Sai Vichaar is a Weekly newsletter distributed every Thursday and is devoted to the life, philosophy and teachings of Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi. Feel free to forward this newsletter to your interested associates in its original form.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

• FEATURE OF THE WEEK
• CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE
• DEVOTEES SAY
• PRAYER CLUB
• EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES
• QUOTATION OF THE WEEK
• QUESTION OF THE WEEK
• SAI ACTIVITIES
• FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD

FEATURE OF THE WEEK: Patience provides the nourishment!

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 Radhabai 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 patient 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!

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Tatya's Pheta

One would wonder what was going on in Tatya's mind as the angry fakir tore apart his headgear and threw it in the fire. Did it occur to him that he was going to be rewarded with a new headgear by his beloved Deva? Probably not! Why does the Master of Cryptic message resort to this sort of blessing that only seems like cursing? No one knows! Hemadpanth illustrates several incidents of Baba's strange behavior that were mistaken for His indifference in the beginning only to spell relief later.

Sometimes the reason was to teach a lesson. Sometimes it was to make a point. Most of the times, it is not known. When He dissuaded Damu Anna from grain dealing(Comodities) business, Baba saved him the agony of losing money in an unprofitable venture. When the Haji was kicked out, it was only to make him more closer. When He burnt Tayta's pheta, it was only to give him a better one! Burning is symbolic of the end. The end of perhaps a forgettable past!, the closure to an unappealing present? May be just a reminder as to who is in charge! Nevertheless, it is the new beginning. Anger of the mad fakir can only be a miracle that is unseen. A short move in His bigger plan. Towards bigger and better. Let us on this Thursday think about those miracles that we do not see for those are the real spiritual treasures hard to seek.

(Contributed by Sai devotee)

DEVOTEES SAY:

Krishnaveni
I was having very hard time in dealing with my son in his studies since last two years. He is in 9th grade now, he is very bright boy but all of a sudden, he became very careless in studies. He started getting bad grades, so I prayed to Baba that if he starts working hard then I would post this article in Sai Vichaar. Guess what! He is going to honor class in English next year and I am so grateful to Sai Baba and now his grades have improved. In another situation, I was having real problems in paying the installments for my loan. I received the money from unexpected source, and I was able to pay the installment. It was Sai's miracle, which I will never forget.

Sita
Thank you Sai for everything that you have given us. We have a small company and recently were having difficulty with an employee, who was bad mouthing us for no reason. There was a point in time where the employee was accusing us of things that were not existent and baseless. With your grace Sai everything was solved, the employee realized her mistake, apologized and cleared us of all the accusations that were previously made. The employee stated that she got self-realization and felt miserable and guilty of her doings. I am happy Sai that you helped the employee to realize her mistake. Help all of us Sai so we don't hurt anyone knowingly or unknowingly. Bless us and guide us always. Thank you Sai!

Madhu
Koti Pranam Baba. Thank you very much for saving my wife, daughter and son and his friend. I know You are there always looking upon us and taking care of us, otherwise it would have been devastating. You made sure and protected them, as You always do. This is just a miracle- the car eventough had been very badly damaged, no one even had a scratch. Please forever shower your blessing on all of us and our family and please protect and take care of us. Om Sairam.

Munish
On this day, (ninth year of Sai Vichaar) Baba will Bless us all who have supported and contributed to this. He is the only One who is making this possible. Without Him nothing is possible. He is the cause for all causes. He will be continuing this for many years to come.

Sai devotee
Dear Baba, as usual and as always You come to our aid and solve our difficulties. You never fail us. We had a problem regarding my son's passport and You cleared that for us. My maid also had a very big problem and You heard my prayers and solved her problem too. Thank you so much Baba. Always bless us Baba.

PRAYER CLUB:

Ambuja
Baba I have been married for five years and had three miscarriages. Baba when will You bless me with a normal baby. I have almost lost my hope; please do not let me down. Baba please help me to conceive in a normal way.

Shanthavi
Please Sai, help me and give me some indication Baba that I can understand. I am desperately waiting for reply from you Baba. Don't let me down Sai please.

Mahalaxmi
When you gave me the opportunity to be happy I never took it. But today when I want the same thing, I am not able to reach it. I know I was wrong in taking the decision. But today I am helpless. I cannot do anything than to offer prayers to You. Please help me in leading my life without any problems and show me the right path to follow. I will try never to repeat this kind of thing again. I am very sorry for what I did Baba. Please be with me and guide me.

Chaitanya
My mind is restless, always. I am not able to focus on my work, or my studies, or my household chores. Please bring peace into me. I get very frightened during the nights, and I howl. You are aware of my worries; please help my family and me.

Saroja
Baba your daughter is childless for seven years, then why is she not blessed with a child. Baba please set right the things so that there is progress in construction of our new flat.

Rajiv
Baba, You only know what is going on in my mind. Please relieve me from that pain. I am not in my senses these days. Something is troubling me Baba and You know about that problem. Devotees, please pray for me. Baba please be with my family always.

Radhakrishna
As you know Pranav had worked hard for his IIT engineering admission. We are all entirely depending on Your blessings for his seat. As in past You have helped me on different occasions. Baba, please help Pranav to get his admission into IIT. Once again I bow my head at Your feet, for Your grace and blessings.

EXPERIENCE OF DEVOTEES:

Shanthi
There are a couple of heart moving experiences I had with BABA,I will tell one such experience, actually my mother's experience which instilled such firm faith and belief in Baba in all of us. It is so true that a Mother teaches us the first things in life, even if she may not be qualified.

My parents have two daughters (my self and my sister), after my sister was born in 1975, my mother got her tubes tied as she did not want any more children. For eight long years the tubes were tied, then one day she gets up saying that she got a dream and saw a boy who said that he will come to our house, around the same time we all were getting to know Baba, she was extremely confident that the boy was none other than Baba, and based on a mere dream, she convinced my father and got herself recanalized. Her gynecologist told her that after eight years the tubes have become weak, and she has very slim or perhaps no chances of conceiving, and even if she did there is no guarantee that she will have a boy. But my mother was very simple and she said she knows she will have a boy. She also vowed that her full family would go to Shirdi, after my brother was born, and of course, when a person has so much faith in Baba, can anything go wrong? My brother was very healthy and a chubby baby, he is now 22 years old, I pray to Baba to always be with him and guide him. We went to Shirdi for the first time after he was born, just before starting for Shridi, again Baba comes and says that He will be in our house before us, and surprisingly, when we came back, when my sister tried to open the door she fell off, the door was already open, nothing went wrong, nothing was lost, it was as if someone lived in the house and the house was never locked, when we actually bolted it.
With a heavy heart I have to say that my mother passed away just 3 months back, at the age of 51. She had a lot of health complications and a very young age but I am sure Baba is taking good care of her.

Sai devotee
It so happened a key ring was given to me by my aunt who is a Sai devotee. The key ring had Baba's photo in it and was touched at Baba's feet in Shirdi, as I had never visited Shirdi so the key ring was very special to me and I kept it in my purse always. One day my purse was stolen and I lost some money as well as some materials inside it, but I was terribly sad that I lost the ring; I was upset because of the ring. One fine day I found a key ring with Baba's photo in it and a small key of a vehicle. It was on my TV set in the living room. I asked my husband and my brother, whose ring it was and nobody could answer for months. After waiting for a month or so, I finally knew where it must have come from. I still keep the key ring in my purse. This is one of the hair-raising experiences I had with Baba.

Saraswathi
I have wanted to write this experience for quite sometime. We have visited Sai Baba's temple in Pittsburgh, PA last month. After having darshan of Lord Balaji, we went to Baba's Temple. We thought it was 7 pm at that time, as we did not change the time in our watches according to DST. The temple will be closed by 8 pm. Suddenly I realized the time change and ran to the front door, but it was closed already as it was 8 pm. I was so disappointed and came back to our vehicle, but the temple has another door too. Priest and some other devotees were coming out from that door, closing the temple. They saw us and told us that it is time for temple closing but we can have darshan of Baba. I was so glad to hear this, before that I wanted to offer $ 5 to Baba and hoped to have Baba's arathi. We went inside and bowed to Sai. One of my nephews rang the bell for the priest. The priest came in and said they already did Shej arathi and put Baba to sleep so we are not suppose to ring the bell. We said sorry and then he gave prasadam to us. But, I could not see the arathi so I got so disappointed. Anyway, I felt so happy for having Baba's darshan and prasadam. In that hurry, I did not offer the $ 5, which I wanted to offer (actually, I did not have any change. I used it in previous temples.) We all came out, as it was time for them to go home. But after coming to exit door, I realized that I forgot my purse in the temple, so my mom and I went to get it. To my surprise, I saw Baba's deepam (arathi) behind Hundi (Hawala). My joy knew no bounds and my purse was next to that. Thinking that Baba might want me to offer Him which I came to offer in the first place, so I checked my purse, in my emergency pocket (where I keep extra money, in case I run out of my usual spending money), I found exactly $ 5 and offered that to Baba and got his blessings. And also, before in that hurry, I forgot to bow Sai, then I bowed Him completely (Sastang Namaskaram).

Rama
I am a pharmacy graduate from India. I have moved to Canada in February 2002. I had a dream to establish a pharmacy store in Baba's name something like "Shirdi Sai Baba Drug Mart". I had applied for a franchise for a leading Drug store chain in Canada. The process to get a store (franchise) involves couple of steps. Firstly completing certain management courses and secondly, be successful in at least two interviews with head office. With the blessings and grace of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba I have got a store in Brampton, Canada with just one interview, I had only completed one course out of three management courses that I was supposed to do.

Most of us know the importance of a resume to apply for any job in North America (more so in Canada). It is because of Lord Sainath's blessings even without forwarding my resume to the head office I had been chosen from the four prospective candidates who applied for the franchise. I got this news on Wednesday on 10th May 2006 around 6:15 pm. I have decided to name the store as "Shirdi Sai Baba Drug Mart". On the same day at around 8:15 pm I was involved in a car accident. I was driving the car when a pickup truck crashed into the rear left hand side of my car. Again, with Baba's blessings, none of the passengers (I and my friends) was seriously hurt and all of us are safe. If the accident had occurred a couple of seconds before I do not know what would have happened to my friends and me. Baba, please bless all your devotees and help me to increase my faith and devotion towards You.

QUOTATION OF THE WEEK:

"Whatever (whether Good or Bad) is ours, is with us, and what is another's is with him".-Shri Sai Baba

QUESTION OF THE WEEK:

Q. Name any incident during life of Baba which has made a lasting impression on You

A. by Geeta

The presence of Sai Baba in our life gives us so much confidence and makes us fearless. Whenever I travel by any auto, taxi, or go to any shop for any purchases, there are photographs of Sai Baba over there. Even when I go to meet someone, photograph of Sai Baba is in the house, blessing everyone is a real good sight. Such events make me remember Sai Baba's promise given to his favorite devotee, Shama (Madhavrao Deshpande) in Sai Satcharita, chapter XLVI. The line reads as "After doing Kashi and Prayag He would be ahead of Shama". There were two functions, one at Nagpur and one at Gwalior for which invitations were given to Shri Sai Baba and Shama. Sai Baba's devotee Kakasaheb Dixit had decided to perform the thread (Upanayan) ceremony of his eldest son Babu at Nagpur. At about the same time Nanasaheb Chandorkar also decided to perform the marriage ceremony of his eldest son at Gwalior. As Sai Baba's representative, Shama after taking the permission of Baba, decided to go to Nagpur and Gwalior for these functions and ceremonies and thence to Kashi, Prayag and Gaya. Appa Kote also accompanied him. After finishing Kashi and Prayag, Shama and Appa Kote went to Gaya. In the train they were uneasy hearing that plague was prevailing in Gaya. But the priest in the Dharamshala, Gayawala, asked them to be free of fear and anxiety and see the situation for themselves. Then they went with him and stayed in his house which was a big and commodious Wada. Shama was pleased with the accommodation provided for him, but what pleased him most, was the beautiful big portrait of Baba fixed in the central and front portion of the building. Seeing this portrait Shama was overwhelmed with emotion. He remembered Baba's words, viz. "After doing Kashi and Prayag He would be ahead of Shama", and burst into tears.

The story behind this portrait was - The Gayawala had been to Shirdi 12 years back and had taken Baba's darshana. There he wanted Baba's portrait hung in Shama's house and with Baba's permission, Shama gave it to him. This was the same portrait. Shama then remembered this former incident. The Gayawalas's joy knew no bounds when he learnt that the same Shama who obliged him before, was his guest then. Then they both exchanged love and service and were most delighted and happy. The Gayawala gave him a right royal welcome. He was a very rich man. He sat in a palanquin, made Shama ride an elephant, and attended to all his comforts and conveniences. This incident comes to my mind, every time I see Baba's photograph, and I feel as if he is saying, when you go somewhere, I will reach before you and take care of all your problems and bless you in whatever you do. Bow to Shri Sai, Peace be to all.

Q. What does Sai Baba say about the Wealthy / Rich?

A. by Sadashiv Kavthankar

Woman and Wealth are two main obstacles in the way of our Parmartha (Spiritual Life). Actually and in fact, Shri Sai Baba regarded money as a danger or bar to Spiritual progress and did not allow his bhaktas to fall into its clutches. Shri Sai Baba said "Wealth should be the means to work out Dharma. If it is used for personal enjoyment, it is wasted. Unless you have given it before, you do not get it now. Therefore, the best way to receive is to give. The giving of Dakshina advances Vairagya (non attachment), and thereby Bhakti and Jnana. Give one and receive ten fold."

Shri Sai Baba has actually set an example personally. During his last moments, when He knew that He was to pass away soon, and therefore He wanted to give some money as charity, to Laxmibai Shinde just before leaving the body He gave 9 Rupees. It is said it may be the Dakshina offered at the time of Seemollanghan.

SAI ACTIVITIES:

Shirdi Sai Temple of Chicago and Suburbs, Illinois, USA
Shirdi Sai temple is open daily from 7:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m (Summer hours). Daily program includes Kakad Arathi at 7 a.m. followed by Abhisek. Madhayana Arathi at 12 noon, Dhoop Arathi at 6 p.m. and Shej Arathi at 9 p.m. Archana, Homams, Sahasranama and sponsored poojas continue in between the Arathis. To request a pooja for yourselves, your friends and family, please call. Devotees can request water (Abhishek Jal) from the Holy bathing of Baba by sending us an email or by phone. Temple is located 25 minutes drive west of Schaumburg on intersection of IL Route 47 and Plank Road in Hampshire, IL. For more information please call 847-931-4058 or send email to maildrop@saibaba.org.

Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, Minnesota
Regular Sai activities in Minneapolis, St.Paul area are being conducted at Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, 725 Lake St NE, Apt #139 Hopkins MN. For details, please contact hamaresai@yahoo.com, or call Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center at 952-938-2983, and to read the monthly newsletter Sai Sandesh, visit www.hamaresai.org.

Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of DFW Metroplex is located at 2109 West Parker (Parker Plaza), Suite 212, Plano, TX 75023. For temple hours and activities please call the temple office at 469-467-3388 or visit the websiteSri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of DFW Metroplex is located at 2109 West Parker (Parker Plaza), Suite 212, Plano, TX 75023. For temple hours and activities please call the temple office at 469-467-3388 or visit the website www.shirdisaidallas.org.

Shirdi Sai Satsang, Bay Area, California
Shirdi Sai Parivaar invites all to join us for Satsang every Thursday 7:30 pm at Odd Fellows Temple, 20589 Homestead Road, Cupertino, CA 95014. For details please call 408-564-6704 or send email to saibandhu@yahoo.com or visit www.ShradhaSaburi.org.

Sai Satsang, New Jersey, USA
Shirdi Sai Dham, Inc regularly conducts Sai bhajans followed by Aarti and Prasad on every 1st Saturday of each month at Durga Mandir, Kendall Park, New Jersey. The next bhajan is on June 3rd 2006 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. All are requested to kindly come and receive Baba's blessings. For more information, please call us at 609-275-1334 or visit www.shirdisaidham.org or email us at shirdisaidham@hotmail.com.

Shirdi Sai Satsang, Toronto, Canada
Shirdi Saibaba Sansthan invites all to join for satsangs every Thursday 7:00 pm at Sai Dwarkamai, 147 Winston Castle Dr. Markham, Ontario, L6C 2N4, phone 416-402-8089 or email: saileela99@yahoo.com. To request a pooja for yourselves, your friends and family for any occasion at your residence, please call. Devotees can request udi or Holy water (Abhishek Jal) from the Holy bathing of Baba by sending us an email or by phone.

Shirdi Sai Mandir, Scarborough, Canada
The Shirdi Sai Mandir located at 2721 Markham Road, Scarborough, Ontario, M1X 1L5 (Intersection of Markham and Nashdene) is open Monday to Friday from 6:30 p.m to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday to Sunday from 10:30 a.m to 8:30 p.m. Dhoop Aarti is at 7:30 p.m. everyday. Bhajans are on Saturday from 5:00 p.m. onwards. For other temple activities and information please call 647-444-4724 or send an email to info@theshirdisaimandir.com.

Shirdi Sai parivar, Vancouver, Canada
Shirdi Sai parivar in Vancouver invites you all for Sai satsang on Thursday from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm and first Sunday of every month from 11:30 am to 1 pm, at 8571, 118A St, Delta, V4C 6L2. For further details contact (604)592 4182 or email at sai_ish@hotmail.com.

FROM THE EDITORS KEYBOARD:

Sai devotees staying in and around Vancouver, Canada please refer above for Sai satsang details in Vancouver. Gurupoornima is celebrated on July 10th to 12th in Shirdi. The festival celebrating Sadguru Sainath Maharaj's love and grace is important to all Sai devotees. Please share with your fellow devotees the details of Gurupoornima celebrations planned in your community.

A devotee suggests the Question of the week as follows:

Q. What does Sai Baba say about the wealthy/rich?

Humbly Yours,
The Editor

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