Friday 21 September 2012

Approach God alone for your wants

Got this mesg in Sai Inspires y'day. In the past week, this was the 3rd time I was getting this mesg and I knew Swami was reiterating the fact that I should seek what I want from Him alone.

It is always preferable to approach God for the fulfillment of your wants, rather than cringe before others, who themselves are but tools in the hands of God. In his own silent way, God will transform the mind and turn it towards spiritual practices and successful spiritual pilgrimage. He cannot allow his children to lose their way and suffer in the jungle. When you approach God and seek his help and guidance, you have taken the first step to save yourself. You are then led to accept His will as your own. Thus, you achieve peace. God draws you to Him to re-form and re-shape you. God is a kind of smith, who repairs broken, leaky, and damaged ‘human-ware’. He is adept at fixing broken hearts, fragile minds, warped intellects, feeble resolutions and fading faith. Come to Him with hands that salute in prayer, hands that are eager to serve. Then, He fills them with loads of Grace.

Divine Discourse, Oct 1 1965.

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Divine Fillip to do Namasmarana

Although I love bhajans, I dun always keep humming a tune within myself. Sometimes, I do and sometimes, I don't. But of late, I have been thinking I should consciously keep remembering the Lord's name and glory at all times and sing some bhajan or other. 

Today, this urge intensified and I kept humming song bhajan or other for most part of the day. To show me I'm on the right path, Bhagawan made sure that many of the bhajans that I had been humming were sung in the Prasanthi Mandir Bhajan session this evening, which I listened to on Radio Sai. In fact, I only caught the latter half of the session as I had gone out during the 1st half.

Just as I was entering my house, I was thrilled to hear 'Madhuvana Murali' and then came 'Samba Vinodini Shiva Sai Shankari'. Although the 2nd one is bhajan I know well, today I was groping for the words. By including this bhajan in the list today, I felt Swami was showing that He even knows which bhajan I'm actually meaning to remember, even if I forget it at that point of time. Then came 'Rama Chandra Shri Ram'
followed by 'Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram'.

As if to propel me to continue this Sadhana regularly, I found on the Prasanthi Reporter web site an article titled 'The Power of the Lord's Name'.

Pls go here to read the full text -- http://www.theprasanthireporter.org/2012/09/the-power-of-the-lords-name/

It gives a gist of what Baba said in a discourse on June 22nd, 1989. It stresses the need for everyone to constantly chant the Lord's name for one can never say when the end will come. 


Baba in fact says "By no other spiritual or religious practic­es can peace be attained in this age. The Divine Name can turn poison into nectar. It can revive a lifeless thing. It is surcharged with infinite power."

WOW! That was indeed a divine fillip for my efforts.

And a third mesg just sealed it for me -- "Let your home resound with names no other than those of Mine. It will create peace within you. And those around. For constant repetition of My name forces Me to come and visit and My presence will be immediately known with the calmness which settles your mind."

Pls go here to view this mesg -- Sai Darshan - Part -1 - 55

All these just keep reminding me that Bhagawan is with me every millisecond. He's happy that I've started to consciously sing bhajans and He is encouraging me to do it all the time. Thank you Swami! I pray that you help me always remember your name.





Monday 10 September 2012

Do not question 'Why' but ask 'What'

I believe God wants you to know...
...that "Why is this happening?" is the most useless
question in the Universe.
 
The only really profitable question is, "What?"  
As in "What do I choose now?" This question empowers.
The "why" question simply perplexes
 and rarely satisfies even when it gets a good answer.
 
So don't try to "figure it out." 
Stop it. Just focus on what you now wish to create. 
Keep moving forward. 

There's nothing behind you that can possibly serve
you better than your highest thoughts about tomorrow.

Saturday 8 September 2012

The Divine Banker

Got this line in an sms just a few days ago. Swami decided that He should reiterate the same mesg today again for me. So He sends the same mesg in Sai Inspires, the daily email that I receive from Radio Sai.

"Offer your sullied heart to the Lord. It is like presenting a soiled note to the Reserve Bank and getting a new one."

Indeed! Who else but the divine banker can take a crumpled note like my heart and give me a brand-new one? 

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Prasadam galore and time to thank the Lord

I had gone for a meeting to the company for which I work on freelance projects. It's been more than 3 months since I got into this project. Since the company's client was delaying payments, the payments which were to reach us editors were also getting delayed. We had been told that it was likely to done by this weekend.

Today's meeting was to take stock of the past 3 mths and discuss our feedback, learnings, suggestions for process improvements, etc. based on the work done in the past. That was the agenda or so we thought. Well, yes, that was the main part but were we (the other editors and I) in for a real pleasant surprise today!


The Project Manager greeted each of us with a huge box of assorted chocolates (Cadbury Celebrations), a book, a letter of appreciation for our work and commitment in the project over the last 3 mths and most importantly, the cheque. WOW! I immediately thanked Swami for the Prasadam, which I felt very grateful for. 


Sometime back, a brother who works with Radio Sai shared that Swami mentioned on many occasions that He never pays salaries to those who work in His various institutions. Swami said He only gives Prasadam. That touched a chord with me. 

I felt that whatever work I do, if I dedicate it to Him, then when the pay cheque comes, it automatically becomes His prasadam, right? So today, when I got the pay cheque, I thanked Swami for this prasadam. I also thanked Him for making my day unforgettable with my due reward (the pay cheque & a letter of appreciation from the company) plus gifts galore -- chocolates and a book. :)

It seemed like Swami had chosen today to just shower His blessings abundantly. This was the 1st time in my freelance career that I'm getting such an appreciation. Usually, the clients I work for just send a mail thanking me for sticking to the quality and deadlines and they make the payments on time. But that's about it. So today indeed made me feel really nice to be appreciated. I immediately know whose handiwork this was. Who else but my Swami? I kept thanking Him. That's all I could do.

He made my day even more sweet by showing that He knows every lil fleeting wish of mine. In one of the emails I received today, I found this photograph.


Kaise jiyun mein tere bin


The above picture is the bigger version of the 2nd smaller picture, which I insert below.  

My Sweet Swami
I was smiling to myself on seeing the big photo. And then it suddenly hit me!

I have a folder on my computer where I keep adding lovely photos from wherever I can find them online. I remember adding this small image also to that folder quite sometime back. At that time, I just wished that I could have a bigger and clearer picture where I could see Swami's face very closely. Of course, I cherished the small one and even used it as my desktop wallpaper sometimes (I keep changing my wallpaper every few days).

I may have forgotten it, but the omniscient Lord chose today to fulfill that desire of mine. He sent me this beautiful close-up pic of the very same photo. :) My God! What thanks can I render unto thee My Lord? Thank you for filling me with gratitude today.