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| Happy Makara Sankranthi |
We might have had so many experiences both spiritually and
temporally as Sai’s devotees. We will continue to feel his presence. Sai might
have helped each one of us either with our family, health, or wealth related
issues. As a guru he is second to none
in guiding us on the spiritual path.
How can we pay him back for the mercy that he shows?
A mother will do anything for her children. In a similar
way, mother Sai will not only protect us in this life but in future
incarnations. How can we offer our gratitude to our Guru. A Guru is considered
as God, mother, father, friend, and teacher. Guru is everything for us in this
world and beyond. Whatever service we offer to Guru, it is never enough. We can
never serve him enough for his mercy.
The service that we can offer to Sai has
to be with lots of devotion. A service without utmost devotion is not fruitful
if you want to advance in your life.
We have to express this love towards our
Guru in an exemplary manner. To raise our faith to that level, we have to first know him
very well.
Once we start learning about him, our love towards him will
exponentially grow.
That love has to grow into a huge tree.
The roots of that
tree of love have to go deeper into the ground.
This tree of love is vulnerable
to natural calamities and other forces of nature. These calamities are nothing
but our senses, our bad habits, or even drifting away from the teachings of our
own Guru.
We should not yield to these pressures. Our path is clear and that is
the way of Sai. We cannot deviate from this path. We should never lose our
faith towards Baba. This is the real service that we can offer to our Guru.
The seva has to come from the depths of our inner soul.
This service should be
filled with love but not out of fear or selfishness. From this selfless love
comes out real devotion and dedication. Then one will be immersed with Sai’s
blessings. So to experience this, we
need to know Sai.
What is the best way to learn about any one? The answer is simple.
One has to read Sri Sai Satcharita. This is the best way to
learn about Sai, his leelas and his teachings. We have to then understand the
spiritual significance behind his stories and teachings. We have to cement his
teachings in our hearts. When Sai was in flesh the devotees did not have the
luxury of reading our Guru’s story but now we can. In those days Baba wanted
some of his devotees to read Guru Charitra. Lots of people benefited from
reading this. Now our Guru Charitra is Sri Sai Satcharita. This is our
Scripture and our Veda.
While writing Sri Sai Satcharita, Hemadpant described as
follows.
Sri Sai Satcharita is like an ocean which is unfathomable,
vast, and it has so many valuable things.
Baba himself said the following words.
You perform your duty. Do not have the least doubts in your mind. Have
full faith in my words and be of resolute mind. If you write about my leelas, it will wipe out the faults which have
arisen due to ignorance. And when you listen to it with faith your worldly
involvements will disappear. It will
cause waves of love and devotion to rise on the ocean of the mind; and, diving
into them now and then, will bring up gems of knowledge ”.
Whoever sings with feelings of my life,
eulogizes my powers, virtues and excellence, I will protect
him totally, by surrounding him. Those devotees who have become one
with me with heart and
soul, they will, naturally, be bound to
be happy by listening to the story of my life.
Whoever sings my praises, I will
bestow upon him complete happiness, permanent pleasure and
contentment. Believe this as the Truth. It is my promise to redeem the one
who, with faith sings my
praises, totally surrenders to me,
remembers me constantly and meditates on me.
How will anyone be longing for
worldly pleasures, who thinks of my name, worships me, studies me,
whose holy readings are of me, who meditates on me and who
continuously thinks of me?
From the very jaws of death I will
snatch away my devotees. Just by listening to my stories diseases
will disappear. Listen to the story with due
reverence, meditate fully upon it, intently contemplate upon it and you
will attain peace.
The ‘You and I’ will disappear. The
minds of the listeners will be absorbed in God. The mind will be
a store of divine energy and full of single-minded and
complete faith.
Repetition of the name ‘Sai’ will
burn away all the sins of Kali-Yuga. Once having
prostrated, past sins born of speech and hearing will be destroyed ”.
There is no other service to Sai greater than doing Satcharita Parayana (study).
This service is the best offering every one can perform so easily.
We should take advantage of this service. People can say that they do not have time and they are very busy. We have to be realistic and if we think we do not have 10 minutes in our daily routine we are not being fair. Can we make an effort to read at least 1 page or we can remind ourselves a story of Sai. Some how we can spend some time thinking about our Sai.
Let Sai Paramatma's grace shower on all of us.
