SAI SERVICE NEWSLETTER - 22

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SAI SERVICE Newsletter – 22

Issue 05-09-2002

 

[shri Shirdi Sai Baba's Messages, Life events, Articles are available

in / and

updated/added on daily basis]

 

This Thursday's Message: (Baba said)

 

If anyone is angry with another, he wounds me to the quick.

If any one abuses another, I feel the pain.

If one bravely endures the abuse, I feel highly pleased

 

a. Baba's Talk with Devotees

 

A devotee: Baba, do spirits really exist?

 

Baba: Yes. We have nothing to do with them.

 

R.A.T. one night went out. He saw a specter under a tree, got

frightened and then thinking of Baba, got courage and went back to

his lodging at Shirdi. Next morning Baba himself when meeting him

referred to the topic.

 

Baba: What did you see last night?

 

R.A.T: I saw a spirit.

 

Baba: That was I.

 

R.A.T: No, Baba. It was a spirit.

 

Baba again: That was I. Go and ask your Ayi.

 

R.A.T: went and asked his mother, who said that all spirits were

under Baba's control.

 

Baba: And Am I not inside all of them. Hello! Bhutas etc., will do

nothing (no harm) to us. Have I not told you this last year?

 

 

b. Divine Dews from our Sadguru

 

 Be wherever you like, do whatever you choose, remember this well

that, all what you do is known to Me. (SSS Ch.III)

 

 There will never be any dearth or scarcity, regarding food and

clothes in my devotee's home. (SSS Ch.VI)

 

 If you can do anything, do some good unto others. (SSS Ch.X)

 

 Blessed is he, who knows the greatness of his Guru and thinks him =

 

to be Hari, Hara and Brahma (Trimurti) Incarnate. (SSS Ch.XVIII & XIX)

 

 Surrender to Him with body, mind and speech, and then see what He =

 

does. (SSS Ch.XXXIV)

 

 God does not like big subscriptions and donations, collected

against the wishes of the donors, but He likes ever trifling amounts

given with love, devotion and gratitude. (SSS Ch. XLVII)

 

 

 

c. Weekly Article:

 

BABA'S HELP TO DEVOTEES

 

Sai Baba once revealed a peculiarity of his in the following words:

 

Me kanala dusnara guru navey

Amacha garanay nirala ahay.

 

(i.e.,) I am not a guru that bites the ear (i.e., one who whispers

the upadesa mantra in to the ear of the devotee at the initiation).

Our methods are different.

 

The usual form of initiation adopted by almost every Hindu guru is –

 

1) to utter some sacred syllables of mantra;

2) to utter them gently, yet audibly (i.e.) in whispers, into the ear

of the person to be initiated.

 

Sai Baba, when applied to for such upadesa by one Radha Bai

Deshmukhin, informed her that his guru had given no such upadesa to

him, that he was giving no such upadesa and that the traditions of

his Guru Parampara followed a totally different method. What was that

method? And has Baba adopted that method on dealing with any devotee?

 

Baba's method is the same as the Dakshinamurthy method, about which

the following verse is well-known:

 

Chithram vata taro moolay

Vriddah sishya gurur yuva

Gurostu mownam vyakhyanam

Sishyas tu chinnasamsayah:

 

i.e., Wonderful! At the foot of the Banyan tree, aged disciples are

gathered at the foot of a young teacher (Guru). The guru's silence is

his speech. The devotees' doubts have fled.

 

Baba, like Dakshinamurthy, conveyed instruction, edification, light

and bliss without uttering a single word from his mouth. The teacher

simply glowed with his Light-Bliss, the radiation of which enveloped,

saturated and swallowed up the self of the devotees (in which self,

manas, buddhi, ahankara and chitta-mind, intellect, ego etc., were

all included)without any effort at learning or repeating sounds and

grasping their meaning or force, at one stroke, as though by magic.

The being of the devotee was absorbed into the being of the guru and

become That, or part of That. Knowledge, Power; and superior nature

blossomed out and hid the former petty, powerless and wretched nature

of the devotee. It was just in that way that Viswamitra is said he

have dealt with Sri Rama before the latter was called upon to meet

the giant Tataki, "Hold your hand", said Viswamitra, "Here, I give

unto you the numerous astras (powers) which I acquired with great

effort." Rama held his hand and was at once clothed with numerous

powers (siddhis). The will-power of the guru was sufficient to clothe

the personality of the devotee with a panoply of spiritual armour,

i.e., of powers, without any laborious sadhana of japa, tapa, etc.,

 

There are several instances in which Baba, by his mere will power,

invested his devotees with power. The best instance is that of Kusha

Bhav Krishnaji Joshi of Mirajgaon (Ahmednagar Dist) who was hankering

after siddhis, i.e., (magical power), which had formerly landed him

in regions of low desire and sin. Baba gratified his longing with a

boon that filled him not with sin but with merit (punya). Baba told

him that instead of getting other people's goods without their

consent by force of magic and distributing those goods, as he had

formerly done and acquiring sin, he (Baba) now blest him with power,

and whenever he lifts up his hands and thought of Baba, the hands

would be full of udhi from Shirdi Dwarakamayi fire (dhuni). "You can

then give it as Sai Baba's prasad; and you and the recipients will

get punyam and benefits". said Baba. Now Kusa Bhav lifts up his hands

and thinks of Baba and lo! and behold, warm udhi (ashes) falls from

his hands and that udhi is given as Sai Baba's udhi i.e., his blessed

ashes to work wonders. another instance is that of nana Saheb

Chandorkar, Deputy Collector. Baba told him; "Do not go on different

medicines. Give one and the same thing in my name. That will cure

everything." Accordingly the Deputy Collector gave only sublimate of

alum for everything, and numerous diseases were cured by it.

 

In the matter of instruction by radiating thought, what Baba and

Dakshinamurthy did has been described in many India and non-Indian,

religious, moral and spiritualistic books under various names.

Dhristi deeksha is the name given to a process by which the guru

imparts experience of bliss to the devotee by mere glance at the

devotee.

 

Sparsa deeksha is effecting the same results by the guru's touch

alone. this same process is accomplished by the wish or thought of

the guru; and then it is referred to as jnana deeksha or koorma

deeksha in allusion to the supposed power of the tortoise to protect

its young by merely thinking of it. In spiritualistic literature, the

exercise of influence by any powerful embodied spirit upon any medium

of mediumistic individual is said to be accelerated by the latter

person's ability to present a carte blanche to the influencing

spirit, that is by keeping down all ego and all tendencies to self

assertion. In one respect, this process is the same as Sai Baba's and

Dakshinamurthy's process. The master-mind reaches forth and engulfs

the weaker mind of the person operated on. The difference is only a

question of degree, though the degree varies as far as to call for

different names for the two processes. The Sai-Dakshinamurthy process

is Divine, the power used being infinitely superior to that of the

operated person and the latter can only slightly retard the former

beneficent influence, which must ultimately prevail. In the case of

the ordinary hypnotic operator, the patient or subject can

successfully thwart all attempts at influencing him by the exercise

of his ego i.e., by self assertion.

 

The truth we have just now touched upon may be said to be

psychological basis of the great doctrine underlying all religions, -

the doctrine of surrender or prapatti. For attaining mukti or

absorption at the feet of God, the one supreme method advocated by

all is the absolute and complete surrender of the soul at the Divine

Feet.

 

Or, in the case of those who conceive of God as the Impersonal

Absolute, the process recommended is described as the destruction of

the ego. The absorption at the feet of God by prapatti is obstructed

by all assertions of the ego, while absorption is rendered more and

more effective and real by the increased surrender of the soul.

Complete surrender is the goal of all religious effort and the

process of surrendering in increased measure is the sadhana, here

again proving the truth of the saying that the means and end are

found to be same in most , it not all, parts of yoga and religion.

 

Baba's dealing with his devotees to make them surrender has not

infrequently been described by them in relating their experiences.

When Sri Upasani Maharaj approached Sai Baba in 1911, very

unwillingly, Baba coerced him into submission by a most remarkable

capture of his (Upasani's) mind and that of all persons, who dealt

with him for days. When Sri Upasani wanted to rake leave of Sai Baba

and run home to meet his wife and mother, Sai Baba said that he would

see what he could do to bring him back to Shirdi in eight days, a

proposal absolutely distasteful to the latter. However, for eight

days after Sri Upasani left Shirdi, determined not to return, he

clean forgot his great idea of returning home and spent those days in

various camps close to Shirdi, where people were pressing him to

return. Pressed by some chance acquaintances, he returned to Shirdi

exactly on the eighth day after he left it.

 

 

d. Spiritual Spectrum:

(EXTRACTS FROM PURANAS, MESSAGES FROM SATPURUSHAS)

 

INTEGRAL EDUCATION

-Sadhu Vaswani

 

What is education? You and others such as you, in many parts of

India, are engaged upon a study of this great problem: What is

education?

 

There is a small prayer in one of our sacred Upanishads: I recite it

every day. Every day, early in the morning, I recite the words of a

rishi: " Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya!" Out of darkness lead me into

Light! There, to my mind, is the secret of the true ideal of

education. The aspiration of the great teachers of humanity has ever

been this: "Lead me out of darkness into Light!" And I believe the

purpose of true education is even this-to lead us out of darkness

into Light.

 

I remember the words of a great poet of the Western world. Him, too,

I call a rishi-the great German poet, Goethe. He was a seer. Him I

revere as a world-poet. He was lying ill. One day, he turned to his

friends who were by his bedside and said to them: "Won't you open the

window of my room?" The window was opened: the poet looked through

the window and gazed at the beauty of the sun, then made a statement

which I have remembered ever since I read it. Goethe said: "Light!

More Light!" The teaching of Upanishads was reaffirmed by this great

seer of Germany: "Light! More Light!" I believe this motto, this

ideal, these words, enshrine the very heart of the wisdom of

education.

 

There is the ideal of education. Then there is the technique of

education. If this I will not speak now. The one sin of many schools

and institutions which carry on the task of education in India is the

sin of separateness. Education of true type should, I humbly submit,

bring together what has been separated.

 

Firstly, the intellectual should be brought in union with the manual.

Manual work, I submit, should be one important aspect of every school

in our country. Then, there is separation between the head and the

heart. This separation must go. We must unify the head and the heart

in the teaching that we give in our schools.

 

Then thirdly, we must see that our students and our teachers are

inspired by the great ideal of seva or service. Culture and service

should be unified. A new reverence for the poor should grow in the

minds and hearts of our pupils and of those who have the great

privilege of teaching in our schools! Unify culture and service and

teach the students a new reverence for the poor, for the peasant and

the labourer. In our villages, the struggle for daily life is very

keen. They haven't the time to develop the spirit of culture. It is

for the `educated' to be in touch with the poor people, with the

peasant and the labourer, and pass on them the great teaching of

Upanishads, the great teaching of India's great ones and of the great

thinkers of the Western world.

 

So may education be related to life, and not be an academic study.

Let the emphasis in our teaching be on life. This type of education

which I have very briefly, very imperfectly, indicated to you, I

refer to sometimes as "integral education"

 

(Courtesy: East and West Series – June 2002)

 

Publisher's Note:

 

THE SOLE PURPOSE of this newsletter is to present Sai messages and

other spiritual messages to the interested devotees on Thursdays.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to your interested associates.

 

In this newsletter, wherever the sources of the articles not

mentioned, please consider these items are taken from H H Pujyasri B

V Narasimha Swamiji's books.

 

Mailing Address: Vasuki Mahal Shri Shirdi Saibaba Trust, Vasuki Mahal

Compound, Gandhi Nagar, Edayar Palayam, Coimbatore 641025, India. e-

mail to: essgee.

 

HH PUJYASRI B. V. NARASIMHA SWAMIJI'S PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT COPY

RIGHTED. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CIRCULATE AMONG YOUR FRIENDS WITHOUT

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