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saidevo
27 August 2006, 10:19 AM
In this thread I shall be presenting Sai Dharma. To the extent I am familiar with it. My intention is not to spread the word about Sai, but the words of Sai, which are for the benefit of the entire mankind. I shall not speak about Sai darshan or Sai miracles or experiences of Sai here. Only his teachings.

Sai Dharma is Sanatana Dharma in action. It embraces all sects of Sanatana Dharma and all religions of the world. Baba publishes a monthly named Sanatana Sarathy. His teachings are based on Vedas and other scriptures of Sanatana Dharma. He has great affection for Sri Rama, Sri Krishna and Lord Shiva. He conducts regular Vedic yajnas (recently a massive ati rudra yajnam) for the welfare of humanity. Sai Baba will be completing his 80th year on 26th Nov, 2006.

Sai Dharma is based on his main teaching, which is this:


There is only one religion, the religion of Love;
There is only one language, the language of the Heart;
There is only one caste, the caste of Humanity;
There is only one law, the law of Karma;
There is only one God, He is Omnipresent.

He also puts this truth in other words:


Nations are many, but Earth is one;
Beings are many, but Breath is one;
Stars are many, but Sky is one;
Oceans are many, but Water is one;
Religions are many, but God is one;
Jewels are many, but Gold is one;
Appearances are many, but Reality is One.

and thus:


Let the different faiths exist.
Let them flourish and
Let the glory of God be sung
In all the languages of the world
And in a variety of tunes.
Respect the differences between the faiths
And recognise them as valid
As long as they do not extinguish
The flame of unity.

It is not necessary to be a Sai devotee to follow Sai Dharma. His mission is not to establish any separate path. He says:


I have come to light the lamp of love in your hearts, to see that it shines day by day with added luster.


I have come not to disturb or destroy any faith, but to confirm each in his own faith - so that the Christian becomes a better Christian, the Muslim, a better Muslim, and the Hindu, a better Hindu.

To those who believe that he is an avatar of God:


The totality of Divine Energy has come unto humanity as Sathya Sai. This is a human form in which every Divine Entity, every Divine Principle, that is to say all the names and forms ascribed by man to God are manifest.


All Names are Mine and All Forms are mine. Your worship to any of your chosen God, reaches Me.

With the same breath, he says:


You as body, mind or soul are a dream. But what you really are is pure existence, knowledge, bliss. You are the God of this universe.

To realize that we are God, Baba recommends use of the mantra so ham, which means 'I am He', with this self-assertion:


I am God! I am God! I am not different from God!
I am the eternal undifferentiated Absolute!
Grief and anxiety cannot effect me.
I am always content. Fear cannot enter me.
I am Satchidananda! I am pure Existence, Knowledge and Bliss.
I am Omnipotent! I am all-powerful; nothing is impossible for me!
I am Omniscient! I am all-knowing; there is nothing which is not known to me.
I am Omnipresent! I am present everywhere. I pervade this universe!
I am Krishna! I am Christ! I am Buddha!
I am Sai! I am Sai! I am Sai!
I am God! I am God! I am God!

More to follow...
Sairam.
====================================================================

saidevo
31 August 2006, 09:43 AM
Sarva Dharma

On 22nd November 1975 Swami inaugurated the Sarva Dharma Stupa, a pillar in the shape a lotus bud, on which the symbols of some of the major religions of the world have been inscribed. The significance of these sacred symbols have explained by Bhagawan so that we can understand the truth that all religions lead man on the path to God.

-- Listen to the primeval Pranava ‘AUM’ resounding in your heart as well as in the heart of the universe.

-- Cut the ‘I’ feeling clean across and let your ego die on the cross, to endow on you eternity.

-- Remember the wheel of cause and consequence, of deed and destiny and the wheel of Dharma that guides them all.

-- Be like the star which never wavers from the crescent, but is fixed in steady faith.

-- Offer all bitterness in the sacred fire and emerge grand, great and godly.

Other Quotes:

-- Mine, not thine, this sense of greed is the root of all evil. This distinction is applied even to God! -- my God, not yours! Your God, not mine!

-- There should not be any trace of dislike or distrust on the score of nationality, language, caste, economic status, scholarship, age or sex.

-- All men are cells in the same divine organism, in the divine body. That should be your faith, your fortune, your fort, your fullness.

-- No society can find its fulfillment, no social ideal can fructify, without the blossoming of the spirit of man.

-- Religion is three-fourths character.

Sai Humour and Wit

Swami has an exceptional sense of humour. He often combines wit and wisdom in simple phrases and sentences to express a human or a spiritual value. Some samples:

-- Love all, serve all. (the most famous)

-- Hurry, Worry, and Curry are the causes of all ailments.

-- Puttaparthi: When visiting the ashram to see Baba, He tells us that if we leave our ego's behind and come with open hearts, He can fill them with love He has come to give. So when visiting Puttaparthi we should PUT APART THE I.

-- Properties: are not Proper Ties

-- Parents: are given that name, because it is through them that we have the wonderful chance of life on earth. For the sacrifices that they have made for us, we must PAY RENTS to them.

-- Peace: People clamor "I want Peace", But they do not let go of I(ego) or Want(desire). I and Want deal with the outside world. Peace is inside, pieces are outside.

-- Patience: Doctors need more patience, not patients

-- Interview: Don't clamor for an interview. Instead search for the INNER VIEW.

-- Diamond: Why do you seek a diamond to give you joy? Seek instead the state of DIE MIND, which will give you pure and lasting joy.

-- Skill: Knowledge must develop by balance into skill or else it degenerates into KILL.

-- Television: is TELE-VISHAM (POISON).

-- "How do you spell 'wife'?" Baba asked a devotee in the interview room. "W-I-F-E-Worry Invited For Ever!" teased Baba. Then seeing the downcast expression of the wife, He gently corrected himself: "No - Wisdom Invited For Ever".

-- A pure thought from a pure heart is better than a Mantra.
-- Be good, Do good, See good - this is the way to God.
-- Creation is divine; imitation is human.

-- Desire is storm, greed is whirl-pool, pride is precipice, attachment is avalanche and ego is volcano. Discard these and you will be liberated.

-- God is neither distant nor distinct from you.
-- God, first; the world next; myself last!

-- Hate screeches, Fear squeals, Conceit trumpets, But love sings lullabies.

-- However high a bird may soar, it has sooner or later to perch on a tree top, to enjoy quiet.

-- If some people say there is no God, it only means that they are at too great a distance to be aware of Him.

-- It is not the standard of living that is important, but the manner of living.

-- Let the wave of memory, the storm of desire, the fire of emotion pass through without affecting your equanimity.

-- Man is now able to soar into outer space and reach up to the moon; but he is not moral enough to live at peace with his neighbor!

-- Nothing is to be used as itself, for itself.

-- Of all the insanities that harass man, God-madness is the least harmful, and the most beneficial.

-- Service is spiritual discipline, not a pastime of the rich and well-placed.

-- Silence is the speech of the spiritual seeker.

-- So long as you say 'I am' there is bound to be fear, but once you say and feel 'I am God' you get unconquerable strength.

-- The end of knowledge is love. The end of education is character.

-- The present is a product of the past, but it is also the seed for the future.

-- The same current activates all.

-- When the magnet does not attract the needle, the fault lies in the dirt that covers up the needle.

More to follow...
Sairam.

tatvam
04 September 2006, 04:07 AM
To realize that we are God, Baba recommends use of the mantra so ham, which means 'I am He', with this self-assertion:


I am God! I am God! I am not different from God!
I am the eternal undifferentiated Absolute!
Grief and anxiety cannot effect me.
I am always content. Fear cannot enter me.
I am Satchidananda! I am pure Existence, Knowledge and Bliss.
I am Omnipotent! I am all-powerful; nothing is impossible for me!
I am Omniscient! I am all-knowing; there is nothing which is not known to me.
I am Omnipresent! I am present everywhere. I pervade this universe!
I am Krishna! I am Christ! I am Buddha!
I am Sai! I am Sai! I am Sai!
I am God! I am God! I am God!



Namaste Saidevo,

So..if I say above mantra , will I become God ?
If really I am same as above what you said in matra..then why I don't know that ? you said there is nothing which is not known to me..
Let us think ourself..

I think you have recited that matra already.. did you become God ? did you become omnipresent?

What Baba is doing..?

saidevo
04 September 2006, 04:39 AM
So..if I say above mantra , will I become God ?
If really I am same as above what you said in matra..then why I don't know that ? you said there is nothing which is not known to me..
Let us think ourself..

I think you have recited that matra already.. did you become God ? did you become omnipresent?

What Baba is doing..?


Namaste Tatvam,

Your post here and those elsewhere give me two impressions:

1. that you are a knowing cynic who wants nothing else but to debate the extent of knowledge/faith/devotion of other people
2. that you are indeed a genuine, young seeker who doen't really know how to phrase his queries.

You may a bit of a cynic and seeker, but obviously, if you want to be sincere, you can undertake only one of these tasks, which you first decide for yourself.

There are two ways I can reply to you, to match the two roles you have assumed for yourself. I am reluctant to reply to the cynic in you, but in this case I have to, so here it is:

1. It is none of your concern to know if or to what extent I self-assert myself as above, or to what extent it has made me omnipresent or Godlike. The teaching is given by Sai Baba whose devotee I am. Since it is universal in nature, I have shared it here. Take it or leave it, it is up to you.

Now, the reply to the seeker in you:

1. The mantra is not the elaborate text, but the crisp so ham, which is not given by Baba, but by the Upanishads. The elaborate text given by Baba is a self-assertion. To practice it, you should recite only the mantra, and remember to assert to yourself the text. This assertion might be in the form of doubt initially, but when you do it repeatedly, the text will be elevated to thoughts, then to faith and finally to realization.

2. All said and done, the text of self-assertion is staggering. A poor soul like us imagining himself/herself as God, what atrocity! To me, there lies the beauty of Baba's teaching: when we (I am not including you, of course) say that he is an avatar of God, he says that every one of us (and that includes you) is potentially the real God.

so ham
tat tvam asi
Sairam.

tatvam
04 September 2006, 04:41 AM
Namaste Saidevo,

Who is Saibaba? what is his property ? how did he get that? if he got it by funds of his devotees..then why they gave it?
because they believe he is doing good for the society and poor people..
then why he needs benz cars to travel from white field to Prashanthi nilayam?
with that money he can serve more poor people..

why he requires that much great buildings..for his pleasure if he truely loves poor and needy people.

If he can create gold chains and gold rings..as he used to do..why can't he create food and give it to poor and neady ?

If you get some chance to meet your God..ask him..please. poor people are not only in Ananthapur but around the world.

can't he do it for all people ? why ?

saidevo
04 September 2006, 04:43 AM
So..if I say above mantra , will I become God ?
If really I am same as above what you said in matra..then why I don't know that ? you said there is nothing which is not known to me..
Let us think ourself..

I think you have recited that matra already.. did you become God ? did you become omnipresent?

What Baba is doing..?


Namaste Tatvam,

Your post here and those elsewhere give me two impressions:

1. that you are a knowing cynic who wants nothing else but to debate the extent of knowledge/faith/devotion of other people
2. that you are indeed a genuine, young seeker who doen't really know how to phrase his queries.

You may a bit of a cynic and seeker, but obviously, if you want to be sincere, you can undertake only one of these tasks, which you first decide for yourself.

There are two ways I can reply to you, to match the two roles you have assumed for yourself. I am reluctant to reply to the cynic in you, but in this case I have to, so here it is:

1. It is none of your concern to know if or to what extent I self-assert myself as above, or to what extent it has made me omnipresent or Godlike. The teaching is given by Sai Baba whose devotee I am. Since it is universal in nature, I have shared it here. Take it or leave it, it is up to you.

Now, the reply to the seeker in you:

1. The mantra is not the elaborate text, but the crisp so ham, which is not given by Baba, but by the Upanishads. The elaborate text given by Baba is a self-assertion. To practice it, you should recite only the mantra, and remember to assert to yourself the text. This assertion might be in the form of doubt initially, but when you do it repeatedly, the text will be elevated to thoughts, then to faith and finally to realization.

2. All said and done, the text of self-assertion is staggering. A poor soul imagining himself/herself as God, what atrocity! To me, there lies the beauty of Baba's teaching: when we (I am not including you, of course) say that he is an avatar of God, he says that every one of us (and that includes you) is potentially the real God.

so ham
tat tvam asi
Sairam.

saidevo
04 September 2006, 06:40 AM
Namaste Saidevo,
Who is Saibaba? what is his property ? how did he get that? if he got it by funds of his devotees..then why they gave it?
...

If you get some chance to meet your God..ask him..please. poor people are not only in Ananthapur but around the world.

can't he do it for all people ? why ?


Namaste newguy,

A good first post for a new guy. I hope you read the first lines of this thread.



In this thread I shall be presenting Sai Dharma. To the extent I am familiar with it. My intention is not to spread the word about Sai, but the words of Sai, which are for the benefit of the entire mankind. I shall not speak about Sai darshan or Sai miracles or experiences of Sai here. Only his teachings.


My belief in Sai Baba is not subject to your scrutiny. You are free to criticise Baba, because Sanatana Dharma offers the freedom to criticise even God, but I am not interested in replying to such criticisms.

If you have a question on his teachings, I shall try to answer it to the extent I know.

Sairam.

Sudarshan
05 September 2006, 04:48 AM
Namaste Saidevo,

Who is Saibaba? what is his property ? how did he get that? if he got it by funds of his devotees..then why they gave it?
because they believe he is doing good for the society and poor people..
then why he needs benz cars to travel from white field to Prashanthi nilayam?
with that money he can serve more poor people..

why he requires that much great buildings..for his pleasure if he truely loves poor and needy people.

If he can create gold chains and gold rings..as he used to do..why can't he create food and give it to poor and neady ?

If you get some chance to meet your God..ask him..please. poor people are not only in Ananthapur but around the world.

can't he do it for all people ? why ?

Hey tatvam,

I dont recognize anybody as God, and at best there are God realized yogis, who are not identical to God, but only closely linked to the source. They have no rights or privileges to intefere with the Karma of others.

Those who have special privileges to change the fate of others are muktas, or the ones already liberated, or divine incarnations like Garuda, Ananta, Hanuman, Shiva etc. Even they do not help the undesereving, or those who not completely surrender to them - that is the law of Karma.

If and when Lord Vishnu himself incarnates as Krishna, he can do whatever he wants, as it is all his will only. But even he will not interfere with the world, because the divine law of the world is this - why he will touch it? People are suffering in poverty perhaps because they robbed others in a previous birth? So it should be viewed in terms of theory of Karma. We can always help suffering people motivelessly, but divine intervention will not be there unless there is a great role played by the sufferer in seeking divine assistance.

Removing suffering and poverty of others are not the job of God unless they really seek his assistance earnestly. That would be incompatible with Karma theory. Even Bhagavan will not interfere with the fate of others wihout their complete surrender of ego to him.

So whoever Saibaba is, he cannot, or will not do anything. That is not in accordance with the divine law. Please dont insult godmen like this. It is none of their business to solve the worldly problems, unless they have been commanded to do so by God himself. They will reach out only to deserving cases.

saidevo
14 September 2006, 07:28 AM
The four ashrams of life



brahmacharya
It is believed that all who have not become Grihasthas are entitled to be called Brahmacharis. This is very wrong. Only those who keep their minds away from the delusions of the world, who are constantly engaged in the thought of God, who do not see or hear light or merely entertaining stuff, who pursue good taste, who do not yield to joy or grief, who keep their mind, intelligence and self-consciousness in good trim by unremitting contemplation of the Brahmathathwa - only such deserve the name, Brahmachari.

grihasta
Being married and living with the wife and children do not constitute Grihastha Asrama as most people think. Without giving up the duties assigned to one's caste and status, the person has to treat all with equal consideration - kinsmen as well as others. He must be aware of the rights of the elders and the obligations of juniors; he has to be full of sympathy and willingness to help; he should treat with loving kindness all those who are dependent on him; he must grow wiser with each new experience of the world; he should acquaint himself with the Sastras and be alert to do Dharma and avoid Adharma; he must foster and protect his wife and children with a sense of responsibility; he has to trample down the Eight Egoisms, the conceit that develops from family, wealth, character, personal beauty, youth, scholarship, native place and even accomplishments in austerity. Conscious of the four goals of Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, with no pride in material possessions though he might have them in large measure; utilising a portion of the day in the service of others; with no designs against any other household; himself deserving the trust of his wife and having a trusted wife, each understanding the other and having full faith in the other; such are the ways in which the Grihastha manifests.

vAnaprasta
At that stage, man feels that all dualities are untrue and baseless. He gives up all desires; drops all attachment to the world; dislikes living in crowded places; is anxious to achieve victory through Manthrajapa and so leads a life of austerity, eating only uncooked food, mostly fruits and leaves, in moderation; moves in the company of sages and maharshis; listens to their teachings and moves unfalteringly on the path of realising the Lord. The Vaanaprastha must get the approval of his wife when he moves out into solitude for the life of Sadhana and he must make sufficient provision for his children also. If however, the wife is willing to accompany him, he has to take her in his spiritual journey. They must hence forward live as brother and sister and not as husband-wife. Provided this new relationship is maintained, life in the home too can be transformed into Vaanaprastha. On the other hand, if the old life is continued, life in the forest does not constitute Vaanaprastha. The Vaanaprastha must not stay in the residences of married people. He must observe the vows prescribed for each season of the year. He has to brave the rain, the sun and the cold during the seasons. He must be vigilant against being drawn towards physical pleasures by fickleness of the mind. He must seek and find pleasure only in the contemplation of the Lord and in dwelling upon his Glory.

sanyAsa
Sanyaasa is above and beyond all promptings of sensual and objective pleasure. The Sanyaasi deals with the contemplation of the Lord as the very breath of his life, an essential necessity always and at all places for sheer existence itself; he derives joy only from this contemplation. He knows that wealth and kinship, affection and attachment are all momentary and liable to decline and end. He discards the external reminders of even caste-status and samskaras like Upanayanam; he wears the ochre robe of the mendicant; he does not live in populous places; he lives on whatever little food he gets; he does not decry the place where he does not get food; he does not eat twice in the same place or sleep two days in succession in the same place; he even conquers the temptation to sleep and eat; he cares little for the rigours of the seasons; he is ever joyful and happy in the company of the Lord whom he invokes by his Dhyana.


Source: Prasnottara Vahini by Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba