Monthly Newsletter
Loving Sairams dear fellow devotees in this spiritual journey.
By the Divine grace of Lord Sai and all your support and encouragement Sai Times is now into our 8th year. This is our humble effort to spread Lord Sai’s messages and glory through value-based stories, experiences and Seva activities.
Hope you find this meaningful in your spiritual path. Looking forward to your continued support.
Shirdi Sai Gayatri
OM Shirdi Vasaya Vidamahe Sachidanandaya
Dhimahi tanno Sai Prachodayath
Om, Let me meditate on the God who lives in Shirdi,
Oh, God who is the ethereal truth and happiness, give me higher intellect,
And let that Sai illuminate my mind
Sai Leela
For next few months we will bring back our memories of 2018 offering of our book Eternal Compassionate Master-our own sharing with Omnipresent Sai
The Mysterious Guest’s Blessings
It was my daughter’s wedding day. I had known and read that Baba comes in any form, any time when we invite Him and ask him for something. That morning, at the venue I was thinking to myself; I have invited Baba to come today-will He be here today and if He does come- how will I know?
That evening when the guests started to arrive, I got very busy attending to them. At one moment while I was attending to one of our guests, I saw my daughter calling out to me and I could see her talking to an elderly couple in white attire. I gestured with my hand to give me 2 minutes and that I would be there.
I went back to my daughter and enquired why she was calling for me. My daughter told me – “Oh! you are late- one elderly couple had come, they had realised they were at the wrong venue but nonetheless, they blessed the newlyweds and left”.
It was a matter of a few minutes and I tried to see who they were, but I just couldn’t. I felt very bad that I couldn’t even offer anything to someone who came to the wedding. Later I realised that there wasn’t any marriage venues near this hall, so how did they come?
I had a strong feeling and belief that it was only Baba who was there in this form. Jai Sai Ram!
-Shared by Shoma (Kolkata, India)
Sathya Sai Gayatri
Om Saieshwaraya Vidmahe
Sathya Devaya Dheemahi
Thanna Sarvah Prachodayath
We know Sri Sathya Sai as Supreme Divinity Incarnate
We meditate on this God of Truth
May Almighty God lead us to Liberation
Message on Navratri- by Swami
The Core Message of Navaratri
The Three Goddesses Within: The festival honors Durga (who grants physical, mental, and spiritual energy through action), Lakshmi (who bestows wealth, character, and health through a pure heart), and Saraswati (who gives intelligence and discrimination through sacred speech).
Tripurasundari (Triple Purity): True worship of these goddesses means aligning your actions, feelings, and words into a single, unified expression of divinity.
Revering Your Mother: Sai Baba emphasized that your own mother is the living embodiment of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati because she constantly works for your energy, well-being, and growth. Loving and respecting her is a true form of worship.
Respecting Nature: Navaratri is also an opportunity to honor nature and use resources like water, air, and energy wisely, avoiding waste and pollution.
Story time
Lord- The Mother who feeds
Value: Faith
Sub-Value: Surrender, Conviction
In the famous Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu, a long line of devotees would patiently wait for the delicious Prasadam, even a few centuries ago.
A poor Vaishnavite used to be the first one in the line and was notorious for demanding prasadam not only for himself but for his entire family consisting of sixteen children! Every day he would fight with the temple authorities for a huge amount of prasadam, even as the devotees standing behind him had to make do with a tiny quantity.
Exasperated, the authorities resorted to pushing him out of the temple. He would wail, “ My sixteen children would starve if they do not get this prasadam, please have pity on me!”
One day, he decided to bring all his malnourished children to stand in the line. As usual, the fight with the temple authorities started on that day also. Sri Ramanuja, who happened to be at the temple at that time, asked the authorities what the commotion was all about. They told him about the demands of the Vaishnavite and said that they would not mind giving him extra Prasadam if only he was willing to do some service to the temple.
Turning to the Vaishnavite, Sri Ramanuja asked him what was preventing him from rendering some service to the temple.
He replied, “ Swamy! Look at my children! They are undernourished and sick most of the time. All my time is spent taking care of them. Moreover, unfortunately, I have not studied the Vedas or the Divya Prabandhams ( hymns by the Azhwars) and so cannot join in the temple Parayanam. All I know is a part of Vishnu- sahasranamam only! What can I do? “
Sri Ramanuja then asked him to recite the Vishnu Sahasranamam to the extent that he knew it. The Vaishnavite hesitated and then began the recitation. “ Vishvam Vishnu Vashatkaro Bhuta Bhavya Bhavat -prabhuh ; Bhutakrit Bhutabhrut…” That was all he knew in Vishnu-sahasranamam! Only up to the sixth name! The poor Vaishnavite was overcome by shame and self-pity and exclaimed, “ That is the only part I know, Swamy!”
Sri Ramanuja looked at him reflectively and said, “ You recited the sixth name, Bhutabrut. Now onward you must go on doing the Japam of the sixth name, in this manner: Bhutabhrute Namah. If you do this, you don’t have to seek food; food will come to you, to your place! Will you do it?” The Vaishnavite eagerly nodded.
From that day onwards, he was not to be seen in the temple. All the commotion during the prasadam distribution time stopped altogether. A few days later, when Sri Ramanuja went to the temple, the temple authorities came to him. They had a different story to tell now.
They said, “ Swamy! A strange thing is being observed nowadays in the temple. Though a substantial quantity of Prasadam is offered to Sri Ranganatha as usual, when we take up the distribution it is found that a considerable amount is missing! This has started happening after you told the fighting Vaishnavite to stop coming to the temple. Our security is tight but still, this is happening. We feel that the Vaishnavite may be responsible. Somehow he is managing to steal the Prasadam!”
Sri Ramanuja was stunned to hear this. He asked them whether they knew where he stayed. They said, “ That is again strange! He has moved out of his house.” Sri Ramanuja asked them to search for the Vaishnavite and bring him, as he would like to see him. All their efforts were in vain to locate that person.
A few weeks later, Sri Ramanuja had to cross the Kollidam river that surrounds Srirangam, for an event in a nearby village. Suddenly he saw a person running after him, calling out, “ Swamy! Swamy!”
It was none other than the Vaishnavite who stopped coming to the Srirangam temple for Prasadam. He fell at the feet of Sri Ramanuja, weeping profusely. When he managed to talk, he said, “ Swamy! By your Grace, that boy is delivering the prasadam, both times every day! All my children are no more sick or under-nourished. I have moved out of the place near the temple so as not to get into problems with the temple authorities. I am eternally grateful to you. I am also doing the japam, ‘Bhutabhrute namah’, constantly.”
Sri Ramanuja was overwhelmed. “ Which boy? What did he say his name was?” asked Sri Ramanuja. The Vaishnavite replied that the boy introduced himself as, ‘The servant of Sri Ramanuja!’
Sri Ramanuja realized now what was going on. The lord, Sri Ranganatha Himself was delivering the food to the Vaishnavite, every day, both in the morning and in the night!
The divine name ‘ Bhutabhrut’ means one who nourishes the entire universe!
Learning
The compassionate Lord plays any role, even that of a thief to help his devotee, who calls out to Him in total faith, love, and surrender. The above story reflects the power of sincere prayer by the Vaishanvaite who faithfully followed Ramanuja’s words; and also shows how the Lord literally obeyed Ramanuja’s words when he told the Vaishnavite that food would come to his house.
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INDIVIDUAL SADHANA AND SEVA OPPORTUNITIES
Akhand parayans– Sri Shirdi Sai Satcharitra, Sri Sathya Sai Satcharitra Tapovanam , Sri Sathya Sai Kalpadruma group parayans online as well as being part of the weekly whats app group parayans
Tapovanam Mahaparayans-Devotees from all over the globe are invited to join this parayan and also to help in coordination
LA CASA- (Home to Love All Care for All Serve All) helping out migrant workers for meals, medicines and other needs in Singapore and other education, medical and water projects in India
Translation Seva- Human value stories, Sai literature being translated in different languages.
Sai literature-Blogging on Sathya Sai Speaks, Sai Vahinis- essence of vedas and Upanishads by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
Glory of Sai– Spreading of the message of Universal love through stories, interviews, articles- Seva- Administration of social media pages, blogs, IT help, audio visual, transcription etc
Experience Sharing- Devotees can share their written experiences on the parayans, transformations by different seva activities, Sai leelas especially after Baba’s Mahasamadhi.
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