Guest guest Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 Sai Vichaar www.saibaba.org Thursday , March 13, 2008 :: Volume 10, Issue 44 (In its tenth 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: Never worry! " Do not worry in the least; always be full of joy; never, never worry to the end of your life. This is what Baba said, all the time. Baba seemed to be repeating to his devotees the same famous Taittiriya Shruti-siddhanta, which says that, Perfect happiness itself is Brahman. This I know. (Sai Satcharita ch.17 v.112 & 113). " These are the words told by Sai to his devotees recorded by Sri Hemadpant in Sai Satcharita. Sai taught the simplest way to reach the happiness. It is by devotion and love for God. Sai asked us not to worry about any thing (after doing our best), as God is there to take care of everything. Still, most of us are living with a peculiar condition called, FADD. It is an acronym for fear, anxiety, dissatisfaction, and depression. Why there is a gap between Sri Sai's words and our daily living with lot of worries to the extent of drowning us (with worries power)! This shows, we are able to appreciate these words as Sai devotees, but when it comes to the level of practice, lot of us are not able to do so! Why? We are definitely omitting some important particulars regarding the essentials of understanding. We should realize that the worries or the problems we face are not new to the human kind or only to us. The degree of problems might be different for each of us, but the kind (type) is the same. According to Bhagavat Gita, whatever problems we have, they have all been categorized into three groups. ADHYATMIKA: 1. Worries that arise from gross body causes like birth, disease, old age, death etc. 2. Worries that arise from subtle body (manas, buddhi, ahamkara) causes like grief, shame, unworthiness, despair, pride, jealousy etc. ADHIBHAUTIKA:Worries that come from the external objects. It includes other people painful criticism and violence on us, damage caused to us by animals (for example mosquito bites, dog bites while walking) environment (polluted air, smoke etc). ADHIDAIVIKA: Worries caused by the things on which we have little control. Sudden earthquakes, famine, severe floods etc. These different problems are the common accompaniments to all human beings on the earth. They are called Bhava Roga(Disease of birth and death). These problems in one sense help us to discover who we are in the truest sense. The difficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter. The moment we think we are separate from every one else and feel that we should get the best irrespective of what happens to others, then we are creating a wheel of karma which will be repeated to us through some one else. Having known this, whenever we face a problem let us give more attention to the solution, rather than blaming and brooding over the problem. FEATURE OF THE WEEK: continued....... Sri Sai advised us to be kind with each other and love one another for our own benefit. In simple words he told us that do not hurt, anyone (at least as much as possible) and he further added that it is equal to hurting him. Sai experienced that oneness with all the beings on earth. He told a simple remedy for our happiness. Remembering (feeling the presence) God in every action. He told Hemad, whatever you do; just remember me before doing it. Naturally, the remembrance of Sri Sai's name will remove all the Asubha (bad vasanas), as darkness cannot stand before light. Whatever comes to our lot, after our best attempts, we should accept it as karmaphalam. If we pray to God sincerely feeling remorse for the mistakes we committed, God will definitely listen to us. Destiny (mistakes we did in the past) cannot be changed, but we can use our freewill not to repeat the mistakes. Even though we continue to receive the reactions of our past mistakes, it will certainly lighten up our karma. In other words, a pin will prick where the sword is due. As told by a famous person, All problems are psychological (ego created). All solutions are spiritual. The awareness of the universal causes of problems and our role in it, lessens our tendency to make them into our very own personal worries. It changes our approach to the problem. We try to look forward to the lessons of life from the problems. When we are allotting less space for worry in the mind, we are giving more space for peace and happiness. Slowly, Sai's words start making sense in our day-to-day living. CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: O Sai! Thou art the Datta Tatva O Sai! Thou art the Datta Tatva Who teacheth us to learn from everything. O Baba! The year 1910 is written in gold on the heart of each of Your devotees, for that was the year that Govindrao Dabholkar alias Hemadpant visited Shirdi. On seeing You grinding wheat, his curiosity was aroused, and he wished with all his heart to write Your biography. When he did bow before You to seek Your permission through Shama, You were moved, and blessed him by giving him Your udi (vibhuti) and placing Your boon-bestowing hand on his head with these words, " Make a collection of stories and experiences; keep notes and memos; I'll help you. You are only an outward instrument. I should write Myself My autobiography and satisfy the wishes of My devotees. When your ego is completely annihilated and there is left no trace of it, Myself shall enter into you and shall write Myself. " (Shri Sai Satcharita, Chapter 2) And Baba! rest is history, history of the God who descended on earth, history of the God who walked on the soil of Shirdi for 60 years. Nay, Baba! Nay, it is the history of the God who is still, and ever will be with His devotees wherever they be. O my Sadguru! Your 'entry into him' made him experience an epiphany, a spiritual flash that You are an " incarnation of Lord Dattatreya " (Shri Sai Satcharita, Chapter: 1) O Sai! Dattatreya descended into the realm of the world as progeny of Atri and Anusuya, a sage couple of the Vedic Age. Seer Atri was one of such seers who had 'seen' and experienced the brahma-gnyan, the eternal wisdom; and Anusuya became famous for her devotion to her husband. She was the embodiment of chastity. One story tells that once a Brahmin named Kaushik was staying in a town called Pratishthaan. He used to go to a whore in spite of being a Brahmin and having a devoted wife Nalayani. Later he suffered from leprosy and was thrown out by the whore. Then he came back to his wife who accepted him still. However, he still did not care for the wife, and was thinking about the whore all the time. One day he asked his wife to take him to that whore. In that town, the sage Mandavya had been spiked instead of a real thief; and he was lying on the spike in the forest. While walking through the deep forest in the night, Kaushik happened to hit his leg by mistake to Mandavya sage who cursed him to death before the sunrise. To stop the curse, Kaushik's devoted wife, with her powers of austerity, restrained the sun from rising, upon which all activities ceased, and created havoc. The gods, alarmed by this, went to Lord Brahma for counsel. Lord Brahma said, " Majesty is subdued by majesty indeed, and austerities also by austerities, O ye immortals! Hearken, therefore, to my advice. Through the might of the faithful wife, the sun does not rise; and from its not rising, loss befalls mortals and you. Hence do ye, through desire that sun should rise, propitiate Atri's faithful wife Anusuya who is rich in austerities " . Having been so instructed, the gods sought the help of the wife of the sage Atri. When they submitted their desires, she replied, " The might of a faithful wife may not be lost in any wise. Hence while honoring that good lady, I will liberate the day " , and requested Kaushik's wife to let the sun rise. At Anusuya's exhortation, Nalayani relented; the sun rose, and Kaushik died; but he was restored to life by the virtuous Anusuya. (Contributed by Subodh Agarwal) CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: O Sai! Thou art the Datta Tatva (continued.....) Then there fell a shower of flowers, accompanied with the strains of heavenly instruments and other musical instruments. And the gods were delighted and said to Anusuya: " Inasmuch thou hast accomplished a great job for the gods, the gods will be pleased to grant thee a boon, O ascetic lady. Therefore, choose a boon, O blessed lady. " Anusuya spoke: " If ye gods headed by Brahma, being favorable, will grant me a boon, and if ye deem me worthy of a boon, then let Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva become sons to me, and let me in company with my husband attain religious devotion, to the end that I may be delivered from affliction. " " Be it so! " , exclaimed Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and the other gods to her; and they departed, duly honoring the ascetic lady. Another story tells that such was the spiritual power of Anusuya, which induced jealousy and envy in others. Once Sage Narada poisoned the minds of the three goddesses Saraswati, Laxmi and Parvati by telling them that Anusuya was much greater than them. Incensed by this they requested their husbands to go and violate her " pativrata vrata " . However, the three Gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva decided to prove their jealous and envious wives how wrong they were. (to be continued...) (Contributed by Subodh Agarwal) DEVOTEES SAY: Jaya I visited first time Saibaba's temple some two years back. I went through a lot of stress. Mostly, I prefer to go to the temples or places, which are not commercial and are simple. My family was with me. Well I feel that Baba blessed me. I got that vibration and suddenly positive vibration came into me. I prayed in temple by heart (believe me that time I prayed from bottom of my heart). I came home. Next morning I got a job offer for one month. I went back to the temple again and I thanked Baba. Now, I am still working at the same place. Same experience my husband had. He prayed by heart in Baba's temple and Baba solved his problem. I don't think this is coincidence. Whenever I go ti the temple I never come back with empty hands. Rajyalakshmi I was preparing for GRE exam. For writing that exam passport is required as proof of identification. Exactly one week before the exam I lost my passport. I was nervous. I searched the whole house but I could not get it. Then I read the whole Sai Satcharita in one day and I slept. Next day I got the passport through postman. He said somebody might have dropped the passport in postbox. He gave me the passport. I thanked Sai a lot for helping me. Again there was another miracle that took place. I lost my two gold rings, which I placed in my closet. I got them in our colony's temple hundi after praying to Saibaba. Now I am in one more trouble. I am praying to Saibaba for help. I read Sai Satcharita recently, I know He will help me. Preeti Om Sai Ram! Two and a half months back when I came to New Zealand alone I had no idea how my life was going to be after a marriage of 10 years ended by my husband. It was hard and difficult as I always had someone with me. I was scared and worried although always in my heart knew my Sai was there. Within my 4 weeks of being here I found a job. I decided to electronically transfer $10.00 every paycheck that I get into the Sai fund. Well, I have noticed that anything that I need Sai gives it to me with less money and no problems. I needed a car within a certain budget He put it right in front of me. It came on a Thursday. I wanted a specific music system but didn't feel like spending and a friend of my had to leave the country and gave me his system for free. Not only that but also extra stuff. My guru is looking after me. Give Him and He will return in 10 folds. Don't expect it but just have faith and see what a difference your life will have. Jai Sai nathaya. Om Sai Ram! Priyanka In each and every part of my life I had Baba with me and even now I can see His presence in every work I do or in every activities in our family. It is for sure without Baba's grace on us I would not have reached this position. I am very happy to see devotees sharing their experiences and felt like sharing this with all. If we believe in Sai, He will look after us. Just trust Him. Thank you Baba, thanks for Your grace on us all the time. Sai devotee Thank you Baba for having blessed my husband with a very good job in which he has been working for the last five years. My humble request to You is to calm his boss down completely and transform his boss into a humble and a caring human being towards my husband and bless my husband with peace and job satisfaction. You have always been kind and have blessed us with results for every request made to You and I am sure Your blessings will as always be with our family. Radhika Thank you for arranging for a driver and taking us all safe back and from Shirdi your home and also to Kolhapur and to Pandharpur. My long wished dream got fullfilled when You made me bring my aged mother and my sister-in-law to these sacred places. I was very much touched by Your greatness. From childhood my mother wanted to visit Pandharpur and after so many years You fulfilled her wishes too. We had good darshan and poojas done. I kept remembering and chanting Your name in Pandharpur and You made Your presence felt and gave me darshan through Your big photo at my Bhatji's place who also happens to be Your devotee and also it was Thursday. Thank you Saiprabhu, we always hold onto Your lotus feet, please do not leave us. Suresh I have prayed with Sai in the prayer club two months ago that, please make my earlier employer to pay my due salary and I have received salary recently and thanks a lot to Sri Sainath for His kind help. PRAYER CLUB: Meenakshi Please Sai help me to get promotion and financial support. I thought of getting one vehicle. Bless me. My daughter and son should study well and should be healthy without any disturbance. Sai, please bless us peace of mind throughout life. My son has written the exams and he should be promoted with Your loving blessings. Sai devotee Om Sai Ram, Baba thanks for giving me everything, but for one thing You know that I have been asking You for past 7-8 years. Baba please bless me. Baba please get me settled now. Baba I feel very lonely. Baba grant me with this wish, so that I can write You again. A devotee Sai, you are clearing one by one problems but Baba why not my health problem. Baba you know how much I am going through. Please Baba clear all my problems so I can concentate on my kids and run this family and please give strength to me and my family. Sai, you helped in so many ways, please you are my doctor everything take care of my health and everthing take care of my husband's health and his new job. Zenobia As You are aware my granddaughter is in hospital and You know what state of mind we all are in. Please Baba be with her and bless us with normal and clear reports. We need Your help and guidance and You have always given us an answer through some way or the other. Baba with Your support and blessings we are what we are now so please continue to shower Your love and blessings always. Leena Dearest Baba! I am going through tough times. I don't want to have medicine again in next month. Please bless me. Baba, You are always there whenever I remembered You. Sai devotee I surrendered myself to You. Baba, You know very well what I should do. Show me the way. I will write my experience in Sai Vichar next Thursday if everythng goes well. If I could go to the doctor and he says everything is all right. Baba thankyou very much for helping my daughter and removing her leg pain. Always bless my family especially my husband and give me peace of mind. Kumar I am married for 8 years and have a good wife. I have not taken care of her properly for the last 8 years. I had a good job which I have left due to my ignorance. Now I want to start a fresh and happy life with my wife. I have also got a good offer for job now. I pray Baba to forgive my mistakes and grant me a good life and the job. I pray Baba to help me in this financial crisis. EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES: Vijayakumar We were blessed with a baby boy in August 2006. Baby is very cute, but as fate would have it, he was born with a severe clubfoot on both his legs. It is a birth deformity of foot which if not properly treated would disable the child to stand and walk normally on his legs. On the Thursday following his birth, we took our baby to Saibaba temple and sincerely prayed to Saibaba to do what so ever but make the child able to walk at the right stage as normal child would do. A senior orthopedic doctor from Apollo hospital has examined the baby and started the treatment. As per the doctor, the treatment to such birth deformity is a very long process and we need to wait with patience to receive the result. We prayed to Saibaba to take care of the baby and provide us the positive result. We took our baby to the doctor every Thursday and baby's feet were manipulated with plaster castings for 2 months. Meanwhile I have searched about this birth defect on internet and came to know that the treatment is a very lengthy one with manipulation and castings of the feet done until the child grows to 2 years of age during which time a special shoe called splints should be worn throughout day and night. My wife and I were much worried if all this treatment would really give positive result and enable our baby to walk as a normal child does. We kept our trust on Saibaba and prayed to Him to relieve us from this agony as early as possible. Soon, when the baby was two and a half months old, our doctor surprised us when he said that he would operate our baby's feet. Operation was successful and baby's legs were in plaster casts for one month. After that we were told by the doctor to wait for the result until our child grows to twelve months of age, when baby tries to stand on his own. Our baby crossed his 13 months in age but kept us nervous as his attempts to stand were failing. continued...... One Thursday, my wife strongly prayed to Saibaba to enable our baby to stand and started reading Dasaganu's Stavanamanjari. To our surprise, our baby stood up that day without any support and started to place steps. From then on, with Saibaba's grace our baby was able to stand freely, walk and run without any difficulty. We are applying Udi to his feet daily. Now our kid is 18 months old, and can walk as a normal child and no one can notice that his legs were subjected to operational treatment. I can strongly say that this was possible only with the grace of Saibaba. Through His miraculous grace, He made us to approach a right doctor; had the feet of baby corrected successfully at the right time and given strength to our baby to walk as a normal child does at the right age. This experience has once again proved the fact that if we have Nishtha (firm faith) on Saibaba and pray to Him with Saburi (patience), He will remove all our fears and provide us successful results. Vijayasarathi Om Sai Ram. I have been an ardent follower of Sri Sai Baba since 1989. Every step of my life including the day to day activities, I have been experiencing Sai leela in some way or the other. I open the Saibaba.org site everyday when I start my work, chant the Sloka and then continue with my day-to-day work. I read the newsletter every week. I have seen the pop-up message that was displayed on the site during November and December 2007 about the 2008 calendar. But somehow I never opened the link to see what it was. Then in February 2008 I read the postings by some Sai devotees from UK and other places out of USA about how happy they were to receive the 2008 calendar with some rare photos of Sri Sai Baba. It is then I realized and remembered the pop-up message that was displayed in December 2007. I had no words to curse myself for not checking the details. Being in USA, I had missed the opportunity of receiving the blessings of Sai Baba in the form of the calendar. Nevertheless, it was His will so I checked the site once again and found a small ray of hope saying that the SaiBaba.org team was still distributing the desk calendars. Without wasting a second I submitted my details. Though I had some doubts if I would get the desk calendar, I left the decision to Him. continued.... Now see the Sai Leela. I have been trying to get an apartment in a nice complex as the present one is not good. I have a tough time in getting an apartment with reasonable facilities in a reasonable rent. Finally I got one, but that area was like a remote area and no one in my circle knows about the area and I was in a confusion whether to move to that area or not. We were in a situation that we needed an advice from Baba. To my surprise that evening when I returned home, thinking about this, I saw this parcel from Saibaba.org with the beautiful desk calendar with Baba's messages for each day. When I opened the date for March 4th it read, " Do not fear. I am Myself there and guarding you and your family " . That was the assurance Baba gave me. I got the direction that I needed at the right time. So I have decided to go to the new area. I will be moving to this new apartment on 30th April. I am sure Baba is with us always. I do not have enough words of gratitude to the Saibaba.org team for sending this priceless gift to me, that too in the perfect time when I needed the moral support the most. Many thanks to everyone who helped me get this treasure of Baba. Om Sai Ram. QUOTATION OF THE WEEK: " The Lord is the sole doer and inspirer. " -Shri Sai Baba QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Q. Question of the week is given below....... A. by Hariharan Q. In Sai Satcharita Sri Saibaba says to a devotee that their relationship was for the past 72 births. Is there any significance to 72 births? A. The no of births has significance in two ways. 1) When the Lord descends on the earth, he comes with his associates. In that sense, we can assume Shama comes along with Baba whenever Baba descends on the earth. 2) The other significance when Baba has used this quote for others can be understood in this context. Many people had the benefit of association with Baba, sometimes very personal birth after birth. Still because they didn't achieve the perfection of life, they had to take more births. So it is very important for us that once we have achieved the grace of Baba, we should not waste just in pursuit of material things. We should try to advance spiritually, especially by nama jaap which is the only way of liberation in this age of Kali and also by improving our daily life or routine so that it is centered around Baba and his teachings. SAI ACTIVITIES: Sri Ramanavami celebrations in Chicago, USA Sri 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 Friday, April 11th to Sunday, April 13th. The program comprises of Aartis, Maha Abhishek, Homam, Palki procession, Satcharitra parayan, bhajans and much more. For complete details please call 847-931-4058. Sri Saibaba Mandir, Minneapolis, MN Sri Saibaba Mandir is located in Minneapolis, MN at 1835 Polk St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418. The mandir is open 7 days a week in the evenings from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm and during morning hours from 9 am to 12:30 pm, except Mondays. Satsangs are conducted every Sunday mornings, 9 am to 12:30 pm. Please visit the mandir website www.hamaresai.org or call 612-789-7729 for more information on mandir activities, events and other information. Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas Sri 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 Temple of New England, Boston Area Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of New England is now operational. It is located at 1827 Bridge St # 8, Dracut, MA 01824. The temple is open every Thursday from 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm and Saturday's from 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm. For temple hours and activities please visit the website www.nessp.org or send mail to maildrop. Shirdi Sai Center in Bay Area, CA Shirdi Sai Center is located 897-B East Kifer Rd, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. For more information please call 408-705-7904 or 408-564-6704 or send email to saibandhu. You can also visit our website is www.Shirdisaiparivaar.org. Shirdi Saibaba temple, Los Angeles, CA Devotees in Los Angeles area are informed about Sri Shirdi Saibaba temple in Los Angeles area. The temple is located at - 144 South 4th Street, Montebello, CA 90640. For more information please call Krishna Samantula at 949-679-9938 or visit www.shirdisaila.org. Saibaba Temple, Columbus, Ohio Devotees in Columbus and surrounding Ohio locations area are informed about Sri Shirdi Saibaba temple in Metro Columbus area. The temple is located in a leasing space at 7674 Sawmill Rd, Dublin, OH 43016. Please attend daily Aaratis and Thursday bhajans. For more information please call Panditjee at 614-799-8411 or visit www.saibaba.cc. Shirdi Sai bhajans every Thursday at Maitland, Florida Devotees are invited to participate in Sai study and bhajans on Thursdays between 7-8 pm at Meditation Gallery, 219 E Horatio Ave, Maitland, FL 32715. For more details please contact Bonnie at 407-830-1276. FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD: Sai devotees posting prayer request are requested to state their needs briefly and be specific about their prayer needs. This will help with good use of space and allows more requests to be posted every week. A Sai devotee suggested the " Question of the week " for this week as follows: Chapter VIII of Shri Sai Satcharita says, " Those souls whose merits preponderate, go to heaven and live there till they enjoy the fruits of their actions and when this is done, they are cast down; while those souls, whose demerits preponderate go to hell and suffer the consequences of their misdeeds for as long as they deserve it. When their merits and demerits balance each other, they are born on earth as human beings and are given a chance to work out their salvation. Ultimately, when their merits and demerits both are worked out completely, they get their deliverance and become free. " This quote by Hemadpant (as inspired by Baba) means that since we are born as human beings, our merits and demerits balance each other and we should concentrate on working out our salvation. Q. How can we, the devotees of Sai Baba, ensure that our merits and demerits both are worked out completely so that we get our deliverance and become free? Humbly Yours, The Editor ABOUT THIS EMAIL: This newsletter is not sent unsolicited. This newsletter is e-mailed to you because of at least one of the following reasons: 1. You have d through our on-line page, 2. You have visited our web site and shown interest in the Sai topics and asked for information, or 3. You have been gifted a subscription by a friend or a relative. To Subscribe Sai Vichaar for receipt by Email please visit the URL http://www.saibaba.org/newsletter.html and select the option from the menu. If you are subscribing the newsletter for your friend or a relative, we request that the person concerned may be notified about receiving the newsletter and the willingness to receive the newsletter be confirmed. To Un-Subscribe receipt of Sai Vichaar, please visit the URL http://www.saibaba.org/newsletter.html and select the option from the menu. If you have problems accessing the web page due to network problems, please send an e-mail to support with the words " Un Sai Vichaar " in the subject line. To make a contribution to any of the sections of Sai Vichaar, please visit the URL http://www.saibaba.org/newsletter.html and select the Submit Articles to Sai Vichaar option from the menu. Back copies of HTML version of Sai Vichaar can be accessed by visting the URL http://www.saibaba.org/whatsnew.html. For any questions or more information regarding this e-mail or our web site, please send an e-mail to maildrop and your inquiries will be attended to promptly. Thank you, The webmaster From and Editor: Shirdi Sai Baba Web Site Shirdi Sai Baba Sanstha (A non-profit organization) Mail: 12N950 State Route 47 Hampshire, IL 60140, USA Email maildrop Phone 847-931-4058 Fax 847-931-4066 © Copyright 1998-2006 saibaba.org, Shirdi Sai Baba Sanstha - Sai Vichaar Weekly may only be redistributed in its unedited form. Written permission must be obtained to reprint or cite the information contained within this newsletter. Sai Vichaar is devoted to the philosophy and teachings of Shri Sadguru Sai Baba of Shirdi, and will take every measure to avoid topics or themes contradicting the same. Sai Vichaar team or the Shirdi Sai Baba web site is not responsible for the opinions expressed by individual contributors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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