Sai Spiritual Showers - Issue 3/42

I was introduced to marijuana at the age of twelve. While this may seem quite young it is very common in America.

I came to know about Sri Sathya Sai Baba four years later at the age of sixteen. I loved Him with all my heart and before long my heart began to make it clear that this love and my drug habit could not mix.

I tried again and again to give up smoking. Again and again, I failed. In this way I went through much guilt and pain. Still I was determined. I prayed constantly to Baba for help and never gave up the fight.

Shortly after my nineteenth birthday I was sitting up in my sister's apartment. She had gone to bed and I was wide-awake. Having just drunk two cups of coffee I knew I would be up for several hours.

I had been smoking less and less and was determined to give it up altogether. I had made the vow and now came the test.

On the table in front of me was a pipe and a large bag of marijuana. My mind began tempting. "Go ahead, you haven't smoked for a long time," it said. But I said, "No!" and prayed to Baba for strength. "Baba," I said, "I do this for You."

I went through over three hours of torture as my mind tempted and I resisted. I tried to escape in sleep but the coffee kept me awake. There was nothing I could do but endure the suffering of this mental battle.

Finally, exhausted, I drifted off to sleep and in sleep I learned that through pain I had proven my devotion to God. As I lay slumbering I was rewarded with a most wonderful dream.

All pain and exhaustion vanished as Baba came to me and said, "Thank you for loving Me."

Sai Spiritual Showers - Issue 3/41

I had only read of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, when a few years ago a few of my friends who were devotees of Sai Baba encouraged me to visit Prasanthi Nilayam at Puttaparthi. I went along with a lawyer friend of mine, a distinguished lawyer in Colombo, and with a lady, who was a relation of my wife, and my elder son, who had come for a holiday to Sri Lanka from France. My son is of a rather disbelieving nature.

On that occasion, I took a letter of introduction to His secretary and proceeded through Trivandrum by air and then by car to Bangalore from whence we set out to Puttaparthi.

I carried with me the letter of introduction, which strangely enough, on the first day of my stay at Trivandrum, I took out while unpacking the luggage. My friend asked me why I did this. "The letter would have great value when we go to Puttaparthi." I laughed and put the letter back. The next day strangely enough the letter was missing. We searched the suitcase, but we could not find that letter. On the third day, I opened the suitcase to find the letter on top of the suitcase. I was happy I had rediscovered it, and I kept it back in the suitcase and we went out to town. When I came back again, very strangely the letter was missing. The next day, the letter was found in the bag. We set out and stopped at a bungalow belonging to the Indian Government. During lunch, I showed my friends the letter. Before we got to Puttaparthi, we stopped at another place. Again, the letter was strangely missing. It was discovered at the Circuit Bungalow and s ent to me by the Indian police.

At Puttaparthi, when we arrived, it was early in the afternoon when everyone was resting. The party with which I came had wanted to get back to Bangalore soon, and had wanted me to use my influence with the officials at Prasanthi Nilayam. I thought it highly improper and disrespectful to a person of high religious stature.

An hour later a person came from inside and asked, "Are there any people here from Sri Lanka?" When we admitted to it, we were told that Baba had wanted us to be lodged in an apartment and given some food. Then we were conducted to a large hall and asked to stand in the verandah of that hall.

Suddenly a door opened and Baba summoned us and we went into the room. He laughed and asked, "Have you found the letter to Me?" This appeared most unusual, because only we were aware of it. My son, in a moment of disbelief had said, "I don't believe in Him nor do I believe He has any powers and I will not personally take any notice of Him unless He speaks with me." My son was seated when Sri Sathya Sai Baba called him to His side and said, "Now will you believe in Me because I spoke to you. You had said you would not care the slightest for Me, but listen, I know what you said and I shall bless you, and you will be happy in the future."

The day prior to going to Puttaparthi from Bangalore, a telex had reached us informing one of the ladies in the party that her cousin sister had passed away. We had made enquiries at Bangalore and we were told there was no chance of her returning to our country in time for the funeral and much against her own wishes she joined us in this trip to Puttaparthi. When addressing her, Sri Sathya Sai Baba said, "Yesterday, your sister died. You wanted to go back but could not; you have come here and joined in prayer at this place. Extend the benefit to the person who has passed away from this world."

That evening, we were summoned by Sri Sathya Sai Baba who exhorted us to wait for the night. Unfortunately, we had a programme we could not avoid. On the journey back a strange occurrence took place. We missed the road. We suddenly came across what we thought was a pool of water. We halted. The driver reversed the car and we were waiting not knowing what to do. Just then a lorry arrived nearby apparently going to a farm. The lorry driver said, "Go back to where you have just turned." We told him there was a pool of water. He replied, "I don't think so. Why don't you try again?" The driver drove back for five minutes. There was no pool of water, and we went right through. These different incidents convinced me that Baba is a continuous Presence, which we with our limited understanding of physical phenomena are not able to explain and which we sometimes reject in our ignorance.

Sai Spiritual Showers - Issue 3/40

This is the story of a path of love and hope. We want to share with you an experience that tells us about Baba's Love, which took place in one of the Argentine Sai Organization working groups. A working group of a Sai Baba Center in Buenos Aires began to undertake a combination of service and educational tasks. The project started with street children. The children lived in the streets near the Sai Center; the group got close to them and invited them to attend the Center where they had a shower, their clothes were laundered, they were fed and taught reading and writing by a professional teacher, who was trained in techniques of Sathya Sai Education in Human Values (S.S.E.H.V.)

After a short period, the working group became aware of the circumstances that had negatively influenced these children living in the streets, since they basically lived from delinquency and robbery. So, the group tried to do something to take these children away from the streets and reform them totally, giving a definite solution to their problems and not to leave them alone. They worked with them in their re-adjustment to society, giving them a vocation and, specially, a new reason to lead their lives.

At the beginning, when the Sai Center group was working with them in the house they had rented for the children, one of the women, a Sai devotee, asked one of the children to dig the earth in a flowerpot stand to sow some flowers. While doing so the child discovered something bulky in the earth, and when he opened it, he saw that it contained 12 kg of pure gold. He called one of his companions and the first idea in their minds was to escape with this fortune, but at that moment the results of the Human Values education began to appear and their conscience told them that they should not escape but, on the contrary, they should give the fortune to the Sai Organization members who were working with them, and they did so.

The Sai Organization, complying with one of Bhagawan’s precepts, which is to obey the country's laws, decided to announce this finding to the authorities and with a public notary they testified to the facts. They called lawyers and went to a judge, who declared that the country's laws laid down that the gold belonged to the person who found it. So, the gold was the property of the group which worked with the street children. This group, together with the Foundation, decided to proceed with the project of buying a house to consolidate the work with the children, a house in better conditions than the one they were renting. They decided to submit this project to the Divine Lotus Feet for our beloved Sai's approval and blessing. The Foundation and Sai Organization member's travelled to India, together with one of the street children, whose devotion to Sai had greatly grown and who wanted from his very heart to see Swami. Then, the group decided that par t of the gold should be used to defray the ticket for this child to be able to have Sai "darshan.”

A few days after the arrival of the group in India, Baba gave them an interview and, with His infinite love, He told them that it was He Who put the gold there, and granted His approval for the purchase of the house.

And this is how this Love Circle is closed. Swami teaches us that if we take one step towards Him, He takes a hundred towards us. In fact, He is The One Who fulfils our hopes, if we work with a pure heart, without any personal interest, trying to comply with His teachings. He shows us that He is always behind us, close to us, and helps us to achieve self realization through Love. This is the path of Love, miracles and hope that the Lord offers us to redeem our lives.

Kuan Yin Birthday Celebration - March 11th, 2012

Kuan Yin's Birthday Celebration was held on March 11th, 2012 at 7.00pm.  The prayers began with Veda chanting, Om Mani Padme Hum x 108, bhajans, and followed by Tibetan Buddhist chants.

The highlight for the evening was the beautiful bhajans presented by Sai brothers & sisters from Bangsar Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Refreshments was served after arathi.

Sai Spiritual Showers - Issue 3/39

A close friend of mine, a Sai devotee, related to me an incident in his life, depicting the intense compassion of Baba for His devotees.

My friend 'A', a University Professor, had to select some Research Fellows under the U.G.C. Scheme of "Faculty Improvement". He did not notice that the age limit, prescribed by the U.G.C. was 40, and so he committed a blunder in selecting, amongst many, two Fellows whose age exceeded the prescribed limit. After about six months, while these persons continued to work in the University and got the Fellowship, the U.G.C. rejected their selection on grounds of higher age. But the Fellows, who had got the appointment order from the Professor, refused to go back, and claimed full fellowship. The entire blame for the muddle was shouldered by the Professor, whose ad hoc appointment became shaky. The Fellows were prepared to go to a court of law. This disturbed the Professor acutely.

One evening, Professor 'A' sat in his room with the relevant file, brooding over all the papers, and praying to Baba for help. Suddenly, Bhagawan appeared before him, showing him something relevant, putting His finger on a phrase in the appointment order before him. The phrase was: "if accepted". Then, Bhagawan vanished.

The Professor located the phrase pointed out by Baba, read the sentence and the paragraph again, and lo! He was saved. Actually speaking, in the appointment order, the Professor had to write, "if acceptable," but he by mistake (not perceiving the exact difference between `accepted' and `acceptable') wrote, `if accepted', which in the present context meant, `if accepted by the U.G.C.'. So, the appointment order was conditional, and since the U.G.C. did not accept, the Fellows had no locus standi. This saved the Professor from the embarrassment, blame, and mental tension.

It is written in the scriptures that repentance is the greatest atonement and Bhagawan, the source of the scriptures, holds it true.