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 FROM SHRI C.B. SATPATHY'S MESSAGE
……“But, what is the method
preached and practiced by Sri Sainath for reaching such a
height of human evolution. Baba used to take the name of Sri
Ram frequently and used to advise His devotees to read books
like Ram Vijai, Ramayan, etc. Precisely, He wanted the devotees
to imbibe, to the extent possible, the qualities of Sri Ram.
‘Navami’ means the ninth day from the moon. It is a point
in an almanac time schedule. We will better understand the
spiritual significance of Ramnavami by interpreting ‘Navami’
as Navadha. ‘Navadha Bhakti’ then is the key word to bring
about excellence in us, which is synonym with spiritual progress.
Navadha Bhakti means nine-fold devotional approach to God
or Sadguru i.e., Bhajan, Smaran, Dhyana etc. Baba during His
departure from the mortal body had given nine rupees to His
ardent devotee Laxmi as a symbol of Navadha Bhakti to be practiced
by the followers. This was His last gesture and we must follow
its significance.”.....
FROM "LIFE OF SAI
BABA" BY NARASIMHA SWAMI
………..“Now let us turn
to the qualifications of sishyas and begin with Baba’s summary.
Baba stated that his own Guru asked him for a dakshina of
2 pice and that he gave them to him, who was thereby satisfied.
He added in explanation that the two pice demanded by the
Guru who had no attachment to coins, or earthly objects were
Nishta and Saburi. Baba wanted two things to be given to him.
About the impatient Mrs. Khaparde, who was staying with her
husband, who was impatient of the prolonged stay at Shirdi
that entailed loss of business and income Baba told Kaka Dixit
to give her Rs.200, meaning only Nishta and Saburi. Taking
up Nishta first, one can see that no progress at all will
be made by any sishya, who has no faith either in the particular
Guru or in Sastras, Vedas or Mantras. Atheists, scoffers,
flippant persons, women hunters, combative persons, passionate
natures, hypocrites, cruel hearted and wicked people in general,
or those reveling in sin, are, as a rule incapable of pure
and strong faith and so are unfit either to be Gurus or sishyas.
And in the sishya, pride and stiffnecked ness, Susrusha Vimukha
lack of reverence, Bhakti Sraddha Hina will be fatal to all
progress. No Guru in the first place would care to accept
a sishya who lacks in the proper attitude and spirit and the
above defects betray lack of faith, Nishta. In the Guru Gita,
the warning is given that no instruction or upadesha should
be given to one lacking in faith, for,
Naranaamcha
phalapraptou Bhaktir evahi Karanam.
That is, to make the teaching
effective, the sishya’s faith in the Guru is a sine qua non.
Unless a man has the necessary humility, he cannot approach
a Guru. Gurus have to test a newcomer to make sure that he
has or will soon have sufficient humility and receptivity.
If one has not sufficient faith in his Guru, he will not accept
what the Guru says in the first place.”......
DEVOTEE'S EXPERIENCE
I wish to share an amazing experience of my
life. I am sure you would have read that Canberra – Australia’s
National Capital – was engulfed in fire on January 18th, 2003.
I am from Canberra. The last 24 hours have been a nightmare
for us. Australia is known for its bushfires but what we saw
in the last 24 hours was unheard of in the history of Australia.
We live in a part of Canberra that has plenty of bush and
scenery. My house is about 3 minutes drive from my work and
there are mountains behind my work place. For the last 4 days
the area behind the mountains was burning and as it was a
reserve we did not think much of it. We went to work and came
home without knowing that we were soon going to be doomed.
Yesterday afternoon at 2:00 our whole family went to the shop
just behind our house. In the shop we heard a sales girl come
up and tell her friends that her place was on fire. Her place
was in the suburb next to ours! We rushed out of the mall
only to find a darkened sky with a red globe and ash and embers
every where. We rushed home and were in a state of panic as
were all the people on the road. My kids started crying helplessly,
sensing the danger. My husband and I wanted to salvage important
things like papers, passports, citizenship certificates and
other stuff and a few clothes. We had the radio on full volume
and were told that the whole of Canberra had been declared
as being under state of emergency until further notice. We
were upset and were deciding to hose down the fence and roof
of the house. Our neighbors told us to evacuate as the fire
was sure to reach us as the mountains and the suburb next
to ours were ablaze and the wind was traveling at the speed
of 100 KM/hour. We were lost and could not make up our minds.
Then I told my kids to grab their important stuff and fill
the bath tub with water and put damp towels at the doors to
keep them occupied and I asked my husband to give me half
an hour. I locked myself in a room and read Vishnu Sahasranamam.
Then in my usual fashion when I am in state of confusion I
seek answers from Sai Satcharitra. I begged and implored BABA
to guide us and tell us whether to leave the house and go
away or stay at home. I closed my eyes, thought of my BABA
and opened the book and BABA the merciful answered me with
this - I beg you read carefully the highlighted words. "Balasaheb
Mirikar, son of Sardar Kakasaheb Mirikar was Mamlatdar of
Kopergaon. He was going on tour to Chitali. On the way he
came to Shirdi to see Sai Baba. When he went to the Masjid
and prostrated himself before Baba, usual conversation regarding
health and other matters commenced, when Baba sounded a note
of warning as follows:-"Do you know our Dwarakamayi?"
As Balasaheb did not understand he kept quiet, Baba continued
- "This is our Dwarakamayi, where you are sitting. She
wards off all dangers and anxieties of the children, who sit
on her lap. This Masjidmayi (its presiding Deity) is very
merciful; she is the mother of the simple devotees, whom she
will save in calamities. Once a person sits on her lap, all
his troubles are over. He, who rests in her shade, gets Bliss".
Then Baba gave him Udi, and placed HIS protecting hand on
his head. When Balasaheb was about to depart, He again said-
"Do you know the "Lamba Baba" (long gentleman),
viz. serpent?" And then closing the left arm like fist
He brought it near the right elbow, and moving His left arm
like the hood of a serpent, He said- "He is so terrible,
but what can he do to the children of Dwarakamayi: When the
Dwarakamayi (its presiding deity) protects, what can the serpant
do?” (Chapter 22 - Sai Satcharita).
From this I understood
that our house was Dwarakamayi – as we worship BABA in our
house and HE is our MASTER. I cried holding this book to my
heart. I showed it to my husband my 9 and half year old and
my 5 year old son. We were very emotional. We then decided
to leave the bags in the car and we started hosing down the
house and decided we shall stay in the house - if we were
to evacuate then the emergency department would come and tell
us. We were outside watering and preparing for the worst.
We heard that winds would worsen from afternoon 6:30 and it
would be blowing towards our direction carrying balls of fire
and that situation was grave. We were constantly looking out.
6:30 came and went. Earlier we could not see anything more
than 10 meters away as it was covered with thick smoke. But
instead of getting worse the smoke cleared and by 8:30 there
was cool soft breeze. Our suburb which was on red alert was
not even mentioned as being at risk though we were surrounded
by suburbs which were on alert. Houses were gutted and were
engulfed in fire when a ball of fire swept over unexpectedly
and 400 and more people lost their houses in the western part.
There was no power in most of the places. Canberra was in
a blackout. Except for few of our houses in the suburb where
we lived; the rest of the houses in most affected parts of
Canberra were in blackout. At night we saw the mountains behind
my office burn. My friends, who were presumably in a safe
area and had invited us to stay with them as we were at high
risk, had to evacuate themselves as the flames spread towards
their houses. They had no power for 12 hours or more. WE WERE
SAFE. We had electricity. The things we always took for granted
- we realized the essence of it. We had water and we were
all together. All because I followed what BABA told me through
the book, and HE assured that HE would save us. Had we left
in panic then we would have been engulfed in fire on the road.
By staying at home we were safe. When we saw the pathetic
situation of people who had lost their memories and valuable
things, which cannot be replaced like pictures, medals and
other trinkets, I counted my blessings. Money is not important
but there are some things which are more valuable for us.
Some lost their lives, and many houses were gutted. We are
fortunate as we did not suffer anything other than mild inconvenience
from inhalation of smoke. My husband's office was burnt down.
His boss called on Sunday morning asking him not to bother
going to work till Wednesday. Businesses shut down.
There was utter chaos,
grief and shock. This brought out love, concern, empathy and
the best in people as they came to the rescue of others in
need. Believe me we are still in shock, especially the little
kids. My 9 year old asked me – “Mum BABA hit his stick and
brought the fire down, can't he do that now? I said HE would
if we pray. Both my kids sat and prayed. My 9 year old is
a voracious reader and loves to read AMAR CHITRA KATHA's about
God's mythology and stories. He read a book on Shirdi Sai
BABA. I was amazed at his thoughtfulness. We are richer now,
richer with new experiences, richer in our faith getting stronger
towards the holy feet of BABA. Most important my children
learnt that BABA never lies once HE promises. The't what we
went through and learnt through it. I am grateful for being
given this chance to survive and learn from this experience.
I am grateful to God for teaching me the value of the air
that we breathe, for the electricity without which the food
which I bought in preparation of my little one's birthday
party would have gone bad in the freezer. We became richer
in compassion and empathy, showing concern for our other friends
momentarily forgetting our needs. This is a learning opportunity
provided to us by BABA. He did this only:
1. To show HIS presence in our lives and that HE alone is
our caretaker.
2. To show our gratitude towards what HE provided to us.
3. To emphasize that we should not take things for granted
and to let us count His blessings in the little things that
make our life comfortable.
4. To let us show compassion, love and concern. Tomorrow we
might need it and what we pass around comes back to us.
5. To make us open our window of understanding and love.
6. To thank God for the small mercies and to tell that there
are others who are in graver situation than ours.
7. To tell us to have contentment with what we have and not
to compare ourselves with others and make ourselves miserable.
As Baba is there within
all of us, let us reach out to Him and feel Him in our hearts.
He alone is our savior. Please, while doing naama japa can
I beg you all to pray for those victims of the fire who lost
their homes and loved ones, for all those brave firemen, and
persons from military and other emergency services who worked
nonstop to control the fire. We are doing fine now by BABA's
grace, in spite of the threat still looming over our heads,
and even though we still have smoke and haze around us. BABA
gives us such experiences only to increase our faith. Let
us collectively bow down to BABA for His constant vigilance
and guidance in our lives. For us there is no other adviser
than Him and we seek His blessings. BABA protects us always.
Anitha Kandukuri
READER'S
REFLECTION
The site is very good and really colourful.I fely very good
to see such a wonderful site of baba.Please continue such
work in future. I pray baba to help with such works. I am
living in Brisbane,Australia for my studies. I would be pleased
if you could provide me with some contact details of any trust
or sansthan of baba in Brisbane.
Arpit Desai
NEWS OF
SHIRDI SAI ACTIVITIES
Shirdi Sai Baba Sansthan, Canada holds Satsang on Thursdays
and Third Sunday of every month at Gur Mandir, 207 Queen’s
plate. Toronto (Etobicoke). Introducing \"Character and
Moral Values\"- a unique 4 Week Summer Program for Children
of all ages. The Guiding Principal of the program is \"Shraddha\"
& \"Saburi\" with its curriculum based on the
Teachings of our Sadguru Shri Shirdi Sai Nath. For details
of registration or other activities and the Resource Centre
please visit www.shirdisainath.org
Shirdi
Sai parivar in Vancouver holds Satsang on Thursday and first
Sunday of every month at 8571, 118A St, Delta, V4C 6L2. Continuing
the tradition of “Feeding the Hungery and Homeless, the parivar
organizes Charitable food donations 2nd Saturday of every
month. For details and other activities please visit www.shirdisainath.org
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