Guest guest Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Sai Vichaar www.saibaba.org Thursday , December 18, 2008 :: Volume 11, Issue 32 (In its eleventh 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: Siddhis Acquiring Siddhis or occult powers is often seen as a sign of one's spiritual "advancement" in several cultures. The so called spiritual pursuit that starts with the spark of love soon parts its way to seek something extravagant that would make one special. Who doesn't like to watch or perform magic? At the same time, wouldn't that be just prudent to understand that magic is not the priority but what is important might to be to pursue and understand the spark that Sadguru has ignited. When Sri Sai makes impossible things possible, it was only to impart an instruction, make one understand a certain point or in some occasions save lives as He deems necessary. What is a miracle for us is just a mater of fact for Him. Sri Sainathuni Sarathbabuji well articulates miracles as "mothering of nature". Saibaba never encouraged occult practices and didn't allow His devotees to hanker after them. The experience of Krishnaji Kasinath Joshi, also known as Kusa Bhav illustrates this fact well. Sri E. Bharadwaja wrote in Sri Guru Charithra, "When Kusa Bhav arrived at Shirdi, Sai Baba was wild with rage and would not allow him to enter the mosque. He said that the sweetmeats produced by the former were not 'created', as the gullible devotees supposed, but were merely transferred from elsewhere by the power of mantra. Thus, he said, it amounted to theft and cheating. The sweetmeats thus pollute their devout recipients spiritually and would inspire them, in their turn, to hanker after cheap occult powers instead of seeking spiritual Enlightenment which is the only noble of man's life. Sai Baba insisted that unless the visitor chose to give up his weird practices and leave off the power at the holy river Godavari, he would not allow the latter to come to him". It is appropriate to reminisce here once again Baba's advice to Smt. Radhabhai Deshmukh. While it is not to suggest that Mrs Deshmukh sought occult some powers by asking Baba to give her a mantra, Baba's story of His own service to His Guru hints at what is wanted of a devotee. Baba said, "Night and day, I gazed at him with no thought of hunger and thirst. Without him, I felt restless. I had no other object to meditate, nor any other thing than My Guru to attend. He was My sole refuge. My mind was always fixed on him. Just remember that Guru's tortoise-like loving glance gives us happiness. Do not try to get Mantra or Upadesh from anybody. Make Me the sole object of your thoughts and actions; and you will, no doubt, attain Paramartha (the spiritual goal of life). Let us on this Thursday joyfully envisage Guru's tortoise-like glances and remember the He should be the sole object of our thoughts and actions for that is the true redemption and nothing else. CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: God or Saintwho are you? Upon this earth when you descended,Problems of people suddenly ended,With your merciful hands vanished people's sorrows,Your love and support sent their pains to the gallows. God, or a saint Who are you?"Saibaba" they lovingly named you.King of kings , you lived in Dwarkamai..No money or wealth could interest you Sai.. Devotee's faith is all that you craved,Which to you they lovingly gave,Lucky are those who lived with you,Fortunate enough to have served you May be or not I was one of them thenNot sure when I will get the chance againDear Baba, I pray to you this dayPlease give me a chance to serve you someway. Keep you loving hands upon my head,Forgive my sins and anything wrong I said,Be by my side in times good and bad,Make me smile when I am sad. Oh my humble father, you are in air, land and water,Accept the prayers and love of "Rima"-your loving daughter. (Contributed by Rima Naik) DEVOTEES SAY: RPThank you Sai Baba for helping me recover something I had lost. As per my vow, I am expressing my gratitude to you through this platform. I am truly grateful. Deepa"This is in response to Anusha's Prayer in NewsLetter dated Dec 11th, 2008, Volume 11, Issue 31. I read your prayer. There is something called "Brockton Neighborhood Health Center" (www.bnhc.org) about 15 miles from Boston in Brockton, MA. There your mother can qualify for free-care and get seen by a doctor. SavithriSai Ram you know very well what had happened on sunday and the way my brother's wife was talking to our parents and sister. But I do not know why you are not doing any thing to that lady who does not know how to give respect towards elders and I find still you are supporting that lady because what ever mistake she is doing you are not punishing her and she is going on doing mistakes only and if I do something I am getting punishment immediately for no reasons and not only me all our sisters and parents are equally punished if we talk about that lady then only shouting at her. I do not know why baba is not answering anything to this issue. Baba please do something on this issue and make my brother's wife a human being with good heart and we all are not animals to be treated in that way. Baba if you feel I am wrong forgive my mistakes and not to punish me nor my sisters and parents. Sadar Charan SparshI am very very thankful to you to grant my request for a child. I have No words to convey your thanks.Babaji please bless me for CPE result.Baba my life is in your hand.Baba you are great. DevoteeJai sai ram, With your grace everything went well in my son's marriage for that koti koti pranam mere sai . Hey sai ram, please listen my prayer you know what wish I have. Hey sai ram please help give me some sign so that I can be sure that you are going to fullfil my wish . PRAYER CLUB: ChitraBoth my kids are having stomach flu and they are suffering a lot. Please take care of them as they are your kids and you know how they love you. Thanks VidyaDear Baba, Give me pateince, faith and perseverance. I am not doing well in my personal life and career. Help me be perseverant in getting my dream job. I need your blessings to be with the person I love forever. I cannot imagine my life with out him. Forgive my sins and shower your blessings on me and my family always. DevoteeThis is a plea from a devotee whose father is suffering and has a short life span.. Baba, please help my father not suffer.This is the only request I have Baba. Please bless him and guide him to live his life to the fullest. Baba please help him to retain his blood level with the blast count way below.Thankyou Baba. SavithriDear Sai Ram, me and daughter are having breathing problem and it is more in the night and we both are unable to breath freely and finding it very difficult to breath. Please baba relieve us from this breathing problem and bless me and daughter with good health. ZenobiaBaba you are the protector and preserver of one and all and therefore you know the problems of your devotees. Therefore, you are aware of the problem I am facing about my daughter. Request you guidance and support in releasing us from such a problem and bringing the life to normalcy and peace. I shall definitely post my experience in Sai Vichaar. Thank you once again..Om Sai Ram!! ShivkumarBaba please allow me to post my article . Sai, Why are you not allowing me to post my article I am trying from long time. baba please take care of my children my family my husband. Baba you know about my daughter please let her get interested in studies and study well for board and she always fights with me please give her patience and understanding nature so she can understand and please Baba take care of my health so I can take care of family baba koti pranams. You are my doctor you are every thing please Baba save me and my family. DevoteePlease help us -reinstate my daughter in her job without any problem. Please -we wold come to shiridi immediately-please baba shower your grace on us forever as you always looking after us .please baba please ... Mohini and familySainath Maharaj Ki Jai . I humbly request you to please take care of my daughter whose marriage has been fixed but now there are so many problems regarding the boy and his horoscope etc, we are very tense and do not know what to do now, and she is upset as well. astrologers have givern us mixed opinions and we are in a dilemma. Kindly guide us as to what should be done.You have always helped us in the past when we went through lots of troubles.She is far away from us but we know that YOU are always there with her., to guide and protect her. Please Baba help us once again, because without your help we can do nothing. Also a million thanks for taking care of my husband and son and solving their problems. We will surely come to Shirdi to take your darshan and blessings. we are always having your Udi. waiting for you dear sainath, so please bless us and take care as always, we are forever grateful. EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES: MM PrasadNeedless to say, my family and me are existing in this world because of Shiridi Sai's blessings all the time. Normally, I used to visit Shiridi once atleast in 3 months while I stayed in Mumbai but latter my visits to HIM reduced to once a year as I moved to Kolkata. On Sep12th this year evening I landed in Mumbai to takeup early MNG transport to Shirdi with one of my close friend. I got up at 4 am and got ready to move from the hotel room in Thane around 5 AM. It was slightly drizzling. While, I was going down from 5th floor, I was watching outside through the Capsul lift worrying if rain does not create any spoilsport in our proposed journey by road to Shiridi to have HIS darshan. All of a sudden , I saw a tall person in Sainath's robes with action shoes on on a walk alone crossing with a longer steps in line with Sainath's walking attire.. For a moment I thought why this person is taking a walk on such drizzling morning. When I came out and tried to spot him in about less than 2 moniutes, I could not trace him and road was total empty. For a minute when I was rewinding the whole episode, suddenly it struck to me that Baba has appeared in that attire for a flashy moment. And have us through the journey from Thane to Shirdi and back safely despite rain, and at some places water was flowing on the low level road culvert hampering traffic. I was so happy that at last Baba came up in front of my eyes for a flash of second where as I had never the chance to get Him even in my dreams despite my remembering in every moment of life. I shared the same with my friend who travelled with me and my family members and could not control my emotion and happiness. DevoteeI am a sai devotee last five years. I have one daughter who recently born. Her name is Sai Nirmala. In my family we are giving respect to Baba as our boss. When my child was five months old she suffered some pain in her throat we went to the child specialist. He checked her throat (inside) and showed it to me that there was a little (pepper size) white color infection there. So doctor gave some medicines and asked to come after one week. We have given the medicines as per his advice and after one week we went again, still the infection was there. Then he advised us to go to ENT specialist and asked to stop the medicine which was prescribed by him. We prayed baba. In my family we felt very sad for her. I have got "dhuni vibhuti" thru my friend who is also a Sai devotee. I mixed the vibhuti with the milk and given immediately. We did not meet any ENT specialist. After one week we went to the same doctor who is child specialist for vaccination. Before giving the vaccination he checked her throat but to our great surprise there is no sign of infection or white color was seen there. We did not given any medicine for the infection. Really baba is a great "hakkim"(doctor). Till now whenever she was suffering Baba is saving her. Jai Sai Ram ! QUOTATION OF THE WEEK: "He, who casts aside his egoism, thanks Him and he, who trusts Him entirely, will have his shackles removed and will obtain liberation"-Sri Saibaba QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Q. How does a Sai devotee live by the words below from Baba? A. by Question Sri Sai said, "Come what may, leave not, but stick to your Bolster (support, i.e. Guru) and ever remain steady, always at-one-ment (in union) with him." How does a Sai devotee live by the above words from Baba? 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. Sri Saibaba Mandir, Minneapolis, MNSri Saibaba Mandir is located in Minneapolis, MN at 1835 Polk St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418. The mandir is open 7 days a week in the evenings from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm and during morning hours from 9 am to 12:30 pm, everyday. Satsangs are conducted every Sunday mornings, 9 am to 12:30 pm. Please visit the mandir website www.hamaresai.org or call 612-789-7729 for more information on mandir activities, events and other information. Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of Dallas/Fort Worth, 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 Temple of New England, Boston AreaSri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of New England is now operational. It is located at 1827 Bridge St # 8, Dracut, MA 01824. The temple is open every Thursday from 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm and Saturday's from 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm. For temple hours and activities please visit the website www.nessp.org or send mail to maildrop. Shirdi Sai Center in Bay Area, CAShirdi Sai Center is located 897-B East Kifer Rd, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. For more information please call 408-705-7904 or 408-564-6704 or send email to saibandhu. You can also visit our website is www.Shirdisaiparivaar.org. Shirdi Saibaba temple, Los Angeles, CADevotees in Los Angeles area are informed about Sri Shirdi Saibaba temple in Los Angeles area. The temple is located at - 144 South 4th Street, Montebello, CA 90640. For more information please call Krishna Samantula at 949-679-9938 or visit www.shirdisaila.org. Saibaba Temple, Columbus, OhioDevotees in Columbus and surrounding Ohio locations area are informed about Sri Shirdi Saibaba temple in Metro Columbus area. The temple is located in a leasing space at 6599 Dublin Center Dr, Dublin, OH 43017. Please attend daily Aaratis and Thursday bhajans. For more information please call Panditjee at 614-799-8411 or visit www.saibaba.cc or new website www.srisaimandir.org Shirdi Sai bhajans every Thursday at Maitland, FloridaDevotees are invited to participate in Sai study and bhajans on Thursdays between 7-8 pm at Meditation Gallery, 219 E Horatio Ave, Maitland, FL 32715. For more details please contact Bonnie at 407-830-1276. Sri Shirdi Sai Temple of Austin, TXSri Shirdi Sai Temple of Austin, Texas opened at 601 E Whitestone Blvd (RM 1431), Cedar Park, TX. Daily 4 aarthis are performed to Sai Baba. As part of service to needy, a weekly sandwich seva is also conducted. For more information, please visit www.saiaustin.org. Shirdi Sai Mandir, Dulles, VAShirdi Sai Mandir is located at 43671 Trade Center Place #166 Dulles, VA 20166. The mandir is open through the week in the evenings from 6pm to 9 pm. Sri Satyanarayan pooja will be conducted every full moon day. Please visit the mandir website www.shirdisaimandir.org or call (703) 661-4724 for more information on activities, events and other information. Shirdi Sai Mandir, TorontoShirdi Sai Mandir Toronto is open from 7am to 9 pm for darshan. Extended hours on Thursdays and Saturdays. For more information, program schedule or directions please call 647-444-4724. FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD: Please note that Sai Vichaar is only yet another global platform on the electronic medium for sharing information on the life and message of Sadguru Sainath of Shirdi. Sai Vichaar does not profess to endorse any particular thought, nor will judge or reflect the opinions expressed by individual contributors. The 'Question of the week" for the week is Sri Sai said, "Come what may, leave not, but stick to your Bolster (support, i.e. Guru) and ever remain steady, always at-one-ment (in union) with him." How does a Sai devotee live by the above words from Baba? Humbly Yours,The Editor ABOUT THIS EMAIL: This newsletter is not sent unsolicited. This newsletter is e-mailed to you because of at least one of the following reasons:1. You have d through our on-line page,2. You have visited our web site and shown interest in the Sai topics and asked for information, or3. You have been gifted a subscription by a friend or a relative. To Subscribe Sai Vichaar for receipt by Email please visit the URL http://www.saibaba.org/newsletter.html and select the option from the menu. If you are subscribing the newsletter for your friend or a relative, we request that the person concerned may be notified about receiving the newsletter and the willingness to receive the newsletter be confirmed. To Un-Subscribe receipt of Sai Vichaar, please visit the URL http://www.saibaba.org/newsletter.html and select the option from the menu. If you have problems accessing the web page due to network problems, please send an e-mail to support with the words "Un Sai Vichaar" in the subject line. To make a contribution to any of the sections of Sai Vichaar, please visit the URL http://www.saibaba.org/newsletter.html and select the Submit Articles to Sai Vichaar option from the menu. Back copies of HTML version of Sai Vichaar can be accessed by visting the URL http://www.saibaba.org/whatsnew.html. For any questions or more information regarding this e-mail or our web site, please send an e-mail to maildrop and your inquiries will be attended to promptly. Thank you,The webmaster From and Editor: Shirdi Sai Baba Web Site Shirdi Sai Baba Sanstha (A non-profit organization) Mail: 12N950 State Route 47 Hampshire, IL 60140, USA Email maildrop Phone 847-931-4058 Fax 847-931-4066 © Copyright 1998-2008 saibaba.org, Shirdi Sai Baba Sanstha - Sai Vichaar Weekly may only be redistributed in its unedited form. Written permission must be obtained to reprint or cite the information contained within this newsletter. Sai Vichaar is devoted to the philosophy and teachings of Shri Sadguru Sai Baba of Shirdi, and will take every measure to avoid topics or themes contradicting the same. Sai Vichaar team or the Shirdi Sai Baba web site is not responsible for the opinions expressed by individual contributors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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