************
Fwded by : Bharathi kasturi
One student told Bhagawan that his mother was not well
and that he would be leaving the next day. Bhagawan
told him not to worry and that He would give the boy
prasadam when he left. Next morning, at Dharshan time,
Bhagawan didn't give the boy any Prasadam.So, he was
confused as to what to do. He went back to his room
after Dharshan, packed his luggage and got ready to
leave. Bhagawan had finished the interview and sent
word for the boy. The boy sprinted amidst the
wonderstruck crowd into the Trayee building, where
Bhagawan gave Him vibhuthi. Later, Bhagawan took him
inside and talked to him. He gave him an air ticket
and sent him to the airport in His own car per
arrangements already made for his journey!
In October 1999, one day Bhagawan sent an instruction
that there would be no more discourses. This sent a
wave of sorrow amongst all. Bhagawan told that since
no one was practicing His words, His talking was of no
use. The next day, the INTERNET brought this out
criticising the students as the cause for all this.
That day Bhagawan, in His Divine Discourse, mentioned
all this. He told, "My students are good. Who are they
to criticise all my students?" What a shower of Love
that was!
This incident occured around 6-7 years back. It so
happened that Bhagawan was not talking to the boys.
So, they felt sad and some of them even decided that
they wouldn't take food. It continued for 3 days. On
the 4th day, a teacher reported this to Bhagawan.
Bhagawan replied, "Tell the boys that such practices
won't make Bhagawan happy. Tell them that even
Bhagawan has not taken food for these three days."
If we sincerely concentrate, we'll find that every
moment on this earth is a miracle enacted by our Sai.
He is there within us every moment. When we cry, He
cries with us. When we are happy, He is also happy.
Such is the love of our Lord.
What can explain Your Love? Please bless us that we
remain forever in You, with You and for You. The bond,
which exists between us, is the bond of Love, and Love
alone. Mother, You are ours and we are Yours. Utilise
and treat us and shape us as You will. We are for You
and You are for us.
(from SAINANDANA by Swami's students)
+++--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+++
From : Betty
Some salient, if not relevant points from Swami's discourse to the students
at the Institute auditorium a few days ago was enumerated by Prof. Anil
Kumar when he spoke to foreign and Indian devotees this Sunday (July 29th)
morning. The gist of it is as follows:
1.. That, the students as well as those devotees who are physically near
Him are comparable to frogs sitting on the lotus flower itself and not even
aware that they are dwelling on a treasure house, while foreigners who come
to Swami travelling long distances are coming to enjoy and absorb Swami's
love and divinity a much as they can hold, like the honey bees that go
straight for the honey itself. Those mostly near Bhagavan do not recognise
how fortunate they are to be at such proximity to the divine, instead they
fritter away their time on matters that would take them further and further
away from God.
2.. That, it is impossible for anyone to realise God, even experience Him,
as long as he or she believes God is outside. You can never experience God
when you keep looking for Him outside, let alone experience His 'Presence'.
Most of you who are too close to Me, physically, are unable to look for Me
within you because you keep looking at My outer form and seek proximity to
this form. You cannot find Me, nor experience Me, when you keep deluding
yourself that 'I AM' outside you. To make you change your vision, to make
you look within you alone, I have stopped giving you 'Padanamaskar' since
Gurupoornima.
3.. That, Swami is a little more withdrawn from you, and this is causing
some pain to most of you. But Swami does not do anything without a purpose.
Everything Swami does is for your own good alone. This single move,
including denial of padanamaskar alone on My part, I expect, would make you
look within, go within, and draw you closer to Me, Who is already within
you. Many of you have been with Swami for so long and you have not changed.
You are not seeking Me really. Your external proximity is only boosting your
ego and you cannot get away from your feeling that Swami is close to you. By
My external denial I am forcing you within, shredding your ego and making
you humble so that you may have a clearer vision of Me within you. Be
assured that I am in you, and you are in Me. We are ONE.
4.. That, you attribute everything that happens around you, even things
about Swami, according to your own feelings. You say, "It was a lovely
darshan today" or "Swami was so radiant this morning" etc., as if it was a
'bad darshan' yesterday or Swami looked 'ordinary' the previous time. You
project your own feelings and the surrounding, nay even Swami, will reflect
your own feelings! You must be ever vigilant, ever ready, for He can accost
you when you are least prepared, and a wonderful opportunity for a profound
experience of the divine might be lost. He alone knows when you are not
ready and can catch you at that moment.
5.. That, you should learn to see good in what you think is bad. Good and
bad are one and the same, obverse of the same coin. They are inseparable,
interdependent and interconnected. What you consider not so good now is
temporary; it turns out to be good at the end. You may be unhappy that Swami
does not give padanamaskar nor interact with you much. But the good side of
it is that you will grow spiritually and transform yourselves through
introspection, humility and sincerity.
6.. That, you should see divinity in everything. Worship picture as God,
but do not reduce God into a mere picture. See God in everybody, in
everything. Every person is God, repositories of the divine. They are living
and moving temples of God and deserve the same devotion and love that is due
to God.
+++--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+++
Swami's Trip To Maharashtra
*************************
From: April Skrobiza
Subject: Swami's Trip To Maharashtra Yesterday
Dear Ones,
Here's news from a resident of Puttaparthi about
Swami's visit yesterday to an area near Bombay. So
much love! He is now back in Puttaparthi.
Love,
April
*****************************************
Today, Wednesday July 18th, Baba came quite early for
darshan at 2:10pm. His chair was then placed on the
verandah along with a microphone for other speakers.
After interview was over, at 3:15, Baba came out and
sat while two speakers who had accompanied Him on the
trip shared their experiences. It was touching and
uplifting, and I actually took some notes to tell you.
Afterward, He took arati and went back to the
Poornachandra Hall--no bhajans today.
Where they went was in the interior of
Maharashtra (the state where Bombay and Shiradi are
located), an apparently largely undeveloped area.
Most of the people were villagers from the whole
state, most of whom have never seen Baba before in
person--only in their hearts. The Chief Minister of
Maharashtra and all the other ministers and high court
judges were there, as well as many university
professors, engineers, "elite" and "intellectuals."
The assembly session was supposed to begin on Monday,
but the Chief Minister and others skipped it to see
Swami.
The Chief Minister himself and his family
personally served Baba and his guests, and refused to
ride with Baba but only at His feet. When Baba rode
in a gold chariot for a 3-mile procession toward the
temple, all the ministers walked and ran behind him
barefoot. This was very impressive because high
government people here are typically very haughty and
authoritarian, and rough with the common people. But
all were humble before Baba.
The occasion was the inauguration of an enormous
temple complex. It was built by a man who is so humble
that he would not approach Baba unless he was invited,
and the All-India President of Sai Organizations
didn't even know him. It is called the Shivalaya.
There are enormous arches like those for Baba's car in
P.N. Then there is about a 3-mile ride through
orchards to the main hall, which is almost as big as
Sai Kulwant
Hall. It is on a hill and is shaped like a Shiva
lingam, with two parts. The tall egg-shaped part is
blue and 3 stories tall with a beautiful Shiva lingam
underneath the dome. The wide flat part is the hall
where thousands can sit. The lingam is before an idol
of Krishna, and there are also idols of Satya Sai and
Shiradi Sai. There are nine other temples around
to other deities. The entire place was packed
with people.
After building it, the builder desired that Baba
come personally to bless it. He did tapas
(austerities) and Baba came. He said he had no other
desire in life. There was a golden chariot for
Baba to ride in, and the builder told Swami that it
was there for him but He could ride in it or not, as
He wished. Swami did ride in it.
He gave a discourse the first day (Sunday July
15th) to invitees who were the "elite" and
"intellectuals." The previous speaker humbly said
that "We have nothing to say before Baba except to
ask Him to instruct us how to live our lives." As
usual, Swami told them that education is of no use if
we don't know who we are.
At one point they needed to go to another place
about 2 hours away by car, and the Chief Minister had
brought a helicopter for Baba. But Baba wouldn't go
in it because it is a government vehicle and it is
improper for Him to ride in it. The Chief Minister
said it would be okay if he went in it also, but Baba
refused, saying, "We must observe the rules." So
He went by car, upholding dharma.
It is the monsoon season there, but when it
started to rain the first day, Swami came out and
looked at the sky and the black clouds dispersed for
the rest of His stay.
There was free food for the tens of thousands of
people there. This is an important thing, since most
of the people live at sustenance level.
This is an area where the Vithala form of Krishna
is worshipped.Numerous bhajan sessions occurred, with
many bhajans fo this form of Krishna. People dressed
in their local, traditional dress and sang North
Indian (mostly Hindustani) bhajans, unlike those sung
in Prashanti Nilayam.
[For those who may not know the story, a young
boy was an ardent devotee of Krishna and prayed
fervently for His darshan. Finally Krishna appeared,
but the boy was busy serving his parents and he made
Krishna wait and wait until he was finished. Krishna
appeared in a pale form (hence the name
"Panduranga"--"pale color") and stood there like a
brick ("Vitha" or something like that means "brick";
hence the names Vithala and Vithoba).]
The entire affair was carried out without pomp,
and with humility. It sounds like the true devotion of
the people and their relative discipline were very
inspiring for those who accompanied Swami. They
remarked that we should not take Swami for granted,
and that Baba has said that, "People who are far from
Me physically are often closer to me spiritually.
And people who think they are close to Me because they
are physically near, are far from Me spiritually."
At one point Swami was scheduled for a rest, but
He said, "No rest. When I am with My devotees there is
no need for rest."
At one point Swami was waving His hand, and it
turned out He was indicating that a policeman, who was
stationed atop a 60-foot high water tower, should come
down because the high winds might make him unsafe.
Swami pays attention to all the little details of
individuals, even with tens of thousands at
His feet.
The last day He gave a discourse in a huge
stadium. It was jam packed. It was translated into
Maharathi, the local language. He said "Bhagavan's
words are nectarine. His discourse will satisfy the
hearts of crores (tens of millions) of devotees." And
it sounds like He did. He said, "Who says Bhagavan
Baba is 75? No! He is 17!" Afterwards, the Chief
Minister showed Baba a way out. But Baba chose
instead to walk out through the crowd.
The feeling was likened to when Rama returned to
Ayodhya and was finally coronated after his 14-year
exile. It sounds like an apt comparison.
++++----------------------------------------------------------------------+++++
ARTICLE ON HOSPITAL
**********************
From Thursday, July 26, Times of India online.
Sathya Sai hospital touches another milestone
A STAFF REPORTER
BANGALORE: The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences'
Hospital at Whitefield has completed a landmark 1,000 cardiac and
500 neuro surgeries in just six months of its existence. It was inaugurated in January.
``Making a difference to people who had given up hope,'' is the way director Dr A.N. Safaya described the social impact of the charitable hospital that treats patients free of cost, at a press meet organised on the
occasion. The hospital has performed over 1,000 cath lab procedures and treated more than 30,000 patients so far.
``The medical fraternity is shackled in the grip of commercialism and the poor have no access to cardiac care. While the government spends crores on defence equipment, it is hardly doing anything on medicare. This is defence against disease,'' Dr Safaya asserted. He described the treatment here as a combination of medical and spiritual healing. ``Here, love is part of the medicare and patients who have given up hope, develop confidence. It is a temple of medicine.''
Dr A.S. Hegde, head of neuro-sciences at the hospital, maintained that the infrastructure here is the best in the country and as good as any in the world. ``Not charging patients removes a lot of stress on both the doctors and patients. We use the best of implants and systems without having to worry about the cost factor.''
The hospital has state-of-the-art equipment such as the Stealth Station Neuro Navigation System that is not available anywhere else in the country, he added. Dr Shekhar Rao, head of cardiac surgery, said the hospital is only one of the few in the country that has treated a wide spectrum of heart diseases. ``We have treated every conceivable heart condition across all age groups.'' As also many cases refused at other hospitals.
Patients have come here from all over the country, and even Nepal and Sri Lanka. ``I had a heart problem that required surgery and had no money. Someone told me of this facility and I came here,'' said Kalyan Singh, a farmer from Madhya Pradesh.
``We wish more people build such hospitals,'' said Dr Safaya. He described the project as an statement of Baba's love for the underprivileged and in keeping with his doctrine that medical care is a fundamental right that should be made available to all, free of cost. The hospital treats every sort of cardiology and neuro disorders. For whom an arterial block in the heart means the end of the road, this hospital is the beacon of hope. In the words of the hospital staffers: ``it is Baba's immense love in action.''
++++------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------++++
Colorado Sai Retreat Report
***********************
From : Bala Natarajan
(young adult from Fort Collins)
Sairam Everyone !
.
This email is a gift from swami to share with all. HIS retreat in HIS
mountains in HIS words.
Swami is using me as an instrument to describe the bliss that everyone one
of us felt, shared and revelled in during the 2nd Colorado Retreat at
Allenspark, CO (July 13-15th,2001).
What better setting than God's own country. There is no surprise that Lord
Shiva resides in Kailash for the mountains inspire and invoke the divine
that resides in us all. Some might think that the 8000ft altitude would
cause the speakers to gasp for breath. As swami beautifully orchestrated
the retreat and spoke through wonderful divine speakers, we were the ones
left breathless. There was not a moment when the oxygen deprived air ever
ran short of love.
This email is going to be long but hopefully worth the read. So please
bear with my verbosity, as sometimes words dont seem to do justice to
swami's message. I should also remind you that you are seeing/hearing and
experiencing the retreat from the eyes/ears and heart of a university
student. It might not have all the details, but surely has some of the
ones that swami wants us to have.
Dr.Jack and Louise Hawley first spoke about "Saadhana - Achieving
Divinity". The question for us (perhaps for our whole life) is to how to
achieve this divinity when we have dragons like Maya, Attachment, Desire,
Anger, Greed and Egoism playing with our lives every moment. Well if
Sadhana is the way, What is Sadhana? Sadhana is not just puja and
prayers. Sadhana is 70% vichara or inquiry. Sadhana is similar to the
process of polishing a rock. We all need polishing and our sandpaper is
our Sadhana. Sadhana moves us from pain to bliss/ananda/happiness.
But how to achieve this divinity through sadhana? The first stage is what
is called the Intention principle. You have to understand that its an
active process. Its just not reading books but actually working on
it. Swami compares just bookish knowledge to a donkey carrying a load of
books. We should not be like that donkey. Another part of the Intention
principle is to make a "deliberate decision" to strive towards
divinity. Finally, in this whole process of sadhana we should be anchored
in Love.
The second tool for sadhana is to "Train the mind". Swami says its
important to control the mad monkey mind. Louise suggested a method that
works for her- this involves talking to your mind and saying - "Oh mind
... dont do this..(or) do this.. (or) stop this". Another technique is to
do namasmarana. When the mahut takes an elephant to the market, he makes
the elephant carry a stick in its trunk. Otherwise the elephant with its
trunk moving left and right would be tempted to take away fruits and food
away from shops in the market place. The stick keeps the elephants trunk
occupied with the task of holding and does not let it get distracted
towards the fruits. So use the stick of "Om Sai Ram" (or any mantra) to
control the trunk that is the mind. Dr.Jack shared one of the things he
uses to train the mind. He suggested stopping any negative thoughts right
at the gate and substituting anything negative with positive godly
thoughts. Acknowledging the fact that eliminating all negative thoughts
might be a challenge to people, substituting them with thoughts of god
seems a very reachable target. Finally, the prayer that did wonders for
Dr.Jack (and maybe for some of us) is to pray to swami as "Om Sairam -
Cleanse my mind"!
The biggest buzz word for sadhana is "To cultivate divine
qualities". Swami says that there are 26 divine and 6 demonic
qualities. We should start our sadhana by looking into ourselves
(vichara) and try to drop one bad habit after another. We should do this
in stages and eventually fill ourselves with the divine qualities. This is
sadhana.
In Ch.12 (shlokas 13-20) of the gita, krishna lays down the marks of the
true devotee. A true devotee has 40 qualities (i cant list them here, but
if anyone is interested i will mail a copy of the list). The sadhana is to
cultivate all these qualities so that as krishna says "Then, arjuna, I
will love you dearly and you will go beyond death to immortality". The
striking point about these qualities are that these are sufficient
guidelines for our lives. Every month we should list 5 of these qualities
and at the end of the month see and check where we stand in holding on to
these. This exercise is one way to move closer to achieving divinity and
moving to happiness from pain. Swami re-emphises the importance of
practice by saying "1 gm of practice is better than 1000 gms of theory".
Talking about the gita, there are three major parts to the gita. The first
6 chapters talk about - knowing the true self within - which is the
sankhya yoga and karma yoga. The second set of 6 chapters discuss the very
nature of God - Bhakthi yoga and the final set of 6 chapters talk about
achieving liberation. The Gita has a wealth of knowledge and guidelines
for life. However, it is important to answer the question as to how to
live your life so that you can find the answers to who you really are
(Divine!) and who is God. The tips to living starts once again with
purifying your mind. (substituting bad thoughts with good). Having shradha
or faith takes you on the path of knowing, believing and eventually
becoming! Be a "loved devotee" by following krishna's points of conduct
listed in Ch.12. Perhaps the most potent of them all, is to "cultivate an
intense love of god"! That is so powerful. How can we do that? Some
techniques would be to get to know him and pray to him sincerely - "Make
me yours"!; associating god with things that you really adore and love is
another way. Serving god (by serving man) is one way to cultivate
love. Krishna says in the bhagwat gita - "To Love is to know me, my
innermost truth"! So let us all live in love.
Next was Dr.Mohan. He was electrifying in his talk. His knowledge of the
hindu scriptures and his wonderful rendition of shlokas in sanskrit
captivated one and all. We truly need such inspirational people to better
understand our religion and rituals.
He started by letting us believe how fortunate we are to be born as
humans. He quoted the scriptures and said even "Devas aspire to be
humans" as only through human body you can merge with the divine. He
reiterated the importance of triple purity - purity in thought, word and
deed. God created this world with the pranava sound of "Om". Every single
creation is composed of the three gunas - Sathwik, Rajasik and
Thamasik. Sathwik stands for purity, whiteness. Thamasik stands for
ignorance or darkness. Every single creation at some point has one of
these three gunas dominate. For example, Cows are sathwik as it never
hurts anything and is of great use to others. Tigers can be considered the
thamasik kind. Our Sadhana should be aimed towards letting our sathwik
nature dominate over the remaining two. If you see some evil action in
some body, it is because that person is letting his thamasik quality
dominate. We should strive for the light or sathwik qualities to dominate
our lives.
The ultimate aim is to unite with the divine. And the Gita suggests 3 ways
to do this - A Karma Yogi approaches god through action; A Sankhya Yogi
approaches god through the intellect or wisdom; and finally a Bhakthi Yogi
approaches god through Love. In this Kali yuga Bhakthi yoga is the more
popular form of reaching out to god. In the gita krishna defines bhakthi
as "Extreme love for god that is nectarine". This true bhakthi is sweet as
nectar. Talking about bhakthi, Dr.Mohan spoke once again about the
features of a true devotee as outlined by Krishna in Ch 12 of the Gita. He
gave the example of Bhadrachala Ramadasa and his love for his
Rama. Gopanna (his original name) was a tax collector in the town of
bhadrachalam and was initiated into rama nama japam. After doing a crore
of japa he used to perform narayana seva for the whole village in a grand
scale. Once during this time, his little son accidentally fell into a hot
pot of food and died. Gopanna was speechless and the whole village was
shaken. It was a time when everyone's faith was being tested. Gopanna took
his son in his arms and walked straight to the Rama Temple in town and
laid the body at Rama's feet and just broke down. He cried to the lord for
help and told him how this would affect everyone's faith. Well as Gopanna
was crying to Rama, the lord gave his son's life back and the villagers
were elated. In his joy Gopanna decided to build a bigger Rama Temple
there. He did not have the money to build it . But he had all the money
collected as tax at his home and he thought for this good purpose his king
will not mind him using it. He was planning to slowly pay off the money to
the treasury. However, he did not mention this to the king and he built
the temple. But as soon as his boss found out about the money, he
imprisoned Gopanna and tortured him daily in public. But gopanna was so
much intoxicated with love for Rama he just kept repeating his name and
took all the torture with love. Years passed by and goppanna was still in
prison chained from head to toe and brutally tortured. One night when the
king was sleeping he experienced a bright light emanating from beneath his
bed. This light was strong and powerful and from the light appeared two
forms, they were ramanna and lakshmanna (Rama and Lakshmana) .. they
introduce themselves as servants of Gopanna ! the king is shocked. and
they also leave him all the money gopanna owed and asked the king to free
him. When the king woke up he was surprised to see the money in his
bedroom!! he immediately rushed to gopanna and fell at hs feet and asked
for forgiveness. Such was gopanna's bhakthi that the lord came down to
save him as his servant.
Another aspect we have to remember while praying to the lord is to have
"Bhava" or feeling. If you have faith and pray with Bhava god will surely
listen to you. Faith can move mountains. At the same time, one should
never judge god's actions. We can never understand the significance of
every incident of our life. It is divine will that dictates it. We are
born with the prarabdha karma which we have to deal with in our lives. God
many times does not play with karma as he wants us to work through our
karma and clear our records to reach him. But we can hold on to
"Namasmarana" in this process. That will help concentrate and fix our
minds and our faith through the ups and downs of life. Praying is so
potent that krishna says in the gita that even if a sinner who has
committed the worst crime possible takes the lord's name he can become a
saint. It is so powerful.
Moving from Namasmarana to the Gayathri Mantra, which is considered as the
queen of mantras. ( there is no greater goddess than your
mother!!!!). Before talking about the gayathri mantra let us see what is a
mantra? "Mananath Thrayathe Ithi Mantra" - Mantra is one that protects you
when u remember it in your mind. What does it protect you from ? 1.danger
that involves extrenal forces (egs. head injury etc.) 2. Adhyathmic or
danger due to internal forces (like stroke etc.) 3. Danger due to natural
disaster like earthquakes etc. Dr.Mohan gave the example of what swami
once said - there was this huge plane crash and swami said he would have
saved everyone if atleast one of them had recited the Gayathri Mantra. So
it is very potent. Mantras in general create a protective shield around
you. Every mantra is presided over by a deity; it has a meter; and patron
saint to which the mantra has been revealed. As soon as you meditate or
say the mantra, the presiding deity actually appears in form. you might
ask how come we dont see the deity. Well there is the gross body that we
can see and then there is the causal body and the subtle body. The deity
appears in subtle body which we cannot see. However, the scriptures say
that if u repeat a mantra 960 million times, god will appear in gross body
form so that we can see him. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa actually did this and
forced God to appear in front of him. The mantras also emanate
vibrations. For this reason it is better to chant/meditate on the matra
in the mind. As these vibrations travel far and wide into the universe
. Chanting it loud creates sound waves that dont travel very far. So
potency of a mantra is enhanced if you chant it in the mind. It is said
"Only in the sound of silence can you hear god"!!
Let us now talk about the gayathri mantra in specific. This mantra has a
specific meter and there are 167 other mantras in the same meter. Gayatri
devi is the presiding deity and the patron saint is Vishwamithra. God
revealed this to "Kaushika" who was later called "Vishwa mithra" - "friend
of the universe". Dr.Mohan then described the meaning of the gayathri
mantra word by word ( i can email this separately if people want to
know). He mentioned that the actual mantra starts at "Tat Savitur
Varenyam.." Swami says this is a mantra that will help remove ignorance as
we ask gayathri devi to enlighten "our" intellect. One of the reasons this
mantra is special is because the prayer actually asks for knowledge or
light for "us" instead of just "me". Swami always loves selfless prayers
and this one is one among them. The gayathri mantra represents the core
statement of the vedas. Vyasa wrote the 18 puranas. What is the essence of
that? well it is simply "Help ever Hurt Never" as our swami tells us.
So this gayathri mantra is an universal mantra that can be chanted any
time any place. DrMohan finished his talk with a brief mention of how to
control the mind and keep it from wandering. He said give it the constant
work of chanting god's name. Thats the way to achieve divinity.
This is just a drop of the ocean of information and knowledge swami
showered us with during this retreat. I have left out quite a few points
mainly due to my memory and also the fear of misquoting swami. But since
swami has written this through me, I hope it will reach all your hearts
and help you in your spiritual progress.
Yours in Sai Service
Bala