Guest guest Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 KANSAI LIGHT MARCH , 2008. ISSUE News letter of Sri Sathya Sai Organization Japan address: I.S.S, 2nd Fl, 1-3, Kumochi 5-Chome, Chuo Ku Kobe Tel: 078-222-1885, Email: rgcjp (Please print this copy for your reference) ................................................................................................................................. You wish to know ? Sai Inspires - MARCH 2008 Shanthi or Peace does not mean that a person should not react at all, whatever others may say or however they may abuse him. It does not mean that he/she must be silent as a rock. It involves mastery of all the senses and all the passions; inner peace must become one's nature. Shaanthi has detachment as the basic quality. The sea, which likes to gather and possess, lies low; the cloud that likes to renounce and give up is high in the sky. Shanthi endows man with an unruffled mind and steady vision. The prayer for shanthi is usually repeated thrice. "Om, shaanthi, shaanthi, shaanthihi," since Peace is prayed for, in the physical, mental and spiritual planes. - Divine Discourse, October 6, 1981. The Lord kindly consents to have a Convocation Drama... Ram ChuganiKobe, Japan Cultivate the heart to raise a harvest of Truth, Righteousness, Peace and Love. - Baba ............................................................... ACT XII - SCENE 6 Head Master’s room. HEAD MASTER [pointing to his chair]: Sathyam, sit in that chair. SATHYA: Sir, that is the teacher’s chair. It is yours. A student must sit at the feet of the Guru! HEAD MASTER: My boy, that is why I asked You to sit there! Though You are young in age, You are the Guru of all Gurus! We are Gurus only in this School whereas You are the Guru of the whole world! The Head Master prostrates before Sathya and touches His Feet. SATHYA: Master! What is this! HEAD MASTER: If I touch Your Feet, my life will be sanctified! SATHYA: What is this Master? Please get up…. Get up. What’s all this?…….Listen, you are much older than Me. You shouldn’t do such a thing. HEAD MASTER: Devotion has nothing to do with age. There is Divinity in You – that is my firm faith and belief. That is why I have received this great and good fortune to worship You in this manner! Sathya materialises Vibhuti and gives it to the Head Master. HEAD MASTER: God’s Prasadam (gift)! SCENE 7 In the Shirdi Avatar, a man comes looking for his lost horse and Baba helps him. A very similar thing is about to happen now. A Muslim trader named Salim has lost his horse named Chandini. He is desperately looking for it along with two persons named Kadir and Kasim. SALIM: Chandini, O my life Chandini! ………Chandini!…….Chandini!…. KADIR: I don’t see it anywhere. KASIM: I wonder where the horse has gone. KADIR: Brother Salim, let’s search there. They go some distance and search there. SALIM: Chandini, Chandini my horse! KADIR: Chandini,…….. where have you gone? The search continues but it is futile. SALIM: Three days have gone by and Chandini is not to be seen anywhere. KADIR: Don’t worry brother, don’t worry. There is a Young Swami. When His master lost his pen, this Swami told the teacher where to find it. Let’s go and ask Him. SALIM: Young Swami? KADIR: Yes. He can be found up there. [points in a direction] ……Come with me. KASIM: He is usually up there, singing. …Brother Kadir, look there, look! That is the boy, that is the Young Swami! Come, come, come. ….. Kadirbhai, this is that boy, the Son of God, Bhagavan, this is that boy! Young Swami! ……This is the boy……the Son of God! The three come to Sathya and ask Him concerning the whereabouts of the lost horse Chandini. SATHYA: Two hundred yards away to the north, there is a mango orchard. Your horse is grazing in that orchard. Go and look. SALIM: Is that so Baba? KADIR: Yes Baba. Thanks. KASIM: Hurry, let’s go and search there. The three leave and go as directed by Sathya. KADIR: Brother Salim, we will get back our horse, exactly like the boy said. KASIM: This boy is no ordinary one; He is Divine, an Incarnation of Allah. The word of this Young Swami is not just an ordinary word, it is like the Vedas, and our Quran. Whatever this Young Swami says is true. SALIM: If we get back our horse, I will offer my salutations to this Young Swami. KADIR: Everything is Allah’s Grace. The three go some distance. SALIM: Hey, which direction is north? KADIR: The Sun rises this side; so that must be north. That’s where the mango orchard must be! KASIM: Come on, come, come. The three enter the orchard. SALIM: Chandini, Chandini, ……my Chandini, …..Chandini! KASIM: Like the Young Swami said, Chandini must be somewhere here. KADIR: I’ll search there and you search here. ……Chandini!…..Hey brother Salim! I have found Chandini! …O my life Chandini! Where did you disappear leaving me? SALIM: You have found Chandini, exactly as the Young Swami said. That boy is truly a child of God! Three Muslims pick up the horse SALIM: Brother Kadir, we got back our horse Chandini. We must now go to the Young Swami and convey our gratitude. It is all due to the Grace of the Young Swami. He is no ordinary boy but a Divine one, an Avatar of Allah! …The Young Swami is over there! The three come again to Sathya SALIM: Baba, Baba! I found my horse! I got back my horse Chandini! KADIR: Baba, You are God! ……..For us Baba, You are Allah! Baba, we got back Chandini exactly as You said……. That horse is our means of livelihood………… Our grateful thanks, Baba! KASIM: Yes Baba, we got back our horse exactly as You said. Baba, You are really God! We can never forget Your good deed, Baba. SALIM: Baba, You are really God! We got back the horse exactly as You said. You are the saviour of our family, Baba! We will never forget this great help. You really are God! Sathya creates Vibhuti KADIR: Baba has given Prasaad! Brother Salim, come and receive this Prasaad from Baba…….Baba! You really are God Baba, You really are! ACT XIII SCENE 1 Increasingly, people begin to feel that there is an extra-ordinary Divine power in Sathya. Some are ready to go even further and accept Him as the very Incarnation of the Lord. This scene shows some villagers seated under a tree and discussing Sathya. AN OLD MAN: In temples and in holy places, I have personally heard fools and the learned alike say that Sathyam is a Divine child, and that there is Divinity in Him. The son of Pedda Venkapa Raju is not an ordinary boy. ANOTHER MAN: God assumes human form in every age. For this age, Sathyam is that Form. A SCHOLAR: As you have all seen, Sathyam is beyond caste and religions. He is the embodiment of equipoise, and the One who shows the Right Path. At a very young age, Sathyam has mastered the entire scriptures and is also the greatest exponent on God. Sathyam’s very appearance is Divine, His words are Divine, and His actions are Divine miracles! I am not just uttering some words. I have actually seen and experienced all this. A LADY: What that elderly person is saying is quite true. Sathyam is not an ordinary boy. It seems that he is the very embodiment of God. ANOTHER LADY: Yes it is true. SCENE 2 Shortly after the horse incident, Sathya is out one day, admiring Nature. Ramesh and Mahesh come there at that time. RAMESH: Raju, we have come to be with You. What are You thinking about, instead of talking to us? SATHYA: I’m thinking about Nature – the flowers, the trees, the hill, the cool breeze, the sky and the earth! I am experiencing the Bliss of all these. MAHESH: Raju, boys feel happy playing and singing but You experience happiness in contemplation. You are so different, Raju! SATHYA: That’s the way it is, and you will not understand. …….O,…O my! At that moment, as a part of the Divine Drama, a big scorpion comes and stings Sathya. BOYS: Raju, what happened? Raju, ……Oh, a scorpion!…..Raju, Raju! The boys scream, on hearing the sound, Seshama and his wife Suseela come out and rush to the spot. SESHAMA: What happened? MAHESH: Raju has been stung by a scorpion. SUSEELA: Oh my God! And such a big scorpion too! SESHAMA: Looks like a black scorpion. SUSEELA: Yes. SESHAMA: Suseela, get the medicine box. Hurry. Ramesh, you go and fetch a doctor. RAMESH: I shall. Sathya is carried in, and a tourniquet is applied. Meanwhile, Ramesh and Mahesh rush to the house of the local [native] DOCTOR: Who is that? RAMESH: Raju has been stung by a scorpion, and Mr. Seshama Raju wants you to come at once to his house. DOCTOR: Is that so? I shall come.Seshama’s house SESHAMA: Come sir, come. Please examine. DOCTOR: Where did the scorpion sting? SESHAMA [pointing to the toe]: Here, on the toe. DOCTOR: On the toe? ………..Please get some water. SUSEELA: Yes, I will. SESHAMA: Get it quick!Doctor treats DOCTOR: He will be unconscious for a while. SESHAMA: I see. DOCTOR: Don’t get worried; He will be OK soon. SESHAMA: Thank you sir! (To be continued) Click here to go to Previous issue story > > Sri Sai Baba Experiences of Devotees: RamkumarWe wish to share our experience to show Baba's infinite mercy on His bhakthas. We had purchased a house and were waiting for it to be delivered. Meanwhile, the house prices had gone down drastically and everyday we were depressed over the loss we incurred. We had given up all hope, but one fine morning it all happened. As a part of their anniversary sale, the builder had advertised quick delivery homes which were the top of the line in their community than the basic one we bought and we submitted a request to switch us to one of the bigger homes for the same price. The builder, after much hesitation agreed to switch us (it is very difficult as they lose a buyer by doing so). Please note that the previous lot number was 105 and the new one is 150. It is all Baba's mercy that saved us. Look at Sai's leela. It didn't end there. Due to my wife's health problems, we were worried if the grahapravesham will go fine. Not only did Sai ensure that it went fine, but He also blessed us with His picture through one of the attendees as well as the calendar that we had requested. ParthasarathyMy wife delivered a baby boy on 10th January 2008, Thursday [baba's day] at 3:44 pm. It was not a normal delivery. It was a caesarian. Till 9th January 2008 the baby weighed only 2 kgs. I prayed to Baba to increase the weight. When the baby was born he weighed 2.4 kgs. Baba had increased the weight of the baby by answering my prayers. Now both my wife and the baby are safe and got discharged on 14th January 2008. Kindly continue to shower Your blessings on three of us to lead a simple and devotional life. We three surrender completely at Your lotus feet. Koti Pranam Sainath. ShivaI have been in some trouble, he knows, for a long time. I pray to Sai everyday to take me out of this situation, but, I feel some times he is not with me. I have some plans to implement for myself and others, still reluctant to implement. Today is my birthday and I thought of not celebrating this even. I don't know how I was forced to open my briefcase for a book named 'Devotees's problems, Baba's answers' in the morning. I purchased this book in Shirdi in my last visit. Ask Baba a question and select a random number between 1 to 999, and the sentences assigned to that number, the previous number and the next number are Baba's answers. Believe it or not, you know my question? "Are you with me?". I chose a number between 1 and 999 and I was shocked to see the answers. Here are the three sentences I saw. 1. You will be supported by your siblings and friends always. 2. I am with you always, Believe me and proceed to implement whatever you want. 3. Today is a good day and no one can change your luck. When I was on call with my father yesterday, he told me today is going to be very good day. I did not heed to my father's words. Baba told me the same in his answers. I cried a lot, for asking Baba that stupid question. I know he is with me. He proved it again for me. He is with everyone who loves and prays him. I ran to take bath and get ready. Thanks for being with me BABA. Give me good health and support to implement my plans on time. (SHARING WITH SHIRDI BABA'S LOVE) ............................................................................................................................. Sai and Kasturi - An Unparalleled Relationship The man who could weave magic with his words and is often hailed as “Vyasa and Valmiki of the Kali Age” for his unsurpassable documentation of the Life of the present Avatar, was dumbfounded and drowned in the Love of his Master and Beloved. And this was no exception; rather it was only a glimpse of the glorious relationship that persisted between this pure devotee and his Lord, for, the most part of Professor Kasturi’s life was a serial of such sweet exchanges with the divine. A Unique Relationship! “No one was as close to Swami as Professor Kasturi! His level of communication was different,” recalls Professor Anil Kumar who had the privilege of observing, interacting and imbibing many important instructions for life from this distinguished devotee of the Lord. “His level of communication was celestial. He was the only man who could communicate with Swami at that religious, philosophical, vedantic, Himalayan plane of thoughts. I don’t think anybody could do that – not even Sri Kamavadhani (a distinguished Vedic scholar close to Swami in those days). What does the goldsmith do to ascertain if the gold is genuine or not? He rubs it against a touchstone. Believe me, Swami would ask Professor Kasturi how His speech was! He would not ask anybody else! Swami would find in him an intellectual, a scholar, a man of great wisdom and a true seeker. And Kasturi too would pick up pertinent points which fascinated him and left indelible imprints in his heart. That interaction and sacred bonding was something extraordinary!” “Yes, his relationship with Swami was very unique,” recalls Mr. B. N. Narasimha Murthy, Warden of the Brindavan campus of Bhagavan’s University, who too was fortunate to spend many summers and winters witnessing this one-of-its-kind devotee-Deity relationship. “I remember, one day in 1982, Swami had gone to the University campus to oversee some construction work, and He had taken Professor Kasturi along with him in the car. And three of us were waiting in the portico of the Mandir for Swami to return. After He came, Bhagavan noticed and called us immediately inside the interview room. Professor Kasturi, who alighted from the car after Swami, took a while to come in, and by the time he came to the interview room, Swami was about to close the door. But Professor Kasturi, quite nonchalantly, just walked in. Swami then looked at him and said, ‘See Kasturi, there are only ‘Moorthis’ inside – Sathya Moorthy, Krishna Moorthy and Narasimha Moorthy.’ And then pointing to Himself, he added, ‘I am also Moorthy (the name by which the idol of a deity is called in many Indian languages). So, there is no place for Kasturi inside.’ The way the smart and simple Kasturi reacted in this tricky situation was simply superb. It still lingers in my memory. Mr B N Narasimha Murthy narrates the beautiful and sweet "Poorthi" incident With a sweet smile dancing on his lips, he said (in Telugu), ‘Swami, neenu osthe antha poorthi aipotundi.’ Which meant, ‘Swami, when I come in, the “Moorthies” assembly will become “Poorthi”, that is, “complete” in Telugu. Swami instantly had such a hearty laugh and let him in. That was the kind of special relationship, the divine friendship that he shared with the Lord.” A Bond that was Sweet and Beautiful The Universal Lord's 'Newspaper' Such interesting and enchanting instances in the life of this great devotee were numerous. One day, spotting Professor Kasturi sitting in a corner where there was not much light in the veranda in Whitefield, with Vibhuti drawn on his forehead, which was like a part of his personal attire everyday, Swami said, “Aye Kasturi! Come here under the light,” and then He mischievously smiled and continued, “Otherwise others will say, ‘What is that bandage on your forehead!’” The ever affable Kasturi answered, “This is not a bandage Swami; this actually removes me from bondage! From the bondage of birth and death.” The Lord, of course, liberally laughed. Prof. Anil Kumar narrates the unique relationship that Prof. Kasturi had with Bhagavan. 2.34 MB “He was the only one who could joke with Swami,” recalls Professor Anil Kumar. “Many would be scared and tight-lipped in front of Bhagavan; they dare not cut a joke, but not Professor Kasturi.” And Swami would enjoy his innovative and entertaining responses and repartees. “In fact, such was the close chemistry between the two that when he used to go to see Him in the afternoon everyday, Swami used to say, ‘See, My newspaper is coming! He is going to give Me news.’ And the child-like Kasturi would innocently narrate all the ‘hot news’ of the world he had heard with his tiny transistor glued to his ear at 1.30 every afternoon to the Master of all the Worlds. His role in the Divine Drama was really a prized one. “It is this beautiful synthesis of child like innocence and sage like wisdom that endeared him to the Lord, and as the Bible quotes, exalted him in the Kingdom of God, literally!” says Mr. B. N. Narasimha Murthy. On one occasion when Professor Kasturi was with Baba motoring from Mumbai to Bangalore, while in the car Swami took out, one by one, luscious apples from a bag kept near Him, carefully sliced each of them, and started distributing to all inside the car. It was the conclusion of a small prayer session wherein Swami asked all to sing bhajans and devotional songs. Everybody heartily accepted the apple-pieces from the Lord and started assimilating the juicy fruit with joy, but not Professor Kasturi. He sat there holding the piece in his closed palm, scared that chewing the skin and swallowing the fruit would be an ordeal beyond the ability of his artificial teeth. “I dared not spit the stuff through the window for fear the denture might follow the skin!” he writes. But the Loving God glanced at him for a moment and recognized his embarrassment, though Professor Kasturi never stated anything explicitly. And the next piece that He gave Professor Kasturi had the skin neatly and nicely removed by the Lord Himself. “Whenever somebody brought sweets to Him, Swami would keep a few for my father saying, ‘Aye, this is for Kasturi. Let him enjoy it!’” recalls Mrs. Padma Kasturi, Professor Kasturi’s daughter. “The intimacy that existed between them had to be seen to be believed. It was a relationship that was legendary in so many ways.” In His autobiography, “Loving God”, Mr. Kasturi writes, “Mine is, let me confide in you, a Love Story.” It, truly, is a Love Story that every Sai devotee can only dream of. The greatest of the romances that have reverberated in the consciousness of mankind, inspiring, instructing and illumining minds for eons together, are those of the devotee and the Divine. And the ones the Supreme Self chooses for these great dramas on earth are blessed beings whose fortune is unimaginable. In the present age, this pure hearted Professor was one such privileged one ‘hand picked’ by the Divine, and the games that the Primordial One played with this pristine soul were plenty and profound. Mothering the Lord of ......................................................................................................................... CONVERSATIONS WITH SAI Satyopanishad - part 1: Direct Directions from the Divine To access all the previous issues of Conversations With Sai, please Dear reader, the second article in the Spiritual Blossoms section of Heart2Heart has been “Conversations with Sai” for the last 40 issues. We serialized Dr. John Hislop’s book “Conversations with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba” in full, from October 1, 2004 till the last issue. [To access all these pages, click here]. Responding to positive responses from many readers to this section who prefer the “question-answer” format in finding answers to issues connected with spirituality and personal growth, from this issue we serialize another popular book, this time by Prof. Anil Kumar, entitled “Satyopanishad.” Published in two parts by the author, this revealing dialogue with the Divine has topics as wide-ranging as the origin of evil, the goals of human life, aspects of God – embodied and formless - to price hikes, women’s liberation, vegetarianism and the generation gap. Unlike Dr. Hislop’s book, the 270 questions in these volumes are neatly grouped and presented in nice chapters under three parts. We start in this issue with the first chapter of the first part called “The India Eternal.” ....................................................................................................................... The Call- Gen. Yassin Dawood Suleiman by Prof.G.Venkatraman One day in late May this year when I was in Bindavan,Whitefield , someone told me that there were a couple of people from Iraq. Immediately I became alert. I have seen devotees from Iran regularly, and also from Turkey occasionally. Some years ago, I even saw a group from Egypt. But from Iraq, and that too at the present time? An elderly looking gentleman accompanied by a lady in a black dress came to the Guest House where I was staying. The conversation started. The gentleman told me that his name was Gen. Yassin Dawood Suleiman. He was from Baghdad, yes Baghdad. He was once the Director of Baghdad Police but resigned from his job in 1977 when he was asked to do something that went against his Conscience. Soon after that he left the country, went first to Turkey and then to Bulgaria. He switched to business and prospered. After the fall of Saddam Hussein he came back to Iraq. He was happy to be back in his country but not at all happy with what was going on, particularly the violence. The Americans, it seems, asked Gen. Yassin to take over once again as the Director of Baghdad Police but he refused, saying he was not prepared to serve under occupation forces. Meanwhile, with each passing day he became more and more troubled by the violence, which showed no signs of declining but only increasing. And then, about two months ago, in the midst of his constant prayers to Allah for the restoration of Peace in his troubled land, Gen. Yassin felt he was getting some kind of a call from Inside. It was not very clear but some Inner Force was urging him on to do something and go somewhere; but he just could not make out what it was all about; just that he kept on feeling this Inner Urge. Shortly after that he felt he was being told "to go and see a holy man". A holy man, but where? Some days later he felt that he must go to India in order to see this "holy man." Gen. Yassin then told his wife Ameera Ali that they both were going to India. Reluctantly, the lady agreed to accompany her husband on a truly unknown voyage. Gen Yassin told me that Baghdad airport is closed to civilian traffic and therefore he and his wife had to come to India via the land route – first up to the border between Iraq and Iran, then cross over to Iran, then travel through Iran, then cross over into Pakistan through the border in Baluchistan, travel through Pakistan and then cross over to India. The couple travelled by bus, taxi, and train; all the time the General was sure he would reach his unknown destination while his wife was accompanying him not with any deep faith in this mysterious pilgrimage but out of love and concern for her husband. It appears that from Pakistan they came to India by bus and landed in Amritsar. In Amritsar someone told him that he must go South. So the Iraqi couple took another bus and landed in Delhi. Someone guided them to the Railway Station. So he landed in the Delhi Railway Station. He now had to buy tickets but where to? He asked for a holy place to go to. He then said, "You know the girl at the ticketing counter said, I shall give you tickets for a train that goes direct to Puttaparthi! ' I said, OK. That is how I landed in Puttaparthi Railway Station. And when I got out I saw Baba's picture. Immediately my Heart jumped for I knew this was whom I wanted to see!" So from the station the couple came to the Ashram but was disappointed to hear that Swami was not there; He was away in Whitefield? Now where was that? Meanwhile he decided he would worry about that later; he was happy he knew whom he was seeking. He told me that he went to the Ashram and prayed. He added that he was quite used to praying in Churches during his exile. In Delhi, he visited a Buddhist temple and prayed there. By the way, it took Yassin only TWENTY FOUR DAYS to reach Puttaparthi from Baghdad! Twenty four days, can you believe that?! Amazing is it not? What faith! To complete the story, Yassin met a German devotee in the Ashram, an old hand apparently, and hearing this remarkable tale from Yassin, he said, "Listen, I am going to Whitefield tomorrow. You can come with me." And thus it was that Yassin and his wife finally landed in Brindavan. By Swami's Grace, they were accommodated in the Ashram and how happy he was! His eyes were shining and his voice was full of joy. And while he was speaking to me, his wife was often praying. He was constantly telling me about how wonderful it was to see BABA SWAMI, as he referred to our beloved Swami. This was my meeting with this gentleman who was led by a 'Hidden Hand'. That is God and that is His Attractive Power or Aakarshana Shakti, as Swami refers to it. Swami has saved so many from self destruction in this manner. It is just amazing how He calls people to himself just at the right time. The question is how many of us respond to it and redeem ourselves. Om Sai Ram CHAPTER 1 - THE INDIA ETERNAL Prof. Anil Kumar (AK): Swami! India (Bharat) is the land of religion and spirituality. All the incarnations have taken birth in Bharat. What is the reason behind this? Bhagavan: Bharat is yogabhumi, the land of spirituality. Bharat is punyabhumi, the sacred land. Bharat is karmabhumi, the land of sacred activity. Bharat is tyagabhumi, the land of renunciation. Here saints, sages, seers, aspirants, seekers and devotees pray to God to enjoy His proximity. This necessitates the descent of God in human form or incarnation. In response to their fervent appeals and prayers, God, out of His grace and compassion, descends on earth or incarnates and moves amidst us. Devotees, then, experience bliss and follow Him. Here is an illustration. You asked why Bharat alone has always been the birthplace of the incarnations. You know that the train has an engine in the front with several carriages connected to it. The power or energy generated there in the engine pulls the carriages forward. Where do you find the driver? Naturally, he sits in the engine monitoring the train, does he not? Similarly, in the train of the world, Bharat is in the position of an engine and the carriages are the several countries attached to it. God is the driver. The engine is His place. Just as we find heat and power generated there, we also find the same elements produced as a result of sacred rituals such as yajnas and yagas (sacrifices) performed from time to time in this land of Bharat. In the great epic, the Mahabharata we find Arjuna and Bhima always following Yudhisthira. Here, Arjuna stands for intelligence, while Bhima symbolises physical strength. Now, Bharat is in the position of Yudhisthira. America is Arjuna, while Russia is Bhima. Just as you find Bhima and Arjuna obeying the command of Yudhisthira, America and Russia should follow Bharat. In the very name "Bharat" we have three letters. (Written in Telugu, "Bharat" comprises three letters). Bha, the first letter stands for bhava or feeling; ra, the second signifies raga, tune or melody; and ta, the third indicates tala or beat. Thus, Bharat is the country where the glory of God is sung with proper feeling, melody and right rhythm. This country has another name “Hindudesam” which means a country that shuns violence, 'Him' means, himsa or violence and 'du' refers to “dura” or shuns. For these reasons God has chosen to incarnate or descend in human form in Bharat. AK: Swami! We find people of every religion following a specific sacred text and a particular path. But in Sanathana Dharma (ancient Indian practice), we have numerous paths, texts, and procedures such as dualism, qualified non-dualism and nondualism, the nine paths of devotion, the six Darsanas, the four Vedas, numerous Sastras (scriptures), and so on. How are we to understand these and practice the principles of Sanathana Dharma? Bhagavan: Sanathana Dharma is the most ancient spiritual way of life. Its diversity matches the spectrum of human behavioral tendencies, temperaments and mental attitudes. It is practical and confers divine experiences. A small example. You buy a piece of cloth and give it to a tailor to make a suit for you. The tailor will get your suit ready according to your measurements, does he not? You cannot wear a dress made for someone else. It may be too lose or too tight, too long or too short. Therefore, your dress must be according to your size. Similarly, some may like Rama, some Siva, Krishna, and so on. They find it easy to concentrate on the deity of their choice, whereas the followers of other faiths may have to wear one dress of one and the same size. Another example. You may know the nadasvaram, the South Indian musical instrument required to be played on every auspicious occasion. To maintain srti or rhythm by way of an accompaniment, one person plays an instrument in the same way all through. On the other hand, with nadasvaram you can play any number of ragas or tunes. Sanathana Dharma is like the nadasvaram. Yet another example: Whatever be the combination of optional subjects you may take in Science during your undergraduate programme, be it 'M.P.C.' (Maths, Physics and Chemistry) or 'C.B.Z.' (Chemistry, Botany and Zoology), you get a B.Sc. degree. Similarly, in the university established by Sage Vyasa, you can opt for any course like the Sastras, the Vedas, the Upanishads, etc. This is the significance of our ancient Sanathana Dharma, which gives ample freedom for you to select and follow. Here is one more example: A pharmacist and a cafe owner had a headache on the same day. Seeking relief, the pharmacist went to the cafe for a cup of coffee, and the cafe owner to the medical shop for a tablet. So, one has faith in a cup of coffee while the other trusts a tablet. In the same way, you should follow the spiritual path you believe in, and the text that is convincing and appealing to you. AK: Swami! Muslims go to a mosque every Friday to pray (namaj), and Christians go to a church every Sunday. Then, how is it that Hindus do not meet in a temple like other religious groups? Bhagavan: You are wrong if you think Hindus should. They are not required to specially meet on a specific day like others. Why? Every Hindu has a puja room or an altar in his home particularly meant for worship. He prays there every day. So there is no need for him to assemble for mass prayer or to pray on specific days like people belonging to other religions. AK: Swami! Since God is omnipresent and omniscient, do we need temples and should we go on pilgrimage to holy places like Shirdi, Puttaparti, Tirupati, and so on? Bhagavan: This is a foolish question. You are exhibiting your ignorance and your 'fashionable' way of thinking which, more often than not, is perverted. There is no relationship between what is said and what is experienced. You say that God is everywhere. But it is merely an expression, vocal and verbal. Do you really have strong faith that God is present everywhere? Do you have that experience of the divinity, which is all pervasive? You are simply speaking like a parrot. Here is a simple example. Blood circulates throughout the body of a cow. But you can draw milk only out of the udder! You can't squeeze the ear or twist the tail of a cow to get its milk, can you? Therefore, the all pervading God can be visualised and experienced in a temple and at a holy pilgrim centre. AK: Swami! Why did the ancient rishis, sages and saints, choose forests to undertake tapas or penance? Why did they prefer solitude? Bhagavan: There is significance undoubtedly. Why did they choose forests for penance? Here is an example. Suppose an exhibition is organised in a city. Naturally, the stalls there and the articles kept there for sales attract you. The music, eatables, clothes, etc., draw you. The exhibits attract your senses since you find them right before you. But, in a forest, there is nothing to attract or distract your attention. Solitude helps you to maintain the inner peace and tranquility needed for meditation. It provides a congenial atmosphere for spiritual life. So, saints and sages always did penance in forests. In other words, "forest" is "for rest" spiritually. AK: Swami! We don't find any understanding between any two persons, but only mutual bickering and differences. We hardly find any unity or brotherhood between man and man. What is the reason? Bhagavan: There is one thing you should clearly know when you think of unity and differences among people. What is the reason? Today there is no understanding between any two persons. The absence of understanding is the main cause of all the conflicts, enmity, and differences. Therefore, people do not adjust with others. Adjustment is possible only when there is understanding. But, today you are moving in the opposite direction. You think that you can adjust first and then understand each other. But, that is wrong. You must first understand and adjustment then becomes easy. Here is a small illustration. When there is perfect understanding between you and your wife, she does not mind if you return home late from your office. She pities you and sympathises with you. With all her concern and love, she brings you a cup of coffee. But, if by any chance, there is a slight misunderstanding, and your return from office is delayed even by five minutes, there will be a civil war at home. Why? Misunderstanding is the cause of her inability to adjust. It makes her put questions like: "Where have you been till now? Where did you go? With whom did you spend the time?" etc. So understanding is very necessary for proper adjustment. Many problems of society today can be solved if this is realised. AK: Swami! Hindus are criticised for worshipping idols, trees, etc. Many think that this is all superstition and blind faith. What do you feel about this, Swami? Bhagavan: Bharat (India) is the spiritual centre of the world. This is the country that practised, preached and propagated that divinity exists in all the living and the nonliving, right from an atom to the entire cosmos. You will notice that here, in this country, putta (anthill), gutta (mountain), chettu (tree) and pitta (bird) are objects of veneration and worship. An anthill is worshipped as the abode of Lord Subrahmanya, a bird is respected as the vehicle of Lord Vishnu, a mountain is spiritually important as it is viewed as Govardhana lifted by Lord Krishna, and a tree is worshipped as the asvatthavriksa. All objects are divine according to our scriptures. This is not superstition. This is not in any way blind faith. Sanathana Dharma wants us to view, feel, and experience divinity everywhere. This is the spiritual path. This is the highest and noblest experience. ............................................................................................................... Home | About "Sai Light and Love" | About the Author | Articles | Questions and Answers | Contact Info Let Us thank God for NOT granting all our prayers! It is said that about fifty years ago, some men from a village adjacent to Puttaparthi visited Baba. With them was a young boy. They told Baba that the boy had suddenly become an orphan due to the unexpected demise of his parents. They had heard of the extraordinarily philanthropic nature of Baba and sought his help for the boy’s education and livelihood. Baba immediately agreed to bear all his expenses right upto the end of his school education. After a few years, the boy visited Baba and happily announced that he had passed his final school examinations. Bhagawan reciprocated his happiness and was about to move on to the next person in the gathering. But the boy plaintively sought his audience for some more time and prayed that he might be helped to pursue higher education in a college. Baba hesitated for a moment and agreed to his prayer with a smile. After four years the boy returned and announcing his successful graduation, prayed earnestly for help in securing a job of his choice. This prayer was also granted. Soon he was back and prayed for divine help in marrying a girl who worked as his colleague and who was not evidently interested in linking her fortunes with his. Bhagawan advised him to seek the hand of some other girl. But the boy was adamant and begged for help in marrying the girl of his own choice. That prayer was also granted. In the succeeding years, his visits became more frequent and his prayers more insistent for a promotion, for the birth of a boy and then of a girl, for the prevention of a transfer, for the cure of the illnesses of the children, for a better residence and so on. The Lord granted all his prayers. But the man now seemed to be less and less happy and peaceful. At last, obviously in great tension due to problems in office and at home he came to the ashram and when Baba came near him, he fell at His feet like a log and cried out “Oh! Swami! The python of samsara (worldly life) has caught me in its suffocating coils! Please liberate me from its grip.” Baba laughed and looking at him keenly, slowly asked, “My dear boy! Did the python catch you first or you caught its tail first?” How the man must have wished that he had not piled up prayers after prayers in spite of Bhagawan’s hesitations and resistances most of the time! We allow the ophthalmologist, the dentist, the barber, the physician, the college counselor and a host of others to decide what is best for us but not God! The physician or the psychologist is supposed to know about our bodies and minds better than us, but not God! Restrictions, sacrifices and expenses are okay when advised by doctors. But when God advises similar things, we agree to abide by them to ‘the extent possible’ and seek alibis to make them appear impossible. When the consequences trouble or terrify us, we grumble and blame the cruel hand of fate or of the creator! We will be pleased to teach Him a thing or two about framing the laws governing Life. However, there are a number of occasions when we do wish that some of our prayers had not been granted! We might have prayed for success in getting a particular job and got it. But later we wish that our prayer could have been ignored because we realise a better job would have been tried for and obtained, had the first one been denied. Similarly we may feel about the wife or husband or the house we have now. Slowly in the course of our life, we realise that God’s own choices for us are more beneficial and satisfying in the end than our own. Having said that I am reminded of a clever little girl who used to go with her father to the general stores for getting the provisions for the month. The shopkeeper was a kind man and used to give a handful of cashew nuts or chocolates to the children accompanying his customers. One day he was busy talking to some one on the phone and when the girl’s father was about to leave with the things purchased and paid for, he just placed a tray containing the chocolates in front of the girl and asked her to help herself and resumed his talk on the phone. The girl refused and insisted that “Uncle” himself should give her the chocolates; otherwise, she was not interested in taking them. This surprised and pleased the shopkeeper who took a handful of the chocolates as usual and gave them to her. While returning home the father rebuked her for her insistence and for troubling the shopkeeper and forcing him to interrupt his talk. The girl said, “Daddy, if I had myself taken a handful I would have obtained much less because my hand is small! But uncle’s hand is much bigger and I get more than double the number when he gives his handful!” So, it is with God. What He chooses to give us is more beneficial and useful than what we may choose for ourselves. So let us thank God for not granting all our prayers! For, what appears like a curse may prove to be a blessing and sorrows may turn out to be sources of great joy. What is required are Sraddha and Saburi to use the words of Shirdi Sai Avatar i.e., faith and patience. Any number of examples to prove this may be given from Sai literature in particular and from spiritual and religious literature in general – but one’s own experience alone can be the best evidence. Let us therefore follow the teachings, do our duties and wait and watch God’s plans for us unfold as we live on. He is eager to satisfy all our good desires but waits for the best time and place and manner in which they can be satisfied, taking into account our deeds in the past and our needs in the future (as the ninety-first and ninety-second names in the one hundred and eight names of Sri Sathya Sai proclaim). .... (extracted from Sanathana Sarathi June 1965) My dear......, When life flows merrily on, without any obstruction, people exult that it is all the result of their own effort and they even forget the Lord; when at every step trouble and defeat resist the flow, people start deploring their fate and lose heart. This is the weakness of mankind; and, so, you too are subject to this failing. Since you are now meeting with obstacles at every step, it is no wonder you are also despairing. My dear fellow, grief is something that men get, and not trees. Though trees have to encounter it, they have no power to voice it forth. Nevertheless, the Life of Man is but a chapter of the Saga of Immortality and Bliss, unbroken Bliss. Yet, overcome by the storm and stress of the mind the intelligence and the ego, Man reduces himself to the status of a slave to the objective world, and to the needs of the senses; the glory of the Atma is hidden from his Consciousness; he plunges into the foul stream of sense-pleasure; he is caught in the twin torrent of calmness-confusion, joy-grief etc. He sways helplessly in this transient world from one false hope to another. This is human nature; and you must be aware of it. Nevertheless, if you grow as desperate as you have become, you are insulting the Atmatattwa, which you really are. Carrying the Vedas Sastras Puranas Ithihasas and Upanishads stuffed in your brain, these thoughts, this grieving, this wailing, do not become you; they are appropriate only in the ignorant. You ought to be a commentary of the great ideas which fill your head. Why is it that you get so downhearted when troubled by the want of money? The most effective specific for all anxiety, for all mental agitations, is the Name of the Lord; you do not allow that Name to lilt on your tongue. Why do you repeat continuously and lament instead, over grief, loss, fear, and pain? You have earned much learning in many subjects of study, but, in spite of that, you do not keep before you its purpose and value, nor do you try to experience the joy of putting it into practice. You spend your days full contented, feeling that what is important is to display that learning in discourses and discussions and to impress on others by external signs, your great scholarship. It is because you are thinking that you are suffering in so many ways, that you are actually suffering in so many ways. Really speaking these are all objective experiences, not those of your real Self. O, if only you have the strong faith that ‘nothing can hinder the Atmananda which is the live spring in every heart,' if you live in the constant memory of that Ananda, how happy you can be! Just imagine how elevated will be your feelings, how deep the calm in your mind. It is so easy to advise others; when it comes to practising what you recommend to others, you feel it as awful trouble. You go about declaring in ringing word: "Swami knows everything. Swami is present everywhere. Swami is all the Gods in one single Form” but, you forget those very things, when events occur in your own experience revealing those very truths! Do I not know? The other day, when you were just about to start to the village of your parents, when your wife said, "We shall write to Swami about our worries and troubles", why did you tell her "You have no permission; do not write"? Do I not know? Do I know only when I read what she writes? Silly fellow! Do I not know that you went to Rama......... puram and returned incurring more expense than what you earned there? And, you started condemning yourselves saying, all my learning is a waste, all my experience is of no value. No, do not be depressed so much over that. For Me who is nourishing all this World, surely it is no burden to nourish you and your family. I am placing all these handicaps in your path, in order to teach you a few lessons. "Learning is not the major thing; practice is essential": this lesson I want to inculcate in you, through your own experience. He who plants a sapling will not desist from watering it. If He has no inclination to provide it with water, He would not have planted it. This is the inseparable relationship between the Atma and the Jiva, isn’t it? "My Swami's Name is resounding in home after home; my Swami's Form is before every eye," you write. My dear man, why revel so much in Ananda for just this? This is not all. Know this: Swami's Name will fill not merely every home, but every inch of the World. The song, "Everything everywhere is Sai, Everything everywhere is Baba" will not fail; it will be realised in actuality. For your part, engage yourself in that which is your duty, courageously and gladly. Strive to gain the Purushartha and you can experience the Paramartha. This "Partheesa" will be your "Paramesa". He will hold you by the hand and raise you; He will not let go the grasp. Do not talk lightly of the rich. Not of the rich only; do not talk lightly of any one, in any way. For Sai is in every person; therefore, you would be slighting Sai Himself. Vanity will injure only those who have it; it will not injure you. So, be engaged in contemplating the Truth. I shall not give you up; I shall not forgo you. I am neither angry nor pained; I wrote all this only through Daya and Prema. Practise and earn, the rapture of Bliss. He who resides in your heart, Sai ................................................................................................................................. .“When Love Beckons…” In this month’s issue we bring you a patient story written by the patient herself - a student of literature, who pours her heart out and shares her life’s experiences, of being tossed between agony and ecstasy, culminating in the precise moment when she stepped into Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Whitefield. Reading her life-altering experience, you will never again take your life’s blessings for granted. I shall call myself Shweta; but this is not my real name. I ask for your understanding my desire to remain anonymous. It may come as a surprise to you that this story is written in the first person. Well! That is so because I wrote it myself. In fact I requested Heart2Heart to have it as it is, with some editing, if needed, but without changing the essence. I want the world to know what I have received - the greatest gift of all…the gift of Life. I don’t know where to begin…with thanksgiving and gratitude which is my present state of mind or from when I was diagnosed with a heart ailment. Let’s keep things straight - I will do what the ‘King of Hearts’ said in Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland ’: “Start at the beginning, go on till you come to the end and then stop”. Doctor’s Dreaded Diagnosis It all began six years ago. I was still in high school in Grade ten, when I began falling ill often. Persistent coughs, colds and breathlessness put a full stop to my sports and extracurricular activities. I was forced to be a spectator at events where I had excelled earlier. It was disappointing and since the problems were longstanding – my family decided to take me to a specialist. My family and I approached a local specialist who immediately suspected cardiac disease and prescribed a series of tests. We got them done and the clincher was the Echo/Doppler test which showed that I had a valve problem. It was the mitral valve. I was advised immediate surgery and was told to get admitted. My parents suggested that we go home, think it over, and return. The doctor felt it is his bound duty to drive the final nail into the coffin – he pegged the cost of surgery at Rs. 300,000 (about US $ 8000). And that was just the beginning. I was also told that I was to take medication for the rest of my life. A Daughter’s Despondence Imagine my condition. I am the only daughter of my parents, studying, dependent on them for everything and suddenly this shocking news and the exorbitant price tag…I just could not take it. I was so disturbed that I broke down in the clinic. My parents too were shaken but they held a stiff upper lip. We came back home and I asked to be left alone. I sat in silence and brooded over my situation. My parents had done everything for me. Given me a good education, treated me as a friend when I grew to my teens. And here I was hanging like a millstone round their neck, instead of being a help to them…On my study table I have a figurine of Mother Saraswathi, the Goddess of Learning. I began to pour out my feelings to Her – after all, prayer is talking to God and I was literally doing so. As student of Literature, I had a good collection of books and was enamored by Khalil Gibran…I reached out and opened “The Prophet”…and the words sprang out at me. “When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you, yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you, believe him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth, so is he for your pruning. I looked up at Mother Saraswathi and my eyes brimmed with tears. The oft repeated words of my grandparents came to me “everything that happens, happens for the good. God does not give us suffering that we cannot endure”. I lowered my eyes to the page and continued to read. “Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth. Like the sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself. He threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks. He grinds you to whiteness. He kneads you until you are plain; And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.” Pangs and Pain of Introspection After reading this I was even more at odds with God. Why me? What had I done to deserve this? And all the other questions that tear at one’s being at such a stark moment rose up in me. It is said that books are one's best friends. I turned back to my bookshelf and my eyes landed on “The Diary of Anne Frank”. I did not reach out to take it or read it. I had gone through it at least ten times. A voice in me said, “This is not the end… you are still alive. Anne knew she was going to die but she did not lose faith in humanity. And here you are losing faith in yourself?” I dried my tears. I will not lie that my mood was suddenly uplifted and I felt the warm glow of sunshine on my shoulders. It sounds so good in poetry and prose, but real life was way too different. I had to face the facts – Rs. 300,000 (US $8000) of my parents hard-earned money, and then an uncertain future…after all I was young. And as any young heart would rebel…I felt I was too young to die. I surfed the net and got to know more about the mitral valve disease. My father met some of his friends who suggested a second opinion. This time, the doctor was not so brutally frank; he suggested that we “medically manage the condition” and leave surgery as a last resort. He did not raise any false hopes that the condition would rectify itself. He was just postponing the inevitable to reduce the impact on my growing body. I accepted my condition and arranged my life around it. I started my medication and over time it came to include the painful injection of Penidure. My literary oriented mind broke the name into “pain – endure”. I didn’t mean to be philosophical, but there was not much else to distract or console myself with. Periodically we would go to the diagnostic center only to be told that the disease was progressing. My parents were saving up for my operation, without upsetting the apple cart. They had great plans for me and not once did they allow me to feel I was different. By now I was sufficiently knowledgeable about my condition and did not demur. We prepared for the process of admission and then surgery. The money was not yet available and my family decided to take a loan to foot the medical expenses. In the midst of such uncertainty, when all seems lost, there remains hope. It is hope which keeps us alive. I was still hoping that there could be some way to dent the impact of this situation on our lives. God allows us to struggle till we give up and then He takes over. The Miracle of Faith One evening, my father returned home excited and without talking to us headed for the prayer room. He prostrated to the Lord and then after a few silent moments, told us, “We are going to Bangalore.” Before we could react he continued, “My friend and I were at the hospital today asking about the valve surgery packages, when a stranger accosted us. He is no longer a stranger”, he smiled. Incidentally, I was seeing a genuine smile on my father’s face after a long time that day. He continued: “He overheard our conversation and came to us. He told us about this Hospital in Bangalore, the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences (SSSIHMS), a Hospital that offers medical care in Cardiac and Neuro Sciences totally free of charge. We are going there and the rest is up to God.” Needless to say, we came to Bangalore and I got my preliminary checkup done. The results were the same and we were told to come back after receiving the intimation from the Hospital for a surgery date. I am cutting a long story short here…I got the call letter and came over to the Hospital. My surgery was uneventful and here I am writing this piece, seated on the bed in the post-operative ward of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, in Whitefield, near the city of Bangalore, India. SSSIHMS Bangalore It is true that the disease changed my outlook towards life. It is also true that the cure changed me for the better. I am not referring to the cure of the physical ailment alone. I am referring to a deeper cure that the SSSIHMS experience confers. Cosmic Cure That Pervades the Air I don’t know for certain what subliminal power the Hospital exudes, but to me it was the temple from which God answered my prayers. I was awestruck by the grandeur of the hall and the dome. The resplendent, reassuring presence of Lord Ganesha in the central hall, the wide lawns outside the window, the expansive balconies, long corridors…vastness everywhere. The architecture lends itself the opening of the spiritual heart, allowing the soul to seek and soar higher. Here, my mind was at rest and my heart, at peace. In fact, I actually felt happy that I was in this Hospital. There was no fear of the unknown. The doctors and nurses were frank, but so gentle. I was always told that truth is bitter, but here I found that it is possible to speak the truth without hurting. It was during my stay at SSSIHMS that I have found the true meaning of service, loving and selfless service. I can go on about what I feel now and how I was before, but as my benefactor Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba says, past is past, forget the past, future is uncertain, live in the present, it is the gift of God. That is why it is referred to as a “present”. Bhagavan Baba further says our present is not an ordinary one but it is “omnipresent” for in it lies dormant the future of each of us. Seize the Now Today, I believe in “the power of now”. I am currently in the final year of my Bachelor’s degree, and have no doubt that I am going to achieve whatever I will. Each of us has a purpose in life and it is for us to find it. To paraphrase Mario Puzo in his famous novel ‘God Father’, ‘every man has but one destiny and some spend a lifetime in search of it’. I drew one meaning from this aphorism, “live life by the moment, for the present, for, it is precious.” I realized the value of “now”. One must live life as though there is no tomorrow. Do all the good you can every moment, for, the next instant, life may be a ‘past’. Words are insufficient to express what I feel, but were I to succeed in conveying my idea of the value of time, the power of now and the gift of life to even a few…I will consider myself lucky. To all those lucky ‘normal’ people out there, congratulations, you have the greatest gift – LIFE! .. An interview with Sai Baba: "I see only Light and Love" By PF Sloan It was on my second visit to see Sai Baba that I was granted a private conversation with Him. These are called interviews. Almost everyday Baba would choose a group of people to talk to in a small room. Baba chose all kinds of people from all walks of life and all different countries. You couldn’t make an appointment to speak with Him. Presidents and movie stars. He did the choosing! Everyone wanted this interview, but I was very frightened by the thought of it. Baba usually asked people, "What do you want?" and I really didn’t know. I knew I didn’t want to be forced into a situation where I would talk like a parrot out of fear and say "I want Enlightenment! Enlightenment over good health or wealth." I didn’t know what I wanted. That night he came to me in a dream and said "I know you're frightened, don’t be. I will show you right now everything that will take place in the interview. And I won’t ask you any questions!" He told me two people were flying in from Los Angeles, Dave and Barbra Lambert. After they had been there for a few days, he would ask our group in for a talk! True to the dream - that’s what took place. I held the door open to His little room and let everyone in the group go in first. It numbered around forty or so. I sat in the back of the small room, hiding myself. He sat on a chair and sang a song to us, 'Love is my Form, Truth is my name, Bliss is my food'. He called me to come sit in front of Him. Then He asked me if I would please massage His feet for Him. I began to gently massage His feet while He told stories and asked questions of certain people. I watched as He waved His hand and a gold pen appeared. He showed it to me and asked if I liked it. I said it looked like good workmanship. He agreed. He gave it to an Indian student that sat at His left, and smacked him on the face. He ‘created’ a packet of blue pills that he threw to one of the ladies in our group. He told me she didn’t know it, but she was going to have terrible stomach pains later in the day, and we should give her these pills along with fresh mango. "After 3 days she will be alright", He told me. About ten minutes after the interview, Jenny collapsed.He invited a small group of 6 people, not including myself, to go into another adjoining room. While the larger group waited, Baba pulled open a curtain and we sat down in a smaller room. He sat on an old chair, and this was where He usually asked people what they wanted. The group, 3 women and 3 men, sat quietly. I suddenly remembered this part in my dream that I had had with Baba. He was staring at me like an impatient schoolteacher waiting for me to say something! I asked Baba, "May I ask you a question?" He said, "Yes, what is it?" It looked like relief flashed across the expression on His face. Like he was saying to me, "It’s about time, Phil!""What do You see when You see me?", I asked. Baba looked at all the people sitting there in a state of semi-frozenness and said, "I see only Light and Love". His reply seemed to warm everyone up and I went into another state of mind, and didn’t hear anything else till we rejoined the larger group. Baba gave me 18 packets of Vibuthi, and everyone else received handfuls of it. Everyone walked out the door but me. I stood there alone with Baba. I was just looking into His eyes and He into mine. When suddenly he said, "Yes, what is it?" I didn’t want any material thing from Baba at that moment, I realized. I just wanted to know He was for real! "Yes," He said to me. I smiled and showed him this small silver ring of Shirdi Sai Baba that had recently broken. Not knowing how to ask him directly if He would fix it for me, I said instead, "Baba, look at this ring, what shall I do with it?" He looked at it and delivered a punch line I never expected. "If I were you I’d keep it", He said. I nearly exploded in laughter, but contained myself as He walked me out the door, and I felt the warm sunlight disappear into a greater sunlight within me. .. SAI BABA TALKS TO RUSSIAN LADIES [Excerpts]Prashanthi Nilayam 25.06.2002 SAI BABA TALKS TO RUSSIAN LADIES [Excerpts]Prashanthi Nilayam 25.06.2002Sai Baba: What is a meaning of Pooja?Lady: Pooja is a worship of God.Sai Baba: It is not correct. You have to worship God inside, not outside. Don't see God as a picture, see the picture as God. See God in everything.Sai Baba: Do you have any questions?Lady: How to find an answer to the question: "Who am I?"Sai Baba: Think like this. We say: "This is my handkerchief." It means that I am separate from the handkerchief. We say: "This is my body” It means that I am different from my body. "This is my hand". "This is my leg". It means that I am not the hand and not the leg. But who am I? I am the consciousness inside this body. Consciousness is everything. Consciousness is God. But nowadays too many people have body consciousness.God is one but He has many names. Christians call Him Jesus, Muslims call Him Allah, Hindus call Him Rama, Krishna, Govinda. But God is only one. When a doctor wants to make a blood test, he takes some blood from your finger. But the blood is the same in the shoulder, in the chest, in the leg. You can wear different types of jewelry - bangles, rings, chains, earrings, but the gold is one and the same. All of you here have different names and forms, but all are ladies. Similarly, God is one, path is one, goal is one. If you want to reach the goal you have to stick to one path. Some people go to one lady, then go to another lady. This is not good. There should be one path, one goal.Now in Russia husband and wife often live separately. They fight with each other. Husband doesn't want to take care of the family.Ladies have two stomachs. One is for food, another is for baby. In that other stomach often there are some diseases. One man comes and gives his blood. Another man comes and gives his blood, and so on. This blood mixes inside and causes problems. Ladies also take pills to prevent being pregnant. This is another reason for a disease. This is not good. Control your senses and you will not fall sick.Sai Baba: What do you eat?Lady: We eat vegetables.Sai Baba: Very good. Vegetables contain all necessary proteins and vitamins. Vegetables and green stuff are very good. Meat is not good. It is very harmful. Animals eat impure food. Sometimes they eat dead bodies. If you eat non-vegetarian food all this poison goes to your body. Ladies are usually more careful than gents. They eat only good food. But gents go to the restaurants and eat anything. They buy different snacks in the bazaars and in the streets. This food is not good.Many people nowadays are sick with cancer and TB. But look at the animals. They don't suffer from cancer and TB. Why? Because they eat natural, raw food. Their food is not cooked. Human beings, on the contrary, eat unnatural artificial food.Lady: Can we eat fish?Sai Baba: Fish is not good. Nowadays the water in the ocean is polluted. Such countries as Japan and China throw bombs and nuclear waste into the ocean. Fish is therefore gets poisoned and is not good. Do not eat fish.Sai Baba: It is very important to control your five senses. This is the best Sadhana. Meditation and repetition of Gods Name is not necessary. If you control your sense organs just for eleven days you will get Moksha, Mukti, Nirvana, and Liberation.Buddha also did tapas and meditation, visited different teachers and sages but finally he gave up all these practices. He understood that five senses are given to us by God and that we have to control them. He learned to control his senses and in eleven days he reached Nirvana. Once a very bright, effulgent Light came down on him from heaven. Ananda, who was sitting next to Buddha, also saw this light. He understood that Buddha is going and started crying. Buddha asked him: Ananda, why are you crying? Don't cry, I am going to God. My life is fulfilled. Thus Buddha went to God. After some time Ananda also was engulfed in Light and reached the state of Nirvana.First of all you should control your tongue, eyes and ears. Tongue is the most important among the five sense organs. Many ancient sages observed Mauna (period of silence). As a result they were in the state of bliss. Silence is gold. You should talk less.Sai Baba (addressing one of the ladies): What Sadhana are you doing?Lady: Every morning I meditate on Your Name and Form.Sai Baba: Very good. During meditation you should look at the tip of your nose, like this (demonstrates). If you keep your eyes fully open, your attention will be easily distracted, this is Raja guna. If you close your eyes completely, you may fall asleep, this is Tamo guna. Therefore you have to keep your eyes half-closed, looking at the tip of your nose. Then you will reach Sattva guna. And you always have to keep your mind here (points at the area between the eyebrows, third eye), and not there (points at the chest). Here is the minds real place. Here is God. Lady: Why do bad omens come true?Sai Baba: This is because of your mind. Mind is everything. If you think that something bad should happen, it happens. If you think of something good, then good thing happens.Don't talk evil, talk what is good.Don't hear evil, hear what is good.Don't see evil, see what is good.Don't do evil, do what is good.Don't think evil, think what is good.You are what you think. Yad Bhavam Tat Bhavati (As is the feeling so is the result). If you think you are a man, you are a man. If you think you are God, you are God.What is mind? Mind is just a bundle of desires. Desires are like luggage in this journey of life. Less luggage more comfort. Therefore reduce the number of your desires, one by one. Take, for example, this handkerchief. It is just a piece of cloth made of threads. If you remove threads one by one, the cloth will disappear. Similarly, if you remove your desires, the mind will disappear.Sometimes you feel envy, jealousy. This is a quality of a monkey. When you feel jealous, say to yourself: I am not a monkey, I am a man. The jealousy will go. Anger is a quality of a dog. If you feel angry, say to yourself: I am not a dog, I am a man. Then you will be free from anger. Envy, jealousy, hatred, anger - these are all animal qualities. You have to get rid of animal qualities and to develop human qualities Lust is like thorns and love is like a flower, a rose. You have to pluck a flower of love without touching the thorns and offer it to God.You have to keep your heart pure. Pure heart means pure death. This is very important. Body is a water bubble, mind is a mad monkey. Don't follow the body, don't follow the mind. Follow the consciousness.Never think that the work you have to do is your work. Consider all your work, all your actions to be an offering to God.Think of God always. Mira used to spent all her time in the Krishna temple.. Once there came her angry husband and started shouting at her: What are you doing here?! Go home and do your household duties! He forbade her to go to the temple. At first, Mira got very upset. But then she understood that all temples are built by human beings and that body is the only temple built by God Himself. She started worshipping Krishna within her heart. (Swami sings Miras song): O, mind, go to the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna. The point of confluence of Ganga and Yamuna is here, in the center of the forehead. Here is the seat of God. It is not an ordinary seat. It is His coronation seat.(To a lady who is crying): Why are you crying?Another lady: She is crying out of love.Sai Baba: Love is very easy.Start the day with loveFill the day with loveSpend the day with loveEnd the day with loveThis is the way to God.During the interview Swami materialized nine diamond rings, small golden statue of Goddess Lakshmi and a watch.Sai Ram. ............................................................................................... Their First Homes - Gifts from the Lord ........................................................................................................... By His grace, in a matter of few weeks, the houses were ready and on June 7, 2007, the Gruha Pravesam (house warming) ceremony for all these families was celebrated with great joy and fervor. All the houses were painted lovingly by the Youth of West Godavari district. They also provided the tribals with provisions which would suffice for a month. In order to ensure that they have drinking water next to their homes, a bore well was dug and a hand pump was installed. Four big solar lamps would now dispel the darkness in the hamlet. Proud owners of their unbelievable home In new clothes in front of their new dwelling The Tribal Welfare Development Project Officer visited the village after this function and said, “Neither the government nor any other voluntary organization has ever attempted an activity like this in such a remote area. It is only the Sai Organization which has not just attempted but also achieved such a phenomenal task.” Reflections on His Work Congratulate the Youth on this commendable job and they say, “Bhagavan uses us as His instruments to accomplish such tasks. Just like He advises us to sit in a calm place after every Darshan and reflect on the uplifting experience, every Seva activity too, when contemplated upon reveals many profound insights and deepens our understanding of life and our role in His Mission. Nagasankeertan in the jungle The devotees worship Sai in the village shrine “Why does Bhagavan make us undertake such tasks in such a remote hamlet? Was it to provide better homes for the tribals or to bring about a transformation in them? Or, is it just an awakening spiritual exercise for those of us who think we have alleviated the suffering of the poor? “These tribals had been surviving in such pitiable conditions for many generations. True, now they have houses. But who has been taking care of them for all these years? Who has protected them and stood by their side in the face of calamities? If His unseen Hand is their only succor, then what great difference have we made in their lives? This young family are assured of a bright future now Three generations here - they all now Love Sai! “Moreover, on seeing their way of life, one wonders if modern man is actually enslaved by the modern gadgets and comforts. Do we really need all this opulence to lead a happy life? Perhaps, in the pursuit of comforts, we have only multiplied our woes.” The reflections of the Youth were as profound as their selfless seva offered to the tribals. They say, “It seems as though Bhagavan manifested Thanegudem only to broaden our perspective of life and make us realize the transient nature of the modern day comforts and fleeting pleasures. The episode of the youngster who suffered from third degree burns also taught us valuable lessons. The Lord used him as an instrument to lessen our attachment to the body which is ephemeral. In the end it is difficult to decipher who was serving whom? Did we help the youngster or did he serve us by opening our eyes to a new understanding of the Truth of life.” Every act of the Lord, every activity inspired by Him, is infused with inner significance and subtle nuances which unravel when we think deeper and look within more closely. Swami has any number of times said that the purpose of selfless service or Seva is not to alleviate the suffering of the deprived, but more importantly to annihilate the ugly head of the ego that pops up at every available opportunity within us. And the only way to completely decimate this ego is to serve more, with greater sincerity and more selflessness. What the Andhra Sai Youth have done is truly a great demonstration of how this can be achieved. - AP Sai Youth And The Heart2Heart Team ....... He Steals Hearts. While His Heart Heals… By Ashwin V Heart disease can be very cruel. Ask Little Rishi. Barely into pre-school, his little heart struggled to keep up with the little bundle of energy he was. His teacher noticed him cough and sniffle frequently in class. His mother noticed that he fell ill and caught infection easily. His friends noticed that he wasn’t as big built as most of them, and barely stood one round in friendly brawls. And so “Chotu” was born. Chotu came to our hospital in a bright red T-shirt, clutching a little toy in his hand. His mother had a hard time containing him in the outpatient department. As soon as she let him go, he would happily scamper away to the playroom. I first noticed him near the aquarium, tiptoe, sticking his nose against the glass, his fingers busily pecking at the school of fish he saw inside. He looked adorable. I bent down to strike a connect. Which fish did he like? Swami said, "I will come. I will come." He The red one, of course. Why did he like red so much? He flicked his little head away impishly, as all bemused children do. Rishi had a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), a small hole in the heart, and like most children with this condition, was totally oblivious to it. Small VSDs rarely present with severe symptoms. He perked his ears up and looked confused when he heard the blood rush from one chamber to another on the heart scan, and his anxious mother was told that it was a relatively small defect and immediate surgery may not be required. The child was asked to return after six months for a review. My last few moments with chotu on that visit were by the fish tank again. What are the fish doing? They are ‘playing’ in the water! Does he like to play too? A frown that told me that was a stupid question. He scuttled across the corridor to his mother, and with a hurried wave, was off. It’s hard to let go when a child has captured your heart so much, but its one of the tougher lessons learnt here. Children come. They are treated. They leave. We meet. We share His love. We part. Six months passed but no sign of Rishi. A year and then six months. His infectious smile faded, with the likes of a hundred others, into a distant happy memory. When I least expected to see him, there he was again. The unmistakable red outfit scurrying about the fish tank. “Rishi,” I gushed delightedly. His mother happily related how his health had substantially improved. He was doing well at school, and his newfound appetite showed. But better news lay waiting for them at the heart scan. There was no hole in his heart. In a remarkable play of providence, a structure adjacent to the hole had gradually plugged the opening, leaving Rishi with a normal heart. Some call it chance. Doctors see it as natural coping. Some, as divine intervention. Rishi seemed unfazed by all the celebration. Towards the end of the day, the child was seen at his favourite spot, watching fish at the aquarium. “The red fish has grown,” he beamed happily. And very playfully, unaware of the profundity of what would follow, added, “I won’t call him chotu (little one) any more.” Dear Reader, did this article inspire or move you in any way? Would you like to share you feelings with us? Or have you similar experiences of healing at Swami's Hospitals that you want our readers to know about? If so please contact us at h2h mentioning your name and country. Thank you for your time. .................................................................................................................................. CALL ME WHENEVER YOU NEED ME. ...................................................................................................................................... Ms. Indira Devi narrates her first meeting with the Omnipresent in human frame…as extracted from Sanathana Sarathi, August 1967 I had never heard of Him before although I still was in Bombay during the first 3 days of His visit there. In retrospection, I am glad things happened the way they did, as otherwise I would AN INTERVIEW WITH INDRA DEVI AND HER FIRST VISIT TO SAI BABA .................................................................................................................................... Delight at the close i have not have gone to Puttaparthi to see Him if I had met Him at Bombay. I had first heard of Him only when I stopped off at Adyar, Madras, from Howard Murphet. When, after returning from Saigon to India, I was finally on my way to Puttaparthi, I kept asking myself, why am I going to see Him. I was, after all, not in need of any help or in search for a guru; but the Inner Voice calling me there was so strong that I could not disobey it. It was a hot April afternoon when I arrived in Prasanthi Nilayam. I was given a room where Gabriella Steyer, a Swiss school teacher sweetly took care of me. She had spent a year and a half there. Listening to her experience during her stay there was like listening to a fantastic fairy-tale. She had witnessed many miraculous cures. She had seen Him multiply food, taking from the air any object He wished to give to His devotees and even produce Amrita by squeezing His hand and giving it to drink to about 500 people without refilling the vessel. Gabriella was not tired to go on with her stories, and I was not tired to listen to them. Finally she suggested that we go to sit outside the Mandir doorsteps. Then Baba appeared in the doorway. Except for the bright orange colour of His robe and the thick crop of His hair standing like a black halo round His head, He did not at all resemble the photographs of Him I had seen. His tiny, slim figure and finely cut features were exactly the opposite of the way He looks in photographs. “May be, He will see you tomorrow morning before you leave," whispered Gabriella. A few minutes later, Sri Sathya Sai Baba appeared on the upper balcony and looked down. Our eyes met. Suddenly my heart began beating violently. I was called in for the interview. As I stood up I felt I was growing taller and taller. If Gabriella and other girls had not supported me, I would have fallen down upon entering the interview room, as I did not any longer feel the floor under my feet. Some one switched on the fan, but I was not feeling hot or faint. "I don't know why I have come here," were my first words. "I was already in Saigon on my way home but the pull was so strong that I had to come and see You." I also told Him about our Yoga Centre in Tecate and showed Him some pictures. "You must come there, Swami," I said. He took my hand in His and tapped it three times, stating, “I say three times I shall come. I will keep My promise." I told Him that I was guided here by Swami Vivekananda, who, so I was told by two clairvoyants, is my protector and guardian on the other side. At the end of our interview He asked me what I wanted. "Jyoti," I answered, "since I want to start a crusade for "Light in Darkness." He made movements with His hand in the air and handed me a bright little image of Himself. And, although I had been told by the Murphets about His way of taking things from the air, yet seeing it happen with my own eyes did something to me. I kept looking at the little medallion with wonder, when He took it back saying, "Wait, I'll give you some Vibhuti too." A light movement of His fingertips and the ashes poured over the little image like a snowfall. Overwhelmed, I had to joke it off in order not to break into tears. "Don't make it disappear now," I said "No, no, if I gave it to you......I am only joking". And we both laughed. "Call Me whenever you need Me and my Grace. I shall be with you," were His parting words. ........................................................................................................................................ From Prasanthi... To Prasanthi (From "The Greatest Adventure", by Late Dr. M.V.N. Murthy) Baba asked a devotee whom He had chosen for the interview, "Where are you from?" The devotee was startled, since he had been coming to Prasanthi Nilayam for many years and staying there for a few weeks every time. Baba used to accost him not by his name but by the name of the country from which he came, Guatemala. So he gave the usual answer, "Guatemala". Swami's response was Significant. "No! You should say, 'Prasanthi Nilayam!’" He was immensely happy with this remark of Swami which he took as an act of Grace! "Does Swami mean that I will stay in Prasanthi Nilayam for the rest of my life?" he wondered, hopefully! I believe that Baba hopes to get the same answer from all of us. We must learn to have the courage, the confidence and the wisdom to declare with our hands on our heart that we are from Prasanthi Nilayam. That is the permanent residential address of human beings at all times and in all climes, whether they are aware of it or not. Prasanthi Nilayam is not that piece of land near the village of Puttaparthi in Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh. It is not an entity related to place and time. It is the abode from where all of us have come. It is the name for that state of the source where there is eternal peace because it is Sat Chit Ananda, Truth, Awareness, Bliss. That is our home from which we have migrated through eons, through several incarnations in multifarious frames. We have forgotten that home. We believe that we are what we think we are, and give wrong addresses to each other. We have come to believe that we are the body mind complex with a name and form. Having strayed away from the abode of Supreme Serenity, Prasanthi Nilayam, we have lost inner peace, tossed on the waves of pleasure and pain, loss and gain, honour and dishonour. The Prasanthi Nilayam that Baba mentioned to the devotee from Guatemala is not a stone and mortar structure, as He has so often reminded us. He is not really resident in that building. The Prasanthi Nilayam where He resides is our heart. So, He has advised us to make the heart a Prasanthi Nilayam. The first step is to discover the cause of our plight. We lost our peace when we started chasing the chimera of Desire. "Remember what happened to Sita,†Baba instructs us in an affectionate way. She was very happy in the forest, so long as she had only the one desire to be with Rama, the embodiment and source of Love. But a new material desire for a 'golden deer' overwhelmed her one day. It grew so obsessive that she literally chased away Rama, her Lord. "When Kama (desire) enters your heart, Rama, the Lord departs," says Swami. Both cannot co exist! The "golden-deer" is enticing us in the present age too. We pursue the acquisition of tinsel and trash which, like the golden deer, tantalises us, stopping within reach and slipping when we approach. The hope of success urges us to sacrifice and suffering. Baba names this passion for possession, fire, since it is known in Sanskrit as anala ("never enough") the more you feed it, the bigger the blaze! Baba advises us to reduce desires. Moksha is defined by Baba as moh akshaya; the elimination of possessiveness; of attachment to objects. What a word, "possession! " Who possesses whom, asks Baba: Do we possess the car, or are we possessed by the car? When you become the victim of something without which you feel you cannot get on, then you are enslaved, you are not free. Many things we crave for are mere status symbols. We acquire them to satisfy our vanity, to keep up with the neighbours. The advertisers vie with each other in titillating our vanity: They create a competitive pursuit of pettiness in which our pockets get emptied to fill their coffers. We struggle in this ever expanding syndrome of one-upmanship. The wrist watch is no longer a chronometer; it has become an egometer instead. Dress is no longer the protective garment; it is a medium for parading our bizarre fancies. An automobile is no longer a mode of transport, but a weapon to make the eyes of our neighbours green. All the joy of achievement is only temporary, for it is soon overtaken by dejection. "No. Not enough. I must rise higher, become higher." We run on and on to reach a goal, ever receding beyond the horizon of possibility. Once tied to pleasure and pain, loss and gain, honour and dishonour, we have no respite, no escape. Somebody is always a step higher, a little more swell. Finally we fall behind frustrated, with high BP, or executive stress; nervous breakdown, the physical escape from this doomed game. Baba says that we oscillate perpetually like a pendulum between the two extremes, pleasure and pain, loss and gain, honour and dishonour, etc. Is there no way out? There surely is one, assures Baba. Reduce your desires. Next time, when you feel like buying something, ask yourself, "Do I really need this? When did I wish for this? Am I after this because my neighbour has it? Let him continue to be happy as he is now.†"Stop before you proceed," is the traffic signal useful for us, too, on occasions. When you have suffered from a loss, stop, ask yourself, "is there no other angle from which it can be viewed?" Has it no gain angle? Honour dishonour are a dangerous pair. Here too when we feel insulted or feel that our honour is at stake it is better to look out. The ego plays many a trick. There is no dearth of sycophants around, persons intent on boosting the ego of their victims. They goad others to dabble in dishonourable acts. Beware! The method is simple. Stop the pendulum. Watch out! WATCH, says Baba, your Words, Action, Thoughts, Character and Heart. We have to guard against outside events and influences from moulding our moods and modes. Let us learn to live on our inner resources and educate ourselves to derive joy from Nature itself. A sunset or sunrise, a tree in full bloom, and birds chirping in glee, there are hundreds of pictures around us each of which can give us immense joy, provided we cultivate taste. Learn to give and get joy in a smile; have as a hobby collecting smiles from friends. Change your vision and lo! The whole world appears different. Take everything as it comes; be neither elated nor depressed. Accept everything as a gift of God. Is this a philosophy of resignation? No! Baba is not advocating the resignation that is born of, incompetence, incapacity or cowardice. "Do your best and keep mum!" that is Baba's advice. Doing nothing means that you have failed to use the God given talents for everybody's welfare. Act, Act, with all the strength and skill, all the intelligence and insight endowed by Him. Don't shirk work. He who has confronted you with a problem will also help you to solve it. When some situation challenges you, don't ask, "is this good for me?" Remember that whether it is good or bad depends on how you tackle it. A green mango is sour; but we make pickles of it. A ripe mango is sweet, we eat it with gusto. We enjoy both the sour and the sweet. We do our best, as Baba says, and keep mum! This is the secret of Prasanthi, not to be disturbed by external circumstances. If we can't change the circumstances, let us change our attitude to them. Let us find strength in the inner springs of joy. Prasanthi can be gained only by transcending the pairs of opposites; they disturb us only so long as we are their playthings. All the mantras of the Upanishads end with glum Santhih, chanted thrice. The prayer prescribed by Baba for the Sri Sathya `Sai College has in it the secret for gaining Prasanthi: Asatho maa sadgamayathamaso maa jyothir gamaya Mrithyor maa amrutham gamayaOm Shantih! Shantih! Shantih! Lead us from untruth to truth,From darkness to lightFrom death to immortality! If we learn to discriminate between asat and sat, between darkness and light, between the transient and the eternal, if we can recognise the immortal amidst the mortal and the dying, we have learnt the secret of peace. What we obtain when we have realised the meaning of this mantram is Santhi. That is the Prasanthi Nilayam which Baba, wants us to reach and realise. He has come to lead us back 'home', yes, every one of us, sooner or later. Chancellor. The sacred torch is brought And how beautiful He looks in red! Dissolving the Bitterness of Life To access all the previous stories of inspiration, please click here. Once a young man came to a revered teacher, who was seated under a tree near a beautiful lake, and asked for the solution Dissolving the Bitterness of Life Once a young man came to a revered teacher, who was seated under a tree near a beautiful lake, and asked for the solution for his unhappiness. After some minutes of conversation the old master kindly instructed the visitor to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink a few mouthfuls. “How does it taste?” the teacher asked. “Awful,” said the apprentice after he had spat out the revolting liquid a few paces away. The teacher chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and when the youngster swirled his handful of salt into the lake, the old man told him, “Now drink from the lake.” As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked him again, “How does it taste?” “Good!” he replied. “Do you taste the salt?” asked the Master. “No,” said the young man. The Master sat beside the troubled youth, took his hands, and said, “The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the level of ‘pain we taste’ depends on the container we put it into. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake. And you can become a lake where you broaden your outlook; when you stop looking only at yourself and your own miseries. Look at life as a whole and the many things without which you would not be what you are today – your friends, family, hobbies, nature around you. When you are confronted with a problem, you see only the problem and ruminate over it endlessly which only makes the situation more tragic. Think of previous instances when things were better. Look at all the blessings that God has filled your life with about which you never give a thought. Never compare yourself negatively with others. You are a unique person and if you have the faith, God will provide what you need. When you have a pain in your life, put it in front of GOD - then it will surely lessen. Do not put it in front of yourself – as you cannot see beyond it. God is Infinite. Tap this source, with confidence. The young man left, and his viewpoint on his problems had totally changed. As the saying goes: Tell your problems how big your God Is. Illustrations: Anuj Shukla, SSSU - Heart2Heart Team ....Narayan Seva by Kobe Sai Center.. Report from Br. Fumiaki hamada & Br.Sumitomo masaka.. ...................................................................................................................................... On 24Th February, it was very cold zero degree with cold wind and snowing. This was already fixed and announced previous seva program so many many homeless people in this cold winter. About 170 people homeless came to be served them food. at around 11AM this morning. By the grace of Swami, Kobe center has four times Narayana Seva. Than is 2ND and forth Sunday morning and 1st/3rd Thursday evening at the place Hanadoki. Our Menu is mainly Indian vegetable curry and rice on Sunday in the winter, it is some times changed to Japanese soup-rice(Zousui) in summer. Our curry veg become very famous because it is very delicious. It is cooked with love and prayers to Swami for His blessings. The devotees will come early morning to cook with his own hands and feel very happy to be useful instruments in Swami's teachings. Miso soup is cooked by Sai Sisters before bhajans start on Thursday and rice balls(Onigiri) are made at their homes. Also bread and banana are added to meals, sometimes sweets and clothes which are appreciated by home-less people. With Swami's grace we are able to continue NARAYAN seva . it is not cancelled even on rainyday or in winter or on windy day. In the last year, the total number of homeless people when served are very very happy they feel that God is present who is providing us this delicious meal. Swami says that Man is basically Love, Peace, Joy and Truth. He is the embodiment of all these, that is divinity. Thank you Swami for showing us a path, for giving us the opportunity of seva. Jai Sai Ram. ............................................................... KOBE CENTER PROGRAMS Kobe Center Place : l.S.S. 2nd Fl. 1-3, Kumochi 5-chome, Chuo-ku, Kobe (Tel: 078-222-1885) Home Page MAP Bhajans Bhajan Practice Study Circle every Sun 4:00-5:00pmevery Thur 7:30-830pm 1st,5th Sun 2:00-3:40pm 2nd Sun 2:00-3:20pm3rd,4th Sun 2:30-3:40pm every Thur 7:00-7:20pm 2nd Sun 5:30-6:30pm (English)4th Sun 5:30-6:30 (Japanese) 2nd Sun 3:40-3:55 (Gayatri Chanting) Ladies Programme 3rd,5th Sun 5:30-6:30pm Youth Programme 3rd Sun 0:30-2:20pm 2nd Sun in odd months 5:30-6:15pm(Study Circle)1st Sun in even months 0:30-1:50 Seva Aisei-en (Orphanage home): 3rd Sun 9:30-11:30amNarayana Seva: 2nd,4th Sun 10:00-11:30am, 1st, 3rd Thur 9:00-10:00pm Veda Club Veda clup is held on every 4th Sunday after Bhajans. Study Circle in (Japanese) is held on every 2nd Sunday on 1st fl. Subscribe/Un information: (Free copy) To , please send your request to rgcjp To , please type “REMOVE” on the subject line and send to rgcjp ----------------------- SAI CENTERS: KOBE, YOKOHAMA, OSAKA, SAPPORE,HAMAMATSU OKINAWA, CHIBA, NAGOYA, TOKYO & KYOTO.' SAI BHAJAN GROUPS.: OBIHIRO, SAITAMA, SHIZUOKA, KITAKYUSHU, MORIOKA TAMA, NARA, FUKUOKA, TOHOKU, NAGANO, IWAKUNI, HIROSHIMA, KAGOSHIMA, GUNMA, KANAZAWA, KAGAWA. Note: Sometimes schedules is subject to change. Please contact respective centers and groups for information. ..................................................................................................... CONTENTES:1.SWAMI'S QUOTATION. 2.BABA'S STORY. 3. SHIRDI BABA & DEVOTEES EXPERIENCES. 4. SAI & KASTURI. 5. CONVERSATION WITH SAI PROF ANIL KUMAR. 6. THE CALL GEN.YASSIN BY PROF V.G. 7. THE INDIA ETERNAL. 8. LET US THANK GOD FOR NOT GRANTIONG ALL OUR PRAYERS. 9. SWAMI'S LETTER "I WILL NOT GO THE CREPS. 10. WHEN LOVE BECONS. 11. AN INTERVIEW WITH SAI BABA "I SEE ONLY LOVE & LIGHT. 12. SAI BABA TALKS RUSSIAN LADIES. 13. THEIR FIRST HOMES"GIFT FROM THE LORD. 14. HE STEALS"WHILE HIS HEARTS HEALS". 15. iNTERVIEW WITH INDRA DEVI. 16. GREATEST ADVANTURE BY LATE DR. V,M.N MARTHY. 17. CHINNA KATHA "DISSOLVING THE BITTERNESS OF LIFE. 18. 19. NARAYAN SEVA FOR HOMELESS. 20. KOBE CENTERS PROGRAMS. Ram ChuganiKobe, Japanrgcjp Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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