True Prayer In this fast moving world, some of us make prayer a measuring tool for good or bad. Some of us or maybe most of us are praying for a desired goal to achieve. Mantras that were taught in schools and other institutions were for bettering people, but unfortunately, today, they are used for achievement of health, wealth and everything else. This is not the mean-ing of true prayer. When we start thinking about prayer, we all make it a ritual that we must sit to pray for the desires of the day or we all must feed some hungry per-son out there so that the God is pleased and abundance will fall in our laps. The whole concept of prayer taught by our Sadguru is lost; to find it, one should start with the essence – what is the meaning of prayer? In a nutshell, it means devotion. We should always pray to tap our own good qualities and to source our inner strengths to achieve things, and pass it on to others so that they can achieve too. This is what devotion is. As the Gita suggests, the highest prayer is to oneself. Just correcting our wrongs, establishing the good through our own conduct and spreading it to others is the best mantra. On this Thursday, let us learn the meaning of True prayer through the teachings of Shri Sai and let us follow it.......

Bow to Shri Sai ~ Peace be to All

The Glory of Shirdi SaiThe Glory of Shirdi Sai

0 6 – S E P T E M B E R - 2 0 1 2 Y E A R 2 0 1 2 — I S S U E 1 8

गरुुॄह्मा गरुुिवरं् ण:ु गरुुदेर्वो महेश्वर: | गरुु: शाक्षात परॄह्म तःम ैौीगरुवे 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

ौद्धा सबुरी

Tenth Year of Publication - Published as Bi-Weekly www.saidarbarusa.org ~ an affiliate of www.saidarbar.org

JAI SAI RAM

P A G E 2

Achintyaya

Namah

1912 6 January Saturday Shirdi I got up in the morning a little before day break and finished my prayer as usual, & saw Sayin Maharaj go out. After he passed on I went to Balasaheb Bhate and borrowed from him his copy of Ranganath Swami ’s Yogavashishta in Marathi, returned to my lodging, but resumed the reading of Ramayan. We all then attended the midday arti and had our meals as usual. I did not wish to lie down, but somehow sleep overcame me & I slept for hours nearly. Then Dixit read Ramayan & later on I went to the Masjid & saw Sayin Maharaj. He was in a pleased mood & there was talk. In the evening there was the usual Wada Arti & later on we attended the Sheja-Arti at the Chavadhi. Sayin Maharaj was in an exceptionally pleased mood made mystic signs to Megha and did what are known as “Drishtipata ” in yog. An astrologer has come from Dhulia and is a guest of Upasani & is staying in the Wada. At night there Bhishmas Bhajan & the Ramayan of Dixit.

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

From Satcharitra, pages and pages could be filled with God's intentions to-wards us. Our Sadguru explains his good intentions towards his disciples in every aspect of his life.The entire Satcharitra is a description of the kind of relationship He wants us to experience with Him and the kind of life He wants to give us. Baba requests us to keep Him as the basis for our hope and faith and follow His guidance. The better we know him, the more we will be able to trust Him and try to follow His teachings.

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 1 8

Devayani’s Moksha Mantrams Prostration unto you . Oh Maha Yogi ! I have surrendered to you . Instruct me how I may have never failing love and joy in your holy feet. Prostration to you the immeasurable Hari, Sai, Krishna, Damodara, Achyuta, Govinda, Ananta, Vasudeva, Lord of all. Prostration to you Achyuta, Govinda, Sainatha, Maheswara, Krishna, Vishnu, Hrishikesha, Vasudeva, Lord of all Yagna. Prostration to Sri Sainatha, the Brahman, of endless forms who is at once the Yogas and the Lord of Yogas. I have sought refuge with you. Prostrations to you the Supreme Good. Prostration to you who purifies the world. Prostration to the Shirdi dweller, Sainath, of perfect peace and calmness. Prostration again and again to Thee Sai is Vasudeva, Siva the Supreme soul, Govind, that removes the distress of the devotees. Prostrations again and again daily to those who are prostrating themselves before the Mahatma Say-eesa the refuge of all the worlds. If there is devotion to Sai what need is there for many mantras? The mantra--"Om Namah Sainathaya" achieves all objects. Oh Sai ! who art the Guru Dattattreya may your name which confers salvation be dancing with joy on the tip of my tongue ! Oh Lord ! may your glance be merciful and freely playing always on my body ! May your supreme and auspicious forms be ever dwelling in my heart ! May my head be ever rolling at your feet !

Will continue

P A G E 4

Sookshmaaya

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 - Baba’s Miracle - 6 (Late) Dr. RS.R. Swami

BABA'S MIRACLE - 7

" When truth is stranger than fiction"

The Upanishad

"Ask, it shall be given."

- The Bible

During the Second World War, I was employed as a Civilian Office Supervi-

sor in the" Embarkation Headquarters Vishakapatnam through which all the require-

ments of war against Japan were being routed. This was the first time I had ever

worked for the army or the Government for that matter having been in private em-

ployment till then. Hence, I had often to bungle through to success, 'heart within and

God overhead/ We worked under the strictest discipline I had even known. Even

Please tune in and listen to non-stop bhajans at: www.saibhaktiradio.com

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18-09-1997: Sai appeared as one of the priest in Shirdi Sai mandir and said: Once you depend on somebody, you should be mentally prepared

to accept whatever is offered to you and loose the power to criti-cise him or her. Instead of grieving try overcoming and learn to live by yourself.

Never show interest in what is going on in your neighbour’s house

especially after treading the spiritual path. Every body cook the same food and that’s the reason why we say

food is the source of all energies. Both tongue and taste should be controlled.

P A G E 5 Y E A R 2 0 1 2 — I S S U E 1 8

minor mistakes attracted immediate and summary punishment. It was in this context that I once found myself in a highly

embarrassing position. It came about as under:

A British Military Officer and I were in charge of disbursement of pay to the soldiers and sepoys (as Jawans were

then called) According to the rules, soon after the payments are made, the O.C.'s counter signature should be obtained

and the ledger posted up. However, on the first of a certain- month, it was so late in the evening by the time payments

were made that I postponed the work of getting the pay rolls countersigned and posted to the next day and went.home. I

had no qualms about the safety of the document, since it was a war-time military establishment, everything under lock

and seal with sentries pacing up and down round the clock. However, imagine my shock and surprise the next morning

when I opened the almirah, to find the pay-rolls missing.

Hardly a month earlier, I was handpicked as the best available man and given the charge of the office by the

new boss, one Maj G. William, a distinguished war-veteran. This was my first major task and I would be found wanting.

He was indeed a fire-eater with a penchant for dismissing a person found negligent in any way on the spot. Many includ-

ing my predecessor in the seat had thus been axed in quick succession. This had created a lit of heart-burning. It was

clear that someone bent upon putting me in trouble was behind this mischief. I was completely non-plussed. My heart

rose in prayer to Baba, my Sole Refuge, for His unfailing help to a devotee in trouble. Sustained by such faith, I pulled

out all the files methodically one by one, in the hope of locating the payrolls among them. It was of no avail. I became

frantic and went on repeating the process with each of the twenty odd almirahs in the office hoping against hope to find

by chance the missing documents hidden in one of them but with the same negative result. I went and sat in my seat

utterly frustrated.

To go and tell the boss would be worse than useless, since the whole thing smacked of negligence and he was

bound to pounce upon me. It would mean only one thing, namely, dismissal. That would be my undoing. Caught in this

dilemma, I once again beseeched Baba to my rescue. Now, some impulse led me back again to the same almirah in

which I had kept the pay-rolls and which I had throughly searched already, and involuntarily opened it, when lo! and be-

hold! There before me exactly where I had kept, were the pay-rolls starting me in the face! I know for certain that all the

while none had stirred from his seat. There was no way to explain it. It was another clear example of Baba's 'chamatkar'.

"Ask, it shall be given."

Glory be to Shri Shirdi Sai - Grace be to all

Glory be to Shri Shirdi Sai Baba - Grace be to all

L I K E O R N A M E N T S V Y I N G F O R T H E N E C K O F A W I N N E R , L I K E T H E C R I E S O F M E N C O N T E N D I N G F O R

L I G H T , S O O U R S O N G S S T R I V E F O R S O M A W H O , I N A C C O R D A N C E W I T H H I S C H O I C E , I S P U R I F I E D B Y

W A T E R S A S A S A G E . H I S W I S D O M I S L I K E A N E N C L O S U R E F O R T H E R E A R I N G O F C A T T L E .

R I G V E D A I X , 9 4 , 1

P A G E 6

Baba’s Close Devotees Sri Narayan Asram, a SANNYASI OF WAI ~ 23rd SEPT. 1936 Courtesy: http://blessedones.saibaba.com/

I have not given out my experience though Mr.Dixit and Mr.Dabholkar asked me for it. I have never heard Baba utter Mahavakyas or say things of Sankara-charya's Atmabodha or Viveka Chudamani or anything on those lines. When I went first in 1910 no crowds had come. Baba was mostly silent then. Very soon Bombay crowds be-gan to pour upon Shirdi. Then Baba was being pressed into new habits and ways. Devotees to suit their own tastes forced numerous forms and observances on Baba and made him a mere man shining with the aid of the shows they arranged for him. His real greatness shone by itself without forms and rigid observances and

pomp, and was shut out by these. These reduced Baba to earthly grandeur. Baba spoke to me only a few words - but they were direct and plain words. He did not talk to me in parables. He began to employ parable in teaching the numerous people that flocked to him. There is a great deal of parallelism between Sri Sai of Shirdi and Akkalkote Maharaj and that can be found by reading the life of Ak-kalkote Maharaj. The latter also hardly ever spoke of Adwaitic realization. He was a greater Karmata, (i.e., follower of rigid Karmamarga, the path of works) and in-sister on forms than Sai Baba. Baba was trying to push people just a few steps above their level. Das Ganu told me that Baba referred to one Daji Maharaj, a saintly grihastha Brah-min, who lived at the village Dangar Takidi near Nanded (in Nizam's State) as "my brother." That Maharaj passed away in 1934. He was practising Gayatri Purascha-ran. He said one day in 1914 at Dangar Takidi, “Yesterday, Sai Baba came here in the form of Maruti and there was a great rumbling noise at his arrival". My father and I are Maruti worshippers. I installed a new Maruti image and got a temple built and consecrated in 1918 at Ville Parle, Hanuman Street. I had to name the God, and I called it Sai Hanuman, remembering that Sai was Hanuman. I gifted

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

Sarva

Anthar

yamine

Namaha

P A G E 7 Y E A R 2 0 1 2 — I S S U E 1 8

that temple by deed to my brother. The very day this temple was consecrated at Ville Parle, Baba gave, it seems, Rs.25 to a Brahmin named Vaze and made him perform Satya Narayan Puja at Shirdi. People con-nect these two events. When I was first visiting Shirdi, I was heterodox and could hardly be taken for a brahmin. Regard for Samskaras grew on me. I never cared for Siddhis. I seldom attended Baba's Chavadi procession even when I was at Shirdi. I was desirous of getting Sanyas even before I got married. I actually got it only in 1931. But the way was being paved. My mother and wife are living; but I have no issue. Two children were born and they passed away after a few days of existence on this earth, one in 1900, the other in 1915. Brahmacharya is essential to Sanyasa. The fact that a wife is living in the house is no impediment to my Brahmacharya. If I look upon my mother like any other human being without special attachment, that is no hindrance to Sanyasa. The Samskara of going through Sanyasa gave me a great impetus. Sai Baba never spoke to me (or so far as I remember, to anyone else) about the desirability, necessity or disadvantages of a life of Sanyasa. About changes of caste, Ashrama, Guru, methods of Sadhana, caste observances, etc., he had one and the same advice or prescription "Each must stick to his lot and get on." (Read over and found correct.) The Guru after all is a medium, a means to realize your own self. He gives you a push and then you have to exert yourself and go higher and hold to your height. Sai Baba thus was a medium though one responsible for considerable and momentous advance in my spiritual history. Before I went to Shirdi, one Vinayak Bhat Shadale (supported by the Kolhapur State) whom I met in 1900 and who had made me read bits of Yoga-Vashishta with zest was also a "medium" for me. With one help at one time and a second at another, one has to go on steadily and realize the self.

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If a desire can be got rid of by satisfying it, there will be no harm in satisfying such a desire. But desires generally are not eradicated by satisfaction. Trying to root them out that way is like trying to quench a fire by pouring inflammable spirits on it. At the same time, the proper remedy is not forcible suppression, since such repression is bound to react sooner or later into a forceful surging up of desires with undesirable consequences. The proper way to get rid of a desire is to find out `Who gets the desire? What is its source?' When this is found, the desire is rooted out and it will never again emerge or grow.

~ Ramana Maharshi

Stories for this Week: “Children’s Sai Baba”

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Baba’s Dhuni After settling in Shirdi, Baba lit up a fire by his yogic powers. It is still kept burning. It is called Dhuni and the holy aslies emerging from it are called "udi". Baba gave medicines for several ailments and himself served the patients. Later on, Baba gave his pa-tients only the 'Udi' for

external use as well as for oral administration. Some wonderful stories of the use of Udi, I will relate to you in another chapter. Appa Bhil supplied the fuel for Baba's dhuni. When be sold two stacks, he gave one for the dhuni. There was a saint named Tajuddin. His dargah (place of worship) once caught fire. At the same time. Sai Baba in Shirdi, sitting before the Dhuni, made certain movements with his hands. People asked, "what are you doing Baba ?" "There is a fire at Tajuddin's dargah. I am putting, it out," said Baba. The next day, a word came from Tajuddin that a fire had broken out at the dar-gah, but as soon as he remembered Baba, the fire had subsided.

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

A blacksmith was an ardent devotee of Baba. Once Baba put both his hands in the burning dhuni and took them out as if 'rescuing' something. "Poor girl, if I had delayed a moment longer, she would have been burnt to death". What had happened was that the blacksmith's daughter, while playing about, had run into the furnace and Baba 'seeing' it, bad rescued her. Baba's hands were scalded, but the girl was saved.

Will continue…..

P A G E 1 0

Mano vag

atheeethaya

Namaha

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

Chapter 49 Contributed by: swamy@saimail.com .. Somadeva Swami Now hear the story of another man who came to try Shirdi Sai Baba. Bhaiji, brother of Kakasaheb Dixit was staying at Nagpur. When he had gone to the Himalayas in 1906 A.D., he made an acquaintance with one Somadeva Swami of Haradwar at Uttarkashi down the Gangotri valley. Both took down each other's names in their diaries. Five years afterwards Somadeva Swami came to Nagpur and was Bhaiji's guest. There he was pleased to hear the Leelas of Shirdi Sai and a strong desire arose in his mind to go to Shirdi and see Him. He got a letter of introduction from Bhaiji and left for Shirdi. After passing Man-mad and Kopergaon, he took a tanga and drove to Shirdi. As he came near Shirdi he saw two high flags floating over the Masjid in Shirdi. Generally we find different ways of behaviour, different modes of living and different out-ward paraphernalia with different saints. But these outward signs should never be our standards to judge the worth of the saints. But with Somadeva Swami it was different. As soon as he saw the flags flying, he thought - "Why should a saint take a liking for the flags, does this denote sainthood? It implies the saint's hankering after fame." Thinking thus he wished to cancel his Shirdi trip and said to his fellow travelers that he would go back. They said to him - "Then why did you come so long? If your mind gets restless by the sight of the flags, how much more agitated would you be on seeing in Shirdi the Ratha (car), the palanquin, the horse and all other paraphernalia?" The Swami got more confounded and said - "Not a few such Sadhus, with horses, palanquins and tom-toms have I seen and it is better for me to return than see such Sadhus." Saying this he started to return. The fellow-travelers pressed him not to recede, but to proceed. They asked him to stop his crooked way of thinking and told him that the Sadhu, i.e., Baba did not care a bit for the flags and other paraphernalia, nor for fame. It was the peo-ple, His devotees that kept up all this paraphernalia out of love and devotion to Him. Finally he was persuaded to continue his journey, go to Shirdi and see Baba.

Will continue

P A G E 1 1

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

हिरदश्वः सहॐािचर्ः सप्तसिप्तमर्रीिचमान।् ितिमरोन्मथनः शम्भुःत्वष्टा मातार्ण्ड अंशुमान॥् ११॥

11. Haridasvah Sahastraarchih sapta – Saptirichimaan | Timironmanthanh Sambhuhstvashta Maarttanda Amshumaan ||

Haridasvah = Having green horses; Sahasracih = Having thousand rays; Sapta Saptih = possessing seven horses drawn with chariot; Mariciman =Vibrating with his rays; Timiron manthanh = Dispeller of darkness (ignorance); Sambhuh = Giver of happiness; Tvashtva = makes all forms dwindle; Maartandah = Born from the shape of lifeless egg (perishable nature); Amshumaan = Having radiating rays. He has seven green horses (yoked to his Chariot), is of myriad – rayed, full of rays, the destroyer of darkness, the source of happiness, mitigator of the sufferings and is the infuser of life in the cosmic egg, having rays. .

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

Neither gross nor subtle is my Atman; It comes not, and It goes not; Without a beginning and without an end; Neither higher nor lower is It; That Truth absolute, space-like, Immortality-giving knowledge am I.

~ Avadhuta 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.

JAI SAI RAM

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Editorial Team: Radhika Nistala, Kanchana Kumar, Sumathi VijayBhaskaran, Kalyan Koduri

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BOW TO SHRI SAI ~ PEACE BE TO ALL