Spiritual pursuits, sooner or later, must give rise to a realization that life as one sees is myth, the play of Maya. A long-lasting sleep completely full of dreams and nightmares. Existing dormant in the seeker as a neglected fact, this realization will assume immense importance as one proceeds with Saadhana, an intense yearning, with the guidance of Guru. Only the Supreme soul that transcends time and space, as we define it, knows this as the Truth. Saint God of Shirdi, the manifestation of supreme consciousness told this to His children. Numerous incidents and anecdotes involve Sai belittling the perceived values of humankind only to emphasize the permanent virtues that one should long for. Preaching about Brahma Gnana to the miser merchant in Sri Sai Satcharitamritha is one such example. Understanding the limitedness of pain and pleasure may be one important step in the human life that helps accomplish the bigger goal of God-realization which is nothing but self-realization. Let us examine the vision that Yogi Minocher was blessed with by Sadguru Sainath on June 12, 1952:

"Different faiths are like different rivers that flow from different regions but ultimately join the ocean. The object of every religion is God. He alone is worthy of worship and none else. To make sordid desires of life to dominate is to invite catastrophe. Do not be dragged in the mire of worldly temptations for they are death knells of misery and degradation. Riches are the burning bricks with which the vault of hell is built. Lust for power is a shadowy business. Do not aspire for worldly applause for it is fickle and baseless. Stain not your soul with allurements of life but keep it stainless with love and light of God.

God alone is the reality, all else is of unreal nature. Seek God in the simplicity of your heart. Renounce the gewgaws of life. Hold fast to Truth and Righteousness. Mercy and Compassion, Love and Gentility, Simplicity and Humility, Earnestness and Sincerity, Passivity and Catholicity, Sobriety and Integrity, Forgiveness and Forbearance, Patience and Perseverance. Aspire to be a Saint, a sage by getting out from the common track and following your own God. Work ceaselessly, pray to God zealously, keep your mind serene and calm even in the midst of storms and tempests. Be pure in heart and you will see God. God-realization is the goal of life, not earthly happiness which is false and effervescent".

(from Shirdi Sai: The Supreme by Dr. S.P. Ruhela)
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Experiences of Devotees

Hari Kiran, Hyderabad, India
Om Sai Ram! I am a Sai devote from Hyderabad, India. I would like to narrate a recent experience of mine- actually my husband's. I normally get up earlier than my husband. It was one morning that he was up before me and was talking on the phone. From his conversation I gathered that he was talking to his broker friend about investing in a particular scrip. He sounded very excited. Later he told me that he was expecting a sharp rise in that scrip and that he was going to invest, and that we would get huge profits in a short time. My husband believes Baba as any other God. Of late he has started reading the Satcharita too. He reads it regularly after his bath, but randomly- any page that opens up. On that particular day, he sat down after his bath and surprisingly of all the chapters ch.25 opened up- Damu Anna's speculation where Damu Anna wants to speculate in cotton and asks for Baba's advice and Baba says "Tell that shet to be content with what he has, nothing is wanting in his house. Let him not bother about lakhs." My husband read that that chapter and took it as Baba's advice. He wanted to invest some very huge amounts that day and after getting this warning from Baba he decided not to do so. His broker friend was shocked. He persuaded him and convinced him to put in some money at least, which he did. In the next couple of days we realized that the value of that scrip fell and people registered losses. Had we invested the originally planned amount of money we would have been in deep troubles by now, we would have had losses that we could never pay. Thanks to Baba's timely advice in warding off that calamity. Despite the warning my husband took the risk of investing some amount which ended in a loss. He took Baba's advice but not in full. The story about the man falling off the mountain was an eye opener. What is wanted is COMPLETE faith. Om Sri Samartha Sadguru Sri Sainath Maharaj Ki Jai.
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Devotees say...

A devotee from Brisbane, Australia
I have found a very good way of understanding the essence of each sentence in Sai Satcharita. I allot 45 minutes to 1 hour to write two to three pages each day from the book. As it is said one time writing is equal to ten times reading, after writing those pages, I have begun to absorb the inner meaning of each sentence. This method may take some time but it is really worth it. I feel extremely happy and full of concentration throughout the rest of the day.

Malathi Jandhyala, Washington, USA
(Originally posted on Thursday, Apr 15, 1999)
SaiRam Dear Devotee,
Prayers are done for three purposes. For Spiritual well being, physical well being, and material well being. Spiritual well being prayers are most Saatvic of all because their foundations are based on detachement, sacrifice, devotion and Love towards all beings. Strictly speaking, even prayers for physical well being should be done for spiritual purposes. We need to keep our body fit for Spiritual Sadhana and realization of God. God gave this beautiful instrument by which we can reach Him. This instrument should be clean inside and outside. ie., mentally and physically. When we are praying for our own needs we are too much attached and affected by the results. However, when you are doing Saamuhika prayers your mind set will be different. You will not be attached so much to the result and you will feel that whatever Swamy or God does is the best for the party. Prayers for others will also remove the selfish quality within [that means we are actually helping ourselves] and open the doors for compassion and forbearance. These are the important spiritual qualities of a spiritual aspirant. When swamy said My KHAJANA is full, that Khajana is spiritual Khajana. Of course, you might get material benefits also from that Khajana. But those are only small trinkets when compared to His real riches and they are not expensive either. But for this Spiritual Khajana, the price is very heavy too. Lot of layers of dirty qualities have to be removed. Selfless prayers, service, detachement, devotion, and Love are the special detergents that will remove these dirty layers. When the Mayapathi is spreading His charm, we just have to surrender and dance to His tune. They say that Rome is not buit in a day. Each day we need to do what He wants us to do. He throws tests on us. One day He will tests our compassion and another day detachement. All these tests are surprise quizzes only. Not every one is ready and that is all right too. He will not expect us to pass each test. We fail and cling to Him more for His Love. He will not leave us until we are with Him totally. Forgive me Swamy for my errors. Sai Samarpanamastu.

Venugopal N.
Dear Fellow Sai Worshipers:

I am touched by the deep feelings expressed by Sri MN Reddy, as to how our prayers should be. It is true that SAI knows everything including what is best for us. I wish to quote an incident narrated in SAI Sathcharita. 'When a devotee asked Baba about the good alliance he has brought for his daughter, Baba asks his daughter to be married to a cook. After a while the devotee again brings the topic of the alliance he has in mind. Baba says 'Do as you wish and die'. Within six months after the marriage the boy died rendering the devotee's daughter a life long widow.'

I have also heard some devotees saying ' I planned to ask Baba for a favor after the meditation. But after the meditation I feel, He is the better judge of what is good for me and simply end the prayer asking Baba to keeping the flame of this faith glowing for ever'.

BUT, BUT , BUT can we teach this to a new devotee who has just been drawn to Baba? Baba himself said that - 'every one comes to Him with some or desire. As and when they are satisfied they turn to spiritual path'. Infact He keeps giving us so much that at one point of time devotees ask themsleves as to what they should do to please Baba. Infact that is the actual turning point towards God.

What I am trying to say is that, how a devotee prays to Baba itself evolves over a period of time and Baba has all the patience in this world(!?).

Talking about praying to Baba for others problems, this again has two sides to the coin. On one hand there are numerous instances in Sai Satcharita where Baba did not like devotees going to Him through some other individuals. But when a devotee is too distracted by the problems in hand and can not concentrate to pray to Baba, taking other devotees help to pray may not be out of place. You can find numerous instances in Cristianty on mass prayers being effective.

These are only my opinions and can be wrong. Devotees may please correct me If I have wrong opinions. You cn reach me at n_venugopal@hotamil.com.
Sai Ram

A Sad Devotee,
Sai Ram,
I am writing this in great dilemma which I am going through at this time and would like some advise from anyone compassionate enough to respond.

I, a non-Muslim married after converting, a Muslim man who was not a staunch Muslim by virtue of practice such as namaz, roza etc. Whenever the subject came up he always said it was not very important to him to pray or keep roza but more important to be a good human being. On this premiss I never learnt how to pray nor read the quran. However, our marriage seemed doomed from the first day as we had strong personality differences. Moreover, being rather insecure myself I contributed towards anger and fighting between us. Although, more recently they had become fewer and almost negligible. Due to such turmoil in my mind and heart I sought guidance from Sai Baba and looked to him for mercy and happiness in our marriage. For a short time it almost seemed as if things had improved greatly between us and we were on our road to recovery. Unfortunately, due to my husband's sudden conviction in his being a Muslim and not being allowed by the religion to recognize or pray to anyone but God alone, and to not have murtis in the house or perform any rituals practiced by other communities, the marriage took a complete U turn one day and he decided to leave and divorce me for the sake of religion. Although I tried to convince him to retract his decision and start afresh and teach me his prayers and reading of the quran he has refused to do so and has left our house to go and live with his mother and brothers/sister, who in some ways I feel have contributed towards the breakup of our marriage. The most painful thing in all of this is that I lost my husband because of my devotion to Sai Baba from whom I was seeking help to save our marriage and guide us to peace of mind and happiness together.

Please advise me whether I should pray for him to come back or whether to move on with my life. For last 14 years I have leant only to live with him severing all ties with other friends and relations. Although we fought a lot we had committed to each other that we shall be together for ever and accept our marriage as a folly on our parts. Somehow I have always felt that he put his family, business/work, and all the others before his wife and therefore put aside all commitments made to me. I feel a kind of emptiness in my heart and sometimes try to move on while at other times pray for him to come back.

Looking forward to any suggestions. I am hopeful someone will respond to me.
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