Sai Vichaar http://www.saibaba.org/
Thursday , November 30, 2006 ::
Volume 9, Issue 29
(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:
The story of Baba's help with household responsibilities
How a man seeking to escape the discharge of his
worldly duties by running away for good from it on the
excuse of going on a pilgrimage, was persuaded by
Baba to return home and to shoulder his responsibilities
like a man, is best seen in the life of one Janardan
Moreshwer Fanse alias Haribhau Fanse.
Wearied with carrying on the burden of his worldly cares,
informing his mother Haribhau left his home for
Rameshwar; however as Shirdi was on the way to
Rameshwar, with a view to have the blessings of the far
famed Shri Baba he came to Shirdi and felt so much
attracted by Baba,. That he stayed at Shirdi for a week.
When thereafter he asked Baba's permission to go to
Rameshwar. He ordered him to go home, saying his
mother had abstained from food since the day he had
left home and if he failed to return home she might die.
The mother was very much pleased t see her son back
at home and was convinced that Baba was omniscient. In
the meanwhile a person of his village being attacked
with Cholera approached him; he administered to him
Shri Baba's holy ashes and he was cured. This led the
people to believe that he was a physician. The holy
ashes were however soon exhausted and so Haribhau
was embarrassed as to how he should deal with another
Cholera case, if he got one. But luckily for him Cholera
left his village since that day. Thereafter he happened to
go to a nearby village and casually met some Marwadi
merchant known to him. The merchant seeing that a
simple devotee had come to meet him, told Haribhau,"
Look here, my brother is seriously ill, all physicians,
doctors have tried their utmost to cure him but they
have all failed; now since you are Shri Sai Baba's
devotee, if your Sai Baba is really a saint, He must
cure my brother through you." Haribhau saw the patient
found the case to be serious, was therefore anxious to
slip away but as it was night, he could not leave for
home. At night when Haribhau's Bhajan (prayer) time
became due, the patient himself made the necessary
preparations for Bhajan and throughout the Bhajan sat
concentration on Baba's Photo. This surprised all and
the Marwadi now said," Whether the patient dies or
survives I will have his medicine form none but you."
To shirk the responsibility Haribhau purposely quoted
his fees in excess of those of the Civil Surgeon, at
Rs.200/-. The Marwadi agreed to that. That night
Baba appeared in Haribhau's dream and told him what
the disease was and the medicine to be prescribed for
it. Haribhau prescribed the said medicine and the
patient started taking this medicine; the patient full
recovered after a time and so the Marwadi offered
Rs.200/- the stipulated fees to Haribhau, but Haribhau
would not accept it stating he had done nothing, it
was his Guru's work. Marwadi could not rest satisfied
till he requited Haribhau's labor in some form or other
so he bought a scarf worth Rs.200/- and going to
Haribhau's house when he was out, left it there.
Haribhau could not now refuse the acceptance but
he felt that the price-amount of the scarf should be
sent to Baba. However as he was penniless and Baba
had also left off His body in the meanwhile, while
offering his usual night prayers, tears rolled down
his eyes.
That very night Baba appeared to him in his dream
and said, "There is famine all round at present, so
sell off the scarf and purchase rice from this amount
of Rs.200/-, sell it at under price for the present; carry
on this rice business till this amount of Rs.200/- runs
out. Then sell rice at profit and you will be able to
make a living." Following these instructions Haribhau
prospered, became happy and then never thought of
deserting home.
FEATURE OF THE WEEK: continued.......
Baba did not and does not even today want that His
devotees should starve; of course He discouraged
greed but He wanted that His devotees should have
a proper living and so He helped most of them up to
a job or provided them with facilities for business.
(Source: "Shri Sai the Superman" by Swami Sai
Sharan Anand)
CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Kabir - The devotee of the
Lord In the 14th century there lived a great saint by name
Swami Ramananda.
Drawing inspiration from the message of universal love
preached by Sri Ramanuja-AcArya three centuries earlier,
he changed the face of spiritual India by turning it in the
direction of simple bhakti, away from ritual and
caste-ridden rigidity. His most outstanding disciple was
Kabir (1398 - 1518),
India's greatest symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity. Kabir
accompanied Ramananda on pilgrimages throughout
India and in the process imbibed the revolutionary
spirit of the master. Kabir's lucid lyrics of devotion, for
the first time composed in the local language, Hindi,
rather than in elitist Sanskrit, reached the remotest
villages throughout the country. He was a rebel against
everything unspiritual and against all ritualistic norms in
both Hinduism and Islam. He strongly advocated respect
for, and the oneness of, all religions. Nobody knew of his
parentage because he was picked up as a baby by his
foster parent, a weaver by profession and a Muslim by
faith. He preached the greatness of the name Ram, still
remaining a Muslim. He taught nirguNa bhakti, i.e., the
devotion of the Transcendental Absolute, without form,
without attributes. His knowledge was not the outcome
of any study of the scriptures, unlettered as he was,
but it all arose from his own personal experience. He
preached against all exclusiveness, privileges and
priestcraft. He strongly condemned caste, circumcision
and idolatry but simultaneously believed in rebirth and
release from samsAra. He emphasized on God's Grace
as most essential for Illumination. As an experimenter
with truth, he spent much of his time in prayer and
contemplation. And when he spoke he spoke out his
mind fearlessly. His songs reverberate with his spiritual
experiences and visions. Most of his sayings were
expressed in brief form and have the appearance of
proverbs or folk wisdom, rather than deliberate
compositions. For instance, to make the point that God
is all-pervading, he asks: Tell me my friend, 'Is the
heart in the beloved or the beloved in the heart?'.
Kabir's teachings may be summarized, if at all they
can be, by saying that apart from God there is nothing
animate or inanimate with a separate existence. Every
insignificant creature has its share of the Existence
of the Absolute in itself. Man does not realize this
because of his elusive nature and the deception
(mAyA) caused by appearances. Once he frees
himself from this mAyA he realizes that he is in all
and all are in him and there is nothing else but he.
But this identity cannot be established by reasoning.
One has to take recourse to sahaj and transcend
the coarse mental process.
The word sahaj means the state of diverting the senses
from its morbidities to God. In the lake of sahaj, there
are only waves of love. The soul then sports with the
Lord in that lake. 'The lock of error shuts the gate, open
it with the key of Love' says Kabir. With his tremendous
popularity he could have easily established a sect
himself, but he did not, (though his followers did, after
his death) nor did he accept any sectarian thinking.
(Contributed by Courtesy: "Devotees of the Lord" by
Prof V. Krishnamurthy)
DEVOTEES SAY:
Shweta
I am really thankful to Shri Sai Baba. With His grace
I got my passport two days back which had been pending
for over a year. After contacting the passport office many
times there was no hope of it coming any time soon but
with Baba's aashirwad it came without any hurdles. May
His blessings always be on everybody and us.
Yogesh
Today, a pratima-pratisthapan (installation of an idol) of
Saibaba in our temple at home. And I wept like a child,
in total submission, total "samarpan" to God Almighty,
our very own beloved, Sai Baba. My heartfelt and
tearful thanks to our Respected Guruji and my
new-found spiritual friends who took special care to
come to my little home and do everything for us.
Without the blessings, inspiration and guidance of our
Respected Guruji nothing would have been possible.
My head also bows in reverence to Didi, Uncle and
my better half. Without whose blessings I could not
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