Sai Vichaar for Thursday , January 12, 2006

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Sai Vichaar

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Thursday , January 12, 2006 :: Volume 8, Issue 35

(In its eighth year of publication.)

Sai Vichaar is a Weekly newsletter distributed every Thursday and is devoted to

the life, philosophy and teachings of Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi. Feel free to

forward this newsletter to your interested associates in its original form.

IN THIS ISSUE:

FEATURE OF THE WEEK

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE

DEVOTEES SAY

PRAYER CLUB

EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

SAI ACTIVITIES

FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD

FEATURE OF THE WEEK: Imbibe Sai in every breath and gulp!

"Dwarakamayi pe dhyaan lagaana Sayee ke gun gaana Main Sayee mein aur mujh mein

Sayee main tho Sai diwaana" As I meditate on Dwarakamayi.. singing the glory of

Sai The admirer of Sai that I am ..Sai is in me and I am in Sai Pure bliss is

when the whole being, the thoughts, words and actions are soaked with Sai. The

purpose of life is fulfilled when such a state is pursued. Knowledge and

scholarship aside, the true pursuit of Sai begins in seeing the self in Sai and

the Sai in the self. Such state is achieved as one sees Sai in everywhere and in

every self. Let the day begin with the bounty of thanks to the Sadguru, the

merciful fakir that guides us every day. Let Sai's presence be felt in sunshine

and rainfall alike; let us see Him in everything good and everything bad.

Ignoramus that we are, let us realize that good and bad are just manifestations

of the myth. Let His thoughts lead us to the victory over fallible

discriminations, our immature attempts to decipher what is good for us from

what is bad for us. Let us limit ourselves to just one resort, the choice to

make Sadguru as our only object of thoughts in our everyday lives. Let our

practices, our habits, our routine include Sai at every step in any form. This

is the true saadhana!

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Prayer

Prayer is communication with the Creator. We have to condition ourselves and

learn to live with God. He is everything. Nothing is possible and happens

without His will. We have to approach God in steps; no doubt that we humans are

at different levels. We have to climb step by step according to our 'karma'.

There cannot be a short cut to go to the top and it will take many many births.

The best time for Prayer is around 1-2 hours before sunrise in the morning. You

can receive and emit energy rays like radio waves. This is a wonderful

experience. This cannot be described in words and you have to experience it

yourself. This is referred to as meditation. One who is not self-controlled and

whose mind is undisturbed cannot practice meditation. It is said that in 'Kali

Yuga' it is relatively easy to attain perfection. This age the 'atharma' is at

the highest and hence the Lord is merciful to destroy the wicked and safeguard

the righteous. This exactly what he Lord Krsna said to Arjuna at the beginning

of the Kali Yuga. In the case of the elimination of the suffering by Sadguru,

it will be a violation of the law of nature. The Lord has given a free mind and

does not become involved in the actions of 'karma of the individual'. If one is

on the path of attaining the supreme bliss, he has to engage in NINE different

process of devotional service hearing, chanting, remembering, serving,

worshiping, praying, obeying, maintaining friendship and surrendering

everything. A pure devotee cannot forget the Supreme Lord for a moment and

similarly the Supreme Lord cannot for a pure devotee for a moment. This is the

truth and the secret.

(Contributed by Kandappa)

DEVOTEES SAY:

AnuI was looking for job for a long time and nothing was working out. I was

getting depressed and was losing hope. Then, I got an interview call from a

very big company on a Thursday. I went for the interview without any major

preparations, just by taking Baba's name. And the miracle of miracles, I was

offered the job. My joy knew no bounds and it was almost a dream come true for

me. Baba has given me so much in life, I cannot thank Him enough. I was born in

a very simple family, but Baba has given me all the material comforts of life. I

had promised Baba that I would write my experience if I get the job. So, I am

sharing it with you all. I just hope and pray that Baba helps me in completing

my assignment successfully. God bless all of you.

VidyaBaba, thank you very much. With your blessings, I have a job. I know you

will never let us down. Thanks again for everything.

PrakashOh Baba, I can't tell You how happy I am. I was so happy when she told me

that, she is not angry with me and considering me like her friend and her own

brother. As, I promised You, I would like to share my experience through Sai

Vichaar. I am glad that You are hearing all my prayers and in future too. I

will visit Shirdi, soon I come to India. Please be with us always and please do

not leave us alone in this journey of life and please be our guide always.

PRAYER CLUB:

LalithaSairam, please all of you pray for my husband that he should be with good

health and what the doctors diagnosed should be wrong. Baba please bless us we

have faith in You.

SatishSai, I need your blessings to face the challenges and hurdles in my life.

Please bless me with a job in a professional company. Please shower your

blessings on my family and all your devotees.

A devoteeBaba, please stop this woman from destroying us. Baba I am just

starting to get over what happened and I cannot go through this again. Help me,

my husband has never gone back to this woman and she is angry because she wanted

him to leave me and marry her. Baba help me. On Monday, there is a meeting. I do

not know how I will have the courage to go. I feel so helpless inside. I cannot

talk like this woman. The only thing I have inside is anger. Help me. I want

this to go away. Help me Baba.

Sai devoteeBaba, everything is going bad. We do not have any peace in the house.

My son has become rude and does not listen to us. He always fights with his

sister. My husband and I get very angry with him and there is a lot of yelling

in the home. In the meantime, I was told on New Year's day that I have to look

for another position suddenly. There was no indication of my job performance or

anything. All this has aggravated the domestic situation. Baba, please help us.

VijethaDear Baba, Please take care of my dad, Baba. By your grace, he has

recovered this far after his major accident and head injury. But, now he has

slowed down again and gets infections, seizures and is not alert at all. He is

immobile and that causes many issues for him. Please Baba, continue to shower

Your grace on him and let him become alert and improve mobility.

SubramanianSai Maharaj, please bless me to overcome my problems. Please protect

me as Your child. I need to work hard and be productive and be a good

contributor to my organization and my family. Please shower Your blessings on

my family and me. Please forgive me for all my sins and mistakes. I place my

life and head at your feet and apologize for all my sins. Maharaj, please

protect my family and me always.

MamthaI am a devotee of Baba from childhood. He has helped us from all the

obstacles and was near to me. But now a days He is angry with me. Baba

unknowingly if I did mistake please forgive your daughter. There is lot of

tension going on with my job am not getting , regarding my brother's career You

know how he is struggling. Please show your grace and be with us. I promise from

this New Year that I will daily read one chapter of Sai Satcharita. As before be

with You, don't be angry with your children. I believe in You more than anyone.

Bless our family, protect and be with us always.

RugmonyHey Sai! I pray for my husband's good health and long life and pray that

his left eye, hand and leg should be alright and he should do his duties by

himself. Please bless him and guard him.

SumitraFirst I bow my head on Your feet, God tomorrow I am going to have

interview, please give me Aashirwad to get selected in that company. Please

Baba help me and make me confident. Sai always be with me, You are my sole

strength and please take care of my husband. Please give us confidant and

achievements.

Sai devoteeBaba! please give me confidence in conducting myself with poise,

elegance and communicating effectively in the weeklong meeting. Please shower

your blessings, remove the shyness and reactive approach. Teach me to deal

tactfully any problematic situation. I must shun the approach of pleasing

other, which killed my individuality-- a form of inferiority complex.

SureshSainath Please grant me a good job immediately.

EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES:

SuchithraOm Sairam. I wanted to share my experience with all the devotees. I am

pregnant right now and here in USA. Everyone in their 4th month has to take

gene test, which helps you find out if there are any birth defects. So I took

the test, as it is a common procedure. Generally in my hospital, they give you

a call if there is any problem. So after a week the nurse from my hospital left

me a message asking me to give me a call. That was Wednesday and by the time I

came home from work it was late. So I was so tensed because that is the only

test I went through in the last week. I prayed Baba to help the baby and me and

said that I will post my experience in Sai Vichaar if everything goes fine. So

next day which is Thursday I called the hospital and they said the result is

normal and nothing to worry and said that for this particular test they give

you a call irrespective of the result as everyone is concerned about the test

result. I thanked Baba for helping me. Thank you very much Baba. Please be with

us and look after us and give your blessings.

Sai devoteeI have been a devotee of Baba since childhood and Baba has helped me

in many situations. Somehow, I stopped regular worship of Baba and faced many

difficulties in career and personal life. But merciful Baba, pulled me back

into His devotion and since 2004 I have been praying Baba regularly doing

arathi on Thursdays and Satcharitha sapthah parayana whenever possible. I had

been working hard at my job but never got any appreciation for my work and

faced many other problems and issues at work until now and been praying Baba to

shower His grace and bring me out of this mess. Now Baba has given me the

unimaginable job in a very reputed company. While doing job search, Baba

arranged everything for me. Usually, of late, I tend not to start important

work during Rahu kalam. Knowing this thought of mine, Baba arranged for my

interview before rahu kaalam. I studied hard for the interviews but felt that

my final interview did not go well. But I always remembered Baba's words to

Mrs.Tendulkar that her son would pass all the exams the same year even though

astrologers predicted otherwise and kept my faith in Baba. I must say that it

is solely by the grace of Baba that I secured this job and I am ever grateful

and thankful to Him. More than anything, I feel very thankful to Baba to have

pulled me back into His devotion and plead Him never to sway me from the path

of devotion again. Om Sri Sai.

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK:

"We should not enjoy any object with our senses without fist remembering our

Guru. When the mind is trained in this way, we will be always be reminded of

Baba and our meditation on Baba will grow apace"-Shri C.B.Satpathy

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

Q. What is the significance of the story of The Quest in Sai Satcharitha?

A. by Sadashiv

The story with the title 'the quest' mentioned in the sai Satcharitha, gains

significance for the following reasons - a) it was a story which Shri Sai Baba

himself presented from his own experience; b) it depicts, how Shri Sai Baba met

his Guru in the woods and through him God; c) the story which when attended to,

will give you faith, devotion and salvation. In short, the story tells you

about, however learned one may be in the study of Vedas and Vedanta (sacred

literature), the objects of life, namely; dharma, artha and karma are

attainable through one's own efforts. But, the fourth object, i.e. moksha

(liberation) can only be obtained with the help of a good guide (Guru).

Q. What is the significance of the story of The Quest in Sai Satcharitha?

A. by Subbarao

Human beings face conflicts of various kinds in their lives, however, the real

challenge lies within the being. Caught in the vortex of mundane materialism

many are unable to pursue spiritual life, which alone can help one to escape

the cycle of re-births. Just as a captain is necessary for a ship to chart a

safe trip for it's passengers, it is important to have a preceptor who can

guide spiritual seekers to realize the spiritual goal successfully. One must

surrender to Sadguru with a clean slate, having no ideas of own, so that the

Guru shall chalk out a plan and mould the being into a spiritual genius. The

disciple must stand by the Guru always with faith and devotion and carry out

Guru's instructions to the very word. When there is keen desire to surrender at

the Lotus feet of Guru, definitely the Guru comes forwarded with His practical

instructions. The seed for the Divine life was sown, water it with nectarine

stream of Cosmic manifestation in the quest for liberation.

SAI ACTIVITIES:

Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago and Suburbs, Illinois, USAShirdi Sai temple is open

daily from 8:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m (Winter hours). Daily program includes Kakad

Arathi at 8 a.m followed by Abhisek. Madhayana Arathi at 12 noon, Dhoop Arathi

at 6 p.m and Shej Arathi at 9 p.m. Archana, Homams, Sahasranama and sponsored

poojas continue in between the Arathis. To request a pooja for yourselves, your

friends and family, please call. Devotees can request water (Abhishek Jal) from

the Holy bathing of Baba by sending us an email or by phone. Temple is located

25 minutes drive west of Schaumburg on intersection of IL Route 47 and Plank

Road in Hampshire, IL. For more information please call 847-931-4058 or send

email to maildrop (AT) saibaba (DOT) org.

Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, MinnesotaRegular Sai activities in Minneapolis,

St.Paul area are being conducted at Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, 725 Lake St

NE, Apt #139 Hopkins MN. For details, please contact hamaresai , or

call Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center at 952-938-2983, and to read the monthly

newsletter Sai Sandesh, visit www.hamaresai.org.

Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of Dallas/Fort Worth, TexasSri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple

of DFW Metroplex is located at 2109 West Parker (Parker Plaza), Suite 212,

Plano, TX 75023. For temple hours and activities please call the temple office

at 469-467-3388 or visit the website www.shirdisaidallas.org.

Shirdi Sai Satsang, Bay Area, CaliforniaShirdi Sai Parivaar invites all to join

us for Satsang every Thursday 7:30 pm at Odd Fellows Temple, 20589 Homestead

Road, Cupertino, CA 95014. For details please call 408-564-6704 or send email

to saibandhu or visit www.ShradhaSaburi.org.

Sai Satsang, New Jersey, USAShirdi Sai Dham, Inc regularly conducts Sai bhajans

followed by Aarti and Parsad on every 1st Saturday of each month at Durga

Mandir, Kendall Park, New Jersey from 3 pm to 5 pm (Winter Hours). All are

requested to kindly come and receive Baba's blessings. For more information,

please call us at 609-275-1334 or visit www.shirdisaidham.org or email us at

shirdisaidham (AT) hotmail (DOT) com

Shirdi Sai Satsang, Toronto, CanadaShirdi Saibaba Sansthan invites all to join

for satsangs every Thursday 7:00 pm at Sai Dwarkamai, 147 Winston Castle Dr.

Markham, Ontario, L6C 2N4, phone 416-402-8089 or email: saileela99 .

To request a pooja for yourselves, your friends and family for any occasion at

your residence, please call. Devotees can request udi or Holy water (Abhishek

Jal) from the Holy bathing of Baba by sending us an email or by phone.

Sri Shirdi Sai Mandir, Scarborough, CanadaThe Shirdi Sai Mandir located at 2721

Markham Road, Scarborough, ON, M1X 1L5 (Intersection of Markham and Nashdene)

is open Monday to Friday from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m and Saturday to Sunday from

10:30 a.m to 8:30 p.m. Dhoop aarti at 7:30 p.m everyday and Bhajans on Saturday

from 5:00 p.m onwards. For other temple activities and information please call

647-444-4724 or send an email to info (AT) theshirdisaimandir (DOT) com.

Shirdi Sai Satsang in Vancouver, BC, CanadaShirdi Sai parivar in Vancouver

invites you for bhajans, every Thursday (6:30pm - 7:30 pm) at 8571, 118A

Street, Delta, V4C 6L2. For further details contact Ritu (604)592 4182 or email

at sai_ish (AT) hotmail (DOT) com.

Sai Satsang, SingaporeTo all Shirdi Sai Baba devotees in Singapore, Sai

Sansthan, Singapore is organizing Shirdi Sai Baba prayer session every Saturday

between 18:30 hrs to 20:30 hrs at 2nd floor function hall, Sri Vadapathira

Kaliamman temple, (opp. to Sinda), 555, Serangoon Road, Singapore-218174. We

invite you all to participate and seek Baba's blessings. For further details,

please visit www.saisansthan.com.

Sai Baba Satsang in Auckland, New ZealandSai Baba Satsang ( Bhajans , Provochan

, Sai Ashotottram and Shej Arathi ) is held every Thursday from 7:00 pm to 9:00

pm at MT Roskill War Memorial Hall, May Road , Mt Roskill, Auckland, NZ. For

more detials visit our website http://www.shirdisaibaba.org.nz or mail to

info (AT) shirdisaibaba (DOT) org.nz.

FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD:

Sai Vichaar thanks you for your support for the Question of the Week feature.

This feature is intended to initiate useful discussion on topics related to Sai

philosophy, His message, and Sai devotion. Please send your suggested topics for

the same. Sai Vichaar receives several emails everyday and they will be posted

in the order they are received. Devotees and readers are requested to note that

it is not feasible to have all of their contributions promptly published due to

reasons including size of the writings, space, and appropriateness of the

topics. It would be helpful if devotees make their Prayer requests short,

specific, and to the point. This saves time and space and gives opportunities

to publish more requests. Please be assured that all our prayers and requests

are heard by our God Saibaba and fulfilled without fail by His grace. Sai

devotee Meenakshi Kumar suggests the following "Question of the week" Q. What

is the significance of the story of "The Quest" in Sai Satcharita?

Humbly Yours,The Editor

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>From and Editor:

Shirdi Sai Baba Web Site

Shirdi Sai Baba Sanstha

(A non-profit organization)

Mail:

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Email

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Phone

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