Sai Vichaar for Thursday , June 21, 2007

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Sai Vichaarwww.saibaba.org Thursday , June 21, 2007 :: Volume 10, Issue 6 (In its nineth 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: Why do we suffer?God or His Name is the sole strength in living against all odds and uncertainties. If one is not at cross purposes with Him, one finds His manifestation in every happening. But, one has to bear with patience the onrush of the forces one has let loose. Yoke yourself unto Him and He will bear the brunt. Take refuge in none but Him. Dependence on Him makes one fearless. Human beings will enjoy three-fourths of life and one-fourth they will suffer. But, we lose our patience and do not accept even that one-fourth of sorrows given by Him. Don't be obsessed with any wish. Shake off sadness. Unhappiness is part of the ego. Beyond it, no such thing exists. That you have forgotten Truth (that God is within) is the root cause of your misery. A painful blow becomes bearable to a great extent by His remembrance. As He inflicts blows on you, so also He gives you the capacity for bearing the suffering. As one tolerates unbearable situations with patience, a time comes when He resolves all problems. Whenever you have tumults in mind, try to remember this very often. You can do this. The key is with Him. Truth wins. He is your shield. Destiny still comes but He eases the suffering.

When you have the shelter of Satyanarayan (God within), He will test you in various ways. Your duty is not to get agitated when these sorts of events hurt you. There is a saying of Baba, "You look to Me, I look to you. Even then, if they do not leave Me and still seek Me, I then become their humble servant."

The smiles and frowns of life are His tokens of love. Bear them with loving patience, you have to forsake nothing. Neither indulge, nor restrain.If you have devotion, you need fear nothing. Devotion is never devoid of strength. So many varied problems and hindrances must come, otherwise people won't understand and realize how and why He is the best of all friends and companions. He is the Dearest One, who keeps us protected in all calamities and adversities, which are unpredictable. People falter in life and suffer by discarding Him. But, they can't do anything without Him. Have faith in Him, unflinching faith. Love Him. Hazards take care of themselves. Remembering and depending on Him make one fearless in life, whatever may happen.

He gives us jolts so that we can be ready to taste real happiness with Him, to make us free of maya, or mind and attachments. We do not know His Will, so we grieve over all He does, but He always does everything for the best. Do not worry. Never try to understand. Only accept as a gift whatever He gives, take it as His blessing. When one feels, "I am helpless, my strength fails" He comes to hold the rudder. Being always in the midst of people with their selfishness, jealousy and hatred, the mind is afflicted with pain. These afflictions are shaken off like dust through devotion and remembrance of God's Name within.

He, the Almighty, by His wish and touch takes away the worldly attractions gradually to bring one to a blissful, peaceful state. A person cannot realize this state on his or her own due to the intensity of illusory worldly desire. You do everything, see everything, listen to everything, but do not get so deeply involved as to invite sufferings through them. Of course, He will ensure this, you don't have to make any effort for it. Just keep Him in your remembrance.

(A message from Shri C B Satpathy ji)CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Arati to the Living Idol (continued from last week)In the beginning, when the custom of offering regular arati was started, there were not many psalms which were especially composed on Sai Baba. Except a few, like Dasganu's and Madhav Adkar's, most of them were adaptations of the traditional arati-psalms composed by the mediaeval saint-poets of Maharashtra on the deity Lord Vitthal of Pandhapur. It was only about a year after the commencement of aratis at Shirdi, that the actual 'Psalm-Book' began to take shape. The kudos of giving a form and format to the Shirdi Aratis goes to Shri Krishna Jogiswar Bhishma.

Shri Bhishma hails from Bori, a village near Nagpur. He was a friend of Shri Khaparde with whom he visited Shirdi for the first time on the 6th of December 1911. He was an old-liner before he met Shri Sai Baba. A few years before he visited Shirdi, he had a vivid dream in which he saw a swarthy brahmin in traditional vestment of a Vaishnava gosai. The holy man, without uttering a single word, showed Bhishma a newspaper on which the words 'Sat-Chit-Ananda' (Being-

Consciousness-Bliss) were printed in bold type. When Bhishma inquired of him what it was, the gosai again simply pointed to the newspaper wherein appeared another set of words 'mantra va shikava' (lit. 'mantra and learn'). Bhishma could not make out anything and before he posed another question the Vaishnava vanished with his mystic scroll! Bhishma was roused from his dream but could not figure out the meaning of the dream revelation. Later when he asked a sadhu about it, the latter construed the dream message as a mantropadesh (initiation into a mantra) and that Satchidanand was the name of the Guru who appeared to him in the dream. A few years passed before he went to take Baba's darshan on the invitation of Khaparde. As he approached Baba for the first time, the latter greeted him with folded hands, "Jai Satchidanand!" Bhishma was instantly mystified.The thought that Baba might be the holy man who appeared to him in the dream flashed across his mind. But, he blinked it away with an orthodox proclivity to identify the Brahmin Gosai with the 'Muslim Sai'. While at Shirdi though he saw many brahmins devoutly receiving Baba's pada teerth without any orthodox scruple, he gently avoided the predicament.

Baba used to smoke tobacco from a chilim (a clay-pipe) and as he smoked he used to offer a puff to the devotees present. Bhishma was apprehensive at heart at the possibility of smoking a chilim polluted by the lips of a Moslem. Surprisingly, for the first few days, Baba never proffered a puff to Bhishma even though he was sitting almost at his elbow. One day Baba was running over a parable to a group of devotees including Bhishma. Suddenly he stopped the narration and passed the chilim to Bhishma and bade him to smoke. Bhishma did Baba's bidding without any demur. Then Baba said, "Look here, I move about everywhere - hills and mountains, Bombay, Pune, Satara, Nagpur....; it is Rama who dwells in all these places" After a pause, he suddenly asked Bhishma complainingly, "Well, Why do you eat the laddus all yourself without offering a single piece to me? At least now give me five laddus!" As Baba spoke those words something happened which changed the basic outlook of Bhishma. His fogyish reactions suddenly evaporated, as if blown away in the singly puff he smoked from Baba's chilim. Then he himself asked for Baba's padateerth and wholeheartedly placed his head on Baba's feet. Baba blessed him by placing his hands on his head for a few moments which induced a strange ecstasy in him. He went to the lodgings but still his mind was running with Baba's cryptic remarks about the five laddus. He could not take Baba's words too literally nor could be clearly construe what actually Baba meant by 'laddus'. Next morning he got up seized by an overwhelming impulse to write a poem, which he penned immediately.(Contributed by continued......)CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: continued......The following morning it happened again, and thus five poems were committed to paper, as if under a divine afflatus. When he offered those songs to Shri Sai Baba in lieu of the five laddus he had asked for, Baba blessed him approvingly. Besides the five devotional songs, Bhishma composed a few more later. The devotees have appreciatively added them all to their collection of arati-psalms.Thereupon, Bhishma prepared a booklet entitled Shri Sainath Sagunopasana which contained, besides the arati-psalms sung in Arati to Shri Sai Baba, some traditional hymns from the Hindu liturgy like, Purusha Suktam, Sree Suktam, Mantra Pushpam, Sri Lakshmi Ashtotharam, intended for use in the daily worship of the devotees. Shri G.S. Khaparde had borne all the expenses of its publication till 1922, After Baba's Mahasamadhi, the book has been adapted as the official 'Book of Daily Worship' at the Samadhi Mandir. Shri Sai Baba Sansthan, Shirdi, on making some additions to it, has taken up the publication of the revised edition since 1923. In all, there are thirty psalms in the Book of Shirdi Aratis. Of the thirty, only sixteen are especially composed on Shri Sai Baba. The rest (fourteen, i.e. about half), are traditional arati-psalms composed by the mediaeval poet-saints of Maharashtra (excepting a Vedic chant). Of the fourteen traditional psalms five are composed by Sant Tukaram Maharaj, two each by Sant Namadev and Sant Janabai, one each by Shri Ramjanardhan Swami and Shri Rameshwar Bhat; of the remaining three, one is a Vedic hymn and the other two are traditional prayers. Of the sixteen, psalms especially written on Shri Sai Baba, the major bulk, i.e. nine, are composed by Shri K.J. Bhishma, three by Shri Dasganu Maharaj, one each by Shri Upasani Maharaj, Shri Madhav Adkar, Shri Mohini Raj and Shri B.V. Dev. Linguistically, of the thirty arati psalms twenty five are in Marathi, two in Hindi, two in Sanskrit and one a bilingual anthology of short Marathi and Sanskrit prayers.(Contributed by From "Arati Saibaba" by Sri Sarathbabu ji)DEVOTEES SAY: DinakarThank you Sai for helping me always through the difficult situations. I was handling one of the complicated problem, and could not get any clue to solve the problem even after struggling for more than 4 days. I started my day by praying to Baba and my problem got solved immediately. Thank you Baba for helping me to sail through this problem.Padmini I was working with one guy in my project and we both are good resources. But I basically think he is more brilliant and sharp as I have worked with him closely. Then we got a new project and the person should go to America for short duration. To be honest, as he is more talented he deserves it but things happened in such a way that I travelled to US. With that income, I could save sufficient money for my sister's marriage. It exactly happened after my sister's engagement and before her marriage. The marriage went really well and all our relatives were shocked as they never expected we will do that kind of marriage. This is absolutely Baba's miracle. He plans everything and makes every move. I realised it late when I had tough times in my life. As Baba says "Pain is an eye opener. It awakens man to the inner realities of life". I am happy that I understood Baba completely and I am trying to learn patience, He is asking. I know Baba will be with me forever and ever. Now I ask many things to Baba but I am praying Him to take me to a state where I love Him without expecting anything other than love, blessings from Him, an unconditional love.

RaghuThanks Sai, with Your blessings my wife got a job in Florida. Please bless everyone with Your love and grace.

Sai devoteeBy Baba's grace, we found a good alliance for our daughter. Baba arranged my daughter's engagement on a day which was a Thursday and we could only pay the advance for the marriage hall and catering on the same day. The way Baba arranged things made us to realise that it was His grace which moved things and not our efforts. I was praying to Baba for His presence on the day of engagement to bless the couple. My in-laws, mother and brother's family are also Baba devotees. We were staying in my mother's place and as a blessing for the engagement we got Kumkum and turmeric from His photo for two consecutive days including the day of the engagement. We were all really moved by His actions. If we follow Baba 's dictum of "Shradha" and "Saburi", He takes care of our needs. PRAYER CLUB: Sai devoteeA thousand namaskars to You oh! kind Sai. Please put my mind at rest. You know Oh! Lord why it is so agitated, please give me a purpose in life, something positive to put my whole energy into. Please let the person be in my life forever, please make him come back to me. Kindly bless my children and all Sai devotees in this world.

SankaranMy grandson, Vikram though 10 years old is not able to speak clearly. I pray Sai Bhagwan to bless him to speak as a normal child. I am sure He will heed to my prayer and do the needful.

VasudhaBaba, You are aware of my struggles in life. How I am not able to choose what I want to do, how I am not able to implement what I want to do due to resistance from different sources. My humble prayer to You, please help me come out of all this struggle in terms of career and marry that person (You know who that is) by him proposing marriage to me and my family saying Yes to the alliance.

AnupJai Shree Sai, Baba I have come back to India by Your inspiration. Now, I request Your blessings for early admissions of children in good school and good job for self in Delhi and settlement money from old employer immediately. Sai devoteeOh! Sai maa please have mercy on my family. You are the only hope I have. In this place there is no one else who can understand my family's pain. Please Sai protect my family. Please be with my mother for every single second, bless her with good health. I have full faith in You. If You are testing me I would be more than happy to walk on the path with You showing me. Please Sai bless my mother with good health. Keep Your blessing on everyone.Sai devoteeBaba, please slove my marriage issue, You know everything Baba. Make my husband realise that whatever he is doing is wrong. Baba provide me margdharsan and strength to fight against this situation. Baba make him come to my place to take me along with him. Baba shower Your blessings and make everything smooth and peaceful. Baba, You know I have full faith in You, with this faith I am posting my prayer and hoping that the matter will slove asap.NeelimaBaba, with lots of hopes pinned onto You I am writing this message, please help take care of my father. Please see to it that he gets back to his CAPD dialysis at the earliest and we get over the current problems that we are facing. Please forgive our earlier mistakes.EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES: RahulThe last two weeks have been the longest weeks ever. My brother had a medical problem and had to undergo a lot of investigations and surgery. These weeks were full of anxiety and apprehension. With Baba's blessings, I was able to continue to read the Sai Satcharita and at times when I was almost in a panic attack, I would just hug the book and that alone helped me survive. It's very tough to have patience but we all have to learn that. The reports have been fine and though some problem still exists, I am sure Baba will take care of my brothers health and life. Statistics of disease are important but I think we have to remember that if Baba be with us, all statistics can be defeated. Even when all seems lost, we just have to hold on to Him. He will see us through. I had told Baba I would post this in the newsletter and so I am. I hope and pray he takes care of everything and I pray to him for a speedy recovery and a long healthy life for my brother. Sai RamSachinThis is really true and it happened with me. I had made an advance towards buying a plot, which had litigations, and some implications were applied on the plot. I requested the seller to refund the amount that I had paid as an advance, which he refused to pay on time. I had a very tough time in recovering the amount from the seller. My mother and myself were in great pain and mental stress and we knew that nothing is going to happen even after contacting several people seeking us to help in recovering the amount. Finally, we prayed and sought help of our worldly father Saibaba who then helped us in recovering the amount. We took an oath of making a visit to Shirdi after which He helped us in recovering the amount, which came out to be true, and the same day we got back the amount. This is a true miracle and today everybody should strongly believe that if you are honest and true to yourself and others God will surely help you no matter what you had done in your last birth.QUOTATION OF THE WEEK: "Meditate on what you read and think of God".-Shri Sai BabaQUESTION OF THE WEEK: Q. How can one be consistent with their devotion to Sri Saibaba?SAI ACTIVITIES: Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago and Suburbs, Illinois, USAShirdi Sai temple is open daily from 7:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m (Summer hours). Daily program includes Kakad Arathi at 7 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.Shri Saibaba Mandir, Minneapolis, MinnesotaSaibaba activities in Minneapolis were conducted at Shirdi Saibaba Prayer center since the year 2002. Now, with the grace and blessings of Baba and the support of devotees, a new Saibaba Mandir has begun to function at 1835 Polk St NE, Minneapolis from July 11th 2006. Please visit www.hamaresai.org for all 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 Center in Bay Area, CAShirdi 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, CADevotees 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, OhioDevotees 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, FloridaDevotees 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: Those contributing to Sai Vichaar are requested to identify themselves by giving their name. Unless Baba wills nothing can be done and it is symbolic of one's humility not to give too much credence to their writings or expressions. However, in respect to the etiquette of publication, it is only customary to identify the source of writings. Sai Vichaar hopes that devotees would oblige. A Sai devotee suggests the "Question of the week" as follows, Q. How can one be consistent with their devotion to Sri Saibaba?Humbly Yours,The EditorABOUT 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 webmasterFrom and Editor:Shirdi Sai Baba Web SiteShirdi Sai Baba Sanstha(A non-profit organization)Mail:12N950 State Route 47 Hampshire, IL 60140, USAEmailmaildropPhone847-931-4058Fax847-931-4066© 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.