SAI INSPIRES

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"Salutations at the Lotus Feet of Swami.

I have a poem that was inspired by Swami many moons ago and

would like to share it with Swami's loved ones by HIS Grace"

Juttla Dav

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THE CORRECT WAY OF LIFE

   
   



   
For this Sunday, we have an excerpt from the book ‘Satyopanishad’ written by Prof. Anil Kumar.

Question: Swami! As we think of the way in which our life is going, we find it confusing and disheartening. We also doubt if it is going in the right direction or not. You are our only refuge. Kindly guide us.

Bhagavan: You know mridangam, the South Indian musical instrument, which like a drum, has to be beaten on both the sides as you play. Your life is like a rat caught in that mridangam. If the mridangam is beaten on one side, the rat runs to the other side and, vice versa, as there is no way out for it.

Similarly having been fed up with this world, you think of God. When God tests you, you again drift towards the world. Your movement between the world and God is like that of the rat. This is not the proper way.

A small example. Two students competed with each other in a tournament of eating bananas. One student wanted to eat the outer skin of every fruit first so that he could finish eating the soft pulp part next. The other student planned to eat the soft part first and the skin next. Accordingly, they started eating. The first student having eaten the outer skin of every fruit first had his belly full of that stuff and he could not eat any sweet pulp. So he was defeated, and suffered from stomach-ache and indigestion. The second student ate a belly-full of the pulp of every fruit and hence couldn't eat the skin of the fruits. So, he too lost in the competition. All the same, he remained healthy.

Similar is the case with those people who are after worldly desires and sensual pleasures. They will have to end their lives in misery finding no cure for bhavaroga, the ailment of worldly attachment. This is equal to the condition of the first student who ate only the outer skin of the banana first in the tournament. But those who think of God are like the second student who ate the soft pulp. They grow stronger in divine life.

Life should start from the point of dasoham, “I am your servant”. Fill its middle with the relentless enquiry, koham, "Who am I?" End it with full awareness of the identity of the individual self with God soham, “I am God”. This is the correct way of life.

Man should realise that the happiness and peace he essentially needs are not present in this mundane world. A simple example. A person went to a hotel. The bearer asked him, "What shall I serve for you"? The person said, "I want idli and sambar (south Indian vegetarian dishes)". Then the bearer taken by great surprise, said "What Sir! Have you not seen the board hanging over there! This is a military non-vegetarian hotel, Sir!" Likewise, how can you expect items like Palav, Biriyani and Chicken in an Udipi Brahmin vegetarian hotel?

In the same manner there is a board attached to this world, anityam asukham lokam, "This world is temporary and full of misery." How do you expect peace and happiness in this world? That is why in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, 'mam bhajasva' meaning, ‘Think of me or worship me or be immersed in me or surrender to me'. You should lead your life in full knowledge of these facts.

Jai Sai Ram.
 

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IS A GURU NECESSARY?
 

Devotee: Swami, can we ask you freely about any topic concerning the spiritual path, which we do not know?
Swami: Certainly. What is the objection? Why this doubt? What am I here for? Is it not for explaining to you things you do not know? You can ask me without any fear or hesitation. I am always ready to answer; only, I want earnest inquiry with a desire to know.

Devotee: But some elders say it is wrong to vex the Guru with questions. Are they right, Swami?
Swami: That is not correct. Whom else can the disciple approach? Since the Guru is everything to him, it is best that he consults him in all matters and then acts.

Devotee: Some say that we should reverentially carry out whatever the elders ask us to do without raising any objections. Is that your command also?
Swami: Until you develop full faith in them and know that their words are valid, it will be difficult for you to carry out their orders reverentially. So, until then, it won't be wrong to ask them the significance and the validity of their orders, so that you may be convinced.

Devotee: Swami, whom are we to believe, whom are we to discard? The world is so full of deceit. When those, whom we believed are good, themselves turn out to be bad, how can faith grow?
Swami: Well, My boy! Where is the need for you in this world or any world to grow faith in others? Believe in yourself, first. Then believe in the Lord, Paramatma (universal being). When you have faith in these two, neither the good nor the bad will affect you.

Devotee: Swami, faith in the Lord too diminishes sometimes. What is the reason for that?
Swami: When one is deluded by the mere external world and when one does not attain success in such external desires, faith in the Lord diminishes. So, give up such desires. Desire only for the spiritual relationship; then you won't become the target of doubts and difficulties. The important thing for this is faith in the Lord; without that, you start doubting everything, big and small.

Devotee: Until we understand the reality of Paramatma, it is important, they say, to be in the company of the great and the good and also to have a Guru. Are these necessary?
Swami: Of course, the company of the great and the good is necessary. To make that reality known to you, a Guru too is important. But, in this matter, you should be very careful. Genuine Gurus are scarce these days. Cheats have multiplied and teachers have retreated into solitude, in order to realise themselves undisturbed. There are many genuine Gurus but they cannot be secured easily. Even if you get them, you must thank your destiny if they vouchsafe to you more that one single Sadvakya (spiritual truth) ; they won't spend time telling you all kinds of stories! There should be no hurry in the search for a Guru.

Devotee: Then, what in the world is the path?
Swami: Why, it is just for this that we have the Veda, Sastra, Purana and Ithihasa (ancient scriptures) . Study them; adhere to the path they teach and gather the experience; understand their meaning and the trend of their message from Pundits; follow them in practice; meditate on the Paramatma (universal being) as the Guru and as God; then, those books themselves will help you as your Guru. For, what is a Guru? The Guru is that through which your mind gets fixed on God. If you consider Paramatma as the Guru and do Sadhana (spiritual practice) with unshakable love, the Lord Himself will appear before you and give Upadesa just as a Guru. Or, He may so bless you that as a result of the Sadhana, you may meet a Sadguru.

Devotee: But, nowadays, some great big persons are granting Upadesa to all who ask; are these not Sadgurus, Swami?
Swami: I won't say they are or they are not. I declare only this: It is not the sign of a Sadguru to grant Upadesa (spiritual instruction) to any and every person who comes to him with praise, without considering the past and the future, without discovering the qualifications of the pupil and testing whether he is fit.

Devotee: Then Swami, I have committed a blunder! When one great person arrived at our village, and when all were receiving Upadesa from him, I too went and prostrated before him and asked him for it. He granted me a good Upadesa; I repeated the Manthra for some time, but, soon, I came to know that the great person was a cheat. Since that day, I lost faith in the name he gave me; I gave up Manthra. Was this wrong? Or, am I right?
Swami: Do you doubt the right and wrong of this? It is very wrong. Just as the Guru, as I told you now, examines the qualifications of the disciple, the disciple too has to critically examine the credentials of the Guru before receiving Upadesa. Your first mistake was that you did not pay attention to this but hastily accepted Upadesa. Well, even if the Guru gave it without the necessary qualification, why did you break your vow and stop repeating the name? That is the second mistake: casting the fault of another on the sacred name of God. Before receiving Upadesa, you should have taken time and known his genuineness and enveloped faith in him. Then, when the desire to accept him as Guru emerged, you should have received the Upadesa. But, once you accept, you must repeat it, whatever the difficulty; you should not give it up. Otherwise, you commit the wrong of accepting without deliberation and rejecting without deliberation. That wrong will be on your head. You should accept a name when you are still afflicted by doubt or a name which you do not prefer. Having accepted, you should not give it up.

Devotee: What happens when it is given up?
Swami: Well, my boy. Disloyalty to the Guru and discarding the name of God - on account of these, your one-pointed endeavor and concentration will wither away. As the saying goes, "The diseased seedling can never grow into a tree".

Jai Sai Ram.
 

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EARTHQUAKE OF LOVE

      It was the 30th of September, 1998, in Beograd, Serbia.

      It was some minutes after midnight.

      It was the time of great disturbances in politics, the time preceding the culmination of Kosovo conflict.

      And it was the moment of a strong earthquake.


      In its epicentre the earthquake was 7th grade of the Richter scale, resulting in disaster of many homes. In Beograd it was measured to be the 6th of the same scale. That means destruction of some shabby houses, and definitely the dancing of furniture, doors, and walls, falling of pictures, breaking of glassware, etc.

      I was alone in the apartment. Around me, the perfect silence. I just started my night prayer.

      Then, the telephone rang.

      A friend from the nearby Sai center asked me:

      “How did you survive this thing?”

      “Which thing?” I asked, perplexed.

      “Which thing?! The earthquake, of course!”

      “There was no earthquake here,” I said bluntly.

      My friend was silent. At the moment, she was no farther then the mile from my place. Then she asked what I was doing at that particular moment. I told her I just started my night prayer.

      “Didn’t you hear the underground roar, the thunder? Your windows and doors did not tremble?”

      “No. Here is uninterrupted silence. And the balcony is wide open.”

      My friend probably thought that I was too deeply absorbed in prayer to feel anything. (By the way, I was not). Yes, but what about the things around me? Have the things also been absorbed? Have the vases and pictures and glassware and furniture also been forgetful of the roar and tremor? So, my friend asked me to look around the apartment.

      I went around. Every little thing was standing peacefully in its own undisturbed place. Nothing was moved, or shoved the traces of being displaced. Even the little glas wind-pipe from Japan was deeply asleep in the open kitchen door. And all my collections of tiny suvenirs, all the books, photos, paper figurines, peacock feathers, and pieces of china and ivory were silently contemplating their own lawful places.

      “My goodness, Baba, what does it mean?” I kept asking myself. “How to understand it?”

      My friend then told me how terrible it was. She lives in a house where the bhajans are held weekly by our Center, the oldest in Yugoslavia. When the earthquake started, she thought that somebody was trying to break in, so she ran to the telephone to call police. Then she saw the chandelier dancing wildly, and understood it could be the earthquake, and as to definitely confirm it, the windows started to shake violently. In a part of Beograd called Novi Beograd (New Belgrade), with population more than half the million, living almost exclusively in modern hive-like and tower-like buildings, most of the people rushed outside, and spent the night in the open. And some houses in the center of the city have collapsed.

      Next morning I went a floor down, to inquire at neighbor's.

      “So, how was the night?” I asked.

      “Oh, terrible!” they said, and showed me how the kitchen table was slanted, and how all the glasses and cups slid to the floor, some of them broken. Also, the heavy cupboards have been dangerously pushed out of their places. These people live just below my apartment. And the morning papers have had the full report of the night’s terror.

      So, I sat down to think how to translate this phenomenon into the language of human understanding. It was definitely an earthquake, spread far and wide through out the country - only it did not happen at a certain apartment. The playful Lord incorporated this apartment in the middle of tremors, sandwiching it in between natural earthquake effects. Imagine the Lord telling to one of the floors, to some of the walls: “You are not going to move a millimetre, and you are not going to hear anything but silence, while the other floors and places, below and beside, and around Beograd and Serbia, will tremble, and dance, and roar!” What an inventive magic!

      But what more does it mean, besides being the _expression of His leela?

      The earthquake was the overture of the much worse tremor: of conflict in Kosovo, and of Nato bombardment. In 1998, nobody could be sure of anything, but the danger was hanging heavily in the air. You could know it from the night howling of the dogs, and from the birds, singing less and less. Thinking on these lines, and connecting it to the silent earthquake, I understood anything can happen with His saying “yes”, and nothing can happen without His saying “yes”. No matter what natural law is in question, and how wondrously and “impossibly” it is broken. Yes, He was telling me just this - don’t fear, I am here. And I could feel the deep sense of peace and protection, of joy and gratitude, of wonder and love. I was all laughter and happiness.*

      But - was it all to it?

      More and more I felt that this extraordinary event was really and truly His identity card! Yes, it was His unusual signature of His nature, His saying of WHO HE IS. He is AN EARTHQUAKE OF LOVE! His Advent, His coming among us, is a silent earthquake, the earthquake which protects, peacefully, silently, beautifully, leela-like. His pace is all love, but His love is hurricane-like in its inside transformation of the world. His love is the earthquake by its effect, and sweet magic by its way.

      No era before has seen such an earthquake, so volcanically tender, and such a thunderous lightning for the tamasic stupor, and such a wide, wide embrace for the billions.

                             

      *Needless to say, when the bombs started this spring, 1999, we have been safe and untouched through all the 78 days of bombardment - in spite of the fact that near to our place is the dangerous and much-hit military area. Again, it was this apartment in the whole building, which suffered no broken window glasses. I was really sorry for all the people who suffered loss, but at the same time I could not help being at strange, undisturbed peace. I must confess that I never slept so peacefully, as through the air-raids.

[saisaran]

Shri Ashok felt your absence but not i. Now you have come back as the earthquake episode explained above. May Swami bless you. Om Sri Sai Ram.

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Saisaranji..

sairam

 idont know why i am like this,,, its true i have been absenting myself... but i open this site at least once a day.... but when i log in i feel my swami is not there here and i feel dejected,,, but when i saw ur pm ,, i felt Swami is expecting my presence in the form of my posts...

 so decided to dedicate myself by giving many posts to this SWAMIS FORUM

thanks once again Sai saranji

sairam

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QUIZ ON `THE DIVINE LIFE AND MESSAGE OF SRI SATHYA SAI BABA'

PART I

1. Where and when was Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba born?

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba was born on 23rd November 1926 at
Puttaparthi in Anantapur District.

2. Give the details related to His birth - Month, Star, etc.

Baba was born on Monday in the holy month of Karthik (Karthik
Somavaara) of the year Akshaya in the ascendance star "Aarudhra".

3. In which clan was He born?

Baba was born in the Rathnaakara family of Bharadhvaja gothra and
Aapasthamba suuthra.

4. Why did He choose to be born in that family alone?

A certain ancestor of Rathnaakara family, Venkaavadhuutha prayed to
the Lord of the Universe that He should be born in his family.

5. What are the names of His parents?

(Mother's name) Eashvaramba and (father's name) Pedda Venkama Raju.

6. Why was Baba named as Sathya Narayana?

Baba was born after mother Eashvaramma had taken the Prasadam of Sri
Sathyanarayan Vratham which her mother-in-law had brought from the
next door family.

7. Who is Kondama Raju?

Kondama Raju was the grandfather of Baba.

8. What were the mysterious intimations of the impending Divine
Incarnation?

Before Baba was born, a Thambuura, a stringed musical instrument
which was kept leaning against a wall started twanging and a drum
started beating automatically, producing celestial music.

9. What did the women in the labour room find in the bed clothes on
which the child was put?

They found a cobra under the bed clothes.

10. What was the original name of Puttaparthi?

Gollapalli

11. What is the meaning of Puttaparthi?

Putta means ant-hill - place full of ant-hills.

12. What is the name of the river that flows in Parthi?

Chitravathi

13. What are the temples that we find in Parthi?

Venugopalaswamy temple, Sathyabhaama temple, Anjaneya temple and the
temple of Shiva.

14. What is the significance related to the temple of Shiva?

The place where Shiva temple is constructed is the birth place of
Baba.

15. How many brothers and sisters does Baba have?

Two brothers and two sisters; elder brother is Seshama Raju, younger
brother is Jaanakiraamayya; sisters: Venkamma and Paarvathamma.

16. What was the name given to Baba as a boy?

Brahmajnaani, Biddalaguru (Guru of children).

17. What were the noble qualities that one could find in Baba even as
a child?

Baba was kind and compassionate even at the tender age of four and
five. He sought out the maimed, the blind and the decrepit, fed and
gave them clothes. He would plead against the killing of a fowl or
chicken for curry at home. He was against all sports and games that
caused pain and cruelty. He was reticent and reserved, but always
cheerful.

18. Give one instance to illustrate the quality of desirelessness in
Baba even as a child?

Baba's grandfather used to purchase yards of clothes for his
grandchildren, during festivals. He used to ask the children to
choose the cloth they liked. Baba never bothered, but just took
whatever was kept aside.

19. Even as a boy, Baba never considered, doing any work as mean or
below his dignity. Give example.

Baba had only one pair of dress. He used to wear a towel, wash his
shirt and knicker, dry them up, put live coal in a brass vessel, iron
them, fold them and keep them under a steel trunk.

20. In which places did Baba study?

Puttaparthi, Bukkapatnam, Kamalapuram, Uravankonda.

21. What did Baba do as soon as he went to school?

He used to gather the children at school under a tree. He would keep
a picture or an idol with flowers, conduct Pooja, Bhajan and perform
Aarathi. At the end of the session, he distributed Prasadam. He used
to take the Prasadam out from his empty bag.

22. Who were the teachers who considered Baba as a Divine wonder
child?

Mehboob Khan, Subbannaachaar and Kondappa.

23. What was the first divine power that Baba showed in the school?

One of the teachers made Sathya stand on the bench presuming that he
was absent minded. When the period was over and the next teacher who
had to take class in that room came, he found the previous teacher
mysteriously glued to his seat. The teacher who entered the class was
Mehboob Khan. He understood the situation, asked Sathya to sit down.
Then the teacher could stand up himself, without the chair
accompanying him.

24. Baba used to gather many children and organise Bhajan session.
What was the name of that Bhajan Group?

Pandari Bhajan Group. It consisted of 18 children who wore yellow
colored robes.

25. Why did Baba organise Bhajan sessions?

In order to make the people interested in sacred Bhajans and prevent
them from going to cheap musical sessions. But there was another
important purpose, to drive away from a locality any epidemic disease.

26. What was the name of the dancer in whose stead Baba danced?

Rishyendhramani

27. What was the unique skill in dance demonstrated by Baba?

Rishyendhramani used to keep a bottle balanced on her head, dance to
music, and finally pick up with her teeth a hand kerchief from the
floor. But Baba instead of picking up a kerchief with the teeth could
pick up a needle with his eyelids.

28. When the District Collector wanted to pin the prize medal and
shake hands, why did Baba refuse?

The collector wanted to pin the medal on to the dress of the dancer
and shake hands. But Sathya refused to shake hands and receive the
medal. Since he was in the role of a girl dancer, he thought it would
be proper to act according to the role. He could not permit a man to
touch him.

29. What was the name of the play-let written by Baba as a boy?

"Cheppinattu chesthaara" - will you do as you say?

30. Who is Kota Subbanna?

Kota Subbanna was a businessman at Kamalaapuram. Sathya would compose
songs set them to catchy tunes on a newly arrived product to
advertise the product. Subbanna would engage some boys to go round
the village streets with placards and announcing the product and
singing in chorus, Sathya's ditties. In exchange of this help
Subbanna used to supply Sathya whatever he needed in day to day life.
Sathya even at that age seemed to have projected the idea of earning
while learning. He did not want to be a dependent.

31. What are the names of students who sat on either side of Baba?

Ramesh and Sudhir.

32. To which place did the boys of Kamalaapuram School go for service?

Pushpagiri.

33. What is the reply given by Baba when his friend offered him scout
uniform?

Sathya wrote to his friend and classmate thus: "True friendship
should never be based on give and take. The bond that should exist is
love. True friendship should be from heart to heart".

34. How could Baba manage to get money to go to service camp?

By selling the books of the previous class to a poor harijan boy.

35. What did Baba do after that to procure money?

Baba participated in Budabuda kata.

36. When Baba returned from the service camp, what did he bring for
his sister-in-law?

Sathya brought Kumkum (red powder), haldi (turmeric), bangles and
flowers (they are usually given to married women)

37. Why was his brother angry with Baba?

The family depended on Sathya for supply of fresh water. He used to
bring water from a distant well. Sathya's absence from home to
participate in the Service camp, inconvenienced the family.

38. Who was the teacher who loved Baba very much in Uravakonda?

Manchiraju Thammiraju.

39. What is the significance of the date 20-5-1940?

Baba got up early in the morning, called the neighbors and relatives,
materialized and distributed delicious Prasadam. He asked the people
to wash their feet and come in for worship.

40. How did Baba's father threaten him?

Sathya's father wanted to teach his son a lesson and put an end to
the strange and hysterical chapter. He armed himself with a stick and
shouted at Sathya: "Are you a God, a ghost or a madcap?"

41. What was Baba's reply?

Baba said: "I am Sai Baba. I belong to Aapasthamba Sutra. I am of
Bhaaradhvaja Gothra or lineage. I have come to ward off your
troubles. Your ancestor Venkaavadhuutha prayed that I should be born
in your family. So I have come."

42. How did Baba prove that he was Sai Baba?

He threw a handful of jasmine flowers on the floor. To the utter
amazement of one and all, the flowers on the ground re-arranged
themselves into letters in Telugu, "Sai Baba".

43. What happened in Hampi-Viruupaaksha temple?

Sathya accompanied his brother Seshamaaraju and many others to Hampi.
They went to Viruupaaksha temple. Sathya preferred to stand outside,
while others went in for worship. The puujari or priest was
performing camphor-Aarathi to the deity of the temple. To the
surprise of all, they saw the smiling face of Sathya, and not the
stone image. Seshamaaraju had his own suspicion. He came out only to
find Sathya standing.

44. When and where did Baba declare that He is the Avatar of the Age?

On 20th October, 1940 in Uravakonda, in a place adjacent to the house
of the Excise Inspector Mr. Aanjaneyulu.

45. What happened when a photographer took a snap of Baba as He sat
on a boulder?

It turned out to be the image of Shirdi Sai.

46. What was the first Bhajan song taught by Baba?

"Maanasa bhajare, gurucharanam" - meditate in your mind on the feet
of the Guru. That can take you across the sea of Samsaara or
transmigratory life.

47. Who is Karanam Subbamma?

Karanam Subbamma was the wife of the Karanam or village officer of
Puttaparthi. She recognised in Baba even at the tender age, of his
divinity, and can be called the foster mother of Baba. She used to
prepare food for the devotees who came to see Baba. She took care of
Baba with rare love and affection beyond words.

48. What was the miracle performed by Baba at Uravakonda?

A jutkawaallaah (driver of horse drawn cart) lost his horse. He came
to know of the rare powers of the miracle boy and approached Sathya.
Sathya told him that his horse was safely grazing at the place
nearby. The jutkawaallaah did find the horse.

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