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Sai Vichaar 1.Feature of the Week:Resurrection 2.Activities 3.Experiences of Devotees 4.Devotees Say 5.From the Editor's Keyboard 6.Subscribe to Sai Vichaar 7.Disclaimer From the Editor's Keyboard... Sai Vichaar wishes a Merry Christmas to all the devotees and readers. Please accept our thanks for your response to the appeal for Shri Rajendra Naik fund. For those who wish to contribute and not yet have had an opportunity, please refer to the appropriate section on Sai activities for more details. Please contribute in the spirit of the season for a good cause. Sai Samsthan USA has planned the New Year Eve celebrations, which falls on a Thursday. Please refer to the section for more details. We would again like to thank for your support for Sai Vichaar. Please contribute to Sai Vichaar by sending out your experiences, news items on Sai related activities, and other feature articles. Please send us your comments/suggestions on Sai Vichaar by writing to the Shirdi Sai Baba web site organization. Humbly yours, The Editor
Disclaimer Sai Vichaar is devoted to the philosophy and teachings of Shri Sadguru Sai Baba of Shirdi, and will take every measure to avoid topics or themes contradicting the same. Sai Vichaar team or the Shirdi Sai Baba web site organization is not responsible for the opinions expressed by individual contributors.
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Feature of the week:
Resurrection
In 1886 AD, Sai Baba left His physical body for three days entrusting it to the great devotee Mhalsapathy. Mhalsapathy sat for three full days with Sai Baba’s body on his lap waiting for Him to return. The epitome of faith and patience, the greatest of Sai devotees Mhalsapathy’s prayers were answered and Sai returned after 72 hours. Recorded incidents show that during this period of absence from His physical body, Sai Baba appeared to His devotees several hundreds miles away. The coming back to "life" of Sadguru Sainath has a similarity to the resurrection of Jesus Christ who rose to life three days after He was put to death. One source on the Christ says, "If only His earthly body was dead, then He was the same "spiritual being" with all the power and glory in the three days His body was in the grave that He has now or had before He came to earth". How true! A careful examination of these incidents shows the limitlessness of the divine. Sai said, "my tomb will speak". This proved right as millions of his devotees still listen to Him even after several years of His physical demise. On the eve of Christmas, the celebrated of spiritual times, let us remind ourselves of His true nature that transcends time and space and His ever presence in our lives and His glory.
Ramadan Over one billion Muslims throughout the world celebrate the month of Ramadan. For Muslims, it is a time for inner reflection, devotion to God, and self-control. Ramadan is also a time of intensive worship, reading of the Qur'an, giving charity, purifying one's behavior, and doing good deeds. Ramadan is the ninth month of the lunar Islamic calendar. The much-anticipated start of the month based on the sighting of the crescent moon. It is also arrived at based on very accurate astronomical calculations. The end of the month is traditionally marked by the celebration of 'Eid-ul-Fitr. Fasting is one of the most important aspects of Ramadan. Fasting in Ramadan is obligatory on those who can do it. Sick people and some travelers in certain conditions are exempted from the fast but must make it up, as they are able. Followers of Ramadan fasting totally abstain from food, drink, smoking, and sex. The usual practice is to have a pre-fast meal (suhoor) before dawn and a post-fast meal (iftar) after sunset. It is believed that fasting results in the lack of preoccupation with the satisfaction of bodily appetites, giving ascendancy one's spiritual nature. Fasting is also a way of experiencing hunger and developing sympathy for the less fortunate, and learning to be thankfulness and appreciation for all of God's bounties. Fasting is also deemed beneficial to the health and provides a break in the cycle of rigid habits or overindulgence. During the month, followers try to read as much of the Qur'an as they can. Some spend part of their day listening to the recitation of the Qur'an in a mosque. The last ten days of Ramadan are a time of special spiritual power as everyone tries to come closer to God through devotions and good deeds. The night on which the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet, known as the Night of Power (Lailat ul-Qadr), is generally taken to be the 27th night of the month. The Qur'an states that this night is better than a thousand months. Ramadan emphasizes community aspects and since everyone eats dinner at the same time, Muslims often invite one another to share in the Ramadan evening meal. Some find that they eat less for dinner during Ramadan than at other times due to stomach contraction. However, as a rule, most Muslims experience little fatigue during the day since the body becomes used to the altered routine during the first week of Ramadan. The spirit of Ramadan is expressed by congratulating one another. Following phrases are some of the examples of expressing Ramadam best wishes:
Shirdi Sai Center, NY is organizing AKHAND NAAM JAAP, (24 hours). Baba's name chanting will begin on Friday December 25th. at 8.30 am and will continue till Saturday December 26th. 8.30 am. All of you are invited with family and friends to chant Baba's holy name. Naam Jaap is the most powerful spiritual practice and all of you will benefit by participating. For those of your'll who cannot physically make it to the center, please mentally join us by concentrating on Baba's name chanting for as much time as possible. Baba's Taraka naam "OM SAI SHRI SAI JAI JAI SAI" will be chanted for 24 hours. The Venue for the Naam Jaap is:
For further information please contact Dr. Ganagadhar Rao at (718)321 9243 New Year Eve Celebrations, Sai Samsthan USA, Chicago Sai Samsthan USA, has the following schedule for their New Year Eve celebrations at Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir, Warrenville, IL, on Thursday, Dec 31, 1998. 7.00 PM Pamchamritha Abhishek, Sri Sai Baba namajapa, Sri Sai Ashthothra Pooja Monthly Pooja, Sai Samsthan USA, Chicago Sai Samsthan USA, Chicago has scheduled their monthly pooja at Shirdi Sai Baba mandir, Warrenville, IL, on Sunday, December 27, 1998. The program is as follows:
9.00 AM Kakada Arthi Shri Shirdi Sai Baba mandir is situated at 27W321 Butterfield Road, Warrenville, IL. 60555. For directions, please call the mandir at 630-653-4444. Other Activities: An Appeal for Rajendra Naik Fund By Mallige Kannada Sangha Rajendra Naik, a 32 year old Member of Scientific Staff at Nortel, was diagnosed with acute Lukemia and after a brave battle succumbed to its complications on November 27, 1998. Rajendra leaves behind his wife Jayashree and his three month-old daughter Shruthi. The medical costs associated with this tragic event have mounted to over $50,000.
This is an appeal for donations for Raj Naik's family.
Please help Raj’s wife Jayashree and their three-month-old baby Shruthi, by contributing generously within the next week. Please make your checks payable to "TANTEX Rajendra Naik Fund" and mail it to, If you need any further information, please call(USA Numbers) Ravin Gnanasambandam, Arkansas, USA It happened sometime ago. I was travelling with my wife and my two little children on a major city highway. It was busy hour traffic in the junction of three major highways with most traffic leading out into the suburbs. Since the exit I was supposed to take came on the left, I was travelling on the extreme left lane watching out for my speed and the exit. All of a sudden, I saw another lane on my left that lead to the exit I am supposed to take and I immediately swirled leftwards into the exit in order not to miss the exit. During the sudden rush of events, I failed to notice a fast travelling vehicle that was travelling on the left lane, which was a just few feet behind mine. Since it happened too fast for the driver behind to react, he hit my car on the rear bumper and fortunately for both of us, the driver was able to control the car and negotiate a turn we were approaching. I began to increase my speed in order to maintain the traffic flow and I realized that my car was making a huge noise at the rear, probably due to the broken bumper. It went on for a few minutes and by then; I was totally shook up and did not know what to do. I took the next exit and pulled into the first gas station I saw. We got out of the car and to our utter disbelief we saw the whole bumper hanging on the ground and was dragging all along! The agony got manifold because the new car we were driving did not belong to us! I did not find any other damage to the vehicle, and we were physically safe. The vehicle following us went on, probably not wanting to involve in the mess. I am sure every car driving behind us saw the broken bumper and heard the noise! The incident happened on a bridge and I was travelling a couple of feet away from the concrete parapet wall. Praying to Sainath, as we always do at times of distress, slowly I drove around in search of someone who could help me fix the bumper and the rear indicator lights without which I cannot drive. I found an auto body shop that was right in the next street. The shop was open although it was late in the evening. After about 45 minutes, the damage was fixed and it was minimum. The bumper did not break into two although it was dragged on the high way for some time and the small scratch it had was almost invisible. It was as if nothing had happened to the car! While so many things could have gone wrong that day, we believe that it was Sainath who saved us from breaking into the wall and plunging down, or from the driver behind who could have been hurt in the process, and the car sustaining from major damage. My five-year-old son, who was amused at all these events, exclaimed in the end, "Baba fixed the car!" Incidentally, we were going to the Hindu temple and we wanted to reach before the closing hours of the temple. We could not make it to the temple that day. The next day, a Thursday was a blessing and we had a blissful visit to the temple. Lessons were learnt and Sainath showered His grace, once more. Bow to Sri Sai Peace be to all
Mahesh S. Thakur Dear Sir I love the site that this organization is maintained, it reflects the dedication and belief in the "Lord of the Lords THE SAI". I visit this site primarily to listen to some of the bhajans and aarthis but my company is behind the firewall and somehow cannot connect to your server. I am not very aware of the internet and its features, if you could kindly let me a know a way around it, I would really appreciate it. Thanks You should be able to listen to the bhajans and aarthis from behind the firewall by configuring your real player settings to use http port instead
of the tcp/ip port. The Real Audio/Video server has already been configured with users like you in mind. For more details on how to configure your real player, check the Real player documentation.
Rootuja Ghatge Sai Namaskar! Do you happen to have the address of the SaiBaba Temple in Shirdi? If so, please let me know. thanks The Sai Baba Temple adress in Shirdi is as follows:
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