Guest guest Posted December 27, 2007 Report Share Posted December 27, 2007 Note: forwarded message attached. ______________________________\ ____ Never miss a thing. Make your home page. http://www./r/hs Sai Vichaar www.saibaba.org Thursday , December 27, 2007 :: Volume 10, Issue 33 (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: Gratitude and Devotion Time and again, it needs to be stressed that mere gratitude to Sainath for what He bestowed on us is not enough. The gratitude must lead to the pure state of devotion. Few are born with the absolute realization of Omniscient and Omnipresent God. For the most, the first encounter with the supreme conscious happens as a result of an event that defies logic. Everyone of us stand a testimony to this phenomenon; students getting rewards that they did not expect, hopeless patients whose fortunes were reversed for the better, the jobs that we believe Baba give us, and even the occasional bliss our spiritual pursuits have brought us. It is also the experience of several that such gratitude fades away slowly with time as other priorities occupy the lives. Although conscious of the never ending chain of wants and desires, the spiritually aspiring mind gives in to what appears as the real happiness. Stages of life according to Hindu scriptures include balya (infancy), kaumarya (youth), grihastha (household), and vanaprastha (retirement). It is thought that vanaprastha is a stage where in, the man proceeds for a recluse in woods and spends time in search of spiritual fulfillment. The myth of life also concocts convenient justifications for waiting for tomorrow, not realizing that tomorrow does not exist for granted. Time is an entity that human life has no control over. Shri B.V. Hanumantha Rao wrote " Sai Anusaranamu " a great work on Sainath of Shirdi in Telugu, " Time is a valuable commodity. There should be no waiting to initiate any kind of attempt for liberation. It should be done when all our senses are in right order and we have the right physical and mental condition. It is a common practice for man to wait until the earthly life is settled, and it is his tendency to procrastinate until he will be ready for the spiritual journey. In reality, such a day may not come at all. Every stage of life brings with it, its own situations that may demand one's time and attention. It is very easy to be entangled in the trap of earthly comforts, joy, sorrow, fear, and a myriad of myth. Human life can be short and no one can predict when it will end. On the other hand, leaving everything, our thoughts, deeds, and their consequences at God's disposal will bring a renewed sense of well being, happiness and fulfillment that is everlasting. Cultivating the attitude of staying immune to the earthly uncertainty will bring one close to the Lord and assure him of a fruitful spiritual realization. CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Faith in ourselves, faith in God Faith, faith in ourselves, Faith, faith in God.. This is the secret of greatness.... If you have faith in all the three hundred and thirty millions of you mythological gods, And still have no faith in yourselves; there is no salvation for you. Have faith in yourselves, and stand up on that faith and be strong... That is what we need.... Faith is not like keeping a lamp in wind and praying God to protect...... This is not the correct way.......to protect the lamp you have To put your efforts ....without your efforts Nothing can be done.....so.....keep faith in your strengths..... And be strong.....reach your goal..... Sai said if you move forward two steps towards me, I will take ten steps towards you....so keep faith and move towards Our beloved saideva...he is there for us...be positive about this..... May Saideva be with All (Contributed by Sai devotee) DEVOTEES SAY: Rajeev Baba, with your blessings the pain that I had for long time in my chest has gone away with the new exercise that my sister told me. In fact as now when I see back I realize that it was You who sent my sister to my place (knowing that she never wanted to visit USA again as she likes India more). Thanks Baba of taking care of this mysterious pain. Please guide me so that I can do the same service for others. Koti Koti Pranam to you Baba.. Shri Sacchidanand Sadguru Sainath Maharaj ki Jai. Parul Thank you so much my Sai Ram, for giving me hope and courage. You heard my voice of help and concerned. You blessed my family and my parents. Jaya I was experiencing severe pain and extreme fatigue and when consulted the doctors, they did an ECG on me and I was worried as to what the doctors would diagnose. I was bugging my dearest Sai to bless me with good health so I can take care of my family. Fortunately, by Baba's grace, the doctor ruled out of anything related to heart. I was given painkillers and trying to recover from the weakness. Thirupurasundari Thank you so much for helping my son land amidst the snowstorm safely. He couldn't have made it home safely without Your blessings. Thanks also for temporarily solving the loan issue. Please continue to shower Your blessings on our family. Sai Devotee Baba, thanks for being with me always. By your grace, my sister's marriage went of all, and you even graced that occasion through your devotee. Similarly, you have graced my marriage too with your presence. When my wife fell sick, you gave me the courage to stand by her and help her recover completely. I apologize for not posting this earlier as I kept on postponing this. Bharathi Baba thanks for all your help and thanks for the medical checkup results. We both had normal test results. Please be with our children all the time. Baba please help both my friends to have normal delivery and healthy babies. Madhavi Thank you very much for everything You done for us. I always ask so many things to You and You fulfilled every wish of mine. Sorry for delaying to post this letter. Koti koti namaskars to your feet Baba. Please help me to find a good job. Bless my family and be with us all the time. Thank you very much for all You have done for us. Take care of my parents Baba. PRAYER CLUB: Prema Baba please take care of my husband in every step of his life. Give him good health, prosperity in business and also give him patience as he is very short tempered. Please bless him so that your raksha should always take care of him. I am always worried about his diabetes, BP and cholesterol levels, please take care of him so that his sugar level and every thing is normal. He should never have any health complications, You always be with him and take care of him. Whenever he gets angry please console him and see to it that he does not use bad words. Baba since a week he is very much restless and annoyed the reason for which I do not know. If at all any mistake I have committed please enable me to correct my mistake and see to it that I do not irritate my husband. I love my husband, daughter and my mother please take care of them always. I want to come to Shirdi with my family please guide me, I leave it to you. Suresh Sainath, I am suffering from financial problems so please make my earlier employer to pay my due salary at the earliest. Shanu Dear Sai, I have all faith in you and I have given everything into your shoulders and I dont know why everything is getting delayed especially in my case. I know You are doing this for my good. But deadly I need a job now. You know all about our position and we cannot spend any other month without a job. Please Baba listen to me and help me in finding a right job as soon as possible. Love you. Urvish Sai Baba, please help me to find my life-partner and forgive me for any mistakes I made. Baba bless me. Sai devotee Baba, I have so many difficult works to complete in my office, I am unable to complete these works without other colleagues help and co-operation. One of my colleague don't want to co-operate with me. Baba please change his attitude and mind towards me. Thank you Deva. Sai devotee Baba I am still waiting for Your blessing for a child. I know you can move mountains, change the direction of the rivers, so please Baba bless me. Show me some sign that You shall bless me. Life without a child is meaningless. I pray to You with my whole heart to please listen to my prayers. Don't take more pariksha my lord. Please bless me soon. A devotee Sainatha, please help us with our financial crisis. Deva, give both of us a job and make my children study. I am surrendering at Your lotus feet. Forgive us in case if we had done bad karma in our last birth and unintentionally in this birth. Since my childhood, You know whatever I have gone through. Please save me Sai. I understand that I have to have faith and patience. I do not see any green side anywhere. I am assailed only by sorrows, miseries and humiliations. Please Deva give me a hand and help me. Yamini Om Shirdi Baba, I have a relative whom is suffering from cancer. Doctors have given up hope on her. Her name is Yeoh. I need Your bleesings. Thank you. Suman Baba, please give me your blessings. Baba I can't face such type of problems. I already tolerated it 3 times. Please don't repeat such type of problems in future. Baba please give me a healthy baby. Baba I will continue to pray, until You fullfill my dream. I believe in You. I need your help in every moment. Please help me. EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES: Sampa I want to share this miracle with all Sai devotees. Sometime ago I went to a Saibaba temple on Thursday and found a small marble statue of Baba lying there on the table. I just thought I will take Baba home and I thought in my mind that if I get a new job I would place that statue of Baba on my office desk. I was actively looking for jobs and after about a fortnight I was laid off. It was a huge shock as I got laid off exactly a year after I was hired. I was very shocked and sad and was complaining to Baba that why did it happen to me. As man proposed and God disposes, I was offered a position in a much better company on a Thursday, I went for the interview in the afternoon and by Thursday evening I was offered the job with a much better salary than my previous job. I joined the new company after a month of losing the job but meanwhile I had the severance pay to take care of my expenses. On the first day of my job I placed Baba's statue on my desk. It reminded me of the incident when Shama went to Gaya and Baba preceded him there. If we truly and strongly believe in Baba, He will see to it that there is no dearth of anything in devotees house. It is a miracle among so many miracles that You have done in my life. Rajani I lost my earring yesterday. I noticed that my earring is missing only after I came back home from shopping and restaurant. I searched all over at home. I checked all my clothes. I called the restaurant guys whether they can find it on the floor near the table where I sat. They said no. I finally prayed to Baba to find that ring for me. It's my favorite ear ring. When I checked my clothes for the second time, it dropped from my clothes. It must have got entangled somewhere to my sweater that I was wearing. Thank you Baba for helping to find my earring. RP I feel blessed to share this miracle of Baba. We have been trying to have a baby for sometime now and I have also had a miscarriage. This period has been very testing and depressing. I had faith in Baba but I think it was not complete surrender. I tried every pooja possible and would fight with my Baba everyday. This continued for many months. I also participate in Satcharitra parayan organized at saibaba.org by Ushaji (the chapters are randomly assigned). One day I just thought that the day Ushaji assigns chapter 48 to me, I would consider myself blessed. I continued going to the doctor and they all said that everything was fine. They said that I needed to get one test done and it would be painful. I was scared but at the same time I felt a lot of relief. I had by then completed the Sai Vratha and somehow felt that everything will be alright. The very same week, Ushaji assigned me chapter 48 and my name appeared first in the list. I was happy but I did not think that I would get pregnant; I thought that Baba was saying that the tests are going to help us. I was very relieved and was in a calm state of mind. I prayed to Baba that He should be with me during the test and never leave us. The month passed and to our surprise, I got pregnant the very same month. I did not even have to go to the test since my pregnancy was confirmed. From then on, though we did not ask, all my doctor appointments were on Thursdays. We got our ultrasound on a Thursday and everything looked perfect. My pregnancy was very healthy and I did not have any other problems. Baba blessed us with a healthy baby on a Thursday, which is another miracle in itself. My labor was easy and we now have a healthy baby. We do not know how to thank Baba for all the things he has done. My husband who never went to any temples now completely believes in Baba. Baba has completed our family and has become a part of us. He is Baba thatha for my baby. QUOTATION OF THE WEEK: " Worship of the Guru is equivalent to worshipping all the deities, for in the Guru, all the deities dwell " .-Shri Sai Baba QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Q. In Sai Satcharitha, what lessons can one derive from episode of Madrasi Sanyasi? SAI ACTIVITIES: Special New Year Eve pooja on Monday, December 31st Temple open till midnight This year Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago, Illinois, USA will be open till midnight on New year eve for devotees wishing to invite the new year in Baba's presence. Bhajans and Naam jaap after dhoop arathi onwards. Participate in person or in absentia in special archana pooja followed by Shej arathi at midnight to Shri Sai Baba for all His blessings in the new year. Please call temple office at 847-931-4058 for sponsorship details or questions. Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago and Suburbs, Illinois, USA Shirdi 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. 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 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. 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. FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD: Sai Vichaar and Saibaba.org wishes all devotees and readers a Happy, Prosperous, and Peaceful New Year. Question of the week for this week as follows: Q. In Sri Sai Satcharita, what lessons can one derive from the episode of Madrasi Sannyasi Vijayanand? 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. 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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. 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