Suggestion - Vinod on Bhajans

[Guest guest]

You have such flow of motherly LOVe in your writing and soothing it is and what

may be considered essential to a dear brother. We need such words of wisdom

from people such as yourself as we must be united in our efforts of reaching

our respective spiritual goals as well of those of others.

We value such contributions as this is our net of catching and in

directing/diverting spiritual aspirants/seekers towards Swami who takes care of

everything...our most LOVing SAI MA.

 

Ram Lakhan, Canada"sairamdoris (AT) (DOT) es" <sairamdoris (AT) (DOT) es> wrote:

MY DEAR VINOD ,

HERE IN MADRID , WE DO NOT MAKE THE ARATHI, BECAUSE IS A HINDU TRADITON...for me

it is a pity because I love to wave the ghee lamp........

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram Dear Sister Doris

 

Thank you for your message and insight to how things are done in Madrid. It

certainly opened my eyes to the fact that things are not as clear cut and

black & white as I saw them before - there are lots of grey areas.

 

It would be interesting to work out that, although on the face of it in

your case all seems to have gone too far the other way from the rituals,

what is the reality of the situation? Is it possible to establish 1) How

many others are likely to feel the same as you do 2) How welcoming the

current arrangements seem to newcomers in comparison 3) Is it leading to

more devotees/aspirants attending than before - and is it a more

representative mix of the local population?

 

It would also be interesting to hear from others in different countries how

things have been adapted to suit their own local customs and practices and

whether they feel it works for the majority and leads to better devotion.

Also would love to hear from those who may have adapted their meetings in

some way because the majority happen to come from a particular faith or

culture.

 

Don't forget that one can have home bhajans - or meet as a like minded

group - to offer devotion the way you want (but not at the expense of the

centres, as these should remain places open to all for information,

action, interaction and devotion) and then participate wholeheartedly and

with tolerance in whatever is done with majority agreement at your centre.

It will not help your spirituality one single bit if you do not immerse

yourself in whatever methods are being used to offer devotion at the time.

This applies to all - even what you may consider 'unnecessary practices' -

if you let your mind waver during time of devotion, you are losing that

time and your spirituality and, worst still, if this is obvious to others,

then you are not helping them as well. One hopes then that you have the

means of discussion to work out the best ways of conducting your offerings.

 

With Love and respect to all

 

Vinod

 

PS Please also look up the Nine Point Code of Conduct -

http://www.sathyasai.org/devotion/ninepoint.html

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram to everyone!

 

In Russia it's the same. We don't do Arathi and do not sing "Om Tat

Sat Sri...". But sometimes (in our Center when evetybody knows each

other) when we feel a very sacret vibrations we do the Arathi

because we feel that this moment it is very very important to offer

a fire to Lord. And it does not matter that moment that we don't

have to do Arathi because it's a Hindu tradition etc. It happens

very seldom - once a year or two but it does.

We sing Ganesh bhajans without any problems also. Our Center is

small, it's like a big family. And we know that who of us loves

Krishna or Shiva or the Diine Mother, who belongs to Christian

(Eastern-ortodoxe)church and who is close to Buddizm or any other

tradion. That's why we sing Ganesh bhajans as well as bhajan

dedicated to the Universal Mother without any problems such like

sairamdoris wrote. But we live not in Europe, we are between West

and East.

And about shoes...Our meetings and satsangs take place in any flats

of devotees that's why we take off our shoes at the door because we

can't wear shoes in a room (espesially in Winter):-)

 

And to be serious, there are two parts of Sai organisation - an

Indian and of other overseas countries. So it's good if you being

born like Indian people but live anywhere in the West and need to do

Arathi and other rituals - you can meet separately. Sing bhajans

twice a week - one in a common european center and another - in your

own. Why not if you wanst to do Arathi?

 

With love

 

 

saibabanews, "sairamdoris"

<sairamdoris> wrote:

> MY DEAR VINOD ,

> HERE IN MADRID , WE DO NOT MAKE THE ARATHI, BECAUSE IS A HINDU

TRADITON.......

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram, brothers and sisters of the sai Family

 

I am acompanying all the opinions expressed and suggestions through the

group mails.

 

Here in Brazil in our Sai center also we are not doing Aarathi any more,

used to do till few months back. We have study circle and Bhajans

cermony. we continue reciting Gayatri, Asatoma and Lokassamastha

regularly. I am only the Indian used to attened the Sunday meetings more

frequently. There were some more (very few 4 or 5 Indians) used to

atened very rarely. So all the programm goes only in Portugues, the

local language. We sing bhajan songs mixed some in Portugues and some

hindi or Telugu including Sarva Dharma Prayer and also one or two Jueish

mantras.

But there are many people who like the Rituals like Pujas, Aarathi

and believe these Rituals bring possitive energy.. Even though we are

not doing any more, because it seems to be Swami's advise to practice

their Spiritual Sadhana in the way they are used to according to their

westren culture and they need not copy or follow any others rituals and

cultures especially of the Indian only because they are Swami's devotees

and He is Indian by His physical birth and Swami hears them when they

call Him in their own language. But, as many of them like and find the

Sanskrit Recitations of Mantras have some special secred possitive

vibrations they preforred to do Puja, at least now and then when there

is any special occation and important religious festiveday like Ganesh

Chaturthi,Guru Poornima, Shiva Raatri, Baba's birthday etc They ask me

to do some Puja at least in a simple manner. So we are doing only on

that day depending on the day and conviniances of all the participants

some simple Puja, waving Aarathi, offering some fruits and prasad.

For this purpose, i have collected some Puja procedures selecting

just one or two slokas for each step of the Puja Ritual which we can

finish within one hour and offer Naivedyam at the end and that will be

distributed to all the devotees present. In the middle i will be giveing

some explanations about that particular step what it means. I am not at

all a Pundit in these matters. I only know that much which we used to

see and do in our home when we were children and have some idea how to

do. With that idea am trying to explain basically what it signifies

using my least knowledge and the information i have collected. On 21st

July Guru Poornimaday we did a simple Puja to Sai Baba and Sai Padukas

(Guru and Guru Padukas).

Even though i am an Indian, am not used to read or recite Sanskrit

Slokas and this is not an easy job to do. One must have a lot of

practice. Some Sanskrit verses are easy, but most of them are very

difficult to recite for those who are not used to do and without

sufficient knowledge in the language. Many times i comitt mistakes

while reading and also do not know how to chant, the correct

pronunciation, molody etc . But I believe as Swami knows all He will

forgive us for the mistakes done. Now a days i am trying to correct my

pronounciation of Sanskrit words, the way of chanting them listening to

the Veda mantras and Suktas on line or down loaded from many web Pages

in mp3 format . Even then, it is not the same and easy to read or recite

alone without any back groud record as to read and recite acompanying

some record. In my case i am trying to do my best if any one invites me

to perform Puja in the Sai Center or in their homes. That's all i have

to tell about applying the Indian Ritual in Centers.

 

Sai Ram to all

sister maheswari

 

 

Vinod Parmar wrote:

 

> Sai Ram Dear Sister Doris

>

> Thank you for your message and insight to how things are done in

> Madrid. It

> certainly opened my eyes to the fact that things are not as clear cut and

> black & white as I saw them before - there are lots of grey areas.