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This website is devoted to Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality and Science. We bring in articles on teachings by Great Saints like Sri Shirdi Sai Baba, Adi Shankara, Swami Sivananda, Swami Krishnananda, Aurobindo, Mother of Auroville and others.
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Sai Satcharita Chapter 4
Sai Satcharita Chapter 4
Shri Sai Baba had many devotees who loved Him. He believed that all people had goodness inside them, and that chanting the Lord’s name would help to bring that to the fore. The following tales are about Baba’s followers and their love and devotion to Him.
Goulibuva was a great devotee of Sai Baba. Although he was quite old, close to 95, he made many religious journeys to obtain darshan from the Lord. He believed that Baba was the Lord on earth, calling Him “Pandharinath Vithal.” Goulibuva was devoted to Baba and chanted His name, praising the Lord who helped the poor and helpless until his death.
Ganapat Dattatrya Sahasra Budde, whom people affectionately called Das Ganu Maharaj, was a great poet and musician. Sai Baba and His devotees frequently sang praises of the Lord. When this chanting continued at once for seven days at a time, it was called Namah Sapta. One day, Baba asked Das Ganu Maharaj to chant the Namah Sapta. Ganu Maharaj replied that he would only do it if the Lord (whom he called “Vithal”) appeared to him on the seventh day. Baba told him that it would surely happen if Ganu Maharaj’s prayers were honest and devout. As it turned out, Vithal appeared to Ganu Maharaj in Shirdi after the seven days’ prayer.
Das Ganu Maharaj, like many Hindus, believed in the purity of holy water (theertham). When Ganu Maharaj came to ask Baba for his permission to go on a holy journey to visit the Ganges, Baba replied that it was not necessary, and that all he had to do was to believe in the Lord. When Das Ganu Maharaj placed his head at Baba’s feet, streams of the holy waters of the Ganges and Yamuna flowed onto his head. Ganu Maharaj was overcome with love for his Lord, and immediately sang the praises of Baba.
Similarly, a man named Kaka Dixit, another devotee of Baba, was meditating when he saw a vision of Vittoba. When Kaka Dixit went to Baba for a darshan later that day, Baba told him to remain pious, and that the vision would come true soon enough. That afternoon, as Kaka Dixit was returning to his home, he saw merchant selling pictures of Vittoba. Kaka Dixit, bought a picture of the Lord and placed it in his shrine.
Nana Saheb Chandorkar, an employee in the civil court, had heard many tales of Baba’s love and mercy. After his department exams, Chandorkar prayed to Baba, promising that he would come to Shirdi and distribute sweets in His name if he passed. Chandorkar passed his exams, but did not have the money to make the trip to Shirdi. To fulfill his promise, he stopped putting sugar in his tea, saving money to make the trip to see Baba. When he was finally able to get Baba’s darshan, Chandorkar felt that his life had been made better with His blessings.
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Sai Satcharita Chapter 3
Sai Satcharita Chapter 3
A story in which Baba’s love is shown is in the story of Rohilla. Rohilla, a tall and strong man, came to Shirdi in search of Baba. He stayed in Shirdi and cried out the Lord’s name throughout the night, which disturbed the people of the village. The villagers came to Baba, asking him to help them with this problem. Baba ignored the pleas of the people, and told them that Rohilla’s wife was a bad woman, and that his cries at night were keeping her away from the village. In reality, Baba knew that Rohilla had no wife. He prayed loudly to keep his mind away from any bad thoughts (durbuddhi), keeping his mind and heart pure. Sai Baba supported Rohilla because he chanted the Lord’s name, showing his love for God and His teachings.
The purpose of a lighthouse is to lead boats to safety, avoiding any rocks or dangers along the shoreline. The stories of the miracles (leelas) performed by Sai Baba serve a similar purpose in the lives of His devotees. Stories of Baba’s love and caring will guide people along the right path, helping them to lead better lives. Baba’s love is all-encompassing, and is evident at all times.
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Sai Satcharita Chapter 2
Sai Satcharita Chapter 2
Hemadpant, the author of Shri Sai Satcharitra, did not think that he was worthy enough to write such a historic piece of work on Baba. He considered the momentous life of Sai Baba, and believed that he would not be able to achieve his goal of telling the world the stories of His grace, love, and teachings.
Hempadpant believed that the only reason he was brave enough to start his work was because he had faith in his Guru. He argued that a guru could not make a lazy man do work. When Hemadpant posed the question to Baba, He replied that a guru is like a guide: no matter how dangerous or tough a path is, a guide will be able to lead one to one’s destination without approaching any harm. People have been able to attain self-realization and the virtues necessary for progress by submitting to their Gurus through faith and patience (shraddha and saburi).
Hemadpant looked to his Guru, Shri Sai Baba, before starting his work. He took a trip to see Baba in Shirdi, and obtained a darshan from Him, where he was able to surrender himself, his doubts, and his ambitions at His feet. With this act, his thoughts and ideas were changed, allowing him to start his work without any worries and with the blessings of the Lord.
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Sai Satcharita Chapter 1
Sai Satcharita Chapter 1
Around the year 1910, Shirdi was plagued by the epidemic of Cholera. The people of Shirdi asked Baba for help, claiming that they did not know what to do to help their loved ones. After hearing many such requests, Baba awoke one morning, washed his hands and face, and started to grind wheat using a hand mill. The villagers were confused as to how this practice would help their sick families, but still helped Baba with His task. Finally, when all the wheat was ground into flour, Baba told the villagers to take scatter the flour around the village borders. When the villagers asked why, Baba smiled knowingly and told them that the Cholera would subside. Baba’s devotees believed that it was not wheat, but the disease, that had been ground and thrown away from the village. Shirdi was no longer plagued by Cholera within a few months, and the villagers lived well.
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Sai Satcharita Introduction
Sai Satcharita Introduction
Shri Sai Baba lived in Shirdi, which is in Maharashtra, India, between 1858 and 1918. Devotees believe that Baba is an incarnation of Lord Dattatreya, and lived a life of purity and love. Baba delivered spiritual teachings to his visitors, recommending the reading of sacred Hindu texts and the Qur’an. He did not believe in any one religion, but in one God and the goodness of people. Baba advised his followers to lead moral lives, help others, love every living being without discrimination. Most importantly, Baba taught people to develop two important features of character: faith (shraddha) and patience (saburi).
Shri Sai Satcharitra is collection of stories and miracles (leelas) that have been witnessed by devotees of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba during his lifetime. They were written down by one of Baba’s devotees, Hemadpant, so that future generations would understand His love and teachings.
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The Virtues of Compassion (Daya)
The Virtues of Compassion (Daya)
There is a widely told story that speaks to the value of compassion. It seems that a woman who lived a Tao-centered life came upon a precious stone while sitting by the banks of a running stream in the mountains, and she placed this highly valued item in her bag.
The next day, a hungry traveler approached the woman and asked for something to eat. As she reached into her bag for a crust of bread, the traveler saw the precious stone and imagined how it would provide him with financial security for the remainder of his life. He asked the woman to give the treasure to him, and she did, along with some food. He left, ecstatic over his good fortune and the knowledge that he was now secure.
A few days later the traveler returned and handed back the stone to the wise woman. “I’ve been thinking,” he told her. “Although I know how valuable this is, I’m returning it to you in the hopes that you could give me something even more precious.”
“What would that be?” the woman inquired.
“Please give me what you have within yourself that enabled you to give me that stone.”
The woman in this story was living her life from a sacred place of compassion.
Compassion (Daya), an emotion in human beings, is the simple ability to feel for others. Compassion gives rise to an active desire to alleviate other’s suffering and it often leads us to be merciful rather than critical.
Baba’s compassion for others was rooted in his love for God’s creation. He was always compassionate, charitable and cared for all living things, be they plants, animals or human beings. Baba lived a simple life and dedicated his life to serving God, through serving people around him. He stayed in an old dilapated mosque which he called Dwarakamai (Abode of Mother), begging for food which he shared even with cats, dogs and crows. He tended to a garden (Lendi), dedicated his life to serving God by caring for the lepers, and the poor people.
Sadguru Baba, our Master of Compassion, teaches us that it is not the journey but the understanding of the need to forgive and find compassion in all happenings and things around us, as the purpose of our life. Let us learn from Baba’s simple life and dedicate our life to serving God, by being compassionate and serving people around us.
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Shirdi Sai and Dnyaneshwari
Shirdi Sai andJnaneshwar - commentary on Bhagawad-Gita
Jnaneshwar, the well known Saint of Maharashtra was a gifted poet and a realized soul. At a very early age, he wrote Jnaneshwari (Dnyaneshwari) a commentary on the Gita in poetry form. In his Jnaneshwari, he calls the Gita the literary image of Lord Krishna (IX.2).
Sri Jnaneshwar, says that true knowledge consists in knowing God in the non-dual form and that devotion should culminate in Advaita (non-dual) bhakti. This shows Jnani-Bhakta (VII.17) He was born in a village Alandi about 20Kms from Pune in 1271. He is worshiped all over Maharashtra as Mauli (Mother) by a large number of devotees.
Sri Jnaneshwar, says that everyone should perform his duty as a Yajna and offer his or her actions as flowers at the feet of God. He took Sanjivan Samadhi when he was only 22 years old. (The Nirvikalpa or Sanjivan Samadhi is well explained by the greatest yogi, Dhnyaneshwar. In his treatise, Bhavarthadeepika or Dhnyaneshwari, Dhnyaneshwar has emphatically talked about relation between higher awareness and light or pure energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation).
All the accounts of his life have been written on the basis of three chapters in the Namdeva Gatha (collection of Abhangas), entitled Adi, Tirthavalli and Samadhi.
At one time it was accepted by all that the Philosophy of Sri Jnaneshwar was the same as that of Sri Shankara. They both were non-dualists. In the ninth chapter, Sri Jnaneshwar states, “The supreme Self is formless, without limiting conditions, inactive beyond the qualities, changeless, formless, all-pervasive, unmanifest and on-dual. But people ascribe form to the formless.
Just as the rays of the Sun are not different from the Sun, so there is unity between God and Universe. The devotion, which is offered to Him with the knowledge of his unity, is known as non-dual bhakti. When a person attains full knowledge as a sthitaprajna or a jnani-bhakta, he does not experience that the world is unreal. On the other hand, the sthitaprajna becomes one with the world after he renounces egoism and all sense objects (2.267). The Jnani-bhakta becomes free from the notion of dualism and experiences that he has become one with the universe (12.191)
Sri Jnaneshwar, holds that even if the world is real, the world appearance is not real.
Sri Jnaneshwar did not accept the doctrine that this world is the play of the Supreme (Chidvilasa) like Sri Ramanuja, who regards the visible world too as real, being the play of the Supreme Person.
The Shankara bhashya and Sri Jnaneshwar also differ in their view as to which Yoga is considered more important in the Bhagawad-Gita. Sri Shankara regards the Yoga of Knowledge as primary with both the Yoga of Action and the Yoga of Devotion as subsidiary and supportive of it. He says the seeker attains liberation in the following order - Purification of the mind through Karma Yoga, Renunciation through the way of Knowledge and self-realization.
In the opinion of Sri Jnaneshwar, all the methods of Yoga are equally valid and one has to adopt the Yoga according to his aptitude.
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Baba's morning routine
Baba’s morning routine
[A semi-fictious article]
Shirdi: Maharashtra, India: (One of the Hot Summer Days in 1912 AD, from early morning to about noon)
It was Chavadi day for Baba last night, he slept in the Chavadi. The previous day was at Dwarakamai. Baba woke up in the morning and as usual was sitting on the stone in one of the corners of the Chavadi, which is basically a single room.
Baba thought “Where is Megha? What is holding him up?”
Megha always comes early morning to either Chavadi or Dwarakamai before Baba wakes up, to do the Kakad Arati. The other devotees have already started gathering to attend the Kakad Arati. Megha just arrived in and started the preparations for the Arati. After Megha finished the Arati, prasadam was distributed and the devotees went about their work. Some went to sing Bajans, others meditation.
After the Arati, Baba stood up and prepared to go to Dwarakamai as he will sleep there tonight. It is a short distance between the Chavadi and Dwarakamai. Baba will sleep alternatively between these two places for the rest of his life. When Baba arrived in the Dwarakamai,
Bhagoji Sinde was waiting there.
Bhagoji Sinde “Sainath Maharajki Jai !”
Baba “Alla Maalik Ek”
Bhagoji picked up the ghee he brought, applied on Baba’s hand and put the leaf over to make a bandage. Baba does not like this, but Bhagoji insists that the wound has to be cured soon. But Bahgoji could not keep quiet.
He asked “Baba, what happened, how did you get this burn?”
Baba “I had to save the child of one of my devotees who was about to fall in the fire. I put my hand in the fire here to save the child there”. Bhagoji had to do this daily to heal the wound for Baba.
Baba saw Radhakrishnamai and Abdul Baba whom Baba used to call ‘the crow’ preparing to sweep the roads from the Masjid (Dwarakamai) all the way to Lendi Baug. Baba believed in keeping the surrounding very clean.
Abdul Baba had just finished daily duty of cleaning up the five lamps and he will return tonight again to fill them up with oil.
Then Bhagoji thought it was time for the Chillum and he lighted one and gave to Baba. Bhagoji saw how Baba enjoyed his puffs from the Chillum. The Gadi is Baba’s favorite sit out spot when he wants to enjoy the Chillum.
After the few puffs, he got up and washed his hands, mouth and feet. He has to walk to the Lendi Baug next as a routine. There were unusually more devotees today, gathered in Dwarakamai waiting for Baba to come out.
One of the devotees cried, “Where is the Embrioded Umbrella? Can someone bring it here?”
When Baba came out at about 9.30 AM, the Umbrella is carried over his head as he walked along with all the devotees. They are shouting Jayakar with devotion and joy. They have to cross the Sathe and Dixit Wada before reaching the Lendi. We could see lot of people gathered around Sathe and Dixit Wada too, watching the procession and offering their Namaskars.
As they approached the Lendi, Baba was looking for Abdul, who rushed from behind to accompany Baba inside the Lendi garden, only he was allowed to accompany Baba inside the Garden. It was his duty to take care of the constantly burning lamp lit by Sai Baba many years ago. He also thought he must replace the wood and the metal pieces very soon which were coming off. After Baba and he came in, Abdul went to fill up the pots with water and kept for Baba. Abdul waited for Baba to go around and site behind the Lendi Pillar and not in front of the Lamp. Then Baba took the water from the pot and sprayed in all directions.
Just then Kakasaheb Dixit arrived in the Lendi and opened up his books on Ramayan and other spiritual studies. He started chanting the Parayan of Ramayana which actually Sai Baba directed him to do so long back. He had been doing this daily regularly. The devotees gathered around him and enjoyed his chanting.
It is time now for Baba to leave Lendi and go on rounds in the Village for begging. He chooses only four houses and will be coming back soon to Dwarakamai in a couple of hours. His favorite spot near the wooden railing is waiting for him in the Dwarakamai. By that time Mahalsapathy has finished his Pooja routines in the Kandoba Temple which is about half a mile from Dwarakamai and arrived in the Masjid waiting for Baba.
Baba saw the Vibuthi in his hands, “Oh Mahalsapathy, you want to do it again?”
Mahalsapathy replied “Sainath, as long as I am alive”
Only Mahalsapathy is allowed to put Vibuthi on Baba’s forehead and he actually carries out the Pooja as Baba being the ultimate God. Baba noticed the other devotees coming in a line to do their way of Pooja to him. Although he did not like this practice, he allowed this to please his devotees. Megha comes in a style with Bela leaves to do his own way of Pooja on Baba.
It is about noon now and time for Madhayana Arati. Megha is the one who is going to do this. There is something unique about it. Megha does Madhayana Arati standing on one leg!
Once the Arati is completed, Baba will distribute the fruits and Prasad to all, children get the best of the eatables. Baba stands on the edge of the platform behind the railings, he would send off the devotees after giving the Udi.
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Mind Does it matter?
Mind does it matter?
Dr.Bruce Lipton is a world renowned Cell Biologist, who has written many books and travels around the world giving speeches on Mind, Matter, and on how Spiritual world is connected to Scientific world. He was cloning Human Muscle Tissues forty years back at University of Wisconsin. Baba Times attempts to extract the excerpts from his speeches and presents here. The complete credit for this content is given to Dr.Bruce Lipton.
Bruce Lipton used to clone Human Muscle Cells forty years back at the University of Wisconsin. His speech on the topic ‘Piecing It All Together’ is an amazing eye-opener on how he correlates ‘beliefs’ and ‘biology’.
What controls Biology? It is a conventional thinking that ‘genes’ control the biology which was found to be wrong in the light of New Age findings about how our belief systems controls our body and behavior. He also goes on to show the molecular connection between the beliefs and the control of genes. Knowledge is Power. It is also true that ‘Lack of Knowledge’ is ‘Lack of Power’. If genes were already established at the time of birth then we are all victims of hereditary and that leads to an irresponsible behavior and accepting what we are and fading deeper into our own down fall. Power of Knowledge enables us to control our lives.
Until 1950, the Newtonian Universal Concept was ruling the scientific world for hundreds of years. Newtonian Mechanics tells us that the universe is made of matter and it is like a clock work, everything is predictable if the behavior of the individual matter is predictable. The present Pharmacology conveniently supports this idea, as human body is made of parts and they can be replaced or repaired and the parts control the human body and behavior. It all changed when Albert Einstein explained that the universe is made of energy (invisible) and not matter. Only energy manifests matter. This means that energy can cure and alter behaviors and this is hard for business community to accept as it might take away all the prospects of selling drugs! To understand the connection, we must understand the Cell structure. There are about 50 to 75 trillion cells in a human body.
The Nucleus is the central core of the cell which is similar to human brain controlling the whole body. The Cell in a way is very similar to human body as it has the same functions as the human body like digestive system, respiratory system and reproductive system etc. It was thought that the genes in the Nucleus control the biology and behavior. In an experiment it revealed that even after isolating the Nucleus the cell survived for months going about its normal functions unlike when human brain when removed will kill the body. So it was conclusive that the Nucleus (and the genes in it) is not controlling the cells.
The cells are machines made up of proteins which are parts. There are 70,000 type of proteins found. They make the structure of the cell and the body in turn.
Proteins are nothing but strings made up of amino acids like beads. The variety of proteins comes from the length of the string and the sequence of the amino acid molecules. The ends of the protein chain are negatively charged. As it is protein do not do anything and there is no life. When a positive signal comes in contact with one of the ends of the protein, it makes it positive charge due its strength. Now the two end of the protein clamps together as opposite charge attracts from its previous position of a chain where the same charge repelled from each other. So the outside signal created the protein movement and created life. Life is nothing but movement in space by itself. Proteins make structure while signals make life. The signals can be electromagnetic, estrogens or hormones etc.
The process of signal from outside (environment signal) is as follows. Like the human body, there are sensors on the skin of the cell (as we have eyes, ears and nose on our skin of the body). The Cell skin consists of two layers and there is protection oil between them. There are receptors (proteins) and Effectors (proteins), when the receptor detects a signal it allows the Effectors to pass those signals inside. These signals in turn clamp to the proteins inside to do various functions. If it is a digestive signal then the proteins open and close to rip the food nutrients apart, if it is calcium signal then the proteins move the muscles etc. Behavior is made of movements and movements come from signals.
There is a problem, proteins like mechanical parts they wear out and have to be reproduced into strings. In the Nucleus we have the double helix structure of DNA which is covered by protection protein layer which has ‘regulatory proteins’ at periodical intervals. These signals activate the ‘regulatory proteins’ and opens up the protein sleeve. Then the RNA copies the DNA code of the protein and this is used by the signal for the function. So the DNA is just a master blue print of all the proteins and does not do anything by itself. A good example is, if the arm is the DNA and it is written ‘blue eyes’. But the protein covers it as a sleeve and we can not read it until the protein is removed. The cover protein is removed by an outside signal. If it as a ‘cancer’ written DNA, un-covering the protein sleeve will make more ‘cancer’ DNA! About 50% of the Cells is DNA and 50% is Protein. We were focusing on the DNA (genes) for 50 years and threw away the protein control aspect. So it can be concluded that if the protein sleeve is not removed then we don’t read the bad DNA and reproduce them!
When a signal comes in and if there is no matching proteins, then by ‘random mutations’ genes change to match the environment. But it was believed that the outcome is random and cannot be predicted. But we now understand that it is not random but adaptive as published by John Cairns in 1988. Genes change and adapt themselves according to the environment signals.
The cells have only two main programs, either growth (or reproduction) or protection. It moves towards nutrients (growth) or away from toxins (protection). But these programs are activated only by external signals as we saw above through the action and movement of the proteins.
Let us see how the external environment signal gets converted into a control signal on the cell itself. The signal is perceived as a perception by the brain and then trickles down to the cells. When we are under stress, the Hypothalamus in the brain activates the Pituitary glands to squeeze the blood to the arm muscles taking away from ‘growth’ functions for protection. So under stress the cells stop growth, which leads to ill health.
Until we are about six years old, we program our sub conscious mind with our experiences and perception from the environment which later forms guide book for the personality what we become. We create filters between the environment and our brain which in turn creates perception based on what we are and not based on actual environment. There are simple tools with which we can remove this filter. Baba Times will cover this in detail in the next issue.
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Guru - Jiddu Krishnamurthy
Guru - Jiddu Krishnamurthy
J. Krishnamurthi was an enlightened soul, a writer and philosopher whose mission was to bring about a positive change in human personality.
Jiddu Krishnamurthi was born on May 11, 1895 in Madanapalle, Andra Pradesh state and is from a family of telugu speaking Brahmins. He was at most times assumed to be mentally retarded and punished by his parents and teachers for revealing his psychic experiences.
Through his association with the theosophical society, he was able to bloom into a true spiritual guru. He believed that everyone should meditate and have a more spiritual approach to living. He respected humanity and nature and wanted everyone to treat themselves well and preserve Earth.
He did not encourage intellectual pursuits. He believed that the ultimate truth can be realized only through each seeker’s awareness to his own experience, understanding and observation leading to involution (inward growth).
Later he said, “I maintain that truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. That is my point of view, and I adhere to that absolutely and unconditionally. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or coerce people along a particular path. … This is no magnificent deed, because I do not want followers, and I mean this. The moment you follow someone you cease to follow Truth”.
He compared himself to Thomas Edison, meaning that the seeker has to just flick the switch as all the hard work had been done by him through his process of self-realization. He wanted seekers to simply live the teachings laid out by him, in order to attain the higher consciousness.
He attained liberation through his own personal experiences and observations and died on February 17, 1986.
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