Sai Vichaar For June 4th 2009

Sai Vichaar Thursday, Jun 04, 2009 :: Volume 12, Issue 04 (In its twelfth year of publication.)

www.saibaba.org

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. Please do not reply to this email. All replies will be ignored. To contact us please see information at the bottom of this newsletter. IN THIS ISSUE: •

FEATURE OF THE WEEK

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CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE

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DEVOTEES SAY

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PRAYER CLUB

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EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES

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QUOTATION OF THE WEEK

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QUESTION OF THE WEEK

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SAI ACTIVITIES

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FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD

FEATURE OF THE WEEK: Key to Happiness Is there a way to quantify faith? What constitutes a successful dose of patience? Some endure severest of hardships for several years, yet call themselves very fortunate. Some seem to have a short stint with time and profess to have waited patiently! Wisdom, whether through Bhakthi or Jnana should impart the ability to truly discriminate between things of transient nature and permanent. Spirituality may not be about quantifiable material gains and losses that one accomplishes, even with the help of Sadguru. It may also not be about the benefits that are only perishable. On the other hand, it may be about a total personal transformation that should take place every minute, while at sleep or awake. The effort has to come from within oneself and the external factors may be the means to accomplish them. Baba said out of love for His devotees - "What (whether good or bad) is ours is with us, and what is another's is with him." - Ch. XLV, Shri Sai Satcharita. Even the simplest expressions of Baba have the message of greatest importance. A moment of contemplation on such comments might have the most profound effects on what we perceive as pain or pleasure. By the above statement, Sadguru Sainath has endorsed the thought that our actions precede our fruits, the consequences. He also several times advised that one have to endure the consequences of his past Karma. Devotees also have seen how Sainath, the destroyer of karma, comes to their rescue if the faith is earnest and the patience is complete. The patience is complete if the faith is earnest. He is the helmsman and His boundless coffers are open CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Patience - Review of book "Baba May I Answer" A new book authored by Sri C.B. Satpathy has been published by Sterling Publishers titled "Baba, May I Answer". The book is a compilation of questions

received by Sri C.B. Satpathy during the last many years from Baba devotees and his comprehensive answers to them. The book is must reading for any serious Baba devotee as it expands on the thoughts about various topics like anger, patience, etc. One of the topics covered is patience and a sample from the book is given below: Patience is a divine virtue. Unfortunately, not only are we badly wanting in this divine virtue, but also we neglect it most foolishly. Q. What is patience? A. It is an inner assurance of Baba's unreserved love and unconditional guidance. Patience is Baba's power hidden in us to weather the teeming storms of life. Our fondest dreams will be transformed into fruitful realities if we just know the secret of growing the patience-tree in our heart. Patience is our sincere surrender to Baba's Will. This surrender is by no means the effacement of the finite self, which we now are, but the total transformation of your finite existence into the infinite Self. Patience can never be imposed on us from outside. It is our own inner wealth, wisdom, peace and victory. Patience will never tell us that something is a hopeless task. Patience will only tell us either that we are not ready or that the time is not ripe. We may have the feeling that we are ready, but we have to know that our integral being, our whole being is not ready. We have to feel that patience is not something passive. On the contrary, it is something dynamic. In patience, we develop our inner strength, our inner will power. It is true that if we have will power we can easily acquire patience. But it is equally true that when we have patience, our inner will power develops itself in a special way. You can get a personal copy of the book Baba, May I Answer by visiting the online store at www.Saibaba.org or send an email to [email protected] for further information. (Contrbuted by: Sai Vichaar Team) DEVOTEES SAY: A devotee Thanks a lot Sainath. I had my eye test this week and I prayed to you a lot that my eye test report should be normal and by your grace the test results were normal. Pls do help and bless me always. Kirti Baba, I sincerely thank you for helping us move in the house of our choice. It would not have been possible without you. Please bring peace and happiness in this house also. Mangamma Baba thank you so much for helping my son with his dentist appointment. You were there with us all the time. We have been struggling for more than a year now we have been to many dentists and none were able to fix his teeth. PRAYER CLUB: Sasi Baba, please cure my wife's illness. Since two months she is suffering with stomach ulcer. Please bless my father, wife and daughter Baba.

Meenakshi My parents are worried very much about the problems that are arising everyday. Sai Baba please take control over of my brother's life and make him to become calm and understanding. Please help him to be a normal person. Mamta Dear Sai, My mind is too disturbed. Please help. Please cure my mental illness Baba. Please cure, this has already caused too many problems and it is getting worse day by day and unbearable. Shashibhushan Please show me the way to keep my life peaceful and happier and free me from financial stress. Vijaya Baba, please get our visa stamped. Baba bless us. Alka Sai Baba please show us the right way bless my husband with your blessing and save his career. EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES: Sasi There are no words to describe his endless love, blessings and kindness. How Baba is showing his kind, love, and blessings to his devotees. Last month I had symptoms like diabetes. I was so nervous and worried. Then I prayed BABA and sent a prayer thru Sai Vichar. And went to hospital for checkup. Doctor told me your symptoms are not diabetic. And gave me the first hope. Last Thursday my results came. Surprise. I don't have any diabetes. This is miracle. Baba you are great. And also I have lot of work tensions. I am praying Baba everybody about work tensions. With Baba grace slowly my work tensions are going away. We are very happy because yesterday one of my friends brought Shirdi prasadam. Nirmala Every small gesture I consider as Baba's miracle and it makes me very happy. This is one small incident, which happened a year and a half ago. I shifted from home to another place for my engineering course (which was again Baba's plan, the whole situation I will send as another article later). At home I have a beautiful picture of Baba. It somehow got left back there. When someone went there, I asked my parents to send it to me with him or her, but an event turned up because of which they forgot to send (the person couldn't meet them or something like that turned up). I was very sad but I know that my Baba is always with me so I cheered up again. Then around 2 weeks later, I went to my cousin's place for Diwali. They had just been to Shirdi and they came. My uncle said he got a picture of Baba for me from Shirdi, which he put on Baba's tomb and near Baba's feet. I took the picture and opened it and GUESS WHAT?? It was the EXACT SAME, and I mean EXACT SAME, to the finest detail it was the exact same poster (picture) of Baba I have at home. Baba sent it to me. He knows everything and will do everything to keep his devotees happy. I jumped in joy. Baba is always with all of us. Om Sai ram, please keep blessing, protecting and taking care of all of us Baba. QUOTATION OF THE WEEK: "If wealth is used for only personal enjoyment, it is wasted" - Sri Sai Baba

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Q. What is the attitude of Sai devotees towards raising their children? A. by MV Ramaa Prasad No doubt, all parents love their children. In most of the cases, the kind of parental love that we see is mixed with attachment or 'moha'. Many cannot delineate the two components viz., love and attachment or 'moha'. Many times attachment is confused for love. In pure love, there is no place for possessiveness; but most of the parents are possessive of their children. Possessiveness and attachment lead to grief, unhappiness and consequently lack of peace. The kind of up bringing of children that we come across these days in most of the cases is clouded with possessiveness and expectations of different kinds from their children. A Sai devotee on the other hand should be guided by 'sai-tatwa' in raising his or her children. How this is be done can be seen in the case of Rege, a Sai devotee par excellence. Rege took his infant son to Shirdi and put him at the feet of Paramaguru Sai Baba. Baba asked Rege as to whom did the child belong. Rege said, "Baba, he is Yours." Then Baba said to Rege, "Raise him as My own." In other words Baba hinted that child should be raised with lot of love befitting a child of Sai; but without any attachment or possessiveness. Later, when the child became seriously ill, Rege prayed, "Baba, take him away, if your wish so and let me experience his left over 'karma' for being instrumental in his birth". That should be the attitude of a Sai devotee to his/her child. That is to say that the parent should consider himself / herself a custodian of Sai's child. In other words, the parents should realize that they are only instrumental in assisting in the earthly life of their children. Consequently, the parents must assume the duties and responsibilities of custodians in the up bringing of children, without any attachment or possessiveness. Once the child is considered as the gift of Sai Baba, it should be the responsibility of the parents to inculcate in the child the values of 'Sai-tatwa'. In other words, the child should be made aware of universal love, i.e., love for every one regardless of the facades of cast, creed, race and religion, which are man-made and love and commitment for truthfulness. A true Sai devotee would also inculcate in his / her children a spirit of understanding and tolerance towards faiths other than his / her own. Being a child of a true Sai devotee, the child should take to devoted worship of Sai Baba as Paramaguru and Para-brahman, who is all pervasive and omniscient. This should lead children of Sai devotees to take to 'satsangs' with the mandate of service to the downtrodden and underprivileged. Automatically, a child of Sai devotee should develop love for truthfulness, egoless simplicity and utmost devotion. Children raised with the values of 'Sai-tatwa' ingrained in them, will be diamonds in the glorious crown of Paramaguru Sainath and become agents of change for a better world. SAI ACTIVITIES:

Sri Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago and Suburbs, Illinois, USA Sri Shirdi Sai temple is open daily from 7:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m.(Summer hours). Daily program includes Kakad Arathi at 7 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 [email protected]. Sri Saibaba Mandir, Minneapolis, MN Sri 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 call 612789-7729 for more information on mandir activities, events and other information. Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas Sri 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. Shirdi Sai Temple of New England, Boston Area Sri 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 four days from Thursday to Sunday. For temple hours and activities please visit their website. Shirdi Sai Center in Bay Area, CA Shirdi Sai Center is located 897-B East Kifer Rd, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. For more information please call 408-705-7904 or 408-564-6704. Shirdi Saibaba temple, Los Angeles, CA Devotees 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. Saibaba Temple, Columbus, Ohio Devotees 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 Drive, Dublin, OH 43017. Please attend daily Aaratis and Thursday bhajans. For more information please call 614-799-8411. Shirdi Sai bhajans every Thursday at Maitland, Florida Devotees 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, TX Sri 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. Shirdi Sai Mandir, Dulles, VA Shirdi 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 call (703) 661-

4724 for more information on activities, events and other information. Shirdi Sai Mandir, Toronto The Mandir is located at Unit 7 & 8 2721 Markham Road Toronto ON M1X 1L5 Canada. Daily services offered to Baba include abhishek and all aartis. For Mandir hours and activities, please call 647-444-4724. Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Sansthan, Canada -Toronto Devotees in Toronto, are invited to join in Sai Namavali, Satcharita reading, Bhajans, Aarti and Prasad every Thursday from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. at GUR MANDIR 207 Queen's Plate Dr. Etobicoke - Hwy27 South of Finch for more info call (416) 294 4804 Sai Mandir, Baldwin New York Devotees in New York and surrounding locations are informed about Sri Sai Mandir in Baldwin NY. The temple is located at 1889 Grand Avenue, Baldwin, NY 11510. Please attend daily Aaratis and Thursday Panchamruta Abhishekam and bhajans. For more information please call at 516-867-8008. Shirdi Saibaba Temple, Iselin/Edison New Jersey Devotees in New Jersey and surrounding locations are informed about Sri Shirdi Saibaba temple in Iselin NJ. The temple is located at 465 Lincoln Highway (Route 27) Iselin, NJ 08830. Please attend daily Aaratis and Thursday Panchamruta Abhishekam and bhajans. For more information please call at 732-283-1800. Shirdi Saibaba Temple, Flushing New York This temple is located near the famous Ganesh Temple, Flushing, New york. All the day-to-day rituals at the temple are being conducted in a manner similar to that in Shirdi. The temple is located at 46-16 Robinson Street Flushing,NY,USA 11355. For more information please call 718-321-9243. FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD: Sai Vichaar has learnt that several have received their weekly email into their unwanted email folder due to the email filter function of the respective email providers. Please check your email folders before deleting to make sure Sai Vichaar is not delivered into Spam mail. In the true spirit of Sai devotion, contributors are requested to remember to suit the content, language, style, and presentation, appropriate to a worldwide readership. It should also be noted that when a section from any material other than their own is quoted or referred to, it is the authors' responsibility to acknowledge the source appropriately. Sai Vichaar requests the devotees to continue to submit to Sai Vichaar using the pages intended for various sections of Sai Vichaar. Sai Vichaar gratefully appreciates the patience of its readers during the past few weeks of revamping of our database. A Sai devotee suggested the The "Question of the week" for this week as,, Q. How does a Sai devotee deal with deceitful relationships and situations where there is abuse of trust? Humbly Yours, The Editor ABOUT THIS EMAIL: This newsletter is not sent unsolicited. This newsletter is e-mailed to you because of

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© Copyright 1998-2009 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.