difficult to get at. Ramphal should ripen on the tree and

be plucked ripe. If it falls down, it is spoiled. So if a Gnani

falls, he is ruined, even for a Gnani there is the danger of a fall,

e.g., by a little negligence or carelessness.

 

a. Baba's Talk with Devotees

 

Bandra lady came and sat before Baba with chronic (7 years) headache.

 

Baba (touching and gently stroking her head): Your head is aching. Is

it not?

 

Bandra lady: It was. Now it has ceased.

(The chronic headache left her at once and for-ever)

 

Baba: You have been feeding me so well these years.

 

Bandra lady: I am seeing you only now.

 

Baba: But I have been seeing you ever since your infancy.

Bandra lady was greatly puzzled.

 

Baba: What worship had you in your house?

 

Bandra lady: Ganapathy's

 

Baba: In your mother's house?

 

Bandra lady: Ganapathy. I have given all flowers fruits and eatables

to Ganapathy.

 

Baba: All that has come to me. So since your girlhood I have been

seeing you.

 

Bandra lady: Baba, people say that my Ganapathy is right handed and

besides, one hand is broken and so they say it must be thrown away.

Is that right?

 

Baba: If your child breaks its arm, will you cast it into water?

Worship it daily.

 

b. Divine Dews from our God

 

 Believe in Me and remain fearless and have no anxiety. (SSS

Ch.XXIII)

 

 Let there be no insistence on establishing one's own view. (SSS

Ch.2)

 

 Those, who are fortunate and whose demerits have vanished, take to=

 

My worship. (SSS Ch.XIII)

 

 By relying on your own cleverness you missed your way; a guide is =

 

always necessary to show us the right way in small or great matters.

(SSS Ch.XXXII)

 

 Why should one be afraid of anyone, if there be no evil thought in=

 

us? (SSS Ch. XLIX)

 

 One Namaskar offered with love and humility is enough. (SSS Ch.

XLVIII)

 

c. Weekly Article:

 

Baba has declared that he is inside every creature and every object

to control all voluntary and involuntary movements. Therefore his

declaration, `I am not at Shirdi' while he was there, should be

interpreted as referring to his Antaryami nature. He was not confined

to the 3 ½ cubits height of body. We cannot get over the idea that we

are the body. But he was ever free from such narrow ideas and

attachments. One important difference between Sai Baba and several

other saints Mrs. Tarabai Sadasiva Tarkhad had seen, is mentioned by

her. Some other saints used to get into the Samadi or trance

condition, and then they would forget their body. They would utter

things in the trance state revealing supranormal knowledge or power.

but in the case of Sai Baba, he never had to go into trance to

achieve anything or reach any higher position. Every moment he was

exercising a double consciousness, namely, the Ego called Sai Baba

and the Antaryami of all, superseding all egos and resting in the

Paramatma. He was at the same time exercising and manifesting the

powers and features of both states of consciousness. Some other

saints with much trouble would read other man's minds' for a time,

and then lapse into their original condition. But with Sai Baba, his

knowledge of other people's minds was not a matter of effort. He was

in the All-knowing state always. Baba was not without worldly wisdom.

he would higgle with cloth sellers and beat down the price of a yard

of cloth from 8 annas to 5 annas. People would then suppose what a

greedy man Sai Baba was. But when it came to payment, he might pay

Rs.40 instead of Rs.15 for the cloth he took, and then people would

think that he was a mad man. But he had his own reasons first for the

higgling and next for the liberal payment.

 

His power and nature, being fully understood by her and other similar

devotees, made her regard Shirdi as a veritable paradise, a real

Bhooloka Vaikuntam. She says,

 

`Directly as we went there, we felt safe, that nothing could harm us.

when I went sat in his presence, I always forgot my pain-nay, the

body itself, with all it's mundane concerns and anxieties. Hours

would pass, and I would be in blissful unconsciousness of their

passing. That was a unique experience shared, I believe, by all his

real devotees. He was All-in All and the All for us. We could never

think of his having limitations. Now that he has passed away, I feel

what a terrible loss it is, as I can know longer pass hours together

in blissful unconsciousness time and affairs at his feet. We feel we

have lost our soul; our bodies alone are left to us now.'

 

The lady qualifies her statement next by saying `Baba has not all

together vanished, he is still living now and gives ample proof of

his powers and protecting care in many matters off and on, though the

impressions about these, because of his body being invisible, are not

so great as those that the devotees enjoyed when they sat in his

presence at Shirdi.' She gives instance of Baba's miraculous

protection and help, even when he was not physically present – before

and even long after his Mahasamadhi in 1918.

 

One instance is this. it was probably in 1915, that she had for over

one month a splitting neuralgic headache. A number of remedies were

tried, all to no purpose. She felt she must die, and that would be

the relief she thought. Anyhow, she thought, `Why not go and die at

Shirdi at Baba's Feet? That would be a privilege.' With that view she

started off with her husband and came to Kopergaon from Panchgani

where they were staying for the summer. At Kopergoan, they have to

cross the Godavari river. Then it struck her, `Anyway death is to

come upon me soon. So, why not have the Punya, merit, of a Godavary

bath before death?' So she boldly took a bath in the Godavari – in

that cold water. Ordinarily that would intensify the headache and

accelerate death. But on this occasion, when she came out of the

water, the neuralgic headache ceased and thereafter ceased for ever.

This is surely Baba's miracle.

 

The other instance she cites was in 1927, nine years after Baba's

Mahasamadhi. With the rest of the family, she set off to Shirdi. She

was in the family way, but anyhow she boldly went for the pilgrimage.

After her arrival at Shirdi, the foetus die in the womb. Her own

features were turning blue and her blood was getting poison. There

was neither midwife nor doctor there. Though some medicines from

Ahmednagar were brought, they proved of no avail. Then Mr. Sadasiva

Tarkhad went to Sakori and asked Upasani for help. Upasani's reply

was `you have got the best doctor and best nurse over there at

Shirdi; why do you come to me?' What happened further she did not

personally know, because she became unconscious. Her husband says

that in her unconscious condition, she went on speaking and giving

directions as to what should be done and the directions she gave were

followed in addition to the application of udhi and thirtha of Baba.

Then the foetus was expelled along with other matter. For weeks she

remains unconscious and at last recovered full consciousness and

health. This is nothing but Baba's kind care for his child.

 

Baba's care and health were also extended to her husband. For

sometime, he was the manager of a mill. Then his services were

terminated, and he had to remain for a considerable time without any

job. He went to Shirdi in the hope that Baba would help him to get a

job. But soon after he reached Shirdi, Baba instead of providing him

with a job, told him, `Tatya Patil and others are going to attend a

cinema at Ahmednagar. You better go with them and thence go home to

Pune.' He felt mortified that, without getting a job, he was asked to

attend amusements. Anyhow Baba's order had to be obeyed. He went and

attended the cinema and after leaving Nagar, he went to Pune. But

what a surprise `Baba, he thought, had sent him to Pune simply for

nothing. But on the other hand at Pune at the mill, a labour strike

had broken out. The authorities concerned were anxious to recall him

as he was a very capable manager of labour, and they had wired for

him to Bombay and other places. Meanwhile Baba knowing of the wire

and the situation, had sent him just in time to get his job. So,

Baba, appearing to be doing harm, really was conferring a blessing by

his seemingly unkind orders.

 

d. Spiritual Spectrum:

(EXTRACTS FROM PURANAS, MESSAGES FROM SATPURUSHAS)

 

Hinduism – A Brief Sketch

Swami Vivekananda

The first disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa

 

Paper on Hinduism

Read at the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago

19th September 1893

 

(continuation from last week)

 

Purity is the condition of His mercy.

 

The Vedas teach that the soul is divine, only held in the bondage of

matter; perfection will be reached when this bond will burst, and the

word they use for it is therefore, Mukti- freedom from the bonds of

imperfection, freedom from death and misery.

 

And this bondage can only fall off through the mercy of God, and this

mercy comes on the pure. So purity is the condition of His mercy. How

does that mercy act? He reveals Himself to the pure heart; the pure

and the stainless see God, yea, even in this life; then and then only

all the crookedness of the heart is made straight. Then all doubt

ceases. He is no more the freak of a terrible law of causation. This

is the very centre, the very vital conception of Hinduism. The Hindu

does not want to live upon words and theories. If there are

existences beyond the ordinary sensuous existence, he wants to come

face to face with them. If there is a soul in him, which is not

matter, if there is an all-merciful universal Soul, he will go to Him

direct. So the best proof a Hindu sage gives about the soul, about

God, is: "I have seen the soul; I have seen God." And that is the

only condition of perfection. The Hindu religion does not consist in

struggles and attempts to believe a certain doctrine or dogma, but in

realising- not in believing, but in being and becoming.

 

Thus the whole object of their system is by constant struggle to

become perfect, to become divine, to reach God and see God, and this

reaching God, seeing God, becoming perfect even as the Father in

Heaven, is perfect, constitutes the religion of the Hindus.

 

And what becomes of a man when he attains perfection? He lives a life

of bliss infinite. He enjoys infinite and perfect bliss, having

obtained the only thing in which man ought to have pleasure, namely

God, and enjoys the bliss with God.

 

So far all the Hindus are agreed. This is the common religion of all

the sects of India: but then, perfection is absolute, and the

absolute cannot be two or three. It cannot have any qualities. It

cannot be an individual. And so when a soul becomes perfect and

absolute, it must become one with Brahman, and it would only realise

the Lord as the perfection, the reality, of its own nature and

existence, the existence absolute, knowledge absolute, and bliss

absolute. We have often and often read this called the losing of

individuality and becoming a stock or a stone.

"He jests at scars that never felt a wound."

 

I tell you it is nothing of the kind. If it is happiness to enjoy the

consciousness of this small body, it must be greater happiness to

enjoy the consciousness of two bodies, the measure of happiness

increasing with the consciousness of an increasing number of bodies,

the aim, the ultimate of happiness being reached when it would become

a universal consciousness.

 

Therefore, to gain this infinite universal individuality, this

miserable little prison-individuality must go. Then alone can death

cease when I am one with life, then alone can misery cease when I am

one with happiness itself, then alone can all errors cease when I am

one with knowledge itself; and this is the necessary scientific

conclusion. Science has proved to me that physical individuality is a

delusion, that really my body is one little continuously changing

body in an unbroken ocean of matter; and Advaita (unity) is the

necessary conclusion with my other counterpart, soul.

 

Science is nothing but the finding of unity. As soon as science would

reach perfect unity, it would stop from further progress, because it

would reach the goal. Thus Chemistry could not progress farther when

it would discover one element out of which all others could be made.

Physics would stop when it would be able to fulfil its services in

discovering one energy of which all the others are but

manifestations, and the science of religion become perfect when it

would discover Him who is the one life in a universe of death, Him

who is the constant basis of an ever changing world. One who is the

only Soul of which all souls are but delusive manifestations. Thus it

is, through multiplicity and duality that the ultimate unity is

reached. Religion can go no farther. This is the goal of all science.

All science is bound to come to this conclusion in the long run.

Manifestation, and not creation, is the word of science today, and

the Hindu is only glad that what he has been cherishing in his bosom

for ages is going to be taught in more forcible language, and with

further light from the latest conclusions of science.

 

There is no polytheism in India

 

Descend we now from the aspirations of philosophy to the religion of

the ignorant. At the very outset, I may tell you that there is no

polytheism in India. In every temple, if one stands by and listens,

one will find the worshippers applying all the attributes of God,

including omnipresence, to the images. It is not polytheism, nor

would the name henotheism explain the situation. "The rose called by

any other name would smell as sweet." Names are not explanations.

 

I remember, as a boy, hearing a Christian missionary preach to a

crowd in India. Among other sweet things he was telling them was that

if he gave a blow to their idol with his stick, what could it do?

 

One of his listeners sharply answered: "If I abuse your God, what can

He do?"

 

The preacher said, "You would be punished when you die."

 

The Hindu retorted "So my idol will punish you when you die."

 

The tree is known by its fruits. When I have seen amongst them that

are called idolaters, men, the like of whom in morality and

spirituality and love I have never seen anywhere, I stop and ask

myself, `Can sin beget holiness?'

 

We can no more think about anything without a

mental image than we can live without breathing.

 

Superstition is a great enemy of man, but bigotry is worse. Why does

a Christian go to Church? Why is the cross holy? Why is the face

turned toward the sky in prayer? Why are there so many images in the

Catholic Church? Why are there so many images in the minds of

Protestants when they pray? My brethren, we can no more think about

anything without a mental image than we can live without breathing.

By the law of association, the material image calls up the mental

idea and vice versa. This is why the Hindu uses an external symbol

when he worships. He will tell you, it helps to keep his mind fixed

on the Being to whom he prays. He knows as well you do that the image

is not God, is not omnipresent. After all, how much does omnipresence

mean to almost the whole world? It stands merely as a word, a symbol.

Has God superficial area? If not, when we repeat that word

`omnipresent', we think of the extended sky or of space, that is all.

 

(To be continued)

 

e. Baba's Help:

 

Baba's Help for Prayer for others:

 

Santaram Nachne was not content with praying for his own children. He

prayed for others too. In 1923, as he sat upstairs in his home at

Andheri, he found a car being driven fast in his narrow lane. As the

car approached, there was a little girl, who could not move away. At

once scenting the danger, Santaram cried out, `Baba save her'.

Strangely enough, the car, which had just gone over the child,

stopped. Then, when the brake was examined, it was found that it was

not working, but somehow a stone had got into the gear and machine

stopped. The child was immediately taken to hospital. The medical

attendant was not hopeful of the child's survival. Then Santaram

said, `Baba, who had stopped the car miraculously would also save the

child'. After 10 or 20 days, the child recovered from its injuries

and was saved.

 

In 1926 on two other occasions Nachne helped his official friends

with prayers and advice. A friend of his, a cashier, was dismissed

for misappropriation and he was helpless. Nachne advised him to place

his trust in Baba, go to Shirdi and pray to Baba for his help. That

cashier thought that Sai Baba was a Mohammedan and, therefore, he

should not go. Nachne then told him that only hope of his deriving

any help was from Baba's grace. Then that man got courage, went to

Shirdi, prayed to Baba, and returned with a photo of Baba and began

to worship it. He was allowed 8 days time to pay up the Rs. 3,000,

which he had misappropriated. There the matter closed. There was

neither dismissal nor prosecution.

 

Another person who came to him for his help in similar circumstances

was Mr. V.C. Chitnis. He was dismissed from service. Nachne told him

to cast his burden on Baba and to make an appeal to the Shirdi

Mandir, this is, after Baba's passing away. That man went to Baba's

Samadhi Mandir and prayed for help, and later he was reinstated in

service.

 

Publisher's Note:

 

THE SOLE PURPOSE of this newsletter is to present Sai messages and

other spiritual messages to the interested devotees on Thursdays.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to your interested associates.

 

In this newsletter, wherever the sources of the articles not

mentioned, please consider these items are taken from H H Pujyasri B

V Narasimha Swamiji's books.

 

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

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

mail to: essgee.