Sai Vichaar for Thursday, January 25, 2007

Sai Vichaar www.saibaba.org
Thursday , January 25, 2007 :: Volume 9, Issue 37
(In its nineth 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: Service
Sayee bhakth kare jo kucch bhee...accha ho parinaam...
Jo bhee inke dar pe aaya...banthe bigade kaam...

If silence is the language of the spirit, how does one
communicate it? If it is thought to happen at His will and
His alone, how does one receive it? Only because
someone wasn't silent and set out to share the peace
and happiness received by Sadguru's grace! One may
wonder if that amounts to being egotistic to go around
telling people about God's miracles in their lives and the
message shared through them. If that is being egotistic,
equally egotistic would be choosing not to share nor
participate in spreading His message within one's means.
However, one has to be careful about the double-edged
sword known as the sense of individual identity. The
identity that makes one raise above the obstructions and
render service may also come back and impart the doer
with the sense of doership.
Service, in any form, is a way of spreading God's message
and sharing His love with fellowmen. Such service needs to
be done, diligently, meticulously, with whole heart and
spirit, and most importantly with humility. Such service,
whether for a social purpose or to promote spiritual
awakening, will be successful. Shri Dabholkar wrote
Sai Satcharitra only after duly humbled by Sainath.
The humility of Dasganu Maharaj reflected in his costumes.
The most humble Booty was abundantly blessed for his
construction was consecrated due to Baba's samadhi mandir.
If one word describes the nature of a Sai devotee, it has to
be "Humility".
God of Gods, Shri Sai Baba called Himself, simply a servant
of God. Portrayed as the humblest of the humble and the
most merciful, Baba has several times stressed the importance
of humility. Humility is the most required attribute of a Sai
servant and only those who believe this and practice are
honored at Baba's court. The services of such, whether
towards a spiritual cause or other, will accomplish its
objectives.

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Spiritual Value of Food
Light and Love the night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but One; yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun. The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one;
Yet the fight of a whole life dies
When love is done.

The old saint looked kindly at the old businessman but
declined to attend the dinner proposed by him. All
persuasions yielded no result. Finally the businessman
slowly moved out of the ashram. After a distance, a
disciple of the saint came from behind and said that he
should not feel disappointed and that he would come
and attend the dinner on behalf of the saint and bless
him. The businessman agreed and next day the dinner
was held. On that night after dinner the disciple could
not meditate at all and could hear a low moaning of
a girl. This went on for three days. Ultimately, the disciple
approached his Guru and complained. The Guru asked
him to mention all that he had done in the last few days.
The disciple made a clean breast of the only unusual
event of the dinner he had in the businessman's house.
The all-knowing Guru told him that the businessman was
merciless money-lender. A poor agriculturist could not
repay the debt and the interest on it. He threatened the
helpless man and finally married his teen-aged daughter
in lieu of his debt as he had no male issue till then. This girl
was most unhappy at the turn of events and wept silently
in her lone moments. In that frame of mind, she prepared
the dinner which the disciple ate. The Guru explained that
while cooking, the personality of the cook would enter the
food through subtle vibrations. These unseen vibrations will
later enter into the personality of the eater and influence
his mind. That is the reason why his meditations were
disturbed. The Guru explained that what goes into the
mouth would greatly influence what comes out of it and
shape our lives. The food prepared in a spiritual frame of
mind, thinking only of God or Sadguru, will always give
peace of mind, with powers to divinely discriminate
between good and evil. Food especially taken

in hotels prepared and served with ungodly tendencies,
unruly behavior and foul in mouth do great harm to the
spiritual make-up of a person. Once in October 1916,
Bhikubhai came to Shirdi with barfi, watermelon and a
garland to offer to Sai Baba. She was a childhood friend
of Mother Radhakrishna Ayi and as she crossed Godavari
River in Kopergaon she saw the cremation site of
Radhakrishna Ayi, Overcome with emotion, she collapsed
at the site and wept bitterly. She felt Sai Baba was
ungrateful to Radhakrishna Ayi after all services to Baba.
She vehemently accused Baba. In such a frame of mind,
she came to Shirdi and offered barfi and watermelon to
Sai Baba. The all-knowing Baba refused to accept them.
When she wanted to garland Baba, mysteriously the
garland snapped itself into three parts. Bhikubai had to
return disappointed, Kaka Sahib asked Baba as to why
he refused the gifts of Bhikubai. Baba explained to him
that he cannot accept the eatables nor wear the garland
brought with such a troubled heart and mental uneasiness.

Sai Baba exhorted his devotees to think of Him before
they partook their food which would then become
sanctified from any spiritual impurities. Every action of
Baba had a meaning behind it. If we go deeper into
the matter we will thus begin to understand why he
acted so even while looking harsh externally.
(Contributed by Article by K. Navin Chander,
Courtesy: Sai Padananda, April 1998)

DEVOTEES SAY:
A Sai devotee
Ever since I started receiving this newsletter, I've been
feeling lighter. I'm also inexplicably experiencing the
strong feeling that Baba is near me. I have the habit
of reading at least one chapter of the Sai Satcharitra
every day; sometimes I feel so tired that I just read a
few pages and leave it off. But recently, I've observed
that despite the tiredness I find I can easily finish off
one chapter without any effort! I feel Baba is finally
showing me His mercy and grace. It seems like a
miracle.

Shipra
I had subscribed to Sai Vichaar some months back, I
used to get mails regularly but suddenly it stopped, I
wondered why. Yesterday I decided to sing Sai Arathi
for my Baba, basically I'm not a good singer but I
practiced. I wrote the lyrics listening to the Aarthi
cassette and sang wholeheartedly to my Sai. Today
I opened my mail and was astounded to find Sai Vichaar
newsletter and I was so happy that He exists, He listens
to devotees, so my friends believe in Him, He will never
let you down and He will come to you. It is my true
experience. Now I realized why in between the
newsletter didn't reach me, I was in some problems
and I had lost faith in my Baba but when I put my faith
and trust wholeheartedly again to my Baba, He came
to me forgiving me. Thanks Baba to be with me and
sorry for doubting Your powers and grace. Om Satguru
Shri Sainath Maharaj ke Jai.

Prathyusha
Thank you is a very simple word Baba. There is nothing
enough to thank You for what all You did to me. You got
me a job so soon without much struggle, that too at
Microsoft. Baba, I couldn't believe this and now I am really
getting scared that You might take away this from me.
This is not because I don't trust You, but I'm scared that this
is a huge responsibility and You know what I am really is.
Baba, here starts the new game. Be with me Baba, it's
only Your name that I can chant during tough times.

Karpagam
My father has been ailing for sometime. My brother and
sister in law have been taking care of him all these days.
To relieve my sister in-law for sometime, I prayed to Sai
that if Sai would make it possible for my sister to be able
to take him to her place in spite of unfavorable conditions
at her end, I would complete the Sai Parayan and post
this letter in Sai Vichaar. What a wonder!! Just a couple
of days after I started the Parayan, my sister was able
to take him to her place as she too wanted to take him
desperately but was not able to earlier, the situation
became conducive to her. Thanks to Sai for this.

Nirmala
Koti Koti pranam and thanks to Sacinand Sadguru Sainath
Maharaj for saving my son's life. My son came into my life
only due to Baba's blessings. Thank you Sainath for his
normal health reports.

Toral
My son had a stomach flu couple of days back; nothing was
working as he was vomiting continuously with a loose
motion. We got him medicine and again within one day it
started again. Then I prayed to Baba and I had a small udi
packet so from that I just put a small pinch of udi in his mouth
and did tika with the udi on his forehead when he went off
to sleep at night and see the miracle of Baba from that
moment vomiting stopped and loose motion also stopped
and he slept whole night.

PRAYER CLUB:
Sunitha
Baba please help my mother get on her feet and perform
her daily activities on her own. She has been a very good
person; she is suffering a lot now. Baba she believes in You
and has full faith in You. You are the only protector of her,
please help her. Let her suffering vanish and lead a happy
life from now on.

Venkatesh
Dear Baba devotees, I got a grandson after praying to Baba.
He was the cutest, but now he is 5 years old and have been
diagnonised as having autism. I am totally broken and don't
know what to do other than praying to Baba. He has been
kind enough always to me and blessed me with all my wishes.
I request all Sai devotees to pray for the cute boy to come out
of this problem and be a normal kid.

Sai devotee
Baba, I am really worried about my husband,s health and You
know it. Please Baba help me through this phase of my life.
Bless my husband with life and great health. I am under lots
of stress, please Baba, You know how much I love him, You
also know that I cannot live without him. By your grace and
blessings I got married to him, now You have to take care of
my married life. You have to take care of your child.
Please Baba help me.

Your devotee
Baba, I am totally confused and depressed. You know the
current state of affairs at home; don't know what to do. Please
make my husband more understanding and responsible. If
I am going wrong somewhere, please show me the right way
to deal with the situation. I turn to You, Om Sai to bless me
and my family with a peaceful existence. Also I am thoroughly
disappointed with my mother in law's behaviour towards her
siblings. Kindly show her the right path too.

Rachna
Baba, please bless me with child. Baba shower Your blessings
and bless me with a child. It has been time and I am sure that
this new year You will bless me. Please Sai don't disappoint me.
You know everything, You are the creater of the world so please
accept the small request from this child also.

Sai devotee
Baba, You know how much of mental tension I am going through
every minute. You have already helped us one year back on this
issue. Baba, kindly help us to overcome this whole problem. We
will leave everything to You and carry on with our routine work
Baba.

Kamal
Baba, please bless my mother who is having eye problem. Her
doctor has said she has aged macular degeneration(AMD) and
needs to be injected in the eye. Baba please bless her. She is so
found of reading and doing her pooja but because of her eye
problem she cannot see well and hence cannot read. I feel very
bad for her. Baba please give her strength and bless her to get
her eye-sight back. Baba, I am leaving it upto You to look after
her. Baba, please bless your children. Next month we are going
to India and want to go to Shirdi. Hopefully by Your grace and
blessings, we will make it to Shirdi. Baba, bless and guide us
always.

Sai devotee
Baba, please help me. You know very well Baba, that problem I
was faced. My mother is not feeling well, she is suffereing with
mouth cancer. She is unable to bear the pain. She has been
suffering for the past five years, give her relief in pain and also
she could not eat properly anything like other people. Baba
please put Your grace on my mother.

Lalima
Om Sai Ram ! Baba, as promised I am writing to thank you for
my father's successful operation. But we are wondering why
one of the wounds is not healing. We have faith in You and
know it will heal soon but in the meantime let our Shraddha
and Saburi soar to greater heights. Help my mother to get
better too and please keep blessing my family as You always
do.

EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES:

Sai devotee
I was not a staunch devotee of Baba, until my cousin got me
the book "Sree Sai Leelamrutham through mail from
www.saibaba.org website in January 2005. At that time we
were in terrible situation, for the past three years without
having a good job.. I started reading the book on Thursday
January 13th, without any desire in mind, to complete within
three weeks. Then things started to change in my life. I have
been experiencing His presence since then. Before completing
the parayana, my husband got another job. Then after
completion of three weeks parayana, I kept on reading
Saileelamrutham in 3 days parayana, like this I completed
21 times parayana and 5 times Sai Satcharitra parayana by
May 2005. During this time I felt so many good experiences
for me and for my children also without praying for them. By
end of June, my husband got a very good project in a big IT
company. Only with Sai's grace, we came out of such a terrible
situation. By the end of the year I looked back in my life and
realised that all of my problems had been solved. I don't have
enough words to thank Baba for making my life from such a
miserable and terrible status to wonderful and comfortable
status. I thought I will post my experiences in Sai Vichaar if
my husband gets the project without any delay. In September
2006 my husband's project was over and without any delay, he
got another project with Sai's grace. Now I am also one of the
strong believers of Sai. What my strong feeling is," When Sai
is there with you, nothing in this world is impossible to you. If
you take two steps towards Sai, He will take ten steps towards
you". I ask everyone to believe in Sai Baba and read Satcharitra
repeatedly, you can definitely get His grace and Sai will give
you more than what you ask him. I love You, Sai Deva!!!

Deepti
My brother was trying to get admission for his Master's degree
in USA. Almost all the Universities declined. Finally he was
waiting for response from two Universities, they were also taking
a long time. I prayed to Baba that if he thinks it is good for my
brother to come here and study, He will surely get him the
admission. And by Baba's grace on Thursday, he got the news
from both the Universities that he got the admission. He applied
for his Visa, but it got rejected. Then again all of us in the family
were worried. My brother re-applied for a visa. We prayed to
Sai Baba for the sanction. He had his interview on a Thursday,
and finally got the visa the same day. It is all Baba's grace and
blessings. My brother is now studing in the United States.

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK:
A miser who is attached to wealth thinks always of wealth. So
also when the devotee's heart is awakened and he has intense
longing for God, he remembers God constantly. Many people
say that when they repeat God's name they cannot concentrate
upon God. This is because they have no longing for Him. This
longing for God and holding God as our dearest object of love
is Bhakti.
-Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji


QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
Q. Comment on what Saibaba said to Dasganu Maharaj.
A. by .
Q. Saibaba said to Dasganu Maharaj, "Why do you want
all this paraphernalia-coat, uparani and pheta etc, do off
all that before Me, why wear them on the body?" - Comment?

SAI ACTIVITIES:
Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago and Suburbs, Illinois, USA
Shirdi 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@saibaba.org.

Shri Saibaba Mandir, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Saibaba activities in Minneapolis were conducted at Shirdi
Saibaba Prayer center since the year 2002. Now, with the
grace and blessings of Baba and the support of devotees, a
new Saibaba Mandir has begun to function at 1835 Polk
St NE, Minneapolis from July 11th 2006. Please visit
www.hamaresai.org for all details.

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 or visit the website
www.shirdisaidallas.org.

Shirdi Sai Center in Bay Area, CA
By Baba's grace, Shirdi Sai Parivaar is pleased to announce
the grand opening of Shirdi Sai Center in Bay Area. The
center is located at 897-B East Kifer Road, Sunnyvale,
CA 94086. For more information please call 408-564-6704
or 408-705-7904.

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 or visit www.shirdisaila.org.

FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD:
Devotees who are interested in receiving Sai Vichaar are
requested to visit www.saibaba.org/saivichaar.html and
subscribe for Sai Vichaar, the Newsletter from Saibaba.org.
Due to the volume of email IDs that needs be handled, the
subscription is automated as above. Devotee's cooperation
is sincerely appreciated.

The "Question of the week for this week is,
Q. Saibaba said to Dasganu Maharaj, "Why do you want
all this paraphernalia-coat, uparani and pheta etc, do off all
that before Me, why wear them on the body?" - Comment?

Humbly Yours,
The Editor