Shiridi Sai Vichaar for Thursday , December 01, 2005

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Sai Vichaar

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Thursday , December 01, 2005 :: Volume 8, Issue 29

(In its eighth year of publication.)

Sai Vichaar is a Weekly newsletter distributed every Thursday and is devoted to

the life, philosophy and teachings of Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi. Feel free to

forward this newsletter to your interested associates in its original form.

IN THIS ISSUE:

FEATURE OF THE WEEK

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE

DEVOTEES SAY

PRAYER CLUB

EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

SAI ACTIVITIES

FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD

FEATURE OF THE WEEK: Reflections!

It is that time of the year when gains and losses of the year gone by are

calculated and expectations for the year to come are made. In short it is time

for reflections and resolutions. Calculating one's material gains or losses is

mandatory by law for many, as they have to file their returns. What about the

spiritual side? Focusing on spiritual part of the life and spiritual evolution

is as important or rather more important than other issues. Spiritual life is

not different than the daily life one leads. It is an integral part of the

person. Any spiritual evolution of the soul has a direct bearing on the daily

life of the individual. Delaying or avoiding to contemplate on the teachings of

the perfect masters and other saints only makes one more miserable as advances

in age. Even though one is born with the inherent knowledge of the truth as the

scriptures declare, one is shrouded by many layers of ignorance that have to be

peeled off before one can discover the truth within them. The role of the

teacher in helping one understand their ignorance is very clearly depicted in

Sai Satcharita. It is by contemplating; understanding and then implementing the

teachings of the perfect master that one slowly advances in small steps towards

their own evolution. And when one starts to implement and incorporate the

teachings without any effort it becomes second nature as with any other thing.

It is through a series of such small steps probably made during many lives

under the guidance of the perfect master that the soul eventually walks on the

path towards the ultimate truth that is the true home of each and every one. So

this holiday season while reflecting on all other things, do spend some time in

reflecting on the teachings of Shri Sainath presented in Sai Satcharita too as

it will bring you long lasting happiness!

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Control of thoughts

"Our thoughts are precious. They are our very own property and cannot be taken

from us".- P.K Shaw. Thoughts play havoc with our mind when the mind is

unrestrained. When we do not control our thoughts, it keeps feasting on

everything that the senses come up and dwell upon it. Training our mind is not

easy. Vedanta says that we can master the mind and through repeated practice,

we can make the mind our servant rather than being its victim. The mind can be

made pure by constantly focusing on the values and actions that are prescribed

in the sacred scriptures. This involves integrating all the senses and actions

in an acceptable manner in order to achieve the spiritual goal. One needs to

discard any thought that is undesirable and only feed those thoughts that are

good to the mind. In chapter 6 of Satcharitha, Hemadpant refers to Baba's

advise to his devotees and Baba says, "fix the mind in remembering Me always,

so that it will not wander elsewhere, towards body, wealth and home. Then it

will be calm, peaceful and carefree. This is the sign of the mind, being well

engaged in good company. If the mind is vagrant, it cannot be called

well-merged." Meditation helps in control of mind. Meditation is loving

recollection of God, mental discrimination, and is an essential balance to

selfless action. Initially one finds all thoughts crowding the mind at once and

difficult for a man to concentrate on God either in nirgun or sagun akaar. But

constant discipline and sticking to the path of godliness and focusing on the

positive aspects of life one realizes the path towards happiness. It does not

mean that spirituality and control of mind is restricted to those who have

severed all the relationship in the world and lead celibate life. That is a

wrong concept. In fact, any person leading a normal family life can control his

mind and attain happiness.

When mind is not allowed to covet other man's property, wife, children and

indulge in sensual thoughts and intoxicating drinks and discriminate between

what is appropriate behavior then such mind is happy and in control. As we are

the masters of our thought we do not crave for things that don't belong to us,

and harm our thought process by neglecting our family when all the members of

the family are happy so also we are happy, calm and composed and the divinity

within shines forth without too much of exertion. Katha Upanishad reiterates

this fact "The Self cannot be gained by the study of Vedas, nor by intellect,

nor by much learning. He, whom the Self chooses, but by him It is gained. To

him the Self reveals Its nature". Let us make a regular practice to keep time

for meditation in order to create a habit; it's also helpful to have a regular

place for meditation that is quiet, clean, and tranquil. And most important let

us invoke the blessings of our Guru to start this stage of purification of mind.

(Contributed by Anitha Kandukuri)

DEVOTEES SAY:

SuvarnaI would like to share one of my experiences, which happened recently. My

son, who was nine months old, suddenly went semi-unconscious while playing with

his father and fell backwards. We recently had come to a new place and were

staying in a hotel. We did not know what to do and my son started having

seizures. My husband took him to the receptionist and they called 911.

Meanwhile I was praying to Baba and put my wallet with Baba's photo on his

chest .The 911 people were there in minutes and said they were nearby and that

is why could come so fast. They took him to a nearby hospital and everything

was normal. The doctor could not tell us why it happened but I am sure Baba was

there helping us or else we could not withstand the emergency situation.

A Sai DevoteeSai Satcharitha is a real Gem and by reading it gives a lot of

peace and your body gets relaxed on whatever the situation or crisis you are

facing. Once you start reading you would not want to give up. Hemadpant, a

simple living human has put a lot of good work with the blessings of Sadguru

and gave us this piece of Gem which we have to carry and spread across the

world. I bow and fully surrender to the Sat Chit Anand Sri Sadguru Sri Sai Baba

of Shirdi and seek his blessings to spread the message and teachings of this

great omnipotent, omniscience.

LavanyaWe have recently shifted our family to a new location. We do not have any

acquaintances. We were feeling difficulty in securing a LP Gas cylinder, used

for cooking. I prayed Sai to solve our problem. When I went to the dealer who

earlier said that there were non in stock, offered the LP Gas cylinder

immediately. This is only due to Sai's grace.

PRAYER CLUB:

GowthamiBaba, please remove all the obstacles and bless me with a healthy child.

Only you can do some miracle and solve my problems.

RaviMy wife has been working hard to get into a permanent role for the last few

years with any good employer but has so far been unsuccessful. She has

tremendous faith in You, is looking forward for Your kind blessings so that she

gets permanent in her current temporary role, as she likes the place, the

people, and also has a good hold on her duties.

AdityaSai, please remove my fear, anxiety and depression. Give me confidence and

enthusiasm in whatever I do. I am going through unexplained mental agony. Give

me peace to my mind and help me concentrating on my work.

PrabhavatiBaba, please help my son become calm and overcome his rudeness. Please

let me as his mother also become calm and not shout at him, rather try to

understand his frustration. Please help us and let there be peace in our family

and let our son grow up as a responsible and good person.

SangeethaBaba, please let me get more students. Please Baba, You are only

supporting me, please bless me with more work, thanks Baba.

Sai devoteeKoti namaskarams to your lotus feet Baba. Baba, you know what I am

going through, my job is only till December 31st., Please see that I have a

stable and permanent job. Baba I am very tensed, see that our financial

position improves and see that all the people who has taken loan from us

returns our money back. You know Baba what I am going through, I am very

depressed. Baba see that my husband changes and we settle in India pretty soon.

Please always be with my daughters and my husband. Baba please show some daya

and forgive all the mistakes and sin we have committed. With your grace my

sister- in- law was conceived, please be with her all through her pregnancy and

bless them with a baby boy. Please take care of my parents and my grandmother.

Baba please bless us.

ShwetaHey Sai Baba please help me out. You know my situation very well. This

time I am totally depended on You. I don't know what You have for me in future

but please Bhagwan, bless me with happiness only. I need health, wealth and

prosperity for my loving husband only. I want to give him all happiness I could

able to give him. He is very clear hearted and very down to earth. He never asks

anything from anybody. Hey Sai Baba be always with him. And I promise that if

this time You give me a baby boy, I will come to visit Shirdi with both kids.

Please listen to my prayer and bless me with a healthy boy.

EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES:

Sai devoteeIts been long time that I haven't submitted my experience as I

promised, but when ever I read many couples seeking for children I feel like I

should definitely write my story so that they will get encouraged by reading

this. After my marriage I have come to know that I have all sorts of gynec

problems, I was trying from long time to get pregnant and nothing was working

out and I stopped taking all medicines and me and my husband decided to go back

to India, then one day as Sai wants, he made me to go and see the gynec and when

I went for a minor problem, my gynec advised me to go for another round for

treatment which I did and lo I got pregnant. I was very happy and could not

believe that it happened finally, what can I say about this, the day Sai made

me to go to doctor was Thursday and if I had not gone that day I wouldn't have

tried another round of treatment and would have not got this chance of having

this wonderful experience. I still have three months for my delivery and I am

praying everyday to Sai that everything should go as smooth as possible, one

thing I have to tell to all devotees in this journey of my motherhood I faced

many obstacles, many health problems, and in all that I came out successfully

only by praying my Sai and believing him, I request all those couples not to

loose hope and Sai will definitely give them what they want, only thing we need

to have patience, which is very difficult to practice, I had to wait very long

and face many things to get to this point. I sincerely pray and thank Sai for

giving this wonderful life and a chance to help others in what ever way I can,

Dear Sai, please keep your blessing hand on our family and look after my entire

family of mother's and in-law's, please bless all the devotees, and bless me

that I have a smooth delivery on my due date with out any problems. Please

bless my husband all the success in what ever he is trying to do, please Sai,

please help him.

RanjeethMy pranams and koti namaskaras at your lotus feet. This is a testimony

to the power of reading "Sai Satcharitra". I am devotee of Baba for the past

three years and I had the blessings of staying in Shirdi for 42 days in 2002

when I was literally on the streets. During my stay in Shirdi, I had the

privilege of attending all the Aarthis and the palaki procession on every

Thursday and reading of the "Sai Satcharitra" on daily basis. On returning back

to Chennai, Baba blessed me with a job and right from then I had not looked

back, but all of a sudden I lost or threw away my job six months back and I was

back to square one. This is a very clear indication that I had not kept up the

promises or most probably not practiced what has been written in Sai

Satcharitra. Fifteen days back I informed my father that I had stopped praying

to Baba, he was very disturbed on hearing this and he requested me to cling on

to Baba's feet even in the time of distress. Yes, I regretted and immediately

continued my poojas to Baba in a humble way and soon things started improving.

The moment I started reading Sai Satcharitra, the very next day Baba blessed me

with a good job. Dear devotees please read a chapter of Sai Satcharitra daily

and experience by yourself the presence of Baba with you.

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK:

"God has agents everywhere and their powers are vast".-Sai Baba

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

Q. What is contentment?

A. by Sister Dobby

Contentment is Sainath in ones mind, heart, and soul every second of every day.

Contentment is Sainath in the minds eye and souls ear all day and all night.

Contentment is Sai Vichaar in ones email every week.

Q. What is contentment?

A. by S. P. Srivastava

Shri Sai Satcharitha is a real life saga of a saint whose sole possession was a

piece of sack cloth, a kafni, a cap, a tin pot and zoli and who had no cravings

for anything. Whatever dakshina He received from His devotees He distributed to

various persons not storing anything for Himself. If anything He stored, it was

firewood for keeping His Dhuni burning day and night. He never boarded any train

for His movement. Sai Baba was thus contentment personified. He was truly a

'sthitapragya' as elucidated in Gita's Chapter 2, Sloka 55. It describes the

characteristics of a person who forsakes all his desires and remains satisfied

in his self. Sai Baba had no desires whatsoever and remained ever engrossed in

self-realization. Contentment is a divine attribute. A contented person is one

who remains at peace with himself. Ego-less he puts his heart and soul in the

duty he performs without bothering or engrossing himself in the result thereof

and does not envy or covet another man's wealth. Such a person is, to my mind,

a contented person.

Q. What is the two-fold importance of Khandoba temple in Baba's life history?

A. by Sasi Lakshmi

Khandoba Temple is a wittiness of Saibaba's leelas. Mahalsapathi's association

with Sai and his humble service to Baba is well known. Well known saint Upasani

Baba was asked by Saibaba to stay at Khandoba temple. During his stay,

UpasaniBaba attained many siddhis. But he left KhandobaTemple without complete

transformation. Maarthaand, son of Mahalsapathi narrated one interesting

example of Baba's leela. One day Maarthand was sitting at the entrance of the

temple. Baba came from the back the idol. Then he went back to the idol,

smiling at Maarthand. He was surprised and searched for Baba in and around the

temple. Through this Baba wants to tell that He is Omniscient and Omnipresent.

SAI ACTIVITIES:

Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago and Suburbs, Illinois, USAShirdi Sai temple is open

daily from 8:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m (Winter hours). Daily program includes Kakad

Arathi at 8 a.m followed by Abhisek. Madhayana Arathi at 12 noon, Dhoop Arathi

at 6 p.m and Shej Arathi at 9 p.m. Archana, Homams, Sahasranama and sponsored

poojas continue in between the Arathis. To request a pooja for yourselves, your

friends and family, please call. Devotees can request water (Abhishek Jal) from

the Holy bathing of Baba by sending us an email or by phone. Temple is located

25 minutes drive west of Schaumburg on intersection of IL Route 47 and Plank

Road in Hampshire, IL. For more information please call 847-931-4058 or send

email to maildrop (AT) saibaba (DOT) org.

Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, MinnesotaRegular Sai activities in Minneapolis,

St.Paul area are being conducted at Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, 725 Lake St

NE, Apt 139 Hopkins MN. For details, please contact hamaresai , or

call Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center at 952-938-2983, and to read the monthly

newsletter Sai Sandesh, visit www.hamaresai.org.

Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of Dallas/Fort Worth, TexasSri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple

of DFW Metroplex is located at 2109 West Parker (Parker Plaza), Suite 212,

Plano, TX 75023. For temple hours and activities please call the temple office

at 469-467-3388 or visit the website www.shirdisaidallas.org.

Shirdi Sai Satsang, Bay Area, CaliforniaShirdi Sai Parivaar invites all to join

us for Satsang every Thursday 7:30 pm at Odd Fellows Temple, 20589 Homestead

Road, Cupertino, CA 95014. For details please call 408-564-6704 or send email

to saibandhu or visit www.ShradhaSaburi.org.

Shirdi Sai Satsang, Ontario, CanadaShirdi Sai Baba Sansthan of Canada invites

all to join us for Satsang every Thursday 6:30PM at 147 Winston Castle Dr.

Markham, Ont. L6C 2N4. For details on other activities and services please call

Shammi Chopra at 416-402-8089 or email us saileela99 .

Shirdi Sai Satsang in Vancouver, BC, CanadaShirdi Sai parivar in Vancouver

invites you for bhajans, every Thursday (6:30pm - 7:30 pm) at 8571, 118A

Street, Delta, V4C 6L2. For further details contact Ritu (604)592 4182 or email

at sai_ish (AT) hotmail (DOT) com.

Sri Shirdi Sai Mandir, Scarborough, CanadaThe Shirdi Sai Mandir located at 2721

Markham Road, Scarborough, ON M1X 1L5 (Intersection of Markham and Nashdene) is

open Monday to Friday from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m and Saturday to Sunday from

10:30 a.m to 8:30 p.m. Dhoop aarti at 7:30 p.m everyday and Bhajans on Saturday

from 5:00 p.m onwards. For other temple activities and information please call

647-444-4724 or send an email to info (AT) theshirdisaimandir (DOT) com.

Shirdi Sai bhajans in SingaporeShirdi Sai Sansthan, Singapore invites all to

participate in bhajans every Saturday from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at Sri

Vadapathira Kaliamman Temple, 555 Serangoon Road, Singapore 218174. For more

information please send an email to rajamm (AT) starhub (DOT) net.sg

FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD:

Sai activities section is a good opportunity to spread the word about various

activities, celebrations and festivities of Sai Mandirs across the world.

Postings on Sai activities are very useful for new visitors and for those who

would like to know more about Sai activities in theirs and other areas. Sai

Vichaar receives several emails for Prayer Club. They will be posted in the

order they are received, please indicate if you do not want to include your

name. Sai devotee Subhadra suggests the "Question of the week" for the week as,

Q. What is the two-fold importance of Khandoba temple in Baba's life history?

Humbly Yours,The Editor

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>From and Editor:

Shirdi Sai Baba Web Site

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