Category: Duty of devotee

  • Granting Consecrated Book

    The variety of imparting instructions followed by Baba has already been noticed in other places. In this, we shall deal with one aspect of it.

    It was the habit of some devotees to take some religious books, of which they wanted to make a special study, to Baba and to receive the same back from Him, after they were touched and consecrated by Him. While reading daily such books, they felt that Baba was with them.

    Once, Kaka Mahajani came to Shirdi with a copy of Ekanathi Bhagwat. Shama took that book to read and taking it with him went to the Masjid. There Baba took it from him, touched it and turning some pages here and there gave it back to Shama and asked him to keep it with him. When Shama said that it belonged to Kaka and had to be returned to him. “No, no”, said Baba. “As I have given it to you, better keep it with you for safe custody; it will be  of use to you.”

    Kaka Mahajani after a some days came again with another copy of the same Bhagwat and gave it in Baba’s hand. Then Baba gave it back as Prasad and asked him to preserve it well and assured him that it would stand him in good stead. Kaka accepted it with a reverence

    "SO please buy a new Sai Book and take it to Baba Mandir;  Place it before Baba's feet, and then Start reading and felt that Baba is with you"
  • My method is quite unique

    My method is quite unique

    “My method is quite unique. Remember well, this one story (About Mrs. Radhabai Deskmukh), and it will be very useful.

    To get the knowledge (realization) of the Self, Dhyana (meditation) is necessary. If you practice it continuously, the Vrittis (subtle thoughts) will be pacified.

    Being quite desireless, you should meditate on the Lord, Who is in all the creatures; When the mind is concentrated, the goal will be achieved.

    Meditate always on My formless nature, which is knowledge incarnate, consciousness and bliss.

    If you cannot do this, meditate on My Form from top to toe, as you see here night and day.

    As you go on doing this, your Vrittis will be single-pointed and the distinction between the Dhyata (meditator), Dhyana (act of meditation), Dhyeya (this meditated upon) will be lost and the meditator will be one with the Consciousness and be merged in the Brahman.

  • Wise, avoid anxiety!

    Wise, avoid anxiety!

    “Stay, cast off anxiety. the wise avoid anxiety.

    Your sufferings for your past karma have come to an end, as soon as you put your feet on Shirdi. Persons in great trouble, sunk in their misery, rise to joy and happiness as soon as they climb the steps of this mosque (Dwarakamai)

    That Fakir (God) is very kind and will eradicate your disease. He will show his love. He is kind to all. “Baba

  • Four Sadhana for Four Ages

    Baba’s Stories as Beacon- Light:

    • Light houses are constructed at various places in the sea, to enable the boatmen to avoid rocks and dangers, and make them sail safely. Sai Baba’s stories serve a similar purpose in the ocean of worldly existence.
    • They surpass nectar in sweetness, and make our worldly path smooth and easy to traverse. Blessed are the stories of the saints.
    • When they enter our hearts through the ears, the body-consciousness or egoism vanishes. The sense of duality disappears. When they are stored in the heart, doubts fly out to all sides. Pride of the body will fall. Wisdom will be stored in abundance.
    • The description of Baba’s pure fame and hearing it with love will destroy the sins of the devotee. Therefore, this is the simple Sadhana for attaining salvation.
    • The Sadhana for
      • Krita Age was Shamadama (tranquility of mind and body); for
      • Treta Age, sacrifice; for
      • Dwapara, worship, ;and for
      • Kali (present) Age, it is singing of the name and glory of the Lord. This last Sadhana is open to all the people of the four varnas.
    • The other Sadhanas, viz. Yoga/Yagya (sacrifice), Dhyana (meditation) and Dharana (concentration) are very difficult to practice, but singing and hearing the stories and the glory of the Lord (Sai Baba) is very easy.
    • We have only to turn our attention towards them. The listening and singing of the (Baba’s) stories will remove the attachment to the senses and their objects, and will make the devotees dispassionate, and will ultimately lead them to self-realization.
    • With this end in view, Sai Baba made me or helped me[ie Hemapant] to write His stories. The devotees may now easily read and hear these stories of Sai Baba. While doing so, they can meditate on Him and His form. Thus, they attain devotion to Guru and God (Sai Baba). They also gain detachment and self-realization.
    If any one prostrates before Sai and surrenders heart and soul to Him, then unsolicited, all the chief (Four) objects of life viz. Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama (Desire) and Moksha (Deliverance), are easily and unsolicitedly attained.  SSSC Ch-6

  • Power of Maya

    Baba’s words were always short, pithy, deep, full of meaning, efficient and well- balanced. He was ever content and never cared for anything.

    He said, “Though I have become a Fakir, have no house or wife, and though leaving off all cares, I have stayed at one place, the inevitable Maya teases Me often.

    Though I forgot Myself I cannot forget Her. She always envelops Me.This Maya (illusive power) of the Lord (Shri Hari) teases God Brahma and others; then what to speak of a poor Fakir like Me?

    Those who take refuge in the Lord wil be freed from Her clutches with his grace”.


    In such terms Baba spoke about the power of Maya.

  • God Formless: then why Manifested


    There are two aspects of God or Brahman : (1) the Unmanifested (Nirgun) and (2) the Manifested (Sagun).

    The Nirgun is formless, while the Sagun is with form, though both denote the same Brahman. Some prefer to worship the former, some the latter.

    As stated in the Gita (chapter XII) the worship of the latter is easy and preferable. As man has got a form (body, senses, etc.), it is natural and easy for him to worship the God with form.

    Our love and devotion do not develop unless we worship Sagun Brahman for a certain period of time, and as we advance; it leads us to the worship (meditation) of Nirgun Brahman.

    So let us start with Sagun worship. Image, altar, fire, light, sun, water, Brahman are the seven objects of worship, but Sadguru is better than all these.

    Let us, on this occasion, bring to our mind the form of Sai, Who was non-attachment Incarnate, and Who was a resting-place for His whole-hearted devotees.

    SSSC ch 11

  • Baba’s daily routine

    • Blessed is Sai’s life, blessed is His daily routine.
    • His ways and actions are indescribable.
    • Sometimes He was intoxicated with Brahmanand (divine joy), and at other times content with Self knowledge.
    • Doing so many things sometimes, He was unconcerned with them.
    • Though He seemed at times quite actionless (doing nothing) He was not idle or dozing;
    • He always abided in His own Self.
    • Though He looked calm and quiet as the placid sea, He was deep and unfathomable. Who can describe His ineffable nature?
    • He regarded men as brothers, women as sisters and mothers.
    • He was a perfect and perpetual celibate as everybody knows.
    • May the understanding (knowledge), we got in His company, last long unto death.
    • Let us ever serve Him with whole-hearted devotion to His feet.
    • Let us see Him (God) in all beings and let us ever love His name.
  • PRAY BABA

    PRAY BABA

    Pray Baba, this

    “Oh Sai Sad-guru,

    the wish fulfilling tree of the Bhaktas,

    • Let us never forget and lose sight of Your Feet.
    • we have been troubled with the ins and outs (births and deaths) in this samsar;
    • now free us from this cycle of births and deaths.
    • Restrain us from the outgoing of our senses to their objects and introvert us and bring us face to face with the Atma (Self).
    • As long as this outgoing tendency of the senses and the mind is not checked, there is no prospect of self- realisation.
    • Neither son, nor wife nor friend will be of any use in the end;
    • It is only You, Who will give us salvation and happiness.
    • Destroy completely our tendency for discussions and other evil matters,
    • let our tongue get a passion for chanting Your name.
    • Drive out our thoughts, good or otherwise and make us forget our bodies and houses, and
    • do away with our egoism.
    • Make us ever remember Your name and forget all other things.
    • Remove the restlessness of our mind, and make it steady and calm.
    • If you just clasp us, the darkness of night of our ignorance will vanish and we shall live happily in Your light

    SSSC ch 25

  • Sathya Narayana Poojah

    Sathya Narayana Poojah

    People in the Maharashtra, India always celebrate God Satya-Narayana Puja in their homes every fortnight or month.

    When they are suffering from any problem, they say, ‘I do Satya Narayana Pooja.’ After getting rid of the problem, they performed the Satya Narayana Puja.

    In all Sai Baba Temples, Sai Satya-vrata Puja is performed instead of Satya Narayana Pooja. People choose to recite the Sai story. It was told in three figurative verses. These were from the book “Bhakta Liyamaruth” composed by Daskanu Maharaj.

    Satya Narayana Puja will be held daily at 7 am and 9 am in Shirdi. At the end of the prayer, the priest reads the three stories in Marathi. He reads them on behalf of all the devotees present. Then the offering will be given.

    If  you have time, please attend the Sai Satya Narayana puja, at Shirdi Mandir(RS.100 per couples), and also do monthly Pooja at your home in front of Satya Narayana picture and get Health, Wealth and Happiness

  • Baba, how God!

    The body, composed of the five elements is perishable and transient, but the Self within is the thing – Absolute Reality which is immortal and intransient.

    The pure Being, Consciousness or Brahma, the Ruler and Controller of the senses and mind is the thing Sai. This pervades all things in the universe and there is no space without it.

    For fulfilling His mission He assumed the body and after it was fulfilled, He threw away the body (the finite aspect), and assumed His infinite aspect.

    Sai ever lives, as also the previous Incarnation of God Datta, Shri Narsimha Saraswati of Ganagapur.

    His Passing away is only an outward aspect, but really He pervades all animate and inanimate things and is their Inner Controller and Ruler. This can be, and is even now experienced by many who surrender themselves completely to Him and worship Him with whole-hearted devotion.

    Though it is not possible for us to see Baba’s form now, still if we go to Shirdi, we shall find His beautiful life-like portrait adorning the masjid. This has been drawn by Shamrao Jaykar, a famous artist and well-known devotee of Baba.

    To an imaginative and devout spectator this portrait can give even to-day the satisfaction of taking Baba’s darshana. Though Baba has no body now, He lives there and everywhere, and will effect the welfare of the devotees even now as He was doing before when He was embodied.

    Saints like Baba never die, though they look like men, they are in reality God Himself.

    God’ to mean Vibhuti of God, i.e., one who can be worshipped with benefit by any one … Using it in that sense, the question ‘Is Sai Baba of Shirdi God or not’, can only have one answer, that is, that he is certainly God or a “Vibhuti”. Those who know enough of facts about him find that HE knows everything everywhere at any time, that he has power to do anything everywhere, that he has power to control the movements and the hearts of creatures, and even thc elements of nature like rain, fire, etc., that he had a mastery of the knowledge of the past, present and future, even innumerable centuries away from the present, and that he had the highest moral principles of selflessness, service and love to all including the meanest beings. So they treat him as God

    LoSB-P151