Sai Vichaar for Thursday , March 09, 2006.......!!! Jai Sai Ram

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Sai Vichaar for Thursday , March 09, 2006Sai Vichaarwww.saibaba.org

Thursday , March 09, 2006 :: Volume 8, Issue 43 (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 WEEKCONTRIBUTED ARTICLEDEVOTEES

SAYPRAYER CLUBEXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEESQUOTATION OF THE WEEKQUESTION OF THE

WEEKSAI ACTIVITIESFROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARDFEATURE OF THE WEEK: Will Logic

Help?"There are several ways to go up. One starts from here. The journey is

difficult, path full of tigers and wolves. If you have a Guide with you, then

your journey would be safe". These words are not new to a Sai devotee. However,

what may be lacking is the inability to remember of Sadguru's assurances. This

is enough to make the difference between hope and despair, happiness and gloom.

To be cautious of tigers and wolves needs a very conscientious effort, for most

of those beasts are hidden within.

Karma, Bhakthi, Gnana and Yoga are said to be the different roads leading to the

same destination. Sai Baba has stressed once and several times, the importance

of Devotion and surrender of the Self. For the material man, this may sound

like a forfeiture of the self, a passive giving in to some unknown entity. Does

this surrender demean the human spirit? Does this by any means make a man less

divine? Not at all! The ability to even raise this question is a function of

human enterprise, the ability to analyze, discriminate and identify with a

particular attribute. If we let the self, give itself away, we are divine!

Dispel the darkness and what we have is light!Traits that have made the man an

advanced species on the globe are the same ones that seem to take him away from

the self. The material self of the day is the result of the sequential build up

of our intellectual function, the faculty immersed with the pursuit of

definitions, data, facts, figures, theses, and functions. Does this approach

help one in anyway to seek the perennial happiness? If so, how far is the goal?

>From the days of Flat earth to the hurricanes on the mars, centuries of time are

just a few feet of the miles. Who shall build the computer that takes us to God?

Saadhana, and surrender, faith and patience are not passive states of existence.

On the other hand, they are the active pursuits that are not easily

comprehensible and unquantifiable entities that take one to the Sadguru in all

his glory.

On this beautiful Thursday, let us remember His love towards us, towards our

perfections and imperfections. Let us reinforce our faith in Sainath and the

Goodwill of Sai brothers and sisters worldwide.

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Surrendering to SadguruRuso mama priyambika, majavaree

pithaahi ruso.. ruso mama priyanganaa priyasuthaathmajaahi ruso..

The ancient Hindu scriptures proclaim that of all the means to realize God, the

path of devotion or Bhakthi Maarga is the most suitable for modern times.

Although this can be interpreted in several ways depending on one's religious

views, the abstract of the content seem to transcend the boundaries of

religion. Gaining knowledge by reading scriptures might make one a scholar, or

learned. However, it does confer one a sense of "learnedness", a form of ego.

On the other hand, Bhakthi Maarga or the path of devotion commences with the

acceptance of the superior nature of God and proceeds with the single-minded

goal of realizing that God pervades everything. This is accomplished by

constant contemplation, known as Saadhana or an intense pursuit. This simple

path to the spiritual awareness is quite common to most of the religions, with

their own variations. It is accepted that one need to have the guidance of Guru

in their spiritual pursuits. During this intense pursuit, one becomes very aware

of the importance of self-surrender. Self-surrender to Guru is believed to

benefit the seeker in his pursuit of self-realization, thereby achieving the

purpose a life may have. Self-surrender may not be a passive resignation that

arises out of inability to deal with one's duties and responsibilities.Sadguru

Sainath said that pursuit of God and renunciation that arises out of weakness

and selfishness is sinful. On the other hand, the surrender of the self is an

active pursuit wherein the seeker realizes the importance of Guru God and

recognizes Him as his utmost priority. Sadguru Sainath's evening Aarthi

glorifies this concept with the phrase, "Oh Sainath, please do not leave me and

be with me even if my spouse, parents, children, and siblings forsake

me".(Contributed by Sai devotee)DEVOTEES SAY: IndiraWe were trying to sell our

house and move into a rental home while our new home was being built. I worried

a lot about the timings of everything and how to manage all three, a house,

rental and then the new construction but with Baba blessings I started reading

the Sai Satcharitha on Thursday and just as I was finishing it the following

Wednesday we got a potential offer. On Thursday, we got a firm offer with a

closing date of just a day into our rental contract. It is only with Sai Baba's

blessings that this was possible.SwapnaMy dear Baba, thank you very much for

coming to my home. I was immensely surprised today on receiving your prasad

from Chicago temple, as it happened to be my wedding anniversary. I just

casually checked my mail and surprised to find it in my mail. I cannot explain

my happiness in my words and I feel I have Baba always behind my husband and

me. My feeling at present is that I have lot of support at the back of me.

Baba, please be always with us and never leave my home and us.LakshmiBaba I

thought I would thank You through Sai Vichaar if I know that I am pregnant.

Thank You very much Baba. Baba, I am going to some of my important tests on

Tuesday, Please be with me and help me go through all the tests well.RamyaI was

assigned a task of converting a Sai Leela Magazine hard copy in to a word

document. I had spent weeks doing that and when I was almost done on Friday

night my laptop just crashed. No matter what, I could not retrieve my data. I

was so dejected and went to bed praying to God. Next morning miraculously my

husband tried to retrieve it on his system and it instantly worked. It may be a

small incident but gave me a bountiful of assurance that Baba listens to prayers

made earnestly. Sai, please accept our koti pranaams and guide us forever.

SumaSai thanks for healing my niece's allergies. She should grow into a healthy

kid. Please bless her with good health.PRAYER CLUB: SasiBaba please help my

husband to get his job confirmation soon. Please reward for his hard work by

helping him to get grant and publish paper in good journals.Sai devoteeI want

to pray for the child Arya, who is only 4 years old. She is not keeping well

for the past couple of weeks. She has continuous cold, cough and fewer. She has

become very weak. She has been hospitalised for complete check-up. Please Sai

Baba let the reports be normal. She should be fine. Baba, please let things be

okay. She is too small to go through all this.Sai devoteeFinally I have got

thru with my job appointment with an organization which I longed for. I waited

one full year with my full devotion to my Sadguru Sai Baba and He showed the

light from the dark. My prayer was heard my tears washed His holy feet, the

tears were my suffering and now my tears of joy have started to wash His holy

feet. My love and devotion towards Baba has increased many folds, deeper then

the ocean, and I cry out for Baba's help in need always. How kind and forgving

He is to his bhakta's. Oh Sadguru! Let my head be bowed before You always and

forever and cast Your holy hand over my head with blessings as I have learned

to walk holding Your finger and now do not leave me alone as I will always have

to turn back for Your presence like a child looking for his mother. Thanks a lot

Baba, I bow down to worship You. Give me success in my new career.

SriramDear Sai brothers and sisters, please pray for my wife who is suffering

from severe back pain and stiffness. Kindly also pray that she qualifies in her

tests. Baba has always blessed us and we sincerely hope that he will do it this

time too.

Sai DevoteeKoti pranaams to You Oh Sai. I want to thank you very much for my

successful trip to India. Thanks to your blessings, I was able to meet all my

family members. Thank you also for protecting my children and not making them

fall ill during our stay. Oh kind Sai please continue to bless us especially

please shower Your blessings on my sister and give her an issue soon. My son's

minor health problem should also disappear.

SrinivasOh Baba! please help us. You know very well what I am talking about.

Please see that my health will be normal without any problem or complication.

Everything should be absolutely normal. My check ups should go well and

doctor's should confirm that I am absolutely normal. See that our family is

blessed with health, wealth and happiness. Please bless us so that we will be

successful in our business and take that as our career and earn name, fame and

wealth. We need your blessings Baba. Please shower your blessings. EXPERIENCE

OF DEVOTEES: MohanambalBaba has blessed our family with health and happiness,

always. Last October when my father was diagnosed with prostrate cancer, it

shook all of us. The reports showed that the cancer had spread to the bones

also. After removal of the cancerous growth, my father was on medication for

checking the spread of the cancer. Then in December my father showed symptoms

of a heart attack and the angiogram showed three blockages in the arteries. He

then underwent operation to clear the blockages. Last week he went for his

quarterly bone scan, which showed that the lesions on the bones had reduced. We

believe that this was purely due to Baba's blessings and grace on my father.

Then suddenly from this weekend onwards my father has been having light pain in

his chest. I pray to Baba to please completely cure my father and bless my

parents with good health. Baba we pray to you to be with us now and always and

shower your blessing on us.Sai devoteeLately my close friend was passing

through critical illness. She was in real bad state of physical health. Doctor

had asked her to take complete bed rest. I was very upset seeing her condition,

I prayed to Saibaba to shower his blessings on my friend and I took ad oath that

I will eat rice after she recover fully. In the second week, her health started

improving and now after four weeks, she feels great. My request to all sai

devotees is do not loose hope in desperate situation; sai is always there for

us. Since I have started believing in Saibaba, I see his presence in my dreams

and when I have problems, somehow he sorts them out.RajkumarI was a doing my

PhD and was trying for a full time position and the most I got was an

internship, and all along, I was asking Baba for a full time job. Recently I

lost my PhD as I was not able to qualify and I was devastated and that helped

me realize that PhD at the current situation was not the thing for me, which I

could not realize for the last two years. Even though it was a bad experience

in few days with Baba's grace I realized that it was for the good of me and I

had to take a less qualified job to be in status. I was also trying for other

interviews, which were not successful, I got to accept that at this point I

stopped asking Baba for a specific thing and just requested him to do the best

for me. I was low in my morale, when there was a week for me to start on the

accepted job; with Baba's grace, I was offered an interview for a full time

position in a good firm. The interview was a two day affair and I have to tell

you that it was only Sai Baba that made me overcome my inferior complex and

made me do the last minute hard work to be successful in the interview.KavithaI

have seen lot of miracles done by Saibaba for my family. To start with when I

was severely suffering from thyroid problem and one day I was crying to baba to

save me from that disease. My husband went to bring me tablets. When he gave the

tablets cover, my child Pooja opened the cover and she showed Saibaba's

beautiful picture was inside. That moment I cried out of joy and felt that sai

was with our family. There was lot of problems and misunderstandings with my

husband. Everyone told to have one more child so that the problems will be

reduced. But I refused and told that already my daughter is 8 years old and it

is impossible to have another one with my health problems. One time when my

father went to Sai's temple he tied a yellow rope in the tree where people do

this to get the thing, which they have desired. My father came and told that

soon you will get one boy child and I laughed at him. After this we went to

Shirdi and took Baba's blessings and my husband got a job in Chandigarh. We

visited Tirupathi before leaving Chennai. After coming here I feel better of my

health problems. And after 5 months, I was conceived and on June 9th 2004, I got

a baby boy. This was the great miracle done by my Saibaba that he was with me

always. After 10 years gap I got a baby boy who has changed my husband to a

very loving nature and we have named him Sai Akshay'. My daughter is 10 years

elder than him and it is a miracle done by Sai after giving me lot of strength

and courage by make me do angapradakshina at Tirupathi temple to have this baby

boy.QUOTATION OF THE WEEK: "The sense of differentiation, as 'me' and 'you', is

the barrier that keeps away the disciple from the Master. Unless that is

destroyed the state of union or at-one-ment is not possible"-Sai BabaQUESTION

OF THE WEEK: Q. Comment on what Baba said - given belowA. by UshaQ. Baba said,

"I give my people what they want until they will begin to ask me what I want to

give them ". Comment?

A. Sai Baba is like a friend, philosopher and guide to all his followers but

apart from that he is also "Baba". Being a father, He always wants his

followers to have patience and wait for good things to happen, just like our

parents will not give us things if we will ask for it again and again. Like

wise Sai Baba also doesn't want his followers to ask from Him what he will give

them instead they should wait for the right time and Baba will give them the

right things because Baba knows what they want and how much they should have,

it's all His 'Leela.'

Q. Comment on what Baba said - given belowA. by NandiniQ. Baba said, "I give my

people what they want until they will begin to ask me what I want to give them

". Comment?

A. "Aum sarva-mangala-karaya namah (Obeisance to Shri Sainath, the bestower of auspiciousness)"

Generally, we tend to think we know what is good for ourselves (sometimes for

others too). But in reality, we do not. In the Satcharitha, we read about a

mother forcing her child to take bitter pills for good health. The child does

not realize that its mother does it for its own good. Similarly many times in

life, we are faced with situations where things do not work out the way 'we'

wanted them to. We term it defeat, failure, disappointments, setbacks etc and

make our lives miserable.

We never know what is in store for us the next minute. But we continue to beg

Sai to give us what 'we' feel is good for us. The all-knowing, all-pervading

Sai answers, though not always in a way we wanted Him to. So, we feel sad. But

if we ponder over this, we will see the truth - Sai does not want us to tell

Him, on the other hand He wants us to surrender ourselves to Him by paying His

dakshina - Shraddha and Saburi. An unwavering Faith in Him that He gives us the

best will see us through, and then we will see the real blessings behind the

experiences that 'we termed' disappointments and failures.

Q. Comment on what Baba said - given belowA. by SL AbhyankarQ. Baba said, "I

give my people what they want until they will begin to ask me what I want to

give them ". Comment?

A. One instance, which explains what Baba, said, "I give to people what they

want ..." is the instance of Bhimaji Patil. Baba gave him health, curing him of

TB and thereafter, the way Bhimaji practiced Sai devotion every Thursday, became

the norm for Sai Bhakti, not only at that time, but for all time to come.SAI

ACTIVITIES: Sri Ramanavami celebrations in Chicago, USASri Ramanavami and Urs

festival celebrations are the first major celebration of the year for Shirdi

Sai devotees. The tradition started in 1910 and continues each year. Shirdi Sai

temple, Chicago will be celebrating the event for three days starting from

Thursday April 6th to Saturday April 8th. The program comprises of Aartis, Maha

Abhishek, Homam, Palki procession, Satcharitra parayan, bhajans and much more.

For complete details please visit http://www.saibaba.us/index.html or call

847-931-4058.Sri Ramanavami-Urs celebrations, MinnesotaShirdi Saibaba Prayer

Center invites all to Sri Ramanavami-Urs celebrations on April 8, 2006 from 3

pm to 9 pm at Geeta Ashram, Brooklyn Park, MN. The event includes Sai abhishek,

Sai aarathis, parayan, naam jap and bhajans, palki procession and chandan utsav.

Please visit www.hamaresai.org for more details.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-Ramnavami celebrations in Bay Area,

CaliforniaWe welcome all of you with family, to join us for Shirdi

Sai-Ramnavami celebrations in Bay Area, California on April 8th (Saturday) in

Sunnyvale between 4:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Venue: Sanatan Dharma Kendra, 897 E

Kifer Rd, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, (Located in Reliance Technical Service complex).

For RSVP and Info contact: saibandhu or

408-564-6704

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) comShirdi Sai Satsang, Toronto, CanadaShirdi Sai Baba

Sansthan of Canada cordially invites all devotees to join for Shirdi Sai

satsang on Sunday March 19th at 10:30 am followed by preeti bhoj. Location: The

Gur Mandir, 207 Queens Plate Drive, Toronto, Ontario, M9W 6Z7, Canada

Tel: 416-402-8089 or email: saileela99

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

Markham Road, Scarborough, Ontario, 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 is at 7:30 p.m. everyday.

Bhajans are 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.FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD: Sri Ramanavami is

celebrated during the second week of April 2006. Please refer to Sai Activities

to know more about the celebrations. Please write to maildrop (AT) saibaba (DOT) org if you

would like to publish about Sai activities in your area.

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. The "Question of the week" for the week is,

Q. Baba said, "I give my people what they want until they will begin to ask me

what I want to give them ". Comment?

Humbly Yours,The EditorABOUT THIS EMAIL:This newsletter is not sent unsolicited.

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