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Sai Vichaar Oct 15, 2009 Volume 12, Issue 23 (In its twelfth year of publication) 01.Feature of the Week 02.Contributed Article 03.Experiences of Devotees 04.Devotees Say 05.Sai Activities 06.Prayer Club 07.Quote of the Week 08.Question of the Week 09.Subscribe to Sai Vichaar 10.Email Newsletter to a friend 11.Submit Articles to Sai Vichaar 12.Un-Subscribe Sai Vichaar 13.From the Editor's Keyboard 14.Back Issues 15.Disclaimer From the Editor's Keyboard... Sai Vichaar has learnt that several have received their weekly email into their unwanted email folder due to the email filter function of the respective email providers. Please check your email folders before deleting to make sure Sai Vichaar is not delivered into Spam mail. In the true spirit of Sai devotion, contributors are requested to remember to suit the content, language, style, and presentation, appropriate to a worldwide readership. It should also be noted that when a section from any material other than their own is quoted or referred to, it is the authors' responsibility to acknowledge the source appropriately. Sai Vichaar requests the devotees to continue to submit to Sai Vichaar using the pages intended for various sections of Sai Vichaar. Sai Vichaar gratefully appreciates the patience of its readers during the past few weeks of revamping of our database. A Sai devotee suggested the The "Question of the week" for this week as,, Q.How does a Sai devotee stay grounded amidst the swell of spiritual ego? Humbly Yours, The Editor
Disclaimer Sai Vichaar is devoted to the philosophy and teachings of Shri Sadhguru Sai Baba of Shirdi, and will take every measure to avoid topics or themes contradicting the same. Sai Vichaar team or saibaba.org is not responsible for the opinions expressed by individual contributors.
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 Feature
of the week: Shake the Fear!
Fear is one of the qualities that could drive a person to the level of insanity. Fear manifests in different ways and forms and may lead to other vicissitudes such as anger, greed, lust, etc. Freeing oneself of the fear that lies deep within becoming the cause of various unwanted traits is a must for any serious spiritual seeker. Fear of the unknown is the biggest cause of misery. People make their lives miserable because of fear. Fear can be fought with Faith and Patience. With Faith that all that will happen will be for one's own good and patience that it will happen when the time comes for the event to happen will go a long way to lessen the agony and pain that one harbors in their lives. Shri Sainath gave the lesson of Faith and Patience not as mere words to be remembered once a while or read in books, but to continuously put them into practice. Though very easy to read and understand the dictionary meaning, they are the most difficult to practice in one's life. As one tries to practice these two qualities, they discover that the harder it gets to deal with them. At times it goes to such an extent that Baba's dictum seems more philosophical than practical. It is for this reason that Baba left a series of stories to serve as an example to inspire his followers. Patience is merely not just waiting but also actively believing that God is with them and will help them against all odds. Keeping faith alive against all odds in prayer and experiencing all difficulties that may come is Patience. As Baba says, Faith and Patience are like twin sisters, one cannot live without the other. Where there is no faith there is no patience and vice versa. The difficulties that do come in our lives are a result of our own past actions and the results of those have to borne as explained by Baba in Satcharita. So there is no point in arguing why difficulties or unhappiness comes, it is a fact of life as any other fact. Dealing with it in the way prescribed by Baba is the key to burden and live it when sorrow knocks on the door. When one walks on the path laid by Baba it is invariably noted that slowly but surely the fear that was lurking behind slowly disappears and one starts becoming free of the burden and sing joyously in honor of the master who is ever ready to lead all those who approach Him. Contributed
Article: S.N. Kharkar SHRIDHAR NARAYAN KHARKAR, aged 57, Kayasta Prabhu, Accountant, Thana, Says : My earliest period, that is infancy, was well stocked and fed with religious ideas and ideals by the pious prudence of my grandfather. When I was thus developing the orthodox side of my religious study and practice, Mr. Appa Kulkami, Deputy Collector, a very pious soul, showed me the picture of Sai Baba that he was devotedly attached to. That was my first contact with Baba. Very soon after that I got from Mr. Dabholkar a picture of Baba, a number of Sai Lila Masiks and a packet of Baba's Udhi that came on a day. I was unwell; and on the second day, I got all right and started my worship of Baba, which steadily grew thenceforward. The beginning of my faith in Baba was marked by a remarkable dream or vision. The picture I got from Mr. Dabholkar I took to my Pooja room but when I was taking it near the picture of the Akkalkot Saint that I was already worshipping, some impulse made me withdraw the new picture. 'Hallo! This is the Moslem's picture. How could it be placed next to the holy Hindu saint?' So thinking I kept it apart, a little distance from (and not in the same group with) Akkalkot Maharaj's picture. I had a dream that night. In the morning, I first forgot all about the dream but when I began to worship I at once recalled the details of my night dream. In the dream. I saw a fakir robbed like Sai Baba coming towards the oti or veranda on which I and some one else were sitting. I got up to welcome that fakir. Perhaps I was going to make some invidious distinction. At any rate to prevent such a distinction being made, the person who was next to me told me this (Sai Baba) is not different from Akkalkot and I was directed to treat Him on the same footing as Akkalkot Maharaj. Recalling the dream, I rearranged the pictures and placed Sai Baba's picture along with Akkalkot Maharaj's and worshipped Him. By Baba's kindness, devotion to Sai Baba has increased by leaps and bounds not only with me but also amongst all the members of my family. I read up all available books on Sai Baba and my wife and children all have taken to Baba worship and show such a great zeal that in case I fail to attend to arati or pooja of Baba, someone else is ready to take it up. At first, there appeared to be some exceptions to my felicity in this respect. My mother was living away from me for many years. But, by the grace of God and Baba, she came to live with me. But at first, seeing the worship I paid to Baba's Picture and my visits to Shirdi she was displeased on the ground that Baba was a Moslem. But, Baba's kindness towards her and me was most remarkable. He worked a gradual change in her feelings. As she was not for Baba, I took other members of my family with me to Shirdi but not my mother. After 2 or 3 such years, i.e. in 1933, she wished to go to Shirdi and pay her respects to Baba's shrine, and asked my wife and daughter to see that she was taken to Shirdi. I was very glad to see the change worked in her. Baba's kindness made a great change in her attitude. Extremely orthodox though she was, she dropped her orthodox scruples when devotion to Sai Baba suggested the contrary course. She was well impressed with all she saw at Shirdi. The visit to Shirdi was none too soon. Shortly after our return from Shirdi, she breathed her last at my residence at Thana. It was a great kindness on the part of Baba to have brought a change in her and given her darsan of the Samadhi just in time before she passed away. I can easily multiply instances of Baba's kindness to me and my family. But, it is needless. It is enough to say that I feel Baba is guiding us and watching over our interests and actions in everything. I shall give only two instances to show how other members of my family are sharing the kind and merciful care that Baba bestows on his own. My second son. Govind. Was hungering and thirsting to have the joy of visiting Baba's Samadhi and Dwarkamai at Shirdi. So in 1934 for Ramnavami celebration when our family friends Mr. G.B.Datar and family were going to Shirdi my son accompanied them. When he went to Dwarkamai (i.e.) the mosque, he was alone with Baba's eyes from the portrait seem to pierce into you, wherever you may stand in the hall. My son gazed with rapture at the portrait and closed his eyes. He heard then a distinct and audible voice (Have you come?) That is the parental affectionate greeting he had. He opened his eyes and found himself alone. There was no other to utter those words of welcome, but Baba. About 8 years back, my daughter was in the family way and we had taken her to our village at Khar (some 2 or 3 miles off Thana). When the delivery was to take place, there was no proper medical aid. My relations were blaming me for not providing a providing at Thana for the delivery. My wife came and told me that the delivery was obstructed. The child had evidently died and could not easily come out. There was great pain and anxiety was felt by the patient and by all of us. It was midnight or rather 2A.M. when the condition was reported to be so painful and anxious, I was helpless. Suddenly, it dawned upon me that I had a safe resource in Baba's Udhi. My wife took the Udhi and applied it to my daughter. Within 30 minutes or one hour of the application the child came out. It was dead, but my daughter's life was saved and our anxieties were at an end. A doctor came in the morning and wondered how it had come out. He thought that ill trained people like the midwife would have thrust their hands in and created danger of septic and possible post-parturition troubles. He was surprised to learn that mere Udhi without any physical interference resulted in the expulsion of the child, the placenta and everything. All my girls take part in the service of Baba and daily perform their arati. A week or so before my daughter's delivery, my son informed me that Baba had just appeared in his dream and called our "Nana, Nana. (meaning myself) Where is he? Why is he afraid? Apply my Udhi". Though my son had told me this. I did not recall it at the time of my daughter's serious troubles: but instinctively I resorted to the aid of Baba's Udhi. Long afterwards I thought over the matter and found that in my son's dream, Baba had given me a forewarning of the impending danger and shown me the way out of it. And when I failed to realize this at the critical moment, I was made unconsciously to utilize the very way He had mentioned. (Source:Devotees Experiences of Saibaba by BV Narasimha Swami ji Dated 1st September, 1936)
Naveena Usha Nanda Chithra Shankar Devotee Preeti Saby N Karnad Parthasarathy Mangamma Quotation of
the Week: Q. How does a Sai devotee deal with deceitful relationships and situations where there is abuse of trust? A. Your answer can go here.
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