Importance and significance of prayer In this mechanical world, we are having less and less time to spend with our Sadguru. We are also sometimes good at making up excuses for avoiding the prayer time to Him. But we need to understand and recog-nize the importance of spending time with Him. Always our faith and love towards Shri Sai will lead us to recognise His presence with us, to talk with Him, and to listen to Him. This combination of events is called prayer. We express our thanks, our faith, our love to Him, and we receive from Him answers, assurance, guidance, peace, strength, and power to lead a meaningful life. Shri Sai may not always seem to answer our prayers in the way we would like, but that does not mean he does not hear us. He responds to our prayers with the best thoughts He has for his devotees. He will lead you, just have faith in Him. Learning to center ourselves can be of the most important aspects of prayer. Purer a Heart, Closer is Baba.

The Glory of Shirdi SaiThe Glory of Shirdi Sai

0 5 – A P R I L - 2 0 1 2 Y E A R 2 0 1 2 — I S S U E 0 7

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 Aditya Hridayam

ौदधा सबरी

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JAI SAI RAM

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P A G E 2

Yogakshema

vahaaya

Namah

26 December, 1911 Tuesday, Shirdi I got up early & attended the Kakad-Arti. Sayin Maharaj was in rather an unusual mood; took his stick & with it tapped the ground round about. By the time he descended the steps of the Chavadhi, he walked twice backward & forward & used violent language. In my return I prayed, bathed & sat in the verandah in front of my room. I saw Sayin Maharaj go out. The Injadars of Kalyan & Poona are here. I am afraid Mungi hunts with them. He is at any rate very familiar. Mungi whom I met here last year, came last night & tried to put up with me. I would not let him. He then put his coat in my room, but with the help of Rama Maruti, I told him to take it away & he did so. Mr Gokhale pleader of Poona came. He had seen my wife at Shegaon before when Ganpat Baba was working in the physical world. There was with him a seller of Indian toys & another. They saw me after the mid-day Arti & after I had taken my meals. I lay down for a while in the third quarter of the day and then sat talking with Mahajani, Dr Hate & others. We saw Sayin Maharaj in the afternoon at the Chavadhi & later on about dusk when he came out for his stroll. He was very gracious. Today he spoke with my son Balvant & got him to sit, even after he told every body else to clear out. He told him not to admit any guests in the evening & to take care of him & that in return he (Sayin Baba) would take care of him. Madhavarao Deshpande is ill. He has caught cold and is lying down a good if not actually confined to bed. In the evening there was Bhishmas’ Bhajan as usual & Dixits’ Ramayan afterwards. Mr Bhate was there to hear the Purana. We began the Sundar-Kand today.

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

Shirdi Sai in his entire time on Earth did not want anything from his devotees except shradha and saburi. In Shri Sai Satcharitra, Chapter XIV it is said that Baba always used to get wild and scolded those who brought costly and rich articles. He had told Nanasaheb Chandorkar that His property consisted of 1 koupin (codpiece), 1 stray piece of cloth, 1 kafni & a tumbler, and that all the people troubled Him by bringing all these unnecessary, useless and costly articles." Baba also never allowed Mahalsapati to accept any money or gifts that devotees who came to see Baba show-ered on him. He always wanted His devotees to believe in Him and they were taken care of by His presence.

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 7

Sai Oushadha and Sudha (Supreme medicine and nectar) Alas, Behold peoples' earnestness in their affairs. Though able to utter the name Ananta, Sai Esa, Mukunda, Krishna, Govinda, Damodara, Madhava, -- none utters it. To, Siva, who is in Vishnu's form and to Vishnu who is in Siva's form, (my Salutations). Vishnu is the heart and essence of Siva. And Siva is the heart and essence of Vishnu. Any one who makes the slightest difference between those two will surely fall into Rourava Hell. Have intense faith in and love to some single form of God and worship him with great regards as the sole lord of the universe. In real and ultimate truth, there is no difference between Murari and Purari. i.e.. between Vishnu and Siva. May that Saiyeesa,who spoke thus illumine and spur on our intellects.! (Bhartruhari says) Between Maheswara(Siva) the Lord of all the worlds, and Janardana (Vishnu) who is in the heart of all the worlds, I entertain no idea of difference. Yet, my devo-tion is fixed on that Siva form,with the crescent moon adorning his head. Sai, the giver of Moksha, will kill out egotism etc., which pester his devotees within and with-out. When once the heart is filled with Sai and when one thus becomes a holy person, an-ger,jealousy,greed,and other evil thoughts and tendencies do not afflict him. Longevity, pragna(wisdom) fame and strength, grow and develop in one who is always pros-trating to and serving Saiyeesa.

Will continue....

P A G E 4

Aapadh

baandhavaaya

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) But Baba has time and again demonstrated both before and after His Mahasamadhi, rather to a greater extent afterwards than before acting in a split second to bring life back to the dead, to make the blind see, and the dumb speak and fools wise proving that He is a divine incarnation and eter-nally active. Netra heenakshi dhayeecha mathi heena matipradah Moo/cam Karoti Vachalam Mritamudhjiua yatyapi. Friends, these are not glib, aca-demic statements I am mouthing like a parrot. These incredible happenings have taken place in my immediate presence and these eyes have witnessed the miracles leaving me stunned and dumb founded, thrilled and filled with ecstasy by turns. How can I describe Him who is beyond speech and under-standing Daya-Sindu, karunamaya, literally Aapadhbhandhava and Anaad-hara/csha/ca, all forgiving and ever vigilant. Bhaktha paradeena, Bhaktha uatsala, Satya-swarupi. All He wants is faith and patience -Nista and Saboori - as He has said no ritual, no show and no fanfare is needed. That is Shirdi Baba for you. It matters not whether you call him my Baba or his Baba. Gan-

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Dreams Of Saibanisa Compiled by Saibandhu Raghu Raman Satulury Sai appeared as the village head where I was born and said: 1.It is but natural to have ups and downs in life and ever body has to take care of himself and stop thinking for others. 2.Every mother loves her children and coming in their way will only invite her wrath. 3.All mango trees appear the same, but the fruit they bear give different tastes. In the same way all Sai devotees look alike, but their thinking and depth varies from each other. 4.Your Guru knows you in totality. Instead of trying to know more about his welfare, spend time in serving him and reach the goal. Probing nature into unwanted things should be avoided.

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

dhiji said, God to be God must rule over the heart, transform it and express Himself in every act of the votary. Baba does it. I can vouch for it. He holds the reins. You can not swerve from the chalked out course, even if you want to. Thus you are safe. He has said when once you are my devotee, you need not worry about your vimukthi. He will incarnate again and again with his devotee's rebirths (Punarapi Jananam as Shri Shankara says) till the Latter merges in Him. He demonstrated it in the case of some of His apostles like Nana Saheb Chandorkar, Dixit, Dabholkar, Radhabai Deshmukh, Mahlsapathy and a host of others tracing their Janmas in their previous births. In the case of Veerabhadrappa and Basappa give just one example. He demonstrated how He has been keeping up the promise given to the latter in a previous birth. You see one dark night on the bund of a pool near the mosque where Baba as a human in-carnation used to reside, there was the croaking of a frog caught in mouth of a snake. At once He rushed to the spot followed by the devotees present and shouted angrily, "Come-on Veerabhadrappa leave Bas-appa free, you should be ashamed of your conduct", Immediately, the snake opened its mouth and let the frog jump into the water and escape. To the mystified spectator Baba said how in a previous incarnation as a fakir He had given His word to Basappa to save him from the murderous wrath of Veerabhadrappa and now again they are born as enemies and Rinanubandha has brought them here and He is redeeming his pledge. I can give parallel instances from my own life. This is not occasion.

Will continue…

Devotees Experience: Sai Ram, I would like to share my experience that how Sai Ram helped me instantly. I am working for a German Company as a Secretary. I was expecting six visitors from Germany for a conference in Abu Dhabi. Accordingly, I had applied for six visas through our agent. After 4 days, the secretary from Personnel Department. came with the original visas and asked me to acknowledge. As a mat-ter of trust, I received it and she left. The sponsor's office is just opposite to our office. Later when I checked I found only five visas, whereas I had acknowledged for six visas. I got the shock of my life. I ran to the Sponsor's Secretary, showed all the visas, and told her that I didn't receive one visa. She told me directly that I had acknowledged it and hat's it. I explained to her very well you could see only you gave me five Visas, I double checked it might be sticking to one another, but all in vain. I gave the secretary the name of the person whose visa I didn't receive and came back to my office. It was already late in the evening, I kept these five visas in the safe, locked it up and then left for home. I was totally worried about that particular visa. Next day the moment I came to the office, called that secretary, and asked if she found the visa, she said no. Then, I cam back to my office, started my routine, first thing after coming to the office, I Have a diary in which I write "Om Sai Ram", that day also I was writing Sai Ram and praying that I should get the visa, imme-diately I got a voice coming saying open the second draw, I opened it I found only that particular visa as the rest 5 visas, I had kept it inside the safe. I was dumbfounded, SaiRam really helped me. I really was so much thrilled and excited that I was feeling on the top of the world. Sai helps eve-rybody. It's just the faith, devotion and entire surrender to him will help everybody in all walks of life. -Sai Devotee

P A G E 6

Baba’s Close Devotees Santaram Balwant Nachne Dahanukar, Thana, 13th September, 1936

Baba took Udhi from my hand and applied it to my fore-head - a mark of favor and love that is not bestowed on all. Again when people were assembling for Arati at the Masjid, and I was among them, Baba asked me to go and take my meal. I said it was Ekadasi. Usually I did not fast on Ekadasi days; but my two friends did and I had to con-form to their ways and not be singular and claiming ad-vantages which they did not share. But Baba did not want me to fast. He said (referring to my companions) "These people are mad, You had better go to the Wada and eat." The person who had to serve the food at the wada was grumbling that I should be clamoring for food on an Eka-

dasi day and would not give me food till Arati was over. So he came to the Mosque and I also returned to the Mosque. Baba again questioned me if I had messed but I said that it was time for Arati and so the meal might be deferred till the completion of the Arati. But Baba insisted and said "The Arati will wait and will begin after you finish your meal and come." The hotel man had to yield and gave me food. Then I went to the Mosque for the Arati. At that time a lady generally known as "Mavusi" brought beeda (i.e., rolled up betel and nut) to Baba. Baba gave me some and asked me to eat. As it is usual to avoid chewing betel and nut (which are considered as luxuries and for that and other reasons avoided on Ekadasi days) I hesitated. Baba said again, "Eat it." I obeyed and chewed the beeda. At the close of the Arati, Baba took dakshina of Rs.4 from me and Rs.16 from Vaidya. He did not ask Date for dakshina, as he was evidently not disposed to give it. There was a young Marwadi girl that was hankering after fruit and asked Baba for "orange". Baba by his own powers knew that Date had kept back some oranges at the wada and brought only the remainder to be offered at the Mosque and so asked Date to go and get the oranges. But Date was assertive and said that the fruit was retained by him for "Faral", i.e., his own light meal on the Ekadasi day. He declined to part with it, despite Baba's request. Baba did not press his request fur-ther. During our stay, Baba revealed his interest in me and my family. When H.S.Dixit, Jog and Dabolkar were present, He told them, “I had been to this man's house" -

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

Marga

bandhave

Namaha

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

and here he pointed to me - "for a meal. He did not give me Bendi Baji". My mind darted back at once to the Sadhu who in 1909 at the time of my brother's operation was dining with us. And I felt assured that in the form of one Sadhu or another, Baba was interested in our welfare and helping us even in 1909 un-known to ourselves. Later, I told those gentlemen of the "Bendi Baji" which my sister-in-law had first failed to serve the Sadhu on that occasion. That Sadhu appeared to be an entirely different man from Sai Baba. I saw him also on the two or three days following the operation at Dahanu and had excellent oppor-tunities of observing him at close quarters. He went away from Dahanu and was not seen again thereafter.

Will continue...

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There lived a shepherd in a village. He had many sheep. He took them out every morning for grazing. One day, his wife fell ill and he had to go to the city to purchase some medicines for his ailing wife. 'There will be no one to take care of the sheep', he thought to himself. Then he called his son and told him, "Ramu, I'm going to the city to purchase some medicines for your mother. It will take me two or three days to come back. So take care of the sheep. Save them from being

attacked by the tigers and wolves. There are many wild animals in the nearby forest. They might kill our sheep." Ramu listened to his father's advice carefully and the next day, he left for the nearby hillside with his flock of sheep. But Ramu was a mischievous boy. He was feeling lonely. So he wanted to have some fun. He stood on a high rock and began shouting "Wolf! wolf!, help." The villagers heard Ramu crying for help. They ran towards the hillside to help the boy, carrying big sticks in their hands. When they reached there they found that there was no wolf. The sheep were grazing happily and the shepherd boy was playing on a flute. "Where is the wolf?" the villagers asked the boy. "There is no wolf here. I was joking," the boy said and laughed. The villagers became very angry and returned to their work in the village. Next day, the boy played the same trick. The villagers again reached there to help the boy. But when they came

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

to know that the boy was lying, they felt highly an-noyed and went back to the village cursing the boy. But on the third day, a wolf really came there. The boy got frightened to see his red eyes. The wolf was huffing and growling. He began advancing to-wards the flock of sheep, gnashing his teeth and lolling his tongue. The boy lost his courage and be-gan trembling with fear. He shouted, "Wolf, wolf, please help!" But to no avail. This time no one came to help him. The villagers thought that Ramu was up to his old tricks. The wolf killed many sheep of Ramu and he returned home weeping.

P A G E 1 0

Bhuddhi

mukti swarga

pavargadaya

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 Strange things happened. There was a sudden rise in prices. By Gouri's good luck, there was a great demand for land and the endowment land was sold for one Lakh of rupees (100 times the worth of her ornaments given to Lord in her earlier birth). Half the amount was paid in cash and the remaining was to be paid in 25 installments or Rs. 2,000/- each. All agreed to this transac-tion, but began to quarrel over the money. They came to Me for consulta-tion. I told them that the property belonged to God and was vested in the priest, and that Gouri was his sole heiress and proprietress and no amount should be spent without her consent and that her husband had no right what-soever to the amount. On hearing My opinion, Veerbhadrappa was angry with Me and said, that I wanted to establish Gouri's claim and embezzle her property. On hearing his words, I remembered God and kept quiet. Sai Ram. Excellent advice and we too should remember God and keep quiet when oth-ers threaten or abuse us or for that matter praise us too! Sai Ram. Veerbhadrappa scolded his wife (Gouri) and she came to Me at Noon and requested Me not to mind the words of other and not to discard her, as she was My daughter. As she thus sought My protection, I gave her a pledge, that I would cross seven seas to help her. Then that night Gouri had a vision. Mahadev appeared in her dream and said- “The whole money is yours, do not give anything to anybody, spend some amount for temple purposes in consultation with Chenbassappa and if you want to use it for some other pur-pose, consult Baba in the Masjid (Myself)”.

Will continue….

P A G E 1 1

Source: http://devotionalonly.com/aditya-hridayam-stotram/ Continued from last issue...

This prayer is possibly the greatest one addressed to the Sun and occurs in Yudha Kanda of Ramayana. Lord Rama after ceaseless battle with Ravana is not able to kill him and is per-plexed. At that time the devas who have assembled in the sky advice him to ask the advice from Sage Agasthya and he does it. Sage Agasthya teaches him about this great prayer and Lord Rama subsequently was able to kill Ravana

Tato yuddha pari śrānta samare chintayā sthitam Ravanam cāgrato drastvā yuddhāya samupasthitam .. 1 ..

ततो यदधपिरौानत समर िचनतया िःथतम। रावण चामतो दटवा यदधाय समपिःथतम॥ १॥

Tato yuddha parisrantam = At that battle ground; Samare cintaya sthitam = with great worry engulfing in the battle; Ravanam cagrato drustva = Gazing at Ravana with Single minded attention; yuddhaya Samupasthitam = Having prepared to fight. Seeing Sri Rama Standing absorbed in thought at the battle field, exhausted by the fight and facing Ravana who was duly prepared for the war.

Will continue….

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

The material universe that you perceive through your mind, speech, eyes, ears and other senses is an illusory creation that one imagines to be real due to the influence of maya (illusion). In fact, you should know that all of the objects of the material senses are temporary.

~Uddhava Gita 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.

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BOW TO SHRI SAI ~ PEACE BE TO ALL