JANUARY 2017

Visit online satsangam@www.saimasterforums.org                                                                                              JANUARY 2017                                              ______________________________________________________________________________________________________  In this issue: 1.SAI SUKTHI -ACHARYA VANI 2.NEW YEAR MESSAGE - BY BHAGAVAN SRI BHARADWAJA 3.SANKRANTHI BRINGS FESTIVITY:ORIGIN BY BHAGAVAN SRI BHARADWAJA  . 4. PARIPRASNA - ORIGIN BY BHAGAVAN SRI BHARADWAJA 5. SRI CHAITANYA SWAMYJI'S MESSAGE 6. ABOUT THIS EMAIL _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ SAI SUKTHI-ACHARYA VANI:                   IF YOU LOOK TO ME ,  I LOOK TO YOU.                                            LOOKING TO THOSE WHO SEEK REFUGE FROM HIM,WITH COMPASSION AND AFFORDING THEM PROTECTION,ISTHE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTIC OF MAHATMAS.IN THIS RESPECT,SRI SAI’S GLORY SHINES ALL THE MORE BRILLIANTLY.      BHAGAVAN SRI BHARADWAJA. ____________________________________________________________________ NEW YEAR MESSAGE:     On December 31 night at 12 AM several people around the world, give farewell  to the old year and welcome the New year by ringing bells and offering prayers in the church. That night is the transformation of the ever increasing darkness of the midnight into the dawn and leads into an auspicious time. In our country from ancient times Ugadi is celebrated as New Year. In Western countries, New Year is celebrated on January 1.Nowadays, We celebrate both the festivals.  What wouldn’t be an ideal time for  transformation of the old thoughts and character into new, good thoughts ? We celebrate Christmas, and Sri Ramana Maharshi Jayanthi in the last week of December. Sri Ramana Maharshi taught about the self enquiry by questioning “who am I ?  What is my true entity? ”. Even in this path of inquiry into self consciousness we  should come out of the vicious circle of impressions that we formed about ourselves, and ultimately our consciousness merges with the endless Self.    In every individual’s life, every moment that self enquiry starts is a New Year. The incarnation of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi who taught about this path , is a turning point in the Human History. In this Modern and scientific era, with out studying the ancient Philosophy (Vedantam), only with Self experience, the ancient  traditional principles are presented in a new extraordinary manner. The birth of such a person is a NEW year for the nation.    Christmas is an auspicious day when Jesus died on the cross and came back as Christ with His new Divine form of Sad guru. May be this an indication for the Human beings to be born with natural divinity by the process of wiping away our basic human nature either with  devotion on Sadguru or with severe self enquiry. Just like the egg or seed that was present till that moment changes into a bird or a plant.       This New Year, “Sri Sai Baba Magazine” is hoping to give the Readers the most valuable teachings and Miracles of Sri Sai. In this sacred effort, let us hope that the magazine with the help of the readers will come out with new colors.     “ SAI BABA” is  trying best to put forward to the readers the one reality (Tatwam )present in the modern scientific viewpoint ; the New metaphysical standpoint  and from the traditions of various Religions . For this effort we hope to get the cooperation of all the readers and kindhearted people. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ SANKRANTHI BRINGS FESTIVITY:       Festivals generate national integration. They reflect our culture and traditions. What ever may be the other reasons, the main purpose of the festivals is to get together with friends and family . During festival time everyone will set aside their problems, gather  together ,decorate themselves , participate in worship of Lord, eat with the family and give food to the needful .       Sankranthi festival comes in the month of Margasira or pushya in Uttarayana . As per the astronomy, the earth rotates  and revolves around the sun  in  its orbit. The sun travels in the sky along a path in the celestial sphere . The ancients distinguished 12 constellations along this path, they are known as the zodiac. SANKRAMANAM means the movement of sun from one constellation to other. Our ancestors divided the movement of Sun into two parts. When sun moves to the north  of the celestial sphere  it is UTTARAYANA. The sun moves from makaram to midhunam  during this period .  Dakshinayanam  is the 6 month period in which the sun moves from karkatakam to dhanusu ;  During Dakshinayanam , there will be heavy rainfall and floods causing damage to villages, crops. Not only that it also causes spread of several diseases like cholera. When  uttarayanam starts ,there will be lot of sunshine and human life will be peaceful .In this period several flowers blossom .       During Uttarayanam, the farmers fill the granaries in their home with newly harvested crop. Women decorate the front of their houses with gobbillu (made of cow dung). Recently ,scientists found that cow dung prevents environmental pollution. During this Makara Sankramana month, Godadevi performed a vratam indicating her pure love and devotion. She obtained  Lord Panduranga as husband. This is celebrated as Dhanurmasam in temples.During this month auspicious Music is heard every where .  Haridas chant the name of Lord Hari  which  is a feast for ears . The significance of this festival is to share the wealth with others.        In one way, this festival teaches us a spiritual principle. Sun provides sunlight, warmth, and implements dharma without expecting anything from other living beings. In the same way ,all the living creatures should learn to do  work, with out  expecting any thing back. (Nickname Karma). Sri Sai said about this as , “They neither exult at the growth nor deject at the destruction of the sprouts.”     During this holy period , according to the holy texts the north doors of heaven are open. So after Mahabharat war, Bhishma waited on the arrow bed and choose to leave for his heavenly abode in  uttarayana.     There will be a glow and joy to  all the people with the fun filled celebrations like  Kolatam, Gobillu (decorations with cowdung balls ), Bommala Koluvu (all the toys are arranged). The principle of life is to be grateful for the help received .During the festival time , it is rest time for cattle. The special characteristic feature of the festival is  to decorate and worship these farm animals. The hidden intention in  celebrating the Sankranthi festival  is – to mix and mingle with friendly terms,  to live happily, to help others , to show thankfulness, to worship Sadguru and the God. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ TAJUDDIN BABA: Origin By Bhagavan Sri Bharadwaja.         In the recent history of both Islamic and Hindu mysticism of India (1861 to 1925), Hajarat Baba Tajuddin Aulia of Nagpur has been one of the most outstanding mystics of his time. He was most intimately loved and rather worshiped by both the Hindus and Muslims for his highly amazing spiritual powers and universal benedictions enjoyed by millions of the suffering humanity. It is a great pity that nobody cared to publish his exemplary life--story and marvellous deeds ever since his disappearance from the scene of this world. I think it is his own spiritual blessing that I am inspired to publish his biographical sketch in these pages in order to preserve the glorious history of India's innumerable “Spiritual Redeemers " to uphold the eternal dignity of all ancient Religions. Descent and Birth The ancestors of Tajuddin Baba were Arabs. Syed Abdulla, a grandson of Hajarat Imam Askari, came from Arabia to India and settled down in Madras. The descendants of his family thus happened to live around this city for a long time. One of them, Syed Badruddin, becomes a Subedar in the army - Madras Platoon no. 32 and lives in Kamptee. He married Mariam Bee, the daughter of one sheikh Miraan Saheb. Syed Badruddin had a son born on Thursday, the 27th of January, 1861, at about 5-15 am at Kamptee and he was named Tajuddin. But they were shocked to see that the newly born child did not cry, as usual, they feared it was still-born child and according to the prevalent custom, branded it on its forehead and the temples. The child then cried for only a little while but almost immediately stopped and kept gazing intently in all directions. The marks of that branding remained for ever on the forehead and temples of the pious child. Death of parents Hardly had the child completed one year when his father, Syed Badruddin, passed away and when he was nine years old, his mother also died. The orphan was then brought up and educated at his mother's house by his grandmother. He was admitted in a school at the age of six. Up to the age of eighteen, he studied Arabic, Persian and English. Divine blessing In his 6th year when Tajuddin was at school, in Kamptee a famous Muslim Saint, Hajarat Abdulla Shah, (whose tomb is now adjoining the railway station at Kamptee) came to see him. He gazed at Tajuddin, took out a piece of sweetmeat from his bag, chewed a bit of it and thrust the rest into Tajuddin mouth. He then told one of the teachers standing by: “What can you teach him? He is already well taught in his previous life." And, addressing the young Tajuddin, he said: “Eat little, sleep little, and Talk little. While reading Quran, read as though the holy Prophet Mohammed has descended upon you." This strange incident effected a profound change in Tajuddin. Tears flowed from his eyes continuously for three days and he lost all interest in play and childish pranks. He sought solitude and was always found reading the works of great Sufi Saints and reflecting upon their profound significance. Of all that he read, the one couplet that captured his heart most was ---- " Drink wine, burn Quran and kaba; dwell in the mandap (temple) but never hurt the Feelings of cause pain to any human heart. .........Hajarat Abdulla Shah was a Sufi dervish (a Muslim mystic). Neither he nor the Sufi mystic who wrote the above lines could have meant these lines literally. It must be remembered that they are meant quite differently from what they appear outwardly. The commonest examples are the use of terms of drinking, lovemaking and intoxication in their poetry to connote mystical experiences. So the above lines actually meant that one has to drink the wine of ' true and sincere devotion' and faith, and not the dirty wine of worldly life; that the holy Quran is neither the parchment or the ink in which it inscribed, nor the Holy Kaba the stone; nor is it right to be caught in the narrow religious bigotry of hating other religions (like belittling places of worship of other religions as the Hindu mandaps). The most important of all is the non-injury of the body or the religious feelings and sentiments of any human being. Indeed Tajuddin spiritual career had been an unwritten, unuttered, commentary on these lines. When he became the full-fledged Tajuddin "Aulia", he ordered equal treatment of both the Hindus and the Muslims, as his story proves. Military service ........For all outward signs nothing of significance happened in the life of Tajuddin for the next 12 years. In his 18th year river, kamhan, near Kamptee, was in furious floods and the house of his uncle was badly damaged. Young Tajuddin was deeply touched at the sight of the flood victims. Owing to the consequential loss, his uncle, Hajarat Abdul Rahman, was compelled to work in the Forest office for a living and he also advised his nephew to join the army. Accordingly, at the age of 20, in 1881 A.D., Tajuddin joined the 13th Nagpur Regiment. In the course of his army duties Tajuddin travelled extensively in the country and was also sent out to foreign countries like France, etc. On its return, the regiment camped at the Grass Farm in Hyderabad (Deccan). There, an American officer, Mr. Benz came into contact with Tajuddin who thought him the Holy Quran. Another military officer, Mr. William, was a bosom friend of Tajuddin in whose company he advanced in spirituality. Later Mr. William went to live in Calcutta where his tomb can be seen even today in the graveyard at Bangmeri. Meets a 'Chishti' saint In 1884, Tajuddin Regiment reached Saugor. All through his career in the army, Tajuddin never neglected his Namaz (Muslim Prayer). One day in Saugor, Tajuddin was lured by a melodious voice which led him to a lonely waste land nearby where a famous 'Chishti' saint Hajarat Dawood Shah lived. Henceforth he used to attend regularly to the service of this Muslim saint. He used to spend much of his time in meditation in the company of the saint every day after his army duties. Sometimes he stayed away with him in the night also. When his grandmother learnt at Kamptee that he was not staying in tent at night, she rushed to Saugor suspecting that Tajuddin had fallen into some evil company. She stealthily followed him at night but found that he was meditating with a Muslim saint. Next morning, when Tajuddin returned home, she served him with breakfast. But Tajuddin said he would eat his own laddu and peda (two Indian sweets) and stared chewing up the two stones he had in his hand. The old lady was awfully surprised at this phenomenon and realized that Tajuddin's devotional life had had given him some devotional powers, and that her suspicious about his character were wrong. She returned to her town happily. Even after Hajarat Dawood Christi’s death, Tajuddin continued his meditations and mujahedas (spiritual practices) often near the decease’s tomb. Tajuddin meeting with Hajarat Dawood Chishti marked the second important land mark in his life. His meditations and mujahedas soon become more intensified and he found his job in the army a great hindrance to his 'new' life. And so he tendered his resignation directly to his commander. The latter was, however, shocked and at once wrote to his relations about his rash action. His grandmother, fearing that Tajuddin had become mentally cracked, came to Saugor and found him quite different man, wandering unaware of his worldly needs and responsibilities as if in quest of "something intangible." She took him to Kamptee where the doctors tried to cure him for madness and magicians used all kinds of talismans in vain. They could not realize that, by the grace of God, and attention of his Guru (Pir), he had attained “the high mystical-state-of-all-existence," in which one forgets self. But the people generally took him for a mad man. Children flocked round him and threw stones at him. But he always smiled and was never offended with them. On the contrary, he encouraged them by heaping the stones they needed the place, ready for their use. If people dissuaded the children from stoning him, he would get angry with them for their interference. Tajuddin lived in this state for four years in Kamptee during which period his grandmother died, unaware of the glorious future of her grandson. Now his uncle, Abdul Rahman, took him to Chanda. There too he was treated in vain for his 'madness' and he was sent back to Kamptee and left to his own fate. He lived under bridges and in ruins, caring little for sun and rain. When it rained, he stood under some tree or the other. Now he was completely naked and hardly had any inclination for food or drink. When any one gave him anything to eat, he gave it away to the stray dogs on the road. At last, when every human being abandoned Tajuddin, the "Hand of lord" was stretched to shield him. Now miracles started manifesting themselves through him and this made the people realise the real stuff of which Tajuddin was made. Hundreds of these miracles were narrated by the amazed public and now he was popularly called “Tajuddin Baba.  ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PARIPRASNA :ORIGIN BY BHAGAVAN SRI BHARADWAJA. Q:Some people are saying, "Even though you worship Sai, He did not remove your troubles, why don't you leave him and do Graha Saanthi( performing poojas to the planets) ". How far is this true?   A: Difficulties and Happiness are the results of our sins and virtues from previous birth. The planets in our horoscope will show the result of our previous birth's sins and virtues only to certain extent just like a watch showing time. Even if the clock is turned ahead it will not change the real time. That's why there are no such things like Graha saanthi in other religions. A person should be punished for committing a crime, but he should not try to escape from it by influencing Police and Lawyers. Police and Lawyers are the servants of government; similarly Planets are the servants of God and so the worship of demigods and achievement of desired results are not due to the demigods but to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, by arrangement. The less intelligent living entity does not know this, and therefore he foolishly goes to the demigods for some benefit .Can praying the planets change the Supreme Lord's command? Sometimes government will reduce the punishment if there is lot of repentance in a criminal. God will show his love equally on all the living beings. He will give the punishment to us basing on our sins and virtues .This type of punishment should be accepted wholeheartedly, one should face all the troubles happily with lot of patience, faith in Lord's decision. Like this we can reduce our previous birth karma with utmost faith and gratitude towards GOD. If we follow this, God will be happy for change in our thinking and our righteous nature, He will definitely reduce the punishment, but will never remove it completely. If GOD removes all the troubles with such prayer, then every one will do sins and towards the end will pray GOD to get rid of the punishment from their bad deeds. No one will follow justice and will be cruel to fellow beings. So we should thank GOD for not totally removing the effects of our Karma, but only reducing them. God is none other than Sadguru Sri Sai. As Sri Sai said, we should pray him with patience, devotion and complete understanding. If there is truth in Graha saanthi then why would Rama, pandavas, and Harischandra face so many troubles? Lord Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita said that living entities with less intelligence pray the planets, other deity for these materialistic desires, which are actually fulfilled by the only one Supreme power -God. The harmful effects of evil deeds can also be removed by Penance (tapasu). Penance is living through acts of hardship committed on oneself, especially as part of an ascetic way of life, and praying God with faith and devotion. If you pray Sri Sai with such undisturbed devotion, he will definitely reduce to a great extent all the difficulties and this is clearly mentioned in his Life History. People who advised you are definitely not knowledgeable than Sri Sai. Read Sri Sai Prabhodamrutam regularly and recall it, then your mind will be settled. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SRI CHAITANYA SWAMYJI’S MEESAGE: DO PARAYANA OF THE LIFE HISTORIES OF THE MAHATMAS. DERIVE HAPPINESS IN THE MATERIAL- SPIRITUAL LIVES, BY INCESSANTLY IMPLEMENTING THEIR TEACHINGS IN DAILY LIFE AND ULTIMATELY ACHIEVE LIBERATION FROM THE WORLDLY TIES. START YOUR EFFORT FROM THIS MOMENT TO UNITE WITH THE ALMIGHTY SRI DATTA SAI BHARADWAJA AND DIVYAJANANI. ___________________________________________________________________________ ABOUT THIS EMAIL. Sai Baba The Master is a newsletter started with the divine blessings of Divya janani Alivelumangatayaru garu . This newsletter is devoted to the life, philosophy and teachings of Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi. Feel free to forward this newsletter to your interested associates in its original form. The contents of the email are taken from the literature of Parama Pujya Acharya Sri EKKIRALA BHARADWAJA. This newsletter is not sent unsolicited. This newsletter is e-mailed to you because of you have been gifted a subscription by a friend or a relative. To Subscribe "Saibaba The Master newsletter"- send an email to srisaimaster@yahoo.com. If you are subscribing the newsletter for your friend or a relative, we request that the person concerned may be notified about receiving the newsletter and the willingness to receive the newsletter be confirmed. Please send a reply to srisaimaster1@gmail.com with sub:Remove if you don't want to get this email.