SAI PREMA VAHINIOne must have such strong faith in God. This is not something one can give or take....

International Newsletter GKS 2 November - 2012

SAI PREMA VAHINI This International Newsletter for the GKS Group is a publication of the Sri Sai Mandiram Trust.

Initiated by

Sri Gopala Krishna Swami Address:

No. 1265 1st ‘E’ Main Road 8th ‘B’ Cross 2nd Phase Girinagar Bangalore – 560 085 India

Contents

Develop your faith with love for God ..... Sri Sathya Sai Baba ....... 4 Faith in Swami........................................ Sri Gopal Baba .............. 11 Sri Ramakrishna the Unknown ............... Sri Ramakrishna ............ 14 Shirdi Sai Baba’s idol .............................. Satrughna ..................... 20 Are you ready for the highroad? ............ Sita................................ 24 Girinagar, 24-10-2012 Durga pooja ....... Photo impression ......... 26 Wisdom from all faiths........................... ..................................... 27 Swami birthday celebration, Nov. 4 ....... Photo impression ......... 28

Correspondence address newsletter:

Hannie Schaftstraat 85, 1827 LN Alkmaar, The Netherlands E-mail: [email protected] Websites: www.gopalbaba.org and www.saigopal.org

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.gopalbaba.org/

http://www.saigopal.org/


Sai Ram dear readers, We all know that faith plays an important part in our spiritual development. All religions emphasize; strong faith is the highway to God. But how do we develop such faith, what makes our faith strong and stable so that it will keep us on the right track. This is the theme of this newsletter. It is our wish that the encouraging words of our Masters will serve us with the development of our faith. In love and alliance, The editors


PREMASWARUPA VAHINI Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Develop Your Faith With Love For God Excerpts from a Divine Discourse 19 July 1996 Sri Sathya Sai Baba One may be a highly accomplished scholar having mastered the Vedas, the Sastras, and the Puranas. One may be a great emperor ruling over a vast kingdom. But none can equal a devotee who has sacrificed everything for the Lord. What is more to be conveyed to this assembly of noble people? (Telugu Poem) Since ancient times, many people have been making efforts to attain God by practising four types of aradhana (worship) as prescribed by the culture of Bharat (India):

satyavathi aradhana, angavathi aradhana, anyavathi aradhana, nidaanavathi aradhana.

Satyavathi aradhana The first is truth-based worship (satyavathi aradhana). In this type of worship, the devotee worships God with the faith that He is immanent in every particle of the universe, just as butter is present in every drop of milk. Like oil in sesame seeds and fire in wood, God pervades the entire manifest creation. The devotee worships God with the awareness that Lord Vishnu pervades the entire world and he believes that the world is the effect and God is the cause.


Angavathi aradhana There is another subtle path, manifestation-based worship (angavathi aradhana). Those who follow this path consider each of the five elements, namely, ether, air, fire, water, and earth as the manifestation of God and worships them. These five elements are represented in the human body as hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. Even today, people worship water as Ganga Matha (Mother Ganga), air as Vayu Deva, and rain as Varuna Deva. In this manner, Indian people have been worshipping the five elements in accordance with their ancient culture.

Anyavathi aradhana The third path is the symbol-based worship (anyavathi aradhana). People who follow this path ascribe to God various names and forms with specific attributes, just as kodandapani (one who wields the kodanda bow) symbolises Rama and Gangadhari (one who sports Ganga in his matted locks) denotes God. Similarly, Vishnu holds conch, disc, mace, and lotus in His four hands. Krishna sports a peacock feather on His head and plays on His divine flute. In the same way, Saraswati is considered the one who holds Veena in Her hand. In this manner, our ancients worshipped God by attributing various symbols to them. One is the form and the other is the name. They worshipped God by attributing a specific name and form. Only when you realize the unity of the name and form, you can experience divinity. This is a matchbox (Swami materialised a matchbox). The same power is present in the matchbox and also in the matchstick. One symbolises the form and the other the name. Just as fire is produced when a matchstick is struck on a matchbox, likewise the fire of wisdom is manifested when name and form combine. The same power is present in the name as well as in the form. The name points to the form and the form reminds of the name. The same principle of unity and divinity is present in both. When the name and the form combine, divine principle manifests there.


Since Vedic times, Indian people have been following this principle and experiencing Divinity. They had total faith in the unity of name and form. They believed that

there was no object or name that was not divine in this world. Is there any name that is not associated with a form? Take, for example, the name God. Where did this name

God come from? If there is no God, how can the name God come into existence? Without the existence of God, this word would not

have originated. Therefore, since ancient times, people believed there was an inseparable relationship between name and form. None can deny this truth.

Nidaanavathi aradhana People who perform this spiritual exercise follow nine paths of devotion: listening (sravanam), singning (kirtanam), contemplating on God (Vishnusmaranam), serving God (Padasevanam), salutation (vandanam),

worship (archanam), servitude (dasyam), friendship (sneham), and self-surrender (Atmanivedanam). By following these nine paths of devotion, people contemplated on God and attained the goal of life.

One can attain the goal of life by the power of worship.

One should never forget the goal of life or deviate from the chosen path; one should attain it by one-pointed

devotion. The aspirants in those days attained Divinity by following the path as prescribed by the Vedas. Due to the influence of time, space, and circumstances, modern people are neglecting such sacred practices. They argue, ‘How can stones, trees, anthills, and animals be considered divine?’ This reflects their narrow-mindedness. The boy who spoke earlier prayed, ‘Swami, bless us with strong faith and develop it’. Such a prayer is born out of innocence. Faith is not something that can be developed in you by others. Faith is there in you right from the time of your birth. When you realize this truth, faith will automatically


develop. When you say, she is my mother, it is based on faith only. Without faith, you cannot call her your mother. Likewise, when you have firm conviction in the presence of God, your faith naturally develops.

Faith in yourself, faith in God – this is the secret of greatness First of all, have faith in yourself. If you don’t have faith in yourself, you can’t have faith in God. Therefore, one who denies God, denies himself. One who has faith in himself will have faith in God. Man is essentially divine. That is why the Vedas declare:

That is full, this is full. When the full is taken out of the full, what remains is again the full.

(Poornamada poornamidam, Poornat poornamudachyate,Poornasya poornamadaya,

Poornamevavashishyate) The same divine principle is present in God and in every human being. You may see various names and forms in this manifest world.

Unity is Divinity If you forget God, nothing else matters in this world. This is what the culture of India has been propagating since ancient times. Therefore, you should develop faith in this principle of oneness. In whatever form you observe, only One exists, and that is God. You have to undertake certain practices to realize God. Anything can be accomplished by practice. One becomes a singer by continuous practice. Similarly, by continuous contemplation of God, you will surely experience Divinity. Have total focus on God with single-minded concentration. According to the Indian people, a tree is God, a stone is God, and even an anthill is God. A sculptor makes the idol of Rama out of an ordinary rock. Has the sculptor carved Rama out of the rock or was Rama already present in the rock? Rama was already present in that rock. The sculptor only cleaned and chiselled the rock to bring out Rama from it. In the same way, Divinity is present in everything. You install an idol of Rama in the temple and worship it; considering it Lord Rama Himself. There will be so many small stones lying scattered on the hill. But do you worship them? No. Why? Because they have not taken the shape of Rama. Nevertheless, those pieces of stone lying on the hill proclaim, ‘That Thou Art. The idol in the temple and we are one and the same, but the sculptor has separated us.’


The same truth is reflected in the great aphorism, I am Brahman (Aham Brahmasmi). Due to your own worldly feelings and delusion, you think you are different from God. The mistake lies in the individual, not in the divine power. Wherever you look, God is present. You should have firm faith in the all pervasiveness of Divinity.

Experiencing Oneness with God Once the elder brother of Thyagaraja threw away the idol of Rama, that worshipped by Thyagaraja in the river Kauvery. The reason for his anger at Thyagaraja was that Thyagaraja refused to accept the jewels and other gifts sent by the king of Thanjavur, saying, Oh mind! Tell me, whether happiness lies in wealth or in the proximity of God.

When he noticed that the idol of Rama was missing from his altar, Thyagaraja went in

search of it. He sang, ‘Oh Rama, where am I to search for You? How can I limit You to a particular place?’ After searching for the idol of Rama for a long time, he was tired and went to the river Kauvery for a bath. As he took the river water in his cupped hands to offer oblations, saying, Keshavaya Namah, Madhavaya Namah, Govindaya Namah, the idol of Rama fell in his hands. When you have such firm faith in the Lord, you will always experience oneness with Him. You will never think that He is separate from you.

When an old friend visits our house, we address him in an informal way, ‘Hey,

come.’ But when a new friend comes to our house, we offer him a seat with all courtesy and respect, requesting him, ‘Please be seated’. You address an old friend in intimate terms, saying, ‘Hey, what are you doing? What brings you here?’ Similarly, when you have firm faith in the Lord and feel oneness with Him, you will not address Him in a formal way.


Thyagaraja considered Rama as his old friend and addressed Him in informal terms, come to our house. He addressed Rama in such intimate terms because He considered Him very close to his heart. He sang, Where am I to search for You, oh Rama. I have no refuge other than You, oh Rama. He enjoyed such freedom with Rama because he considered Him his old friend. You should realize that this is not your first birth; you had many previous births. God is not new to you, He is your old friend. Never treat God as your new friend. What is there that does not belong to Him? One must have such strong faith in God. This is not something one can give or take. Some people pray, Swami, give me deep faith. But this is not a give and take matter. You yourself have to develop faith. If you are hungry, you have to eat food to satiate your hunger. It is you who has to take medicine to cure your illness. Similarly, you have to develop your faith with love for God. Love is not something that can be given to you as a gift. When you step on the path of love, your love for God will automatically develop. When you plant a sapling and nourish it with water and manure regularly, it will grow into a tree. Similarly, when you regularly give water of love to the sapling of faith, it will grow into a giant tree. On the other hand, if you keep on pulling the sapling every now and then to see how much it has grown, it will break. The growth of the sapling of your faith depends entirely on you, nobody else. You have to develop it yourself.

Love and faith are present in you What you have to do is to turn them towards God. Then work will be transformed into worship. Whatever you do, consider it as God’s work. Consider every form that you see as the form of God. God has infinite forms. This is also one of those forms. But you should install only one form of God in your heart. Then you will realize that all forms belong to God. In this way, ancient sages and seers followed the four paths to worship God and attained


liberation. They were no fools. In fact, they did a lot of research and deep study, experienced happiness, and shared it with others. Only the educated fools of today question the wisdom of our ancient sages. None can say, God is like this or that. If someone comes to you and says, ‘Why do you talk about God? God is nowhere’, you should say, ‘God is now here’. If you have strong faith in God, what should be your reply to him? ‘Oh madcap, you may say that your God does not exist. But who are you to deny the existence of my God? I have my God’. When you have such strong faith, you can achieve anything in life. If your faith is shaken when any Tom, Dick, and Harry say something, you will not realize anything. You can see for yourself that people today do not believe in God, but they believe in the weekly magazines, meaningless novels and they are prepared to believe an ordinary astrologer. Today there are some people who wear a robe like Me, have bushy hair on their head, and claim that Sai Baba has given them special powers. They are really foolish fellows. The powers of Sai Baba cannot be given or received. But some people believe in such impostors and get deceived. Never go near them. Divine power is not something that can be given or taken. You can attain it with your faith. If your faith remains unwavering, right from the beginning till the end, that is called true devotion and surrender. That is steady and single-minded devotion. When you have such firm devotion, you will attain unwavering mind and deep faith, which are very essential on the spiritual path. You can achieve anything when you have unflinching faith.

When you sing bhajans with love, you can attain God wherever you are.


Faith in Swami Extracts from an interview given by Swami to foreign devotees July 2012 Swami explained about respect in Indian culture. It is the habit in Indian culture to seek the blessings from elders, teachers, scholars, priests, saints, and most important our parents by prostrating at their feet. We normally don't show our feet to such people, but have our legs folded when seated on the floor. While sitting on a chair - we never keep our legs crossed, stretched or one on top of the other. In normal household situations, even if one is sitting like that, the moment someone elderly or a visitor comes in, the practice is to just put the legs down and leave it backward or just get up from the seat as a mark of respect. A devotee asked Swami about fear, can we live without fear and at the same time stay humble and without arrogance? Swami answered: The most important factor is that one surrenders oneself completely to Him. It is also necessary to believe that He is within you and

whatever you do is an act of God. He is the Doer. Once you get that feeling, accept it and act accordingly, there will not be any scope for ego. Think you are not doing, it is He. You need to understand that and have faith in Swami. All the acts are His. We are only instruments - He gets it done through us. Once that faith sets in, one will never go wrong or will be lead the wrong way. He will guide you through. Have confidence and faith in God, all fear will automatically leave you.


Just like all the rain will merge with the ocean, all our prayers, irrespective of Whom its offered to (Krishna, Ganesha, Shiva, Jesus, Allah, Sai - whatever name and form you give it) will reach the supreme Lord1. Look at Lord Hanuman (Anjaneya). He surrendered totally to Lord Rama and will always be found at His feet. When there is fear to do something against God’s wish, ego can never hover around it. Yes, there will be ego with reference to God, the feeling of God is within me, I belong to Him, I am a pure soul, I need to perform good deeds, I need to go on working and moving towards Him. But that kind of ego is not related to pride. This good feeling of ego is involved in aiming to achieve surrendering to God and to consider yourself as His servant by performing related activities. You need not feel ashamed to accept this and to see yourself as His servant. Once you accept this, there will be no longer evil ego. Feeling to be with Him will be the most important thing. We need to merge with Him. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He used to say that there are two types of knowledge. Good knowledge (vidya) and wrong knowledge (avidya). The ego related to achieving God, is vidya. The one that does not involve this act and revolves around materialistic things like my house, my money, my wife, my children, my assets, etc. is avidya. Instead, we should have the qualities of vidya - my God, I belong to Him, He is performing all acts through me, I must involve in good deeds, help people, and so forth.

1 Aakaashaath pathitham thOyam yaTha gacchathi saagaram l sarva dEva namaskaraha kEshavam prathigacchathi ll.


Be humble and surrender to God; there should be no bad ego. Even if negative aspects come in, it will not harm you. Just have confidence and faith in Him. The Lord within you and the positive energy (chaithanya) you have acquired through giving up ego. Surrendering yourself to Him, the faith and confidence that you place in Him and your prayers will keep negativity from external sources at bay. We should continue to work on our sadhana One should have a goal and try to achieve or touch it. For that, one needs to have discipline. This means, taking the effort to understand what needs to be put into practice and follow it to achieve your goal. Try and practice it strictly. Nevertheless, we have to be responsible citizens as well. We should not refrain from our basic duties. Because we are normal human beings (bhootas) and not saints/sanyasis (avadhootas). We have our own worldly responsibilities: family, children, etcetera. We need to fulfil these duties, referred to as a diversion from our path towards achieving the goal. But we should not completely get engrossed in it. We have to come back and continue our journey towards the goal. It is like travelling from A to Z. There are some people who just don't take side trips, but move straight on. It is okay, if you stop by to have some refreshments; for us it is even our duty and responsibility. This is necessary. But, at the end of the day, what‘s really important is to get back on track and follow the route. Some people will have many breaks while travelling and

some take less. How soon we reach our destination (goal) depends on how many breaks we give en-route. The lesser breaks, the earlier we reach our destination.


Sri Ramakrishna The Unknown By Swami Bhajanananda Timeless Adoration When the sun sinks behind the western skyline, when shadows thicken and merge in the enveloping gloom, when from the horizon the carpet of stillness spreads across the twilit world, a simple ritual is performed in scores of ashrams and in thousands of homes in adoration of a being known to the world as Sri Ramakrishna. In a special room or corner of a room set apart for his unseen presence, incense is burnt and lights are waved, and often there is group singing of songs and hymns of praise and supplication. A religious ritual is a sacrament. Behind it there is a sacralising agent whose power sustains it for centuries. Through the ritual past events are recreated in the minds of devotees and they encounter divine phenomena afresh. When the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna do puja (ritualistic worship) or arati (evening worship or vespers) in their dwelling places, each place of worship becomes in a mystic sense his room at Dhakshineswar temple garden. Time, as it were, stands still and history is transcended when Sri Ramakrishna accepts, as his devotees believe, their worship day after day. For the time being, there then exists only an eternal now. Such is the miracle that faith works through religious rituals. A ritual, however, is only a temporal expression of the timeless aspiration of the human soul. Birth after birth, through trackless centuries, mankind has been knowingly or unknowingly adoring the Divine in some form or other. It is in response to this timeless aspiration of the human soul that the Divine incarnates again and again on earth. The God-hungry soul seizes upon these manifestations and tries to derive new meaning and direction regarding its own progress in life. Every word that an incarnation utters becomes a message of light, every gesture is a promise of hope, every action a sacrament and every place the incarnation visits is a centre of pilgrimage. This is true of all the great Incarnations of the past, Rama and Krishna, Buddha and Christ, and has now come to be true in the case of Sri Ramakrishna.


Who is that Deity to whom we offer oblations? Who is this Sri Ramakrishna to whom thousands of people now accord adoration? Who is Sri Ramakrishna whose deathless reality is now intimately connected with the lives and destinies of countless people all over the world? If this question is put to his devotees and followers, it is likely to embarrass a good number of them, while those who attempt to answer it soon find that they are failing to give clear expression to their deepest convictions about him. It is said that when Girish Chandra Ghosh once requested Swami Vivekananda to write a life of Sri Ramakrishna, the great Swami hastily shrank back and told him, ‘Ask me to dry up the ocean, I shall do that; ask me to pulverize the mountains, I shall do that; but please do not ask me to write the life of Sri Ramakrishna.’ If even a person of Swami Vivekananda’s eminence felt so diffident about his understanding of his Master, one may not find it surprising that the ordinary devotees of Sri Ramakrishna fail to comprehend his real nature. But the truth is, more often than not, the acceptance of Sri Ramakrishna by his devotees is not the result of elaborate reasoning or deep cogitation. With many it is largely a case of divine invasion of the devotees’ hearts, though they may attribute it to the reading of a book or a chance hearing of a talk or a casual visit to an ashram. And when this happens, they feel a compelling urge to accept and worship a phenomenon which they do not fully understand. However, an unconscious acceptance of a spiritual ideal is often not strong enough to take the spiritual aspirant far in the spiritual path. Faith in God is too precious a thing to be allowed to remain in the dark subterranean chambers of the mind. Faith must be illumined by experience, and devotion must become a fully conscious, self-directed approach.


The early Vedic Aryans worshipped several deities. Soon some inquiring minds among them began to ask themselves, Who is that Deity to whom we offer oblations? Questions of this kind urged them to undertake an investigation into the nature of the reality behind the phenomenal world, and in the Upanishads we find how this search culminated in the discovery of Brahman as the ultimate Truth. Devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, or for that matter, devotees of any personal God or avatar, are sure to find the bounds of their understanding of their object of adoration expanding when they too undertake a similar inquiry. What Do You Think of Me? Sri Ramakrishna himself during his life-time seemed to have encouraged such a spirit of inquiry among his intimate disciples. He used to ask them now and then what they thought about him. For instance, we find in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna the Master asking M. - the author of the book - on the latter’s third visit to him: ‘Let me ask you something. What do you think of me? How many annas of knowledge of God have I?’ There was a twofold purpose in asking this question. In the first place, the answer he got gave him an insight into the working of the disciple’s mind and an understanding of the latter’s belief pattern. Secondly, the question was calculated to stimulate the disciple’s mind to make an effort to understand the person whom he adored, and keep his relation with him an ever fresh and conscious experience. True love never becomes static, conditioned or stale. It is always a fresh and conscious experience involving the total personality. This becomes possible only when love is based on understanding, and the lover constantly encounters the beloved afresh. The vast majority of people lose touch with Reality because they allow themselves to drift with the stream of life. A true spiritual person, on the contrary, encounters life and confronts Reality every moment of their life. Devotees often run the risk of taking their relationship with their Chosen Ideals for granted. They often remain satisfied with the thought that they already possess enough love for their Chosen Ideals. Similarly, meditation is often attempted with the assumption that the object of their meditation is known to them.


If they know all about their objects of meditation, why should they meditate on them at all? This kind of presumption, which is born of ignorance, destroys the initiative for seeking the Truth, and blocks the path of progress. That is why the Upanishad teaches: ‘Truth is known to the person to whom It is unknown; one does not know to whom It is known. It is unknown to those who know well, and known to those who do not know.’ [Kena Upanishad 2.3.] Sri Ramakrishna used to say: ‘The devotees who come here may be divided into two groups. One group says, O God, give me liberation. Another group, belonging to the inner circle, doesn’t talk that way. They are satisfied if they can know two things: who I am [meaning himself]; second, who they are and what their relationship to me is.’ This is an important statement which comes to Swami Vivekananda’s definition of true religion as the eternal relationship between the eternal soul and the eternal God. The relationship between the devotee and the Chosen Ideal becomes eternal only when it is based on a true knowledge of the real nature of the worshipper and the object of worship.


All this (created universe) manifests only one-fourth of the glory of the Purusha; the remaining three-fourths lies in the immortal celestial plane. [Rg Veda: 10.90.3] It takes centuries for humankind to comprehend an incarnation. For centuries millions of people have been inspired by the lives and teachings of Buddha and Christ and hundreds of books have been written on them. Yet they still continue to stimulate fresh studies, and new books are still being brought out throwing new lights on the contemporary relevance and significance of these old masters. When a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna one day complained to Swami Vivekananda that his methods of preaching and social service were Western in type and incompatible with Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings, Swamiji delivered himself with great fervour: ‘The thing is this: Sri Ramakrishna is far greater than his disciples understand him to be. He is the embodiment of infinite spiritual ideas capable of development in infinite ways. Even if one can find a limit to the knowledge of Brahman, one cannot measure the unfathomable depth of our Master’s mind.’ The incarnation who is the embodiment of infinite spiritual ideas takes centuries to work himself out. Through innumerable institutions and religious traditions, through the creative minds of saints and sages, artists, thinkers, philosophers and leaders of society, his ideas find expression for a very long period of time, inspiring, comforting and guiding suffering humanity until they all to the last person find themselves safe through the portals of immortality. In this sense the life and mission of Sri Ramakrishna may be said to have only just begun. For a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna the most important problem of life is the quest for the real Sri Ramakrishna. A true devotee of Ramakrishna does not remain satisfied with reading or hearing about his life and teachings. Making use of the knowledge thus gained, the devotee tries to seek the Reality of which this knowledge is only a shadow. The devotee soon finds that this mystic quest is leading him or her on to the depth of their soul which is the gateway to the world of the Spirit. It is there that the real Ramakrishna is to be sought. The real Sri Ramakrishna is unknown but not unknowable. He can be known only if he reveals himself. And he reveals himself to sincere aspirants in the


secret depths of their hearts and fulfils the beginningless yearnings of their souls. Diverse and mysterious are the ways by which the incarnation reveals himself to the blessed, and leads them from the unreal to Real, from darkness to Light, and from death to Immortality. What even these blessed souls feel about him has been expressed by Swami Abhedananda, who was certainly one among them, in the following verse: ‘O Lord, I do not know your real nature. Whatever be the Truth you reveal yourself in, to That I offer my salutations again and again.’ Swami Bhajanananda was the editor of Prabuddha Bharata from 1979 through 1986, and has contributed many articles to various Vedanta journals. Swami Bhajanananda is an Assistant-Secretary and Trustee of the Ramakrishna Order.

Dakshineswar Kāli Temple, where Ramakrishna spent a major portion of his adult life.


Shirdi Sai Baba’s Idol A sculptor’s tale -collected by Satrughna While searching the Internet for stories to include into the Dutch version of the life story of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba, I came across the story given below. It tells, how more than three decades after Sai Baba’s departing from worldly eyes, He still can be seen by His devotees, if their love, devotion and faith is strong enough. Another reason it appealed to me was because I recognize so much of it. It is a sculptor’s tale, and as I’m a sculptor myself, so many aspects of the story and work are familiar. Even the subject of the sculpture. As some readers may remember, I collect these stories of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba as part of my sadhana. I feel I need to get to know Him better, so my devotion to Him can grow. For in 1997, Shri Gopal Baba asked me to carve a statue of Shirdi Sai Baba as well. The events in this story are therefore especially reassuring. Talim’s faith and surrender are an inspiration to me. When we call out in despair, ‘Baba!’, He will answer ‘Yes!’ Baba’s help and guidance is always there, and if our faith is strong, he will respond to it, thus blowing the spark into a blazing fire. And lastly we can see Baba’s leela’s at play here, providing a beautiful block of marble Himself!

A bit on the carving process As can be seen in the pictures, a sculptor starts by making a clay model, which is then cast in plaster. This plaster model serves as a reference for taking measurements which are then transferred into the marble. For every point measured, the sculptor marks the plaster cast with a small dot. This is why these plaster casts always look dotted and freckled. For delicate areas, the sculptor always leaves a support in place, so that vibrations during carving and polishing cannot harm it. This support is only taken away at the very last moment. This now was a problem area in Shirdi Baba’s sculpture, as can be read below.

The carving of the statue of Sai Baba in Shirdi Sai Baba's statue in Shirdi, which has become the most mesmerizing image of Baba, was installed on 7th October 1954, Vijayadashami Day - 36 years after Baba's Mahasamadhi. In 1952, a piece of white Italian marble had arrived from Italy at the Bombay docks but for whom or why, nobody seemed to know anything about it. Thus,


in the absence of a claimant, the dockyard authorities auctioned it off and the purchaser later offered it to the Shirdi Sai Sansthan. Impressed by the quality of the Italian marble, the Shirdi Sansthan planned to use it for an idol of Sai Baba. So they gave Shri Balaji Vasantrao Talim, a sculptor from Bombay, the humungous task of sculpting Baba's idol. Meticulously, Shri Balaji Talim got his tools 'made to order' from iron-smiths and carpenters and started off by first making a model of Baba using mud clay. But it was difficult for Shri Balaji Talim to make the statue in its exact likeness without the intricate details of the physical characteristics of Baba's face, to profile which he only had Baba's one black and white photograph. Therefore, he prayed saying ‘If Sri Sai Baba gives me darshan while making his statue, the statue will be worthy and the devotees also will have feelings of devotion’.


And sure enough one early morning, around 7:00 am when Shri Balaji entered his studio, he saw a bright light even before he could switch on the lights. Baba had appeared in the light and given darshan to him in the studio itself. Baba remarked on Talim's difficulties and showed him his face from various angles, encouraging Talim to study it thoroughly and remember it well. This gave Talim the encouragement he needed and after that the work just flowed easily and the result exceeded all expectations. Shri Balaji Talim testified about this to Sri Sai Narayan Baba, as to how Baba himself had directed the sculpting of the statue and how at every stage, he could very clearly hear the divine voice of Baba guiding him. The Shirdi Sai Sansthan immediately approved this mud statue of Baba, on the basis of which the present Italian marble statue of Sai Baba was carved and installed in the Samadhi Shrine.

A miracle In 1954, while working with his workers at the finishing stages of sculpting the almost ready marble statue of Sai Baba, Shri Balaji Talim found an air pocket in a small additional portion below the left knee of Baba's statue, which had to be removed.2 It seemed dangerous, as in removing an air pocket from a finished statue, there was every risk of the entire portion coming down, thus leaving the statue broken, which therefore could not be worshiped at all. So the work stopped and Shri Balaji Talim hesitated to strike and chisel out the additional portion. He feared that the entire statue might get destroyed and all his labour and time would go waste. He became nervous and prayed to Baba, ‘Baba have mercy on me. Your murti is ready. Please Baba, have mercy on me.’ Just then he heard a voice within saying, ‘Balaji, carry on’. So Balaji instructed his workers to carry on and chisel out the additional portion, but the workers refused to do so fearing that the entire knee portion would just drop out. Eventually and quite nervously, Shri Balaji Talim took the chisel and hammer himself and while praying ‘Baba, help me’ gave a small stroke, touching the additional portion of the marble below the left knee. And to his great surprise, only the additional portion of the marble came down leaving the rest of Baba's statue intact. Seeing this, tears rolled down his eyes and he

2 Talim had left a marble bridge here between Baba’s left knee and the right foot, and this now

had to be removed


prostrated before Baba, started dancing and distributing sweets to all. As he experienced such a wonderful miracle of Sai Baba. The 165 cm high finished idol of Sai Baba was taken throughout the village with pomp and ceremony. Baba's idol was so lifelike that devotees like Swami Sri Sai Sharanananda and Laxmibai, who had personally been with Baba, felt as if Baba had come back alive in the form of this idol. On 7th October 1954, Vijayadasami Day, this lifelike marble statue of Sai Baba was installed on the platform of the Samadhi Shrine's western side behind Baba's samadhi and all the due rituals were performed by Swami Sri Sai Sharanananda who had met Baba before his mahasamadhi. At the time of preparation of Baba's statue, one day Baba gave darshan to Shri Balaji Talim and said, ‘Finish the work and you will not do any other idol in future.’ So Talim did not prepare any other idol since then and finally, at the age of 82 on 25th December 1970, he breathed his last.


Are you ready for the highroad? By Sita Is my faith growing? While working on this newsletter I thought a lot about this. Observing myself, what do I see; is it really growing? My mind provides hundreds of techniques to ‘grow faith’. But somehow they confuse for they all walk different roads. It is like having a very detailed roadmap in a foreign language; there are just too many roads! (like books on spirituality, self-help, healing, etc. on my bookshelf) Where do I begin? Where starts my road called ‘faith’ and where does it lead to? So first I have to find my starting point. My starting point would be ‘do I have faith in myself?’. According to our masters, that is where faith starts. So let’s start with that road, the road called ‘faith in ourselves’. It is like driving a bicycle. While I travel I meet all sorts of obstacles; I need all my skills to overcome them and keep my balance on the cycle as well. But with every mountain I climb on my bicycle, I develop stronger muscles and also my self-confidence becomes stronger! And wonder of wonders, one miraculous day I find myself driving a motorcycle. Wow! new roads to explore, new obstacles to overcome, scaring, exciting, challenging... I wish I could tell you that all my studies and attempts provided me with a secret formula with which we could suddenly travel on this road of faith with an aeroplane, or a trick that would instantly make our faith strong


The Universe is saturated with Divinity; there is nothing here which is not Divine. Always remember that God is the Base as well as the Superstructure, the inner motive and the outer movement. The body is the temple of the Lord; the atmosphere of this temple is by its very nature filled with love for all beings. The scriptures clearly declare that this understanding can be achieved through performing one’s duty, and then worshipping the Lord by dedicating to Him this duty. One’s intelligence is cleared of the dust of doubt and delusion, through dutifulness and dedication.

- Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 6, Ch 13

enough to move mountains (as promised in the Bible). But I didn’t find something like that. Still I discovered something even better! I found that I never travel alone. Someone drives next to me, and when I tumble He is there! And when I lose track, He shows me the way back to the main road. He gives me courage when I lose it and even reminds me to take fuel in time to continue the journey. If all the obstacles have brought me this... this recognition of who is actually travelling with me all the way towards the goal, then... yes! Than I can say my faith is growing, slowly, steadily… The travel scheme safely in His hands.

Jai Sai Ram


Girinagar, 24-10-2012 Durga pooja


Wisdom from all faiths Have faith in yourself, your own capacity to adhere to a strict time-table of sadhana, and your own ability to reach the goal of realisation. When you have no faith in the wave, how can you get faith in the ocean? Do not give ear to what others say. Believe your experience; what gives you peace and joy, the bliss of -the Inner

Self (Aatma anandham). Believe in that. That is the real basis for faith. Sathya Sai Baba- September 8, 1966

Faith means living with uncertainty - feeling your way through life, letting your heart guide you like a lantern in the dark.

Dan Millman Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and you are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Peter 1:9, Bible If I have the gift of prophecy and I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:2, Bible When you have faith in Me you can get whatever you ask. When it is not coming you have to find out what requirement is missing and then fulfil the same. Find out what conditions in you need to be changed and then act upon that.

Gopal Baba To those steadfast in love and devotion I give spiritual wisdom, so that they may come to Me. Out of compassion I destroy the darkness of their ignorance. From within them I light the lamp of wisdom and dispel all darkness from their lives.

Bhagavad Gita 10:10-11 Longing is like the rosy dawn. After the dawn, out comes the sun. Longing is followed by the vision of God.

Ramakrishna


Onderdijk, 4-11-2012 celebrating Swami’s birthday

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SAI PREMA VAHINIOne must have such strong faith in God. This is not something one can give or take....

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