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.

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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: Merge into Shri Sai!

To gauge or comprehend Shri Shirdi Sainath is very difficult and impossible for an average person. Whatever is known about Him is very little and that too mostly of the last eight or ten years of His life and stay in Shirdi. A few rare pictures that are available describe his majestic physical form. But his overall personality has to be understood through perception from the available stories about Him. After reading about Him, it could be said that either God descended in a human body or a man ascended to Godhead. Either way it is clear that the human body does hold the key to understanding the myth or truth about God. The influence of the personality of Shri Shirdi Sai did not end with his leaving the mortal coil. In fact today Shri Sai Baba has become a phenomenon and a household name in millions of homes across the globe. An entire nation has come in the grip of His aura. Today in India there is not a major city where a temple dedicated to Shri Sai does not exist. If this phenomenon was limited to a particular country, then it could be termed local or cultural, but it is not so. There are groups of self-motivated individuals in many countries who in their own ways and means are carrying out organized worship to Shri Sai. Some of these efforts have already culminated into temples outside India and more are on their way.

By providing individualistic service to each of his devotee sometimes at great inconvenience to Himself and by forging a unique relationship with each which is highly emotive in nature, Shri Shirdi Sai exhibits a very complex personality. Shri Sai tried to break the man made traditions and fanaticisms that existed during his time and brought together the people of differing faiths under one fold. Love and compassion were His main weapons in dealing with all. With fairness to all and ever ready to listen and help, Shri Sai developed individual relationships with those who came to Him. He nicknamed all his favorite visitors. The personalities of His visitors changed to reflect a shade of His own personality, such is the miracle of Shri Sai. That phenomenon of transforming an individual by constant invisible yet certain companionship continues even today. Beginning to understand Shri Sai is to experience Him in one's daily life and chores. Mere reading will not suffice. Slowly but surely the great master will evolve the soul that comes into contact with Him, cleaning its impurities on the way and drawing it ever so close to Himself that eventually that soul will merge into His own personality.

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Miracles!

Miracles happen in every one's life on a periodic basis. Some notice it while others do not. Miracles come in various shapes, forms and the effect it has on the person who experiences or witnesses it. Miracles need to be differentiated from a magician's trick. For most people when they experience something out of the ordinary, it appears as a miracle, especially more so if that is tied to some religious or spiritual topic or subject.

For some, a life saved in the most adverse situations is a miracle! For some, things materializing out of nowhere are a miracle! In the early 1960s, western scientists performed controlled experiments on some Mediums (in this context, a medium is a person who can communicate with souls from other worlds using their clairvoyant skills) and noticed that a medium could call on external forces and have the furniture around them moved about or hang in mid air. (One can go on the Internet and read about the experiences of many such great Mediums.)

Witnessing something that seems impossible or out of the ordinary alone should not be labeled as a Miracle. The effect that the said miracle has on both the object and subject are equally important. Nature has in its fold many hidden attributes, properties and laws that we are not aware of. Human beings stumble upon these hidden aspect of nature periodically, discover and later apply them to use. These discoveries have been happening since time immemorial. What seems common like a cell phone or pager today would be a miracle for someone from the earlier centuries!

Miracles that tend to have materialistic aspects such as materializing objects or things are more geared towards satisfying the ego of a person who craves for influencing, seeing or observing something. It is either help from the other side as a medium or direct knowledge of the hidden laws of nature that are used to perform such miracles. Scientists agree that this universe comprises of atoms and sub atoms that are in constant motion. The whole universe is in constant motion! It is further said that single unbroken particles are rotating around their vortex. According to some Meta physicists, it is the speed at which particles are rotating around its vortex that makes it visible or not. For instance, take a table or mountain, it appears as a solid to the naked eye but deep within each particle is rotating on its vortex but at a very slow speed. On the other hand, consider gas or air, it is also composed of particles that are rotating at a very fast speed around its vortex. By slowing the speed of the vortex of particles one can make the particles appear to the naked eye.

When one embarks on a spiritual journey and constantly practices meditation, one gains knowledge of lot of hidden treasures of Nature. A truly spiritual advanced soul will not use this knowledge for any personal gain. They may use these to aid in healing the sick and needy as the great Reiki masters do. On the other hand, Perfect Masters such as our Sadguru Shri Sai do not need to perform any miracles. They are in such a high state of consciousness that their mere wish becomes the command for Nature! Their mere glance satisfies and nourishes the hungry soul. Cheap miracles are not their calling cards! The biggest miracle Shri Sai performs is to change the nature of the person whom he attracts inside out and continue with it in life after life so that it attains perfection to the same state that He is in!

(Contributed by saibaba.org team)

DEVOTEES SAY:

Bharani
Baba Sai, Thank you for providing this job to my husband. We had been praying continuously for the past two years without loosing out on our belief in Baba. Sai devotees, please don't loose hope, Baba is here to help us, I had undergone lots of pain and agony but was praying Baba without losing hope through the most depressing and no win situations, and finally Baba has blessed us by giving this job.

Sai devotee
This is my thanks giving to my Sai for taking care of my husband during his operation, making it possible for me to visit Sai Dham, Kandivili on Ram Navami day, blessing me always in every small things that I think about. I really feel your presence around me, and I feel so nice about it.

Soundarya
Few weeks back, my sister-in-law's father was sick and doctor's had given up, she was very sad. It is our habit, whenever we have some problem, we write it in a slip and place it in Satcharita. Always the problem get solved. So we told my sister-in-law, to write a slip about her father and place it in Satcharita. She wrote to Baba please either cure her father or take him to you peacefully, as we can not see him suffer. One day, in the morning her father was not well, she felt she must bring doctor to examine him, so she drove to doctors home and was waiting for the doctor in her car. A stranger came with Baba's photo and was asking her to see Baba. He uttered this several times. At the same time she came to know her father has expired at home. We all felt it was Baba who came and took him.

Madhura
A few weeks ago when my dog fell off 2 stories, he was bleeding badly and we were certain that he would not survive the fall. We rushed him to the hospital where we were asked to leave. I remember coming home and begging Sai for his life. I told Sai that if anything happens to him I will stop believing in helping anybody, animals and people alike because after having rescued my dog if he was to die in this manner it would be terrible. I asked for Sai leela and then a miracle happened. I went to the hospital and my eyes could not believe what I saw and heard. My pet had absolutely no injuries, no fractures, no head injury nothing except for 1 broken tooth! This has to be Sai leela since it is impossible to believe that anybody could have escaped such a bad fall! I thank Sai with all my heart!

PRAYER CLUB:

Kanthy
Baba my family is suffering with lots of financial problems. They had lots of ups and downs in there life. They took loan for my marriage. My family is feeling very depressed today because of my brother. Baba now my brother is working very hard to get a good job. Please help us.

Radhika
Sai Ram, my mother is suspected of having blood cancer. Please pray that her bone marrow biopsy report comes normal.

Mamata
Please Baba I think I am suffering from a depression due to the issues we have, Please have mercy on us and please bless us with a child, Please bless my husband so he gets a job here in the same place as I am.

Mahalakshmi
Baba please bless us with a child.

Ranjeetha
My mother is diabetic and also much tensed in life. The dentist has asked her to remove her tooth due to diabetics and she is very upset. Please let her XRAY come normal and bless her with good health and happiness in life.

Vasanthi
Baba, please shower your mercy on my husband for his job and bless him to meet the expectations of his bosses and get confirmed. Please bless my daughter with her college admissions and show her the path to a successful career.

Anandhi
Dear devotees pray for me to Baba to help me find a good job which will take care of my financial burden and also get rid of my mental depression.

Praveena
Please resolve this without a lot of complications and let us move on with the new path You have shown us.

Rajiv
Bless my pregnant wife with a healthy baby. Bless my daughter. Bless my parents. Please be with us always. You have given more than what I deserved. We all thank You very much for providing us everything what we needed.

EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES:

Narayana
My son did not do well in his exams playing internet games and watching TV all the time. He failed in exam, he felt ashamed and guilty, attempted to commit suicide twice, later he left the house. We are all devotees of Sai baba. We prayed Baba for the return of our son. Luckily, by the grace of Baba both his attempts to commit suicide have failed and he came back home after three weeks. Now, he is doing very well in his studies. We pray Baba to shower his blessings on our family.

Vish
I run a medium sized IT company. We had a major Government related Employee problem. This could have bankrupted the business. The issue happened before I took over the company, but I was responsible for the resolution now. The attorneys were giving a pessimistic view and I was very concerned. I generally do not ask Baba for specific help. However, after this problem started, I had a chance to take the darshan of padukas of Swami Samarth Akkalkot Maharaj in Mumbai. I decided that if the problem is resolved I will write in devotees experiences. By Baba's grace, the issue got dropped with minimal damages to us. This greatly surprised me and is similar to Shri Dhumal winning a case for a Baba devotee! Great is Baba's grace

Ramkumar
I have been having health problems lately and I was worried if something that happened in my young age would have affected my heart. Doctors asked me to take echocardiogram and I was so concerned. My wife was reading the Satcharitra (which she had started a couple of days earlier and vowed to complete within a week) while I went in for the Echo test and it happened that she was reading a particular chapter (Chapter 21, I guess) that states about how the devotees were cured of their diseases. What a wonder! We were hopeful that Baba would protect me. We were so relieved when the report came out and it was normal. Though I am still having issues with my health, the doctors aren't able to find out the exact cause. But I keep praying to Baba and I am very confident he is going to be with me and bless me.

Lakshmi
I have been married for 8 months now. With Baba's blessings I have got a wonderful husband. But, after marriage due to professional reasons we had to live in different cities in India. I used to travel every weekend and I was kind of stressed out in the last 8 months. Finally, we have decided to look for a job in the same place in USA. I was working for one MNC company in India. When I informed that I might move to USA, my company offered me a job in the same group in USA by seeing my past performance without even conducting interview. It was just a miracle. Soon after my job got finalized, my husband got a job in the same place where my office is. This all just happened with Baba's grace. He has planned so well for both of us and we are sure that he will be with us through out rest of our lives. I visit Shirdi 4 to 5 times in a year. We went to Shirdi in March 2005 to take his blessings before leaving India. Due to huge crowd they were not allowing to touch the Samadhi. I wanted to keep my offer letter on Samadhi. I gave it to Pujari over there. Not sure whether he will keep it on Samadhi or not. To my surprise, he kept my offer letter on Samadhi for a long time and then he kept it on the feet of Saibaba and gave me beautiful roses which were there near Baba's feet along with the offer letter. I took them as Baba's Blessings. I prayed Baba that I want to touch the Samadhi before I leave but not sure how it will be possible. I went for second darshan on the same day. I couldn't believe when they were letting people to touch the Samadhi in my second darshan. My husband has become great devotee of Baba too and he also started reading Sai Satcharitha everyday. Baba is part of my life. There is no life without Him.

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK:

"Satsang, i.e. moving with the good, is good. Dussang, i.e. moving with evil-minded people is evil and must be avoided".-Sai Baba

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

Q. What is the best way to worship Sai baba of Shirdi? What should be our routine?

A. by Pratyusha

Hemadpant has given us a novel form of worship. Let us, he says, use hot water in the form of tears of joy to wash the Sad-guru's feet, let us besmear His body with sandal-paste of pure love, let us cover His body with the cloth of true faith, let us offer eight lotuses in the form of our eight Sattwik emotions and fruit in the form of our concentrated mind; let us apply to His head bukka (black-powder) in the form of devotion and tie the waistband of Bhakti and place our head on his toes.

After decorating the Sad-guru with all jewelry in this way, let us offer our all to Him and wave chamar of devotion to ward off heat. After such blissful worship, let us pray thus:- "Introvert our mind, turn it inward, give us discrimination between the Unreal and the Real and non-attachment for all worldly things and thus enable us to get Self-realization. We surrender ourselves, body and soul (body-consciousness and ego). Make our eyes Yours, so that we should never feel pleasure and pain. Control our body and mind as You will and wish. Let our mind get rest in Your Feet". If you have performed worship in this way there is no question of whether you are a vegetarian or non-vegetarian.

Q. What is the best way to worship Sai baba of Shirdi? What should be our routine?

A. by LV Subbarao

Worship means performing Pooja, Archana, Service to GOD, Aradhana. Generally we conduct worship to different idols in different ways according to the prevailing custom to the region to which one belong to. In the case of performing worship of Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi, since there are devotees hailed from all over the world in view of HIS wide spread Glory people from various places conduct worship according to how they feel about His presence to them. In fact worship is nothing but Service to God. Sri SAI finds no particular restrictions of worship.
Sri Shirdi Sai never prescribed any asan, regulation or any rites to His bhaktas. HE said to leave of all cleverness and always remember Sri Sai and when that would be so, all the shackles would be removed and be free, vide, Ch.10 of Sri Sai Satcharita. Also Sri Sai said, 'if you spread your palms with devotion before ME, I am immediately with you, day and night, vide, Ch.15 of Sri Sai Satcharita. Under Ch.11 of Satcharita, it has been said that Dr.Pandit was allowed to draw Tripundra (three horizontal lines) on HIS forehead, though HE never allowed any devotee to do it for the reason that Dr. Pandit believed HIM as his guru Raghunath Maharaj of Dhopeswar known as Kaka Puranik.
In fact, I feel that the way of worshipping generates from the idea that comes from inner soul and it relates to the past janmas krupa and allows any way of worship when the devotee maintains unalloyed devotion to the God Sri Sai. HE corrects it through His mysterious ways where necessary if the devotee has to follow particular method alone in any particular instance. We should never forget that HE is our abode and residing in our heart, that is, our SELF alone. As stated in Ch.6 of Sai Satcharita, the determination to start and finish the pooja is the abandonment of all desires. Thus the intention to perform worship shall allow us to commence and finish it by the Grace of Sri Shirdi Sai.

Hence, there would be no confusions in performing service to Sri Shirdi Sai. The routine thus goes as per our intention and desire to perform the worship.

Evidently, food restrictions does not come in the way of worship of Sri Sai Baba. As one may feel whether to perform pooja before taking any food or sometimes in certain cases of individuals it may be inevitable to take in something even before commencing worship for many reasons. However being Sri Sai's devotee one should naturally go into satwick food habits. As devotion increases manifold, the Grace of Sri Shirdi Sai shall systemize all the habits.

SAI ACTIVITIES:

Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago and Suburbs, Illinois, USA
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 maildrop@saibaba.org.

Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, Minnesota
Regular 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@yahoo.com, 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, 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 Satsang, Bay Area, California
Shirdi 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@yahoo.com or visit www.ShradhaSaburi.org.

Sai Satsang, New Jersey, USA
Shirdi Sai Dham, Inc regularly conducts Sai bhajans followed by Aarti and Parsad on every 1st Saturday of each month at Durga Mandir, Kendall Park, New Jersey from 3 pm to 5 pm (Winter Hours). All are requested to kindly come and receive Baba's blessings. For more information, please call us at 609-275-1334 or visit www.shirdisaidham.org or email us at shirdisaidham@hotmail.com

Shirdi Sai Satsang, Toronto, Canada
Shirdi Saibaba Sansthan invites all to join for satsangs every Thursday 7:00 pm at Sai Dwarkamai, 147 Winston Castle Dr. Markham, Ontario, L6C 2N4, phone 416-402-8089 or email: saileela99@yahoo.com. To request a pooja for yourselves, your friends and family for any occasion at your residence, please call. Devotees can request udi or Holy water (Abhishek Jal) from the Holy bathing of Baba by sending us an email or by phone.

Shirdi Sai Mandir, Scarborough, Canada
The Shirdi Sai Mandir located at 2721 Markham Road, Scarborough, Ontario, 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 is at 7:30 p.m. everyday. Bhajans are 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@theshirdisaimandir.com.

FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD:

Sai devotee Sadashiv Kavthankar suggests the following "Question of the week" as

Q. Name any one incident during The Life of Shri Sai Baba which has made an lasting impression on you?

Humbly Yours,
The Editor

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