Sai Spiritual Showers - Issue 5/12

Here is the dawn of another year with Him. A year of benevolent love—another year with the Avatar!

When man got confined to compartments—this and that, they and we, you and I—disintegration became the word, making lives purposeless. Lost in the jarring sounds of money and hate, I became unwanted, I became a no one. Then, He came, as Sai, to remind me that You am I. And, with it, my identity and peace was restored. Now, with the coming year, many more I’s, like before, will be rescued.

Stepping into this New Year, in step with His mission is the best resolution. For the sake of mankind, for the sake of God, for the sake of love, let more hands join in, in this great march with divinity. Purely for the sake of giving and receiving love, let us be a part of this mission of unity.

Well… all words of love said and done, how can I love when hate lashes out at me! Bombed, looted, murder, suicide, scoop, competition—name a tragedy and a man it is. Compressed into painful blisters of ego, man leaves no breathing space. I have often cringed at words snarled at me. Adding to this was the societal norms that supported the wrong-doers. Is this dharma—truth so weak, so frail? And, in the process I began to hate. Then, I looked at Him with blame and pain, pleading for a shade and that’s when He invited me to His fold, to His mission. Involved in a small way in this mission of love and service my pains took a second stand, and then… it gradually faded. Later, in its place He and His mission came to focus. What a beautiful way to find peace! What a beautiful way to tame the mind! What a divine way to find love!

Dear readers, His mission has a purpose (unity) and to be a minute or the minutest part of it is to find a purpose in our lives as well which is far from hate and ego. Just to be of service: the pleasure we get from it and the pleasure we give through it is the joy of the world, the joy of the Lord. So, let’s run head on into this mission of ‘love in action’ and welcome the New Year with high spirits of dedication and love.

Sathya Sai Speaks

The New Year festival must mark either the culmination or the beginning of a sadhana or spiritual discipline; otherwise it is not a ‘Pandaga’ but a ‘dandaga’: not a festival but Wastival.

Some fruits ripen well on the tree, in the open air; some have to be kept hidden in straw or dry grass or in a closed room. So, too some devotees crave for the company of the Lord, His Seva, His constant presence and His darshan; others keep Him in the tabernacle of their hearts and nourish Him there and they enjoy in secret the dhyana of the Lord. Bhaktas are of different type.

Religion and belief in God are being challenged now by all kinds of people; it is the duty of religious and god fearing persons now to meet this challenge by demonstrating in their daily lives how religion has chastened them and how the realization of the constant presence of God has made them better and more useful citizens, more efficient and more reliable, more earnest and more courageous.

The calendar calculates the movement of the sun and the moon and of the starts in the sky; but of the constellations in the Hridaya-aksha the firmament in you, and of the moon, called the mind and of the sun, called buddhi? Have you ever calculated the movements of these, for the more valuable calendar of your human carrier?

(from the April 1960 issue of the Sanathana Sarathi)

CHRISTMAS 2009

'Twas a bright and cheerful morning on Christmas day when our members celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ.  Our festivities began at 10.00am with vedam chanting, followed by English bhajans, songs of praise and Christmas carols.  After Arathi, Santa Claus came bearing gifts of joy for all the children and adults.  Delicious delicacies were served at the end of the caroling session.

WISHING EVERYONE A BLESSED CHRISTMAS AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!

(For more pictures, click below :

http://picasaweb.google.com/ssbcned3/Christmas2009251209#)

Sai Spiritual Showers - Issue 4/12

Prasanthi Christmas

Christmas morn, the world is born
Anew in Love for Sai the Lord
Countless flames shine bright, so bright,
And fill the sky with heavenly light.
Glad sounds of joyous praises fill
The air with happiness and still
More joy awaits the watching ones.
For, yes indeed. the Lord, He comes;
With Blessings Pure, Boundless Love
He showers on devotees from above.
He is the Moon, He is the Sun,
He is the Father of the Son.
The world has waited many years
For Him whose glance removes all fears,
And Peace and Joy ripple out in waves,
As we sing the praise of Him who saves
The world from doubt as to the Truth of Man,
As He unfolds His Glorious Plan;
To lead all people to tire One,
The Source, the end, the Infinite Sun.
Hallelujah! all praises be,
To Sathya Sai, for we are He!

—Phillip Cottingham, New Zealand.

When God descends on Earth

Bells rang joyously to announce
The descent of the Divine Child.
From the celestial skies
A shower of flowers wafted through
The jasmine perfumed air blowing mild
A gentle stroke of the silver cradle
Kept its rhythm with the beat of drum,
Rapturous, divine music flowed
From the nearby hills.
Flutes played melodious tunes
From this charming Cow-boy.
Yes! Every soul had a song to hum.
Sparkling pink light shone
from the dew-pearled valleys
and the peacock blue-streams
Seemed to dance in delight
At the ecstatic smile divine
from tiny rose hued lips. His eyes
radiated a glance of heavenly joy.
Locks curling down His forehead
and a small mole on His tiny cheek,
Indeed a symbol to ward off
the evil and the wicked,
a sign of promise to the helpless
and hope to the poor and the meek.
His small feet toddled on the sands,
an eternal home for His thronging devotees.
Manifesting divine powers,
He cures the illness and ignorance of the world.
The Sai flag of Truth, Righteousness
Peace and Love has been unfurled.

—V. Indira Manasa, Anantapur Campus.

from the March 1990 edition of Sanathana Sarathi.

SERVICE ACTIVITY AT MORAL UPLIFTING SOCIETY (20/12/09)

Our Ladies' wing helped out at a charity food fair held at the Moral Uplifting Society, Penang, on Sunday, 20 December 2009.


(For more pictures, click below :
http://picasaweb.google.com/ssbcned3/FoodfairAtMoralUpliftingSociety201209#)

Sai Spiritual Showers - Issue 3/12

Persons like me are unfit to delve into the glory of Baba or discuss about its manifestations. They are inexplicable, but, true. I can only try to write about an experience of mine, regarding His mysterious Mahima In 1965, about two weeks previous to His Birthday Festival, myself and my mother-in-law went to Puttaparthi, with my brother-in-law who was aged about nineteen. About five or six months previous to our journey, my mother-in-law lost a thousand rupees that she had kept at home. My brother-in-law had taken it and hidden it. The poor mother had threatened him, cajoled him, prayed to him to return it, but, with no effect. The entire house was searched many times but, it could not be found. When my father-in-law was informed at last, he said, "After all, it is only his mother’s money that the son has taken," and kept mum. So, she felt that this matter could be raised when we went to Puttaparthi, with Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and some solution found. As soon as we three reached Puttaparthi, I called my brother-in-law aside and told him, "Look here. Baba is Sarvajna; He knows everything that happens everywhere. He will not keep quiet. Confess now at least. Declare where you have hidden the packet." He replied rather impertinently, "Baba knows everything, is it? Well; we will be finding out soon. Why hurry?"

In a few days, we got the interview with Baba. Baba reprimanded the boy, making him stand before the mother. Even without her saying anything about it, Baba asked him to announce whether he had not taken the money. He confessed the crime before both. “You took it because you felt you could do what you like with your mother’s money. Is it? No, it is not right, give it back,” said Baba softly to him. My mother-in-law appealed, “Baba! Get the money from wherever he has hidden it, to this place, now.” But, Baba said, “No no there is no harm. Let it be where it is. You will get it back after you reach home. There are so many who have lost their money like you; if I restore your lost money by getting it here from where it is now, the others too will clamour that I might do the same to help them. But, why? There is no harm. Return home; I shall look to everything.” That was what Baba promised.

On reaching home, my brother-in-law started singing another tune. He insisted that he had no knowledge of the thousand rupees and that he had not taken them.

After a few days, the father opened the door of a set of drawers in his Puja room to take out some papers and while searching for the same, he found underneath his papers a bundle of notes, the lost thousand rupees, intact. He realized that his son's secret was out and did not reveal the discovery to any one.

A few days later, the boy felt a desire to examine the place where he had hidden the bundle, so that he might assure himself that it was safe; so, he went to the switch board under the stairs, big one with about seven or eight switches. He had opened it, when the current was off, by removing the screws, and after inserting the bundle between the wires inside, he had screwed them on again. Now, he unscrewed the coverboard and found the bundle missing!

"Alas! I delayed looking into this switchboard long because I was certain no one would suspect this as a likely place where money will be hidden. Now, it is gone." He wept aloud. His father then announced that he got the bundle from the set of drawers in the Puja Room.

Now, how did the bundle kept in the switchboard come into the Puja Room set of drawers? Truly, it is the leela of Baba.

"The money is there itself, it has not gone anywhere outside. It will come to you after you reach home," He said. We had, after reaching home, searched most meticulously all drawers, all almirahs, all boxes with no profit. But, Baba had affirmed it was in the house itself. How to explain this, we asked each other.

Now, it became plain. His Words did not prove of little worth. They were true. His Will must work itself to success. His Blessings must operate to a successful conclusion.

In all matters, in all places, at all times, Baba is with us.

There is no big or small miracle for the Lord. For the benefit of His devotee, He will involve Himself with the meanest of tasks. Not only does He rule the microcosm and the macrocosm, but He is also a Micromanager and a Macromanager.

Sai Spiritual Showers - Issue 2/12

Cowan depicts: "While in the Connemara Hotel at Madras, two days after I arrived, I was taken very sick with pneumonia and was in bed. As I gasped for breath, suddenly all the body struggle was over, and I died. I found myself very calm, in a state of wonderful bliss and the Lord Sai Baba was by my side. Even though my body was laid on the bed, dead, my mind kept working throughout the entire period of time, until Baba brought me back....”

In between his death and resurrection, he was taken to a very large hall where there were hundreds of people milling around. "The records were brought into the hall.... arm-loads of scrolls. They seemed to be in different languages. As they were read, Baba interpreted them. In the beginning they told me of countries that have not existed for thousands of years and I could not recall them. When they reached King David, the reading of my lives became more exciting. I could hardly believe how great I apparently was, in each life that followed. As they continued reading my lives, it seemed what really counted was 'my motives and character'—as I stood for outstanding peace; spirituality and political activity. I do not remember all the names; but, I am included in almost all the history books of the world, from the beginning of time. As 'I' incarnated, in the different countries. 'I' carried out my mission, which was peace and spirituality.&qu ot;

Baba later on explained to Cowan that every person will not have a similar experience. Unfortunately, each of us do not know what we had been doing since the time of creation.

Lord Krishna declared: "I am the Atman, conscious in the heart of all life; and I am also the beginning, the middle and the end of life." "I am the father and mother of this world, I maintain it and purify it; I am the goal of knowledge, I am OM, and the three Vedas." Jesus Christ said: "Before Abraham was made I... I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life." Lord Buddha said: "Tread the path you will reach the Goal (Enlightenment)"—"Many with deflected perception cannot know see ME." "I am not the first Buddha who came upon earth, nor shall I be the last."

They, and all elevated souls we know, were the Effulgence of the Atma, manifested in different ages and needs to remove Dharma-Glani (decline), to dispel ignorance which obstructed man's efforts to establish his identity with the Source, the Sat, out of which he sprang.

And what is this I? Not a single part of our body can claim the I entity, though each of us has continuity of I awareness. When we keep associating this awareness with our physique and physical environments, our inner eye remains eclipsed to see know the ONE.

Let us try to have the glimpse of That I and use our best efforts, through Baba's Grace and try to immerse ourselves in IT.

Baba dispels our ignorance "I was one, I became Three; the Three became Five and many." With this point, we go to the scriptures: We find: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God” or "There was NADA, the Sound out of which evolved Wind, Fire, Water etc." Ultimately, our mind whirls when we think of the inconceivably long time it took to become gross. In "Dhyana Vahini" Baba says: "Consider the condition of this world hundreds of thousands of years ago. On one side was the fiery lava which poured forth from the volcanoes and crevices that scarred the surface of the earth. The flood of destruction descended on all sides and spread fear and death in the regions around, as if the end of everything had come. On another side, the scarcely noticeable molecules of living matter, the microscopic amoeba floated on the waters or clung to the crevices among the rocks keeping the spark of life safe an d well protected... At that time, surely no one would have believed that the future was with the amoeba or the animalcule. Who could have foreseen that these minute specks of life—that speck of Chaitanya or Life Consciousness would win through, nevertheless. In process of time, by the sheer force of the Life Principle it embodied, it blossomed into unimaginable Jivis encased in varieties of form and with Antahkarana (Manas, Buddhi , Ahamkara and Chitta) the human being was processed—this being began to evolve into goodness and strength of character, into art and music; into song and dance, into scholarship and Sadhana and martyrdom, into sainthood and even replicas of Godhead! And, particularly, to this being with Manas, the urge to know this Ultimate Source by the Chit was given. To see the All Pervaded Atma (Vishnu), or the Ever Effulgent (Siva) and to get ourselves immersed in IT, became man's primary effort, which, however, was distracted by Ahamkara. That is why in Cowa n's experience (and forces) what really counted was the `motives and character' with which he kept on incarnating in different countries from the beginning. Baba says, "Death means the fading out of the I consciousness. Re birth happens when I consciousness comes again. Ahamkara is born, Ahamkara dies, that is all."

So when we try to find out the I ness that flowed down from the subtle stage to the Gross stage, we get deflected, because our polluted Antahkarana(abstract part of the mind) veils us from IT. That is why Lord Krishna said to Arjuna:

"You and I have been in many births Arjuna,
I can recall them all, but you cannot.
Though birthless and unchangeable and Supreme,
I am born through my Maya, defying the laws of Nature."

When He was in Shirdi, Baba expounded who this ME (or I) is, in His Nectar like words: "You need not go far or anywhere in search of ME. Barring your name and form, there exists in you, as well as in all being, a sense of Being or Consciousness bf Existence. That is Myself. Knowing this, you see ME inside yourself, as well as in all beings. If you practise this, you will realize all pervasiveness and thus attain oneness with ME." Swami Abhedananda explains: "You can never get rid of this sense of `I' unless you attain to the highest liberation or the freedom of soul and become one with God, when the individuality of a Sadhaka reaches infinity." Baba provides the solution: "Maya is only the Buddhi as affected by everything, as warped and twisted by the impressions of everything. Therefore, the Chaitanya which is unaffected by Maya, upon which the world has failed to produce any impression; that Chaitanya is Ishwara.”

But when we consider the magnitude of mental and physical difficulties, we often lose courage. Because IT is a state of Qualitylessness. Beyond Time, Space and Form. Lord Krishna declared: "Giving up all Dharmas, come unto ME alone for refuge; I shall free thee from all sins; grieve not."

SOULJOURNS - JACK HAWLEY - SAI BABA - Sai Ram - Ted Henry

SOULJOURNS - BILL AITKEN - SAI BABA - Sai Ram - Ted Henry

PRAYER OF SURRENDER

Sai Spiritual Showers - Issue 1/12

...an Avatar stands unique in the spiritual domain in His ability to command and control the 5 elements constituting ‘Prakriti’. During my first darshan of Bhagawan in Bangalore, I had seen Bhagawan warding off impending rain by dispersing thick, dark clouds merely by raising His hand, but this appeared then only as a spectacle of wonder as I had, till then, not pondered over the unique attributes that an Avatar had as distinct from a Sidha Purusha. If I had probed into it then itself, that phenomenon would have instantly revealed to me Baba’s Avatarhood. Be that as it may, I was soon to witness another astonishing event.

This time it was in Dharmakshetra in Bombay. The month was July, the monsoon time in Bombay, and Baba was paying a visit to Maharashtra State. The Bombay samiti had arranged a public meeting of devotees in honour of Baba at Dharmakshetra. I remember vividly that it was a Sunday evening. In Bombay, in the month of July, a heavy downpour could be expected at any time. That being a Sunday, a large crowd was expected to attend, regardless of the probability of rain. The samiti had taken all precautions to provide shelter to the devotees from the showers. The large pandal at Dharmakshetra was packed with people to the full. The meeting was to commence at 6.00 pm. But at about 5.15 pm, the sky was overcast and we feared that the rains would lash out any time. We all were anxious to save the devotees from getting drenched in heavy rains. Some of the office bearers felt that we should request Bhagawan Baba to start the meeting early, say at 5.30 pm. I felt that Baba might not accede to this as there was ‘Rahu Kal’ upto 6.00 pm, but my colleagues insisted that there was nothing like ‘Rahu Kal’ for Bhagawan and that we should try our luck with Him. Accordingly, I went up to Bhagawan and prayed “Baba, could we start the meeting a little early?” “Why?” asked Baba in a tone, which was an answer to the question.

But we did not understand that then, as our mind was also clouded like the overcast sky that evening. I pleaded: ‘Bhagawan, it is likely to rain, the meeting may be disrupted, the devotees may suffer’. In answer to this, Baba smiled and that benign smile remains imprinted in my mind even to this day – as bewitching as the smile that we see in the picture of Lord Krishna. He then held my hand and took me to the nearby window where I saw that drizzling had already started. Those who have seen Dharmakshetra know that Bhagawan lives in a lotus shaped mandir on top of a hillock and that the windows from His room open out westward. So, we could see through them, the entire crowd gathered below and the dark expanse of the cloudy sky above. Standing near the window, Baba said : “Yes, yes, it will rain, and it will rain very heavily.” This statement put me out completely.

I could see from the window devotees holding open umbrellas in an effort to protect themselves from the impending showers. I was searching for words for praying to Baba. Meanwhile, Bhagawan raised His hand through the window and, in a moment, we saw the drizzle stopped and clouds dispersed in the sky. In that moment of anxiety, what Baba did then bore no impact on me. Baba said that the meeting should commence as scheduled at 6 o’ clock and I rushed out to convey Baba’s decision to my colleagues outside.

The meeting started at 6 and, by then, the sky had brightened enough to dispel all our fears about the rains. It was during the meeting that I realized that a great blunder I had made in praying to Baba to commence the proceedings a little early. Evidently, during those few minutes, I had forgotten that Baba is God and that He had command over ‘Prakriti’. When the meeting concluded and my colleagues were saying happily that the meeting went off very well, I shed some tears of joy and rushed to see Baba and fell at His Lotus Feet. Baba, then, smiled and said: ‘You forgot’. When the heart is full, words are few. I had no words to convey my gratitude. I was in an ecstatic thrill. That was an unforgettable moment and I cherish the thought that it was Bhagawan Himself who reminded me that I had forgotten that He is God. This incident is a conclusive proof that Baba is omnipresent, that He can control nature and that He is an Avatar, God come in hum an form to bless all mankind.