Quote of the Month If formless meditation is difficult, then think of my form just as you see it here. With such meditation, the difference between subject and object is lost and the mind dissolves in unity. July 2014 Vol 6 / Issue 7 Dear Sai Bandhus, In this issue: “Achintyaavyakta Roopaya Nirgunaaya Gunaathmane | • Editorial Samastha Jagadaadhaaraaya Moorthaye Brahmane Namah ||” • Sahasranama Bhashya • News Salutations to the Supreme One, who is Formless, devoid of qualities yet is the storehouse • Archives of the same, cannot be comprehended by thoughts and is the substratum of the entire Universe. This is the first verse in the “Guru Geetha” invoking the Supreme One who is responsible for the genesis, sustenance and annihilation of this cosmos. Guru Geetha is the crest jewel of the Skanda Purana (one of the eighteen puranas) which runs to about 180 and odd verses as a conversation between Lord Shiva and Goddess Paravathi where the former extols the greatness of GURU to the latter. Lord Shiva clearly mentions the following about a GURU: 1. GURU is the one and the only one who can dispel the ignorance of a disciple. 2. GURU is none but the Formless Supreme Spirit manifest in a form for the upliftment of mankind. 3. GURU is considered as the Holy Trinity (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva responsible for the creation, sustenance and annihilation of the cosmos) manifest in one. 4. The place where a GURU resides, is as hallowed as Kashi, the washings of HIS feet are but the Holy Ganges capable of absolving all the sins of the ones who partake the same with steadfast faith, the feet of the GURU is that of Lord’s (Vishnupaada), the face of the GURU is Brahma (Brahma mukhaa) and the knowledge that emanates from HIS mouth is Lord Shiva (i.e. Brahma Jnaana or Atma Jnaana), the entire citadel finds its asylum at HIS feet , entire galaxy of the Gods, seers and other beings seek refuge in HIM and extol HIM in various ways. 5. The worship of one’s GURU itself is the worship to Supreme Lord and the utterance of GURU’s name with love is same as the hallowed name of the Lord. 6. One who distinguishes the GURU from the SUPREME LORD has failed to understand the significance of the former’s unity with the latter. Well, the traits go on and on that finally it becomes very easy to count the stars or measure the Universe but very arduous to narrate the qualities of the GURU which outbeat the metric system of counting. Such is the greatness of GURU that even the Vedas which are considered as the source root of Knowledge have failed to sing his unstained glory completely. Lord manifests as a GURU to uplift the mankind, by himself donning a mortal frame, assiduously treading the path of austerity and righteousness hence setting an example to the ones who follow Him to the goal ultimatum. The Lord’s manifestation as a GURU is not restricted to particular geography or a sect or group of people. Isn’t the entire creation his projection! So, a GURU’s manifestation in various ages of time, place and persons depends upon the prevailing conditions of the righteousness or in simple – GURU’s manifestation in flesh and blood is in accordance to the Yugadharma and kaaladharma. Salutations to such a divine principle –GURU which has time and again manifested in various places, in various forms upholding the abhivachana of Lord Krishna ­“­­­­ Abyutthanam Adharmasya tadaathmaanam Srujaamyaham…..”. In such a holy lineage of saints, Samartha Sadguru Sainath Maharaj holds a cardinal position, nay the very crest jewel of all the saints- The LION amongst all the Yogis (Yoga Simha) who manifested in flesh and blood in the hamlet of Shirdi. Lucky is that remote village Shirdi where the unmanifest willed to don a form and manifested first at the aforesaid hamlet as a boy of 16 yrs who later disappeared only to reappear after a few years in the form of a Fakir (a mendicant) with Chand Patil’s band (who had come to Shirdi for a marriage) when he made the village his permanent residence till Samadhi. The Fakir who came with Chand Patil’s marriage procession was welcomed into the village by the Khandoba temple’s priest Shri Bhagat Mahalsapati by addressing the former as “SAI”. The word SAI in persian language means­ GOD. Hence the priest was fortunate enough in recognizing the divinity of the Fakir and befittingly named him SAI. It is a common practice in various parts of India to address respectfully an elderly person as BABA. Hence the villagers started calling the fakir as SAI, BABA or SAI BABA. The fakir, whose details of parentage and name weren’t known, happily acknowledged to such a call of the villagers. The Supreme Lord who is beyond the fetters of name and bonding (naamateetah and bandhavimukta), out of love for his devotees, accepted the names as Rama, Krishna , Shiva etc; received the motherly love, affection and services from Kausalya , Yashoda , Anasuya and other mahabhaktaas. Similarly, Sai Samarth whose birth, parentage and name were unknown happily accepted the name christened by the priest. So, the unnamed willed Himself to be named. Now, the question…. Why at all this analogy of explanation of who Sai Baba is? Maybe, as Sai Bhaktaas we need no proof to support the greatness of Lord Sai Maharaj for he always shines as the “ Uneclipsed Sun” in the sky of our hearts. But, when someone wants to know the Greatness of our Guru, it is our bound duty to proudly proclaim our baandhavya with our “Atma Bandhu”­ Sainath Bhagavan, we are not trying to be a biased lot by glorifying only our GURU to the ones who ask us for the same, but trying to emphasize the Universality of our Guru with all the other Gurus, envisioning our Guru in every particle of this creation and sing his divine leelas to our heart’s content. In fact, we should consider this as an esteemed honor bestowed onto us by the four faced creator to sing the Unstained Glory of the “ Creator of the Four Faced Creator ” himself. Though our praises fall short of words versus the glory of Sai Maharaj, yet we should leave no stone unturned to render our service to HIM. Now, coming to the point…… To which caste did Sai Maharaj belong to? If someone tries to localize Sai to a particular caste, please read “Sri Sai Satcharitra” the authentic biography on Lord Sai Baba by his disciple Sri Anna Saheb Dhabolkar( alias Sri Hemadpath), where the author enlists the features of the “Religion” of Sai Baba. Lord Sai lived in a dilapidated mosque, which he named Dwarakamai. He had the sacred fire “Dhuni” burning eternally in Generated with www.html-to-pdf.netthe mosque, the ringing of the bells, the sacred basil plant (tulasi plant), the recitation Page 1 / 7 Vedas, Upanishads and puranas which was a regular activity at Dwarakamai and all the system befitting a Hindu sampradaaya. By this, if someone concluded that “Baba is a Hindu” were further surprised to see a plenty of Muslims coming to the mosque and doing Namaz (prayers) in which Baba himself participated, further Baba used to dress himself like a Muslim Fakir and always uttered “Allah Malik” (God is the Master). So, if someone concluded that Baba was a Moslem, again they were surprised to see the ears of Baba were pierced like a Hindu. Neither the Hindus nor Muslims could claim Baba to be belonging to their castes respectively. So, Baba by these activities, perfectly unified castes by bringing about a blend in the worship by being tolerant to all the castes and allowing them to worship the GOD in their own way. If the Hindus applied Tilak to Baba’s forehead waved Arathi to HIM, then the Muslim devotees would also devotedly participate by performing Namaz in Dwarakamai. Sai Samarth saw no distinction between any caste or creed and never differentiated people based on the same. He always uttered “Sab Ka Malik Ek” (There is Only One Lord for everyone) and always believed in the spirit of Universal Brotherhood and Humanity. Once when he was questioned about his caste, he said “Parvardigar” (i.e. Caste of GOD) and his religion as “Manavatvam” (i.e. Humanity) thereby stressing the point that all were children of GOD and belonged to GOD alone. He always encouraged people to stick to their own religion and the religious practices enjoined by the same saying, “Stick to the precincts of your religion and practice the same with all piosity, dedication, faith, respect your fellowmen, never belittle any other caste or religion as the essence of each and every religion lies in speaking about the Universality of A SINGLE GOD. We call HIM by various names, in reality HE is ONE and NONE THE SECOND TO HIM ”. The best example for the Sai Baba’s religious tolerance was observing the Sri Ramanavami festival which was sacred for the Hindus and the Urs festival (Sandal Procession) sacred for the Muslims simultaneously. Both the processions of Sri Ramanavami and that of Urs used to take place side to side at the same time and both the communities participated in the same with harmony and love for one another. This spectacular feature of the Mata Samaikyataa of Sai Baba is followed even till date at Shirdi where both the festivals of Sri Rama and that of Urs are celebrated simultaneously during the time of Sri Ramanavami (Chaitra Shuddha Navami).