Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center Inc., Twin Cities
Minnesota, USA
Volume 1 Issue 1
January 2003


Contents
Two Pice

Rituals

Sai Sandesh

Did You know?

About Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center



Sai Sandesh

Sai Sandesh is a Monthly Newsletter dedicated to the Life and message of Saibaba of Shirdi. Please send your contributions to hamaresai@yahoo.com. If you want to receive this newsletter please click here. Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, Twin Cities, MN is not responsible for the opinions expressed by the individual contributors.

About Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center.

Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center, Inc., Twin Cities, MN is registered as a Non-profit corporation in the state of Minnesota. The organization is funded by the voluntary contributions of Sai devotees. The Prayer Center is currently located at 725 NE Lake St. Apt. 139, Hopkins, MN, where regular Sai Satsangs are conducted and occasions of importance to Saibaba of Shirdi are celebrated. In addition to the Prayer Center activities, the organization is also involved with community service including "Meals on Wheels" and "Adapt a Family" programs. Please visit the Prayer Center and participate in its activities. The Prayer Center invites you to the next fortnightly Satsang on Saturday January 18, 2003 from 5.30 PM and a discussion/forum on Prayer Center activities on the same day open to all. Please write to hamaresai@yahoo.com for more details.

Monthly Feature
Two Pice

- Sathya Chelluri, Woodbury, MN
Saibaba has said that His guru asked Him for Two Pice. These Two Pice denote Shraddha [Faith] and Saburi [Perseverance]. Faith is the seed and perseverance is the fuel that keeps us in Baba's path. The initial involvement with Sadguru comes with His inspiration through attending a Satsangh, Reading His leelas, or even through dreams as happened in case of several people. One reason for the fortune of Baba's path is the continuing relationship that Baba has with his devotees through several births. Baba referred to this "rinaanubandha" as he was waiting for Nana Chandorkar, the great Sai devotee who was initially skeptical about Saibaba.

With a simple heart when these are embedded into us we get the faith and at times Baba gives us experiences to reinforce these. With Faith alone, we are not fully equipped in this journey towards self-realization. To keep us from wandering away, we need Perseverance. When we get troubled by the slightest of the troubles and think that Baba is NOT helping and this path is not helping, we are losing track of our path. We need to be firm in our determination that come what may we will stick to the feet of Sadguru and He will pass us through. Considered as the manliness in man, Perseverance is the second Pice that we need to offer.

People say, "What does Baba ask for? Just nothing, only Shraddha and Saburi. But we all know that these Two Pice are difficult as they are priceless. Baba said once "This Maya (the power of illusion) of the Lord (Shri Hari) teases God Brahma and others; then what to speak of a poor Fakir like Me? ". This illustrates how difficult it is for one to travel this path. We definitely need the grace of the Lord to succeed. Our part from within is to sincerely work towards offering our Two Pice leaving the rest at the lotus feet of Sadguru.

Devotee Contributions
Rituals

- Ravin Gnanasambandam, Coon Rapids, MN
Ritual, if seen from outside the realm of religion, is nothing but a set of practices conditioned by culture and convenience. Rituals are important means of communicating with Sadguru who is none else than God. For the mind immersed in logic, outwardly, rituals may appear as superficial practices, but they impart a definite structure to the way a saadhaka conditions himself/herself to communicating with the Sadguru. Rituals slowly but surely transform one giving the rare opportunity of having Sadguru's glimpse in one's own personal way.

Sai devotion may appear to pose a unique challenge to any onlooker drawn into the Shirdi God's fold. What rituals are to be performed? How are they performed? Must one always perform all the aarthis to Baba? Should one participate in Satsangs? Is it just enough to do naam jap? Or is it mandatory to perform shodasopachaara pooja to Saibaba of Shirdi? Is abhishek to Baba is a Hindu ritual and if so, is it OK to structure Baba's prayers within the conforms of a particular religion?

How does one reach the Sadguru God of Shirdi who refuses to fit into a religion? The answer is simple; through any structured practice with love, truth, honesty and an intense yearning to understand the nature of Sadguru. If such a practice is known as a Hindu ritual or a Kalma recital, so be it! Nevertheless, a structured practice is always useful as discipline is a mandatory phase in pursuit of Sadguru. Nama jap is as powerful a tool for a saadhaka as is performing any other ritual. No one ritual is superior to the other. They all serve the same purpose if the underlying intention is the same. Rituals should not be considered as intimidating because of the way they are performed, neither are they a measure of scholarship. Rituals are not compulsive bursts of activities to just fit a timeframe. If there is love and devotion to Sadguru, there are no compulsions. If someone feels compelled, the love and devotion is not complete.

There is a tendency to dismiss rituals as hypocritical since sometimes they are performed without completely knowing what they truly mean. What good meanings can do if the true involvement is just a pretense? Is it possible to know all the meanings behind everything one encounters? Is that not the very reason one seeks the Sadguru? The perception of "bhaavatheeth", the attributeless, through any "bhava" is not an additive function of all the means at our disposal. At the same time, great souls have accomplished this very easily. The all-important experience of Sadguru starts where our "bhava" exhausts.

Saibaba's method of instruction is unique and individualized. Most importantly, Baba never allowed anyone to interfere with the way others' did their service to God. A true Sai satsang is one where there is enormous love and devotion for Baba that sees Sai in every ritual. The love and devotion that is natural and unsolicited. A Satsang that perhaps uses every means and tries to provide everyone the opportunity to realize Sadguru in his or her own way beyond the barriers of language, culture or social status. A Sai devotee always nurtures the above with the intention of sharing his/her love and devotion to His Majesty, the king of the kings and the most benevolent, Sadguru Sainath Maharaj of Shirdi. Bow to Sri Sai Peace be to all.

Did you know?

- The first ever Temple/Mandir/common plaace of worship for Sainath of Shirdi was built in 1916 in Bhivpuri, a village on the way from Bombay to Poona in Maharashatra. This was built by Keshav Ramachandra Pradhan, an atheist turned Sai devotee. (Source: Sai Patham, January 2001)..
- Lakshman Joshi, the maternal uncle of Sai devotee Madhavrao Deshpande, performed the first aarthi after Baba's physical demise on October 15, 1918. Bapusaheb Jog, who used to perform aarthis to Baba, did not show up to do aarthi on the morning after Baba's physical demise thinking that Baba is no more alive. (Source: Sri Hemadpanth's Sai Satcharitha in English by Nagesh Vasudev Gunaji)