Baba's simplicity is well known and in fact baffling to those who associated Gurus with grandiose pomp, and showmanship. He did not consider himself to be above everything. Such was his humility. The fact that he did not allow anyone to worship him until a few years before his death stands testimony to this. The Spotless of Gurus, Sadguru Sainath is the jewel reflecting the divine wisdom. It is a practice of those who seek Guru to request for a special instruction or "upadesh". Baba gave none. When Radha Bai Deshmukh insisted that she would fast herself to death, the fakir simply stressed the virtues of faith and asked her to mind patience.

Faith and patience will ferry one across the sea of mundane existence, said Baba. How does patience work? Is the patience just a waiting period that will culminate into the period of material riches? If so, it will be just a passive stage the end of which will take one to the beginning. What are the spiritual lessons one can derive from patience?

Patience provides the nourishment to the seed of faith. It is during this active phase that faith in one's Sadguru will begin to blossom and bloom. Taking one close to His magnificence, patience provides the excellent of opportunities to receive, ruminate, and absorb everything that the Sadguru has to offer. Patience is the incubation phase that leads one to the realization of the everlasting. The most patients of His children were not richer by the material they possessed but by the higher level of transformation they were blessed with. Bhagath and Abdul remained materially poor their entire lives. While Baba gave lots of money to other devotees, He always kept these two poor. Baba always practiced repentance, abstinence, renunciation, and poverty. He guided these two in the same lines and having Him with them, they never felt that they were ever poor!
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Contributed Article: Divine Sparks of the Universal Master

Among SAI devotees of highest order, there is one monk amidst us that many people know of and is spreading the gospel of SAI. He is His Holiness Sri Sri Sri Vidyanarayana Thirtha Swamy of Shankaracharya Peetha, Dwaraka, Badarikashram, presently staying in 15th Cross, Malleswaram, Bangalore. His family members were associated with Lord Sai since 1910 and he took sanyasa at young age (he is specialized in medicine, MD in his purvashrama). His preaching is direct and simple elucidation that have turned many to Sai path. He has the following simple message to all of us through our columns in the form of GURUVANDANA.

The unseen, unknown, unknowable, the MYSTIC ENERGY, is present in all of us. That mystic energy invading all our hearts has enabled us to come together in the form of SUPREME MASTER SAI. The love energy binds all of us to know something higher than material things in day to day life. The universal master did not prescribe any rituality to be followed nor command to do so. He simply instructed us to have sincere faith and dedicate normal life and to try to create awareness of you as well as surrounding society. If all of us understand the real beauty of master's divine instructions and put to practice in day to day life; we can merge at the universal master's feet. Do not hate anybody, but hack your negative feelings. Blend and bake to know the ancient gurusishya parampara of traditional and spiritual learning. Tradition of gurusishya parampara enables us know supreme master whole-heartedly without fear or favor. The act of Lord Sai giving nine coins to Lakshmi Bhai is an example.

A true master never encourages doing unwanted things but deals firmly with your inner thoughts and to make you a worthy wisdomful witness to the divinity. We have a number of examples from Shri Sai Satcharita.

All of us must relax mentally physically and inwardly, so that we can reach the innermost point of our consciousness, that is silence. Some of you may raise doubt that "O Master, we live in the material world, we are unable to control the wicked thoughts that are haunting us". Yes but No. Be with fire, receive warmness, but do not burn you in fire (MAYA). MAYA is also part of divinity.

Sanathana dharma allows you to enjoy all the freedoms of life, at the same time maintain your boundaries of limitation. You need not renounce, but at the same time, you can recharge yourself with the guidance of the master, and the best instructions are derived from him. These are steps to be followed and practiced.

1.Faith 2.Love 3.Dedication

Faith: Have faith in the universal master. The minimum required is the remembrance of his holy feet. Those holy feet will guide you to recognize the master energy and convert and convince you to do best possible service to the humanity. Faith is the foundation. I, the humble servant of universal master, had 25 years of dedicated faith in universal master. In return, he bestowed me with this wonderful award - peace, contentment, material and spiritual benefits. This award encourages this soul further continue to lead all the blessed souls on earth to the righteous path and enrich the Sanathana dharma to grow and share among all of us. This Guru vandana gives me the strong faith and helps witness the wonderful energy of Master Sai Baba in the midst of all of you.

Love: Love your master sincerely, master bestows you with all things in all walks of life This is pure love of universal master. Now let me pledge under the holy feet of universal master to dedicate this award of meeting you all in the world-wide-web for betterment of humanity. Let the universal master Sai help us in the development and inculcation of ideas of Sanathana Dharma of universal brotherhood, leading to peace, health, and prosperity among all sections of the society.

Dedication: This is the path that leads to His feet, with love and faith following His principles and instructions. He gives number of instructions directly, from His life story and from the experiences of devotees.

Some instructions of SAI are

Observe your activities yourself, BOTH INSIDE AND OUTSIDE for a few minutes a day

Analyze and correct yourself

Be composed, cool, and connected to Lord SAI all the time, be relaxed.

Dear blessed souls of SAI, see our Universal master in all masters. There is only one universal master SAI, the embodiment of pure love of MOTHER and vatsya and concern of SUPREME GURU (the real father).

Make this connection VIGOUROUS, and submit at the feet of our universal master. JAI SREE SAI SHANKARA KRISHNA NAMAH

(Contributed by )
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Experiences of Devotees

A Sai Devotee
SAI RAM, I would like to share my experience of SAI BABA, who saved my life. Last year June I suffered with ITP means my platelet count went down to 1000. But the range of platelet count in the body is 150,000 to 450,000. After 4 days in the hospital, doctor told me that he is going to remove one organ spleen form the body. But I did not want that. Really I prayed Baba at that time very much and I cried. I told to the doctor wait until Thursday. On Thursday morning, the nurse came She taken blood from me. After 10 minutes, she took one more time for testing. I did not know why she taken two times. May be she wanted to check one more time. After half an hour, she came and he told me that the count has increased to 4000. The doctor postponed my operation. By Friday, count went upto 10,000 and by Saturday, it was more than 25,000. Doctors discharged. Slowly within one week, it went to 300,000. I am very much thankful to SAIBABA. REALLY, HE saved my life. At present, I am laid off from my company and I do not have insurance. I am praying SAIBABA; I am ready to going back to my MOTHERLAND, If I get a good job over there. SAIBABA, Please show me a Job whether in USA or in my motherland. Finally, I am praying SAIBABA from Family, Friends, and SAI Devotees for their health Wealth.
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Devotees say...

Avneesh
I have now noted for some time this wonderful phenomenon where I have observed that my life/destiny is actually the result of my own verdict of my good and bad deeds. If I feel I have done something BAD, I am punished for it and vice-versa. In the past, I had often wondered how the people who do bad things get away with them - and the answer lies in this theory where I believe they are not punished till the moment they realize themselves that they have done something wrong. I believe this power/judge so to speak is the god in ourselves, which Shirdi Sai tried to tell us about. Each one of us has this within him/herself and all we need to do is to invoke it. Now, its probably most activated in people who are closest to Shirdi Sai, and the least in atheists, but it is present in everyone. I also feel that while Baba provides some of us more intelligence than others, the strength of this inner god is perhaps equal in all which is why everyone they say is capable of performing miracles depending on their convictions, confidence, faith, humility and goodness to the almighty, self and the world around him/herself. I welcome comments from all other Sai bhakts on what they think about this.

Sai Pattabhiram, UAE
After reading the article on Oneness of God, a few thoughts flashed in my mind, which I think I should share with other like-minded devotees of our beloved Baba. Baba was true in every way to the philosophy of " sub ka malik ek" religion, caste, creed, social status etc meant nothing to him. Now if we look at the basics all religions the almighty or the supreme is one Hindus call this supreme power Brahman, Muslims call this supreme power Allah, Christians the almighty or god. Now for easier understanding if we were to develop a kind of mental organizational chart the starting point for all religions will be the same supreme power and then add the various religions & divine messengers below the supreme power & contemplate on the messages you will realize the oneness of this supreme power. From the above we find that all religions ultimately lead to the same supreme power (note: not entity). Further all the religions have also taught the same message in different languages & books i.e. " have full faith in the supreme and do your duty, as for results leave it to the almighty ". Be it Geeta or Q'ran or bible the message is the same " have total faith/ Bhakthi in the supreme one ". Baba explained this message in his own cryptic way" Allah malik this is the corner stone of his philosophy (note: he neither had a religion nor preached one). By the grace of Baba, I realized that the supreme power took various forms depending on the people of the region. The same power took the form of Ram, Krishna, Sairam etc in India). These forms were identifiable to the people living there. Messengers of this supreme power were similar incarnations in other areas of the world. Hence from the above we find that it is only the forms which varied but the underlying message/fact was the same. The above points towards the oneness of god. Hence humanity is also one at the spiritual level differences if any are cosmetic or superficial. The above is an amateur attempt (by his grace) to explain Baba's philosophy on my part by way of a few thoughts which I feel is an extension to your feature of the week (19/4/2001).

A Sai devotee
I have been in the US for more than 2 years, when I came I was so happy because of my sisters who have been here for more than 6 years. In the first year, everything looked normal, things went smoothly by Baba's blessings, but things started changing. For the last one year, I have noticed that my sisters although they showed to us people back in India that they are very happy, were not happy at all. They admitted that they have been tortured, mentally and physically by their husbands (who are very well respected in their work) but they still did not do anything but just bore it all the time. I feel so heartbroken with the people because I have tremendous respect for them, I also sometimes feel like going out and just sort out the matter in a violent way or to end my own life so that I don't feel any misery. I am totally distressed and feel very helpless, I am so surprised and shocked that people here also can behave like that. It just breaks my heart, what is more painful is, it is and might be happening with many people. I thought that if anything, this country would help people come together, away from parents, friends, and relatives. But, what it does is not only alienate our and live in their own world of misery, wanting to suffer alone because it is the choice that they took and they are the ones who should suffer. I feel betrayed by the behavior of people, and to think that I came to this country leaving all my friends, parents and happiness, who think that I am lucky to be in the US! I pray to Sai Baba to help all those suffering like me, give them strength to be patient. I pray His Holiness to bless all the sisters, mothers, brothers, fathers who have and are going through this painful period of their lives, I pray to Shirdi Sai to guide them all and support them all the time. It is such a painful experience and feeling that it brings tears to my eyes. Om Sai, Sri Sai Jai Jai Sai.

Snigdha
The following is Sainatha Kasta Nivarana Sthothram. I hope devotees will benefit from chanting this sthothram.
Sri Sainath kasta Nivarana Dasanaama Sthrothram
-----------------------------------------------
Prathamam - Sainathaya
Dwitiyam - Dwarakamaayine
Trutiyam - Teertharajaaya
Chaturtham- Bhaktavatsale
Panchamam - Paramatmaaya
Sastamcha - Shirdivaasine
Saptamam - Sadgurunaathaya
Astamam - Anandanathene
Navamam - Niraadambaraaya
Dasamam - Datvatharine
athni dasa naamani ,trisandhyaam japathenaraha
sarva kasten bhayaan mukto, Sainatha guru kripa

Bharathi, Los Angeles, CA, USA
I am also looking for Sai Baba temple and I would like very much to participate in arathis. So, if any body knows Sri Saibaba temple in LA area, please let us know.
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Prayer Club

A Sai Devotee
OM SRI SACHIDANANDA SAMARTH SADGURU SAINATH MAHARAJ KI JAI. I AM PRAYING FOR MY SISTER WHO IS UNDERGOING AN OPERATION ON 16TH. PLEASE GIVE HER YOUR BLESSINGS FOR A QUICK RECOVERY.
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Quotation of the Week

Sai Baba did not put down anything in writing. His sayings of course, have been recorded by his many followers. He was a saint, but a unique one as most saints anyway are. But his uniqueness lies in the fact that he does not follow any of the patterns set by saints in Maharashtra like Nivritti, Jnandev, Sopan, Muktabai, Eknath, Namdeo and Tukaram or by the dasas of Karnataka collectively known as Dasa Koota. There has never been anyone like Sai Baba either before Him after. This, in some ways, is a measure of the Man - by M.V. Kamath and V.B. Kher in Sai Baba of Shirdi a Unique Saint.

Question of the Week

Q.""What is religious fundamentalism? How should a Sai devotee react to religious fundamentalism? "
S.V. Swamy, Hyderabad, India
Religious fundamentalism is irrational and ritualistic approach to religious beliefs and intolerance for other's viewpoint. A rigid approach without any provision for modification of rituals with changing times is one aspect of fundamentalism. A dictatorial approach to what one should wear, what one should eat, what one should read goes along with such fundamentalism. Sai's devotees should practice non-interference in other's religious practices, rational or irrational. The story of Mavshibai's seva to Sai Nath and His objecting to other devotees' interference in her seva to Him (Chapter 24, Page 129 of Sri Sai Sacharitra English Edition by Sri Gunaji) is a good example. Objecting to another's fundamentalist approach, arguments and discussions are also against Sai's philosophy. At the most, we should pray to Sai to guide all including the fundamentalist(s) properly. Sai Ram.
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Sai Activities

Sai Utsav 2001 - Sydney Australia
Sai Utsav, an event commemorating the life and teachings of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba is being organized over the Queen's birthday weekend in Sydney, Australia on June 9th and June 10th. The event comprises of traditional Pooja and arathis offered to Baba in Shirdi vidhi, discourses by Guruji Shri Chandra Bhanu Satpahtyji and many other items. Registrations are free for the event. There will be a special Bhajan concert by renowned singer Shri Manhar Udhas on June 9th. Entry passes are required for the concert. Help will be provided to devotees attending the Utsav from outside Australia. For complete program details, registration forms or further information, please contact sydsaisansthan@mailexcite.com.au in Sydney, Australia or saiutsav@saibaba.org.

Saidarbar, Hyderabad, India
Reported by Kasturi Srinivas Due to the Grace of Lord Sainath, Saidarbar -Hyderabad has conducted Ten (10) Poor feeding Programs for the poor & needy during the month of April 2001. This is the maximum number of Annadanams ever conducted in a month during the year 2001 by http://www.saidarbar.com Saidarbar team Prays Lord Sainath to Shower HIS Blessings on the Sponsors and their family members.
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