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Volume 3 Issue
2
February 2005
Contents
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 would like 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 "Adopt a Family"
programs. Please visit the Prayer Center and participate in its
activities. Please write to hamaresai@yahoo.com for more details.
Daily
Services
Please note
that the Prayer center is open all days of the week. Sunday-Friday
prayer center is open from 6:30pm to 9pm and on Saturdays 5:00pm -
9:00pm.
If you would like to volunteer for any weekday service
[for a month], please send us a email at hamaresai@yahoo.com with
subject 'Daily Service Signup' or you can signup the calender at the
prayer center.
Fortnightly Satsangs
Shirdi Saibaba
Prayer center conducts fortnightly satsangs from 5pm onwards and the
program includes Abhishek to Baba, Dhoop Arti, Bhajan/Kirtans, Naam
Jap, Shej Arti and Maha Prasad. The next 2 satsangs are scheduled
on November 6, 20.
These Satsangs are sponsored by
devotees. If you would like to sign-up for sponsorship, please send a
email to hamaresai@yahoo.com with subject as "Satsang
Sponsorship".
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Monthly
Feature
The Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit
Guru madhye Sthitham Vishwam
Vishwa madhye
sthitho Guruhu
Gurur-Vishwan Nacha-anyosthi
Thasmai Shree Gurave
Namah
The Universe has its being within the Guru; the Guru abides
within the universe as its essence; the Guru is the universe; nothing
exists besides him. Salutations to such a Guru - Shri Guru Gita.
Is Guru different from God? Some have this
question. If Guru helps in realizing God, then must Guru be different
from God? One physical analogy that easily comes to a logical mind is
the concept of the Teacher, the Taught, and the Subject. There is a
tendency to differentiate between the subject and the teacher not
knowing that Teacher is the representation of the subject and none
else; thus is as venerable.
Similar concept is explained in the Bible as
the God of trinity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Bible
says that the Father is not the same person as the Son; the Son is not
the same person as the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit is not the same
person as Father. They are distinct persons; yet, they are all one God.
They are in absolute perfect harmony consisting of one substance. They
are coeternal, coequal, and copowerful. If any one of the three were
removed, there would be no God.
Restriction of God to the grander of visions;
the One with brilliance, radiance, power and might does less to help
realize the Supreme that exists beyond the adjectives. Krishna, the
brave prodigal son of Yadavas, the brilliant statesman that skillfully
led the righteousness to its ultimate glory comes as an example of the
Grand God. It is easy to sense such a mighty God by seemingly powerless
human. The same tendency might render one to see the Saint of Shirdi as
just a fakir albeit with some powers. However, once in his fold, what
the fakir represents becomes very clear. The God that is difficult to
comprehend is in fact the most mercifully bestowing. The material that
God is made of also includes the simplest of the Nature, the entity
within and outside, dormant yet powerful, the weak and the unnoticed!
Distinction between Sadguru and God is very
superficial and exists for a simple reason. Sadguru is the closest that
anyone can easily relate to God! He is the intelligible form of
incomprehensive God!
Devotees' Experiences
Company during Prayer
Club.
Ravin, Coon Rapids MN
On 1-22-05, I
participated in the Sainaama Jap at the Prayer Center. At 9 AM, no one
turned up perhaps due to the bad weather the previous night. I felt
that it would have been good to have other Sai bandhus as God's name
was sung. Right then, I
received a call from a Saibandhu who moved to Kansas City wanting to
participate in the Sai Naaama Jap over the phone. He continued the
naama japam over the phone until 10.45 AM. A few minutes later, another
Sai bandhu from the Twin Cities area called in wanting to participate in
Sai naamam over the phone and it went on until completion at
noon. Thus, there was participation from
other Sai bandhus throughout the duration. I felt that my wish of
having a company was granted by Baba in His own peculiar way!
Know
your Sai Satcharitha!
- What does the author request the
readers to remember daily before retiring to bed?
- Who respectfully reads this chapter,
or studies it daily will have his (her) miseries and calamities removed
by Baba. Which chapter is this?
- Who is Venubai
Koujalgi?
- Which city is referred to as
'Bhuvaikuntha" in Sai Satcharitha?
- 'Seva is not rendering service,
retaining still the feeling that one is free to offer or refuse
service" – where is this reference
from?
Answers to
Know your Sai Satcharitha!
(From Sai Sandesh January
2005)
- What are the two books written by Dasganu Maharaj
that has teachings of Saibaba in them?
"Bhakta
Leelamrit and Santha Kathamrit".
- Name the book read by V.H Thakur the meaning
of which he understood after his visit to
Shirdi?
'Vichar
Sagar" by Nishchaldas.
- Who was cured of severe suffering from ear
pain after being comforted by Baba saying, 'Allah accha
karega"?
A swami
from Alandi near Poona.
- Who advised the husband of the pregnant woman
to take her to Shirdi for the next childbirth so that the delivery is
safe?
Sai devotee
Shri Rama Maruti of Kalyan advised that the lady from Bombay be taken to
Saibaba in Shirdi.
- When did Baba say these words, 'You have been
so long in My company then why do you behave like
this?".
Baba
angrily said thus to Nanasaheb Chandorkar when Nana dissuaded his
sister-in-law from going to Datta temple on way to Shirdi from
Kopergaon.
Prayer Center
Activities for February 2005
February 12 – Fortnightly Satsang sponsored by Ambarish Sen and
Debarati Sen
February 19 – Prayer Club – Sai Naama
Jap
February 26 – Fortnightly Satsang sponsored by C.V.
Ratnakar
Quotation of the
Month
'The
traditional concept of God, religion, spiritual path and masters are
either vague or are based on hearsay. It is only when one comes in
contact with a real Perfect Master that he realizes the meaninglessness
of all that has been propagated and practiced in the name of God,
religion and spirituality"- From the book, 'Saibaba -The Perfect
Master". |
Notice - Receipts for
contributions
Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center thanks you for
your continued support. We request all donor devotees to kindly mention
their email id on the check, as we will be emailing the receipts from
now on. In case you have already mailed/dropped in a check, on or after
January 1 2005, kindly send an email to sai@hamaresai.org with your name and check number, so that we can send the
receipt by email. Kindly note that this is an effort to reduce the
manual processing costs thereby the contributions be spent on other
Prayer Center Activities. As you maybe aware, all contributions to SSPC
are tax exempt to the extent allowed by
IRS.
Bow
to Sri SAI, Peace be to ALL!
Om Sai! Please send your comments,
suggestions, contributions in the form of features, quotations and
experiences to hamaresai@yahoo.com. Please
forward this to all who will be
interested. | |
__________________________________________________________
Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center,
Inc.,Twin Cities - MN
(A Non-profit, Non-sectarian,
Spiritual Learning Center, Tax ID 03-0473843)
Donations to Shirdi Saibaba Prayer Center are
Tax-Deductible.
725 Lake ST NE, Apt #139,
Hopkins MN * Tel: (952) 938 2983
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