Importance of following teachings

To be with Shri Sai we have to be tuned with his spirit, the spirit of love, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of the power of control, the spirit of all his qualities, and always follow him and his teachings to succeed in life. Baba always tells that the temples came into existence when man lost his way, forgetting how to treat others or how to live together in peace. Teachings were given to try to bring man back to his original nature, to teach him the goal of oneness in life and following good instincts. There-fore, you should follow any good teaching you find. When any good thoughts or ideas come, immediately follow them, be-cause that is the dictation of Baba. You will find all these teachings in the book and following these principles in life makes our very existence meaningful.

The Glory of Shirdi SaiThe Glory of Shirdi Sai

0 8 – M A R C H - 2 0 1 2 Y E A R 2 0 1 2 — I S S U E 0 5

गरहमा गरिवर ण: गरदरवो महशवर: | गर: शाकषात परहम तःम ौीगरव नमः:||

CONTENT Satsangs of SaiBaNisaji Time Machine Shirdi Dairy Sri Sainatha Mananam The Dreams Train Devotees Corner Baba’s close devotees Children Section Spiritual Gems From Sai Satcharita Quintessence

ौदधा सबरी

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JAI SAI RAM

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Kind Attention

P A G E 2

Sarvaa

dharaaya

Namah

1911 24 December Sunday, Shirdi In the morning I got up early and went to the Kakad Arti. On my return I prayed and walked about. Mr Maruti got permission to return So he went away with all his family after saying good bye to nearly every one. He is a very very good man. Wamanrao Patel also went. Then came a large number of visitors. Among them was a lady by name Annsuyabai. She appeared to be spiritually advanced and Sayin Maharaj treated her with great consideration and gave her four fruits. Later on he told the story of a man having five sons. Four of them demanded & obtained partition. Two of these four decided to reunite with the father. The latter ordered the mother to poison one of these two & she obeyed. The other fell from a tall tree, got injured, & was on the point of death but was allowed by the father to survive about twelve years until a son & a daughter were born to him & then he died. Sayin Baba said nothing about the fifth son & to me the story looks incomplete. After the midday meal I lay down for a while & then sat reading the Ramayana. The mail arrived & I had a good read out of the dailies. In the evening we went as usual to Salute the Sayin Saheb oppose the Chavadhi, and at night had Bhishmas Bhajan and Dixits Ramayan. Dr Hate is still here & is a very very nice man. Mr Mahajani is also here.

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Sai has always let the fire burn 24 hours for all his time in Dwarakamai of Shirdi. There is a very beautiful description in Shri Sai Satcharita, in which Hemadpant describes Baba standing in the corner of Dwarakamai after the afternoon arati and distribute udi to His devotees. He gives udi with kind, smiling face. he also invites all his devotees to have lunch after the udi prasad. Let us follow his teachings and let the dhuni of Shirdi Sai be in our heart and burn all our unwanted desires in heart. We need to carry his sacred fire in our mind.

Pujyasri B.V.Narasimhaswamiji, who visited Shirdi in the year 1936, collected authentic information about Lord Sainath from persons lived with Sai and wrote many books on Lord Sainath. All his works are authentic . One such book is SRI SAINATHA MANANAM. This book was published as early as in the year 1942 and the fourth edition came in the year 1945.

P A G E 3 Y E A R 2 0 1 2 — I S S U E 0 5

Thoughts Sweeet, O Sai, is thy name, Sweet is thy form. He that experiences the sweetness of they name and form will transcend all form and reach the supreme. Honey is sweet, Curds are sweet:

And so are grapes, and sugar too. But sweeter than the sweetest things, Is the song My Sai sings.

To those who have tasted the sweetness of Sai's love, dinners do not appeal. Those who embraces the feet of Sai Rama, talk of him and repeat his name joyously and say "With you, that is Heaven.Without you, that is Hell" What one earns by residing at Kasi for sixty thousand years one gains in half a minute surely by the love of Sree Sai This Sayesa is the Kalpa Vriksha (the wish yielding tree) is the Kamadhenu, and the Chintamani. Always take the name of Sai. The Ganges removes sin(Papa), the moon, fatigue, the Kalpataru, poverty. The Guru Sai's grace removes alike sin, fatigue and poverty. To attain wealth, seek tha aid of Kubera. To attain Moksha, seek Maheswara's aid and to attain health the aid of the Sun. Seek everything from the feet of Sai and those at his feet. The wish jewel Chintamani grants worldly happiness. Indra grants the joys of his heavenly world. The Guru, if propitious,grants Vaikunta itself, which cannot be reached even by yogis. The merit of giving a crore of cows or visiting Kasi during eclipses or of residing for myriads of years at Prayaga on the banks of the Ganges and performing yajnas there, or of giving mountains of gold can never equal the merit of Sai Nama Japa. What need is there of alms giving and baths at holy places, of tapas(austerities) and yagas(sacrifices),to one who always dwells in his heart on Sai, that dwells in all hearts.?

...will continue.....

P A G E 4

Bhaktavana

Samartaaya

Namaha

T H E G L O R Y O F S H I R D I S A I

DEVOTEES EXPERIENCE AND ARTICLES INTRODUCING SHRI SHIRDI SAI BABA - (Late) Dr. RS.R. Swami

ON A SINGLE POINTED DEVOTION (Continued from last issue) Once a scoffer asked me, "Is your Shirdi baba alone the only true saviour whom every one must approach?" No, Certainly not. I do not say so. Nor did Baba Himself. He reiterated the vedic axiom 'Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudha Vadanti' Baba Himself told a questioner who asked Him whether he should cease worshipping his Ishta devta and kuladevata. You continue to worship whomsoever you are worshipping now If you are a devotee of Ram, Krishna, Shiva, Dutta, Maruti and so on be more and more devoted in your worship. If you are a Christian, be a better Christian; if a Muslim, be a better Muslim. You must try to see me in other incarnations and the other incarnations in meHe did not merely say it. He manifested Himself as Ramachandra, Krishna, Dattatreya, Panduranga, Maruti, etc. to their respective devotees who at first were averse to accept Him as a divine incarnation. Will continue…

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Dreams Of Saibanisa Compiled by Saibandhu Raghu Raman Satulury 12-06-1997: Sai appeared as villager and said: Your lives are like the banana fields and I am the caretaker to ensure

proper growth and good yields. In return I want you to have devotion and patience.

To keep up my word with devotees I am ready to go to any extent. Happiness is reflection of the state of mind and I shall join in sharing

your joy. State of mind is guarantor for peace

P A G E 5 Y E A R 2 0 1 2 — I S S U E 0 5

Devotees Experience: Om Sai Ram. Where do I start and what can I say about the miracles I have seen in my life after I started believing in Sai Baba. I still remember when I first visited Shirdi, it seems to be a few days ago but it has been almost 20yrs now. Even after that I never seriously prayed to Baba. Early in the morning after taking shower I had the habit of folding my hands in front of the dieties just for few seconds. This was my prayer, but I used to do it everyday. For the first time after secondary school when I could not get into medical school, which was my dream, I felt that I was not lucky enough and that God was not with me. I prayed to Shirdi Sai for the first time to get me into a medical school and for that I visited Sai Baba temple everyday for 11 days. Just after this I saw a paper ad about a medical college in another state which was offering seats to the other state students too. I felt so happy that I could atlast get into my dream profession. From then on I started believing SaiBaba. I thought that my problems have been solved once I got into medicine, but I did not know that it was just the beginning. After medicine my parents tried to get me married but could not find a suitable match. It was almost 5yrs after completing medicine, I was not getting married and on the other hand all my cous-ins got married. Wherever I go all the relatives used to enquire about me. I started feeling depressed and frustrated . At the same time I have given exams to do residency in US, but unfortunately I could not fare well in those exams too. I was praying Baba to set right everything or just take away my life as I did not have any more patience to bear this further. At that time my parents got an alliance for me . The guy was an engineer who was US returned and was planning to stay in India. I thought may be God had planned this for me and accepted it, but I did not know that this was a boon in disguise. My husband is a very loving, kind and generous person taking very good care of me. After 1yr of mar-riage we got an opportunity to come to US. Initially I was staying at home and it was during this time that Sai Baba had become very dear to me . I used to sit in front of the idol and talk to him, tell him everything as if I am talking to a friend or my parents. I was getting bored sitting at home, at this time my husband encouraged me to continue with my studies. I gave all my exams again and could do really well this time, but my graduation year was a big problem to get into residency. By this time I had two kids by the grace of Sai Baba and I named both of them as "SAI". I had to make a tough decision to send my kids to India along with my parents to seriously try and get into residency. I sincerely prayed to Sai Baba that if I get into residency I will perform 9 Thursday's vrat and that I will also post my story. I also read Satcharitra everyday and made a sincere effort to follow it. The day I came to know that I got a residency position, I felt so happy and this was all Baba's miracle be-cause there are thousands of young doctors, with really good scores and who are just out of the college applying every year fo a very limited number of seats. On the other I was a very old graduate and with medium scores but was able to get into a very good program. Sometimes when I get tensed even due to a small issue I think that Baba is with me and he will take care of everything, I feel so relaxed and this has been strenghtening my devotion and belief in him.These are only a few but major miracles I have experi-enced. Everytime I wanted to test Baba he was successful making me believe in him more and more. As promised to Baba I am posting my story here so that it will be inspiring to others and strengthen their devotion towards SaiBaba. I can just say that Baba is there with us all the time, protecting us and with sin-cere devotion you can realize this. "Om Sai Shree Sai Jaya Jaya Sai" Courtesy: http://www.shirdisaigift.com

P A G E 6

Baba’s Close Devotees Rao Bahadur S.B.Dhumal, B.A., LL.B, Pleader, Brahmin, aged 63, Nasik Nasik, 16th October, 1936 & Shirdi, 28th October, 1936

I may close this account with two incidents from the life of the Late Mr.H.S.Dixit personally communicated by him to me. Mr. Dixit was literally getting embarrassed in his fi-nancial arrangements. On one occasion he found that a sum of Rs.30,000 was due to be paid four days later and he was troubled about the question wherefrom and how he was to get the money. That night he dreamt of the creditor as tor-menting him with his claim for the amount and he replied in the dream to the creditor in order to reassure him "Do not fear that your amount will not be duly repaid. I have my resources. I know Sir Chimanlal, Sir X and Sir Y. So

do not fear." Shortly thereafter he woke up and remembered the dream. He was aghast at his own ungrateful folly and stupidity in relying on the poor human sup-port of Sir X, Sir Y and Sir Z who would probably disappoint one at the critical moment and leave him in the lurch and his failing to recognize that his only and true sheet-anchor or Providence was Sri Sai. He wept at his folly and went before the portrait of Sai Baba and entreated him to pardon the folly.

Thereafter he felt assured that Baba and Baba alone would help him. It was up to Baba to save him and Baba would never fail a devotee at the hour of need. Yet as the day and hour for payment were nearing, he could not discover any money forth-coming. Just the day previous to the due date, while he was ruminating upon his affairs in his office, the son of his late intimate friend and banker called upon him and wanted his advice whether a sum of Rs.30,000 he had, should be invested in one way or in another. Mr.Dixit explained to him difficulties in the proposed in-vestments and added that if the investor was thinking of investing with Mr. Dixit himself, he would be the last person to take advantage of his intimacy with his fa-ther and accept the deposit. Mr. Dixit frankly stated that in his embarrassed condi-tion, he would not be able perhaps to return the deposit on the date fixed. The visi-tor far from being deterred by such revelation insisted that the revealed facts were just his reason for insisting that Mr. Dixit should accept the deposit. The son would not be true to his father, if he failed to help him with an accomodation at the time of need. In this view, he pressed the deposit on Mr. Dixit, who thereupon paid his

T H E G L O R Y O F S H I R D I S A I

Bhaktaava

Pratijnaaya

Namaha

P A G E 7 Y E A R 2 0 1 2 — I S S U E 0 5

creditor at the due date. Sai had shown himself capable of wielding tens of thousands of rupees and moulding peoples' wills and intentions to suit his scheme of helping his devotees.

Mr.Dixit's younger brother, Sadashiv, B.A., LL.B., tried his hand at practice at Nagpur, Bombay and Khandwa successively with disheartening results. Then H.S.Dixit cast lots before Baba, and with Baba's consent again took him to Bombay to work in his office. After a short time, the result seemed to be unsat-isfactory. Mr. Sadashiv told his brother that he would go away. H.S.D. wondered how in spite of Baba's approval of Sadashiv's being taken to Bombay, the step should prove to be utterly futile. In any case, he thought, he would postpone his brother's return to Khandwa till after the approaching Deepavali holidays. During those days, things took a strange turn. A friend of Mr.H.S.Dixit came to him and said that the Cutch State required a highly reliable Officer for their Bank with a knowledge of Gujarati. At once Mr.H.S.Dixit asked him if Mr.Sadashiv would suit. The friend was very glad to have Sadashiv (whom he believed not to be available) and recommended him to the State. Thenceforward, Sadashiv, who was found a failure at Law in so many places, got appointed on a salary of Rs. 1,000 a month and held it for a long time. This upshot showed that Baba in allowing or directing his devotee to go to Bombay was seeing not merely the immediate and near future but more distant prospects and enduring benefits.

Stories for this Week: “Brahmin and Cobra”

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Aridatta was a Brahmin who was very poor. He was a farmer but the piece of land he cultivated gave him very little to survive. One day, unable to stand the heat of the summer sun, he went to a big tree in his land to rest for a while. Before he could spread himself on the ground he saw in the nearby anthill a huge cobra sway-ing with his hood open. He thought, “This cobra must really be the Goddess of this land. I have never worshipped her, which is why I am not able to get anything from the land. From today, I will worship her.” At once he went back to his village and returned with a glass full of milk.

He poured it in a bowl and turning to the anthill said, “O ruler of the land, I did not know you were living in this anthill. That is why I have not paid my tribute to you. Please excuse me and accept this humble offering.” He then placed the bowl of milk at the anthill and left the place.

Next day when the Brahmin came to his land before the Sun was up, he saw a gold coin in the bowl he had left at the anthill. Hence-forth, he came alone every dawn, collected the coin, offered the milk in the bowl and left. One day the Brahmin, leaving for another village on business, asked his son to go to the anthill and offer milk. When the son went the next day, he found a gold coin in the bowl. He collected the coin and thought, “This anthill must be full of gold.

If I kill the cobra, I can collect all the gold in one go instead of coming here every day.”

He then struck the cobra with a big stick. But the cobra deftly dodged the blow but stung the son to death with his poisonous fangs. Returning to his village the next day, Haridatta heard the story of his son’s death and at once realized that greed was

T H E G L O R Y O F S H I R D I S A I

behind it.

The Brahmin went to the anthill the day after his son’s cremation and offered milk to the co-bra. Without coming out of his hole, the cobra told Haridatta, “You have come here for gold forgetting that you had lost a son and that you were in mourning. The reason is greed, pure greed. From today, there is no meaning in our relationship. Blinded by his youth, your son has struck me and I bit him

back. How can I forget that blow? How can you suffer the grief of your son’s death?

Finally, I am giving you this diamond, don’t come back again.”

Mother Earth provides enough

to satisfy every man's need,

but not every man's greed.

~Mahatma Gandhi

EXCESS OF GREED IS HARMFUL

P A G E 1 0

Anna-Vastra

Dhaaya

Namaha

T H E G L O R Y O F S H I R D I S A I

Chapter 47 Contributed by: swamy@saimail.com ..

Baba's Reminiscence

The Snake and the Frog The traveler was much surprised; he said that he could not understand how the snake dropped the frog and disappeared at the words uttered. Who was Veerbhadrappa? And who was Bassappa and what was the cause of their enmity? I returned with him to the foot of the tree, and after sharing again a few puffs of smoke with him I explained the whole mystery to him as follows: - Sai Ram. This indeed is a beautiful story and is very cleansing. Pl. read and enjoy. Sai Ram. There was ancient holy place sanctified by a temple of Mahadev (Lord Siva) about 4 or 5 miles from My place. The temple was old and dilapidated. The residents of the place collected funds for its repairs. After a large amount was collected, arrangement for worship was made and plans with estimates for repairs were prepared. A rich local man was appointed the treasurer and the whole work was entrusted to him. He was to keep regular accounts, and be honest in all his dealings. He was a first class miser and spent very little for the repairs, which consequently made very little progress. He spent all the funds, swallowed some amount himself; and spent nothing from his pocket. He had a sweet tongue, and was very clever in offering plausible explanations, regarding the poor and tardy progress of the work. The people again went to him and said that unless he lent his helping hand and tried his best, the work would not be complete. They requested him to work out the scheme and again collected subscriptions, and sent the amount to him. He received it, but sat as quiet as before, without making any pro-gress. After some days, God (Mahadev) appeared in his wife's dream and said to her – You get up, build the dome of the temple, I will give you a hundred fold of what you spend. She told this vision to her husband. He was afraid that it would involve him in some expenses; and therefore, laughed it out, saying that it was a mere dream, a thing not to be relied and acted upon, or else why did not God appear to himself in the dream and tell him about it? Was he far off from her? This looks like a bad dream, having its object of creating ill feeling between husband and wife. She had to remain quiet. Sai Ram. A miser does not spend his own money but this man was not only a miser but a thief since he took God’s money from people and cheated every one including his own Self (God, seated with in). Sai Ram.

Bow to Shri Sai - Peace be to all. Will continue...

P A G E 1 1

(By Late Sri Bharam UmamaheswaraRao) ~ Contribution by "Shashank"crazydiode@gmail.com, Mrs and Mr Anand

Chapter 39: Baba’s Advice on Food Sri Sai Baba says: Control your food habits if you want to control yourself. Do not take what is wanted by your tongue. Improve that Jnana which distinguishes between Nitya (permanent) and Anitya (not permanent). Take that food which is pleasing and limited and then all the praise and abuse will never change you. The food you take is the cause for your weakness of body and mind. Do always chanting of Nama of God to make proper use of your tongue. When you realize the Divinity in man and believe in it, you will be realizing what life is. Man can easily recognize the transient nature of life by observing his own body. However much, you protect your body with food and many other comforts, it deteriorates and finally dies. Birth, as a human being, must be treated as an opportunity to progress spiritually and not be frittered away in material pursuits. Whatever you eat, you must dedicate to God. You should not take any other kid of food. The quality of your blood depends on the quality of the food you take. One who remembers Me, never suffers from want of food or other physical priva-tions. Indiscriminate fasting does not give any worldly or spiritual benefits.

T H E G L O R Y O F S H I R D I S A I

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From the Editor’s Desk

“Man is bound by ‘mine’, but he is released by ‘not mine’. He should abandon all the thoughts relating to externals and so also with references to internals. ..., having given up all thoughts, you should rest content (in your soul) ever.”

~ Varaha Upanishad Dear Sai Devotees, We encourage you to continue writing about your Sai-related activities and experiences in essay, article, or poetry form and email it to us at editor@saidarbarusa.org. We will put in our best efforts to include as many of your submissions as possible in the upcoming newsletters. As previously done, we will publish the author’s email id with the respective entry. If you would like to stay anonymous, please explicity state this request in your submission email.

JAI SAI RAM

Disclaimer: The editor does not accept any responsibility for the views expressed in the articles published. This e-magazine is intended for private circulation only. Information contained in this email is about Sri Shirdi Sai Literature and Sanatana Dharma. You have received this magazine because you are either subscribed to this directly or through one of the email groups receiving "The Glory of Shirdi Sai". To Subscribe: You or your interested friends and family members can subscribe for THE GLORY OF SHIRDI SAI by sending an email with the subject line ‘Subscribe’ to members@saidarbarusa.org. To Un-subscribe: If you are a direct member and do not wish to receive this e-magazine in future, please email to members@saidarbarusa.org with the subject line ‘Unsubscribe’. Please send your feedback to feedback@saidarbarusa.org

Publisher and Editor: Badri Narasimhan

Editorial Team: Radhika Nistala, Kanchana Kumar, Sumathi VijayBhaskaran, Kalyan Koduri

Email: editor@saidarbarusa.org

BOW TO SHRI SAI ~ PEACE BE TO ALL