Buddha

Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama. His father was the chief of the Shakya tribe, which was one of the tribes of the region of Kosala, (the state of Bihar, near Nepal). Siddhartha Gautamma was borm 480 years before the birth of Lord Jesus Christ. He renounced the life of a prince, took his enlightenment or became the Buddha which means ‘to know’, similar to the Hindus Brahmin, he is the one who ‘knows God’

The departure.

At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his palace in order to meet his subjects. Despite his father’s effort to remove the sick, aged and suffering from the public view, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. Disturbed by this, when told that all people would eventually grow old by his charioteer Channa, the prince went on further trips where he encountered, variously, a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. Deeply depressed by these sights, he sought to overcome old age, illness, and death by living the life of an ascetic. Siddhartha escaped his palace, accompanied by Channa aboard his horse Kanthaka, leaving behind this royal life to become a monk. It is said that, “the horse’s hooves were muffled by the gods.”

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Believe nothing,
no matter where you read it,
or who said it,
no matter if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

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Hatred does not cease by hatred,
but only by love;
this is the eternal rule.

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Have compassion for all beings,
rich and poor alike;
each has their suffering.
Some suffer too much,
others too little.

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It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.
Then the victory is yours.
It cannot be taken from you,
not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

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No one saves us but ourselves.
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path.

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On life’s journey faith is nourishment,
virtuous deeds are a shelter,
wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night.
If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.

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Peace comes from within.
Do not seek it without.

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Teach this triple truth to all:
A generous heart,
kind speech,
and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

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The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.

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The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past,
nor to worry about the future,
but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.

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The tongue like a sharp knife… Kills without drawing blood.

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The virtues,
like the Muses,
are always seen in groups.
A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.

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The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.

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The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought,
sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.

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The world, indeed,
is like a dream and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage!
Like the apparent distances in a picture,
things have no reality in themselves,
but they are like heat haze.

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There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth;
not going all the way, and not starting.

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There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.

Guru Nanak

Guru Nanak was born on April 15, 1469.
Born in Talwandi, 40 miles from Lahore, now in Pakistan was in India. As a tribute to Guru Nanak, this place is now called ‘Nankana Sahib’. His father Kaluchand was a Patwari and his mother’s name was Tripta Devi.  An astrologer had predicted that Nanak was a born devotee of God and would achieve spiritual heights and be acknowledged by both Hindus and Muslims alike.
Contray to popular beliefs, Guru Nanak did not form the Sikh religion. Guru Nanak came to unite the Hindus and the Muslims, but humans historically have always created division rather than unity, so a third division was created by the 10th Guru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, and was named The Sikhs, as a religion.

11th 1675.
This may be read in the continuation of Professor Ray’s article “One Message, One Mission : A Study in Social Analysis from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singhji”- SR Feb 1999.

All knowledgeable Sikhs and students of Sikhism recognize that the ultimate goal which the religious and spiritual discipline laid down by Guru Nanak was supposed to lead to, was the experience of Sahaj. Sahaj , according to him, was indPoems by Guru Nanakeed the last reach of human experience, beyond which lay the realm of formlessness, of inarticulation.

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God is the One mystic Sound,
His name is Truth,
He is the Creator,
Without Fear,
Without Enmity,
Timeless Form,
Unborn and Self-existent,
Known by the Guru’s Grace.
He was the Truth in the beginning,
Truth when time began,
even now He is the Truth and will always be the Truth.

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Wonder inspiring are the books of revelation!
Wonder inspiring the forms!
Wonder inspiring the colours!
Wonder inspiring, the air!
Wonder inspiring, the water!
Wonder inspiring the play of fire!
I have been struck with wonder
to see the wondorous play;
Nanak only the blessed ones understand.

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Aadays, tisai aadays. Aad aneel anaad anaahat, jug jug ayko vays.
Obeisance, obeisance to Him, the Primal, the Immaculate, without beginning, without end, constant through all ages.

Aykaa maa-ee, jugat viaaee, tin chalay parvaan.
The One Mother existed Alone in some mysterious way and She created the Three deities.

Ik sansaaree, ik bhandaaree, ik laa-ay deeban.
One was the Creator, one the Sustainer and one the Destroyer.

Jiv tis bhaavai, tivai chalaavai, jiv havai phurmaan.
The world moves as He ordains and as He pleases.

Oh vaykahi, onaa nadar na aavai, buhutaa ayho vidaan.
He see all, but no one sees Him; this is a great wonder.

Guru Nanak (1544-1603), Rajasthan

Sai Baba of Shirdi

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Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?’

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My eye is ever on those who love me.

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Whatever you do,
wherever you may be,
ever bear this in mind that I am always aware of everything you do.

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If one meditates on me, repeats my name and sings about my deeds,
he is transformed and his karma is destroyed.
I stay by his side always.

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If one perpetually thinks of me,
and makes me his sole refuge,
I become his debtor and will give my head to save him.

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I am the bond slave of my devotees.
I love devotion.
He who withdraws his heart from the world and loves me is my true lover and he merges in ME like a river in the sea.

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If you make me the sole object of your thoughts and aims you will gain Paramathama.

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Look at me and I will look to you.

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Trust in the guru fully.
This is the only sadhana.
Guru is all the Gods.

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Repeat my name.
Seek refuge in me.
But to know who I am,
practice sravana and manana.

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I shall be active and vigorous even from my tomb.
Even after my mahasamadhi,
I shall be with you the moment you think of me.

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I am the attributeless absolute Nirguna.
I have no name and no residence.

I embroiled myself in karma and got this body.
Brahman is my father and Maya is my mother.
I am formless and in everything.
I fill all space and am omnipresent.
I am in water, in dry places, in crowd and solitary wilderness.
I am in the fire and in ether.

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I am the Progenitor of God.
Meditate on me as pure Anand Nirakara,
but if you cannot do this, then meditate on this Sai Body exactly as you see it.

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I am not the body or the senses. I am the eternal Sakshi (Witness).

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About Sai Baba of Sherdi

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF EVENTS (Episodes) CONCERNING SHRI SAI BABA 

1835
Sai Baba was born in very early hours of September 27 or 28, 1835 to a poor Hindu couple, Gangabhavadya and Devagiriamma. The newborn infant is left in the woods, abandoned. The infant is immediately discovered and adopted by a childless Muslim fakir and his wife.

1838
Sai Baba lives with the Muslim couple for 4 years. Meanwhile the fakir dies.. The wife is left to tend the child alone. Even as a small child Baba stirs up sentiments between the Hindu and Muslim community by worshiping Allah in Hindu temples, and Hindu gods in the mosque. In fear of increased problems by a sole widow, Baba is handed over for care with a local mendicant and story-teller, Venkusa.

1839-51
Sai Baba spent 12 years with his Guru. The name of his Guru was Gopal Rao Deshmukh (Venkusa, also known as Venkavadhuta) ) of Selu. Some say ” Baba practiced penance at the tomb of His Guru in the cellar under the Neem Tree at Shirdi”. Arrival of Devidas at Shirdi (Aged 10-11 years) took place in 1846. When he enquired, BABA mentioned the name of his GURU as Venkusa implying VISHNU (Parvardigar).

1851
Sai Baba first appeared at Shirdi and stays in the village for two months. He is noted to reside day and night under a Neem Tree (aged about 16 Years) which he claims is growing over the tomb of his old guru. After two months Baba disappeared to an unknown place. 

ca. 1855-1857
Sai Baba travels about from place to place and finally ends up in Dhoopkheda (or Dhoop) in Aurangabad District. There he ends up attending the marriage of Chandu Patel’s son in 1858.

1858
Sai Baba returns to Shirdi along with the marriage-party of Chand Patil and remained at Shirdi for ever till His Samadhi. A widowed Deputy Collector and Settlement Officer by name H.V. Sathe (Hari Vinayaka Sathe) comes to Shirdi on the death of his wife. Baba takes great fondness to Sathe. Sathe was the first to set up apartments at Shirdi for temporary visitors. Baba regarded Sathe as his right hand in regard to all matters. Because Baba was keeping Sathe close to him and relying on him for everything, the residents of Shirdi grew jealous towards him.

1865
Saint Manik Prabhu of Homanabad in Bidar District of Karnataka passed away in 1878, Chaitra Vadya 14.  H. H. Akkalkot Swami left His mortal coil at Akkalkot in Solapur District of Maharashtra. (First appeared in 1835). It is reported that three of them (Manik Prabhu, Swami Samartha and SAIBABA) met at Humanabad.

1885
Saint Anandnath (aged 95 years) of Yewala Math and a disciple of Akkalkot Swami visited Shirdi and seeing Sai Baba exclaimed, “This is a precious real diamond.”

1889
Abdullah arrived at Shirdi from Nanded (in West Khandesh near Jalgaon and Amalner).

1894 (approx)
Das Ganu (Ganesh Dattatreya Sahasrabuddhe) accompanied Nanasaheb Chandorkar to Shirdi for the first time.

1898
Sai Baba was seen sleeping on a narrow plank suspended with old rags about 7 or 8 feet above ground with lighted lamps placed on the plank.
(Uknown year) About this time, the parents of Shyam came to Shirdi with the two-year old child named Mohan Shyam. A small school for children were adjoining Baba’s room. Shyam used to watch Baba at nights through the ventilator. Shyam was apprehensive that Baba might fall from his lofty but narrow perch during sleep. Shyam prayed to stay near Baba and serve him for his remaining days.

1900-1902
Sai Baba like a learned Pandit explained Geeta to Nanasaheb Chandorkar, who believed that BABA was not well versed  with Sanskrit  language of Pandits (learned people).

1903
Das Ganu’s book ‘Sant Kathamrit’ was published. (Ch. 57 about Sai Baba’s advice to Nanasaheb Chandorkar).

1906
Das Ganu’s book ‘Bhakta-Leelamrit’ was published. (Chs.. 31, 32 and 33 about Sai Baba).

1906
Shivamma Thayee’s uncle meets Baba for the first time, while Baba is visiting Vellakinaru in Coimbatore. Baba told Shivamma’s uncle, ‘She is the only girl in the whole lot who will be a highly elevated soul.’ Baba then slowly chanted the Gayatri Mantra to Shivamma.

1908 Ekadashi
Kashirarn Shimpi died. (Chaitra Shuddha 11). BABA saved his life in a mysterious way when he was assaulted by Thieves in a jungle.

1908
Pundalikrao of Nanded met Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati. (Tembe Swami) at Rajahmundry on banks of Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh and Swami gave a coconut to be presented to Sai Baba. BABA showed cognizance of Swamiji’s  gilt and showed his oneness with Swami by describing him as his brother (Bhau).

1909
Sai Baba of Shirdi threw an ochre garment on Balasaheb Bhate, Mamlatdar of Kopargaon, and an atheist, on his very first visit and Balasaheb lost complete interest in worldly matters. He retired prematurely from service and settled down at Shirdi permanently.

1909
Bapusaheb (Sakharam Hari) Jog on retirement from Govt. service came to stay at Shirdi permanently accompanied by his wife.

1909
Bhimaji Patil of Narayangaon (Pune District) came to Shirdi for getting his chronic tuberculosis at the last stage and was cured by Baba’s blessings.

1909, Dec 10
Devotees began to offer regular worship to Baba in the Chavadi, where He slept on alternate days.

1910
Baba’s ‘Handi’ ritual, occasionally cooking food Himself in a big copper pot and distributing it  to  devotees and poor people without discrimination. This practice continued till this year. After wards owing to Das Ganu’s keertans (musical recitals praising Baba), Baba’s fame spread far and wide and devotees started flocking together in large numbers offering large quantities of food as ‘naivedya’ and thus there was no need of ‘Handi. 

1910
Govind Raghunath alias Annasaheb Dabholkar (Aged 51 years), the author of Shri Sai Satcharita (Marathi), had his first darshan of Sai Baba and received significant and prophetic title of ‘Hemadpant.  Baba gave him his blessings and inspired him to write SAI SATCHARITA – a religious scripture describing BABA’s life story and his divine play (leela) as monumental as GURU CHARITRA- the old monumental POTHI – a poetic religious scripture inspiring worship to GURU, NARASINHA SARASWATI.

1910, 
Bhadrapad Shuddha 5H. H. Gajanan Maharaj of Shegaon (Buldhana District of  Maharashtra) left His mortal coil. (First appeared in 1878). At that very time at Shirdi, Sai Baba grieved profusely and said, “Hallo! My Gajanan is gone. I must take bath again in reverance to the Great Soul.”

1910
Harishchandra Pitale’s son suffering from epilepsy, was cured by Baba’s mere glance at him. Baba gave Pitale three rupees and reminded him of two rupees earlier received by him from Swami Samarth of Akkalkot and thus showed his oneness with all the other SAINTS (Vibhutis).

1910, Ashwin Vady13
Sai Baba pushed his arm into the brightly burning Dhuni to save a blacksmith’s child. ‘The arm was scorched and burnt. Nanasaheb came from Bombay with Dr. Parmananda but Baba did not allow the doctor to treat him.Bhagoji Shinde’s service of massaging the arm with ghee and bandaging it continued till Baba’s Samadhi. This episode is in testimony to BABA’s cosmic existence- HIS super consciousness.

1910 Dec 5
Hon’ble Mr. Ganesh Shrikrishna alias Dadasaheb Khaparde of Amraoti (Maharashtra) first visited Shirdi. (Refused on 10 Dec. 1910) Mr.Babasaheb Khaprde was an ardent devotee of BABA and his efforts were instrumental in bringing Loka Manya Tilak- (a great national leader -Khapurde’s contemparary) to Shirdi for Baba’s darshan and blessings in his movement for India’s freedom from the British Rule.

1910, Dec10
Foundation-stone of Dixit Wada laid with Baba’s permission.

1910
Megha returns to Shirdi and stays till his death. In Baba’s company he underwent mysterious experiences which transformed Megha from an athiest to an ardent devotee of Baba and spent his life in the service of Sai -Shiva. He regarded Baba as Shiva-Shankar (Lord Shiva-Shankar -the welfare Doer).

1911
Madrasi Sanyasi Vijayanand, while on a pilgrimage to Manas Sarovar, haulted at Shirdi and breathed his last while reading ‘Bhagawat’ (a religious script written by Saint Eknath) for 3 days on Baba’s advice.

1911, March
Tatyasaheb Nulkar (Aged 48), the Sub-judge of Pandharpur breathed, his last at Shirdi . Baba showed HIS oneness with Tatya Nulkar and described him as a pure soul and expressed HIS grief at Nulkars demise.

After Tatyasaheb Nulkar passed away, Megha took over the regular daily worship of Baba in the Dwarakamai. (He used to stand on one leg while performing the Arati). Tatyasaheb Nulkar relinquished everything and stayed at Shirdi in Baba’s company till his demise Baba bestowed him with the unique experiences in self realization. Baba advised him and Mr Shyama Deshpande to perform Guru worship (Pooja).

1911, Ram-Navami
Construction of Dixit Wada was completed and was inhabited with due rites.

1911
Extension and roofing of the open space in front of the Dwarakamai was carried out by Kakasaheb Dixit. Baba got enraged and tried to shake and uproot a pole. Then removing Tatya Patil’s pugree, struck a match, set the pugree on fire and threw it in a pit along with one rupee as if an auspicious offering to avert evil. Baba never liked renovation of his dwelling place viz. Dwarkamai (the masjid) and opposed any such effort by the devotees.

1911, June 27
Kashinath Govind Upaswii (aged 41 years) first visited Shirdi  and returned again on 6 July. Baba ordered him to stay for 4 years in the Khandoba Temple.

1911, Dec
Kashinath Upasani composed the famous ‘Shri Sainath Mahimna Stotra (hymn) in Sanskrit. (Now being recited daily during Arati at Shirdi).

1911, Dec
Bubonic plague raged at Shirdi (Lasted upto March 15 next year) Baba however saved lives of plague inflicted devotees by taking upon himself i.e.. on his body the malody.

1911, Dec
Baba’s grinding of wheat in the hand-mill. It was not wheat that was ground but plague or cholera itself was ground to pieces and cast out of village. Seeing this Annasaheb Dabholkar (Hemadpant) was inspired to write ‘Shri Sai Satcharita.’

1911, Dec 16
Dr. Capt. Hate first visited Shirdi (who had just appeared at LCPS examination.) Baba sent him a messege in the dream saying, ‘have you forgotten me?’.

1911, Dec 19
Sai Baba’s great devotee and a great saint of Nath-panth order, Shri Rama Maruti visited Shirdi. (Stayed for 34 days.) ‘. Ram Maruti offered ‘Naivedya’ to Baba and Baba very affectionately took a part of it (SWEET SANJA).

1911-12
Sagun Meru Naik arrived at Shirdi at the age of 23 and on Baba’s advice settled permanently running a small restaurant for the devotees visiting Shirdi.

1912, Jan
Dadasaheb Khaparde’s youngest son Balwant was cured of bubonic plague by Baba by taking the disease on himself.

1912, Jan 3
Megha fed some Brahmins on completion of his Gayatri Punascharana (a religious ritual). Dadasaheb Khaparde attended it at Sathe Wada.

1912, Jan 19
Megha died at Shirdi at about 4 A.M. Baba lamented loudly and followed the funeral procession for some distance. Baba showered flowers on Megha’s body.

1912, Jan 20
Bapusaheb Jog started performing Baba’s Pooja and Arati after Megha’s death.He continued this till Baba’s Samadhi and even some years afterwards until he shifted to Sakuri and joined Upasani Maharaj there.

1912
Transformation of Dwarakamai (the masjid) started. Pits were patched up and the stone slabs fixed on the floor. Baba gave up sack-cloth seat and started using cushion scat and boister in deference to devotees’ wishes.

1912, Mar 15
Dadasaheb Khaparde returned to Amraoti. Mrs. Laxmibai Khaparde stayed behind.

1912, Ram-navami
Dada Maharaj Satarkar, known as ‘Modern Tukaram’, was invited to perform Ram-navami Kirtan.When he bowed down in obeisance, Baba said, “I know this man since last 4 years”. Bala Buva had never met Sai Baba before but 4 years ago at Bombay, he had prostrated before Baba’s picture. Thus Baba proved to His devotees that seeing His picture was equivalent to seeing Him in person.

1912, April
First visit of Balaram Dhurandhar along with his brothers. Before they arrived Baba had expressed, “Today many of my Durbar people are coming”. Baba offered Balaram Chillim to smoke and since then his 6 year old asthma was cured for ever.

1912, Shravan 15
Guru-sthan padukas were installed under the Neem Tree at Shirdi.

1913, May
Wamanrao Patel (Aged 24 – 25 Years.) (Swami Sai Sharanananda ji) visited Shirdi again and this time stayed for 11 months.

1913
Rao Bahadur Sathe got a son by Baba’s Grace at the age of 57 years.

1914
Sapatnekar of Akkalkot arrived at Shirdi again with wife and returned being blessed for begetting a son.

1914, Feb 14
Mr.B.V. Deo (Memlatdar of Dahanu in Thane Distict) was charged and reprimanded by Baba for stealing His rag and after lot of abusing and scolding was favoured with instruction to read Dnyaneshawari regularly every day as per Deo’s desire. This episode is an example of how Baba sometimes displayed his transcendental powers to read devotees mental inclinations even without formal oral communication.

1914, Feb 22
A Sadhak of Yoga (Swami Ram Baba) visited Shirdi and seeing Baba eating bread with onion got suspicious and disappointed. However Baba proved His power of omniscience by reading his mind and the Sadhak returned highly satisfied and blessed.

1914, April 2
Before the year was over, Baba appeared to Deo in a dream and inquired if he understood Dnyaneshwari properly. Deo said ‘No’ and added that without Baba’s Grace it will not be understood. Then Baba explained to Deo how to read it slowly (and without making haste) with full concentration for knowing the subtle meaning between the lines (Bodha -Knowledge)

1914, Ram-Navami
Das Ganu was ordained by Baba to perform Ram-Navami Kirtan at Shirdi every year.

1914, Shravan
H. H. Shri Vasudevananda Saraswati (Aged 80 years) (Tembe Swami)  left His mundane body at Garudeshwar on the banks of River Nannada in Gujarat.

1915, Dec
Sai Baba suffered from asthma and was very weak. Yet He climbed over Radhakrishna Mai’s roof with a ladder. Paid Rs. 2/- to the person bringing and placing the ladder. Honouring a worker for his work, Baba showed how Dignity of labour should be maintained.

1915, Dec
Balakram Mankar passed away at Shirdi.

1915, Dec
Mrs Tarkhad (wife of Babasaheb Tarkhad of Bandra) sent a pedha (made of milk and sugar) which was already offered as naivedya and that too with Balakram’s son Govindji who was in mourning. Yet Baba swollowed it with great eagerness and love.

1915, Dec 30
Construction work of Butty’s Wada was in progress. Baba occasionally used to go at this place to see the progress of this work and gave instructions.

1916
Radhakrishna Mai (Aged 35 years) passed away.  Baba used to bless her by sending a portion of food collected by him by way of Bhiksha.

1916.
Arrival of a Madrasi Bhajani Mela (Party of the Ramdasi Order). Baba gave darshan to the chief’s wife in the form of her beloved diety Shri Rama. The chief also got a dream and his attitude towards Baba was completely changed.

1916
Nephew of Dr. Mulky from Malegaon (District Nasik), suffering from tubercular bone-abcess, was fully cured by Sai Baba’s Udi and his loving glance. The doctor himself visited Shirdi afterwards and became a staunch devotee of Shri Sai Baba realising that Baba’s service is to be performed not only for the sake of money or other mundane things but for the welfare of the disabled, helpless and downtrodden.

1916
Annasaheb Dabholkar (Hemadpant) retired from Govt. service. On Guru Poumima Day while at Shirdi, Anna Chinchanikar pleaded before Baba for getting some other appointment for Hemadpant as his pension was quite insufficient and his family was growing. Baba assured him about his source of income for livelyhood after retirement.

1916, Vijaya Dashami
When in the evening Shirdi residents were returning from ‘Simollanghan’ ceremony (crossing of the border or limits of the kingdom village), Baba suddenly got into wild rage and taking off His head-dress, kafni and langota (loin cloth) etc., tore them into pieces and threw them in the burning Dhuni before Him. The fire in the Dhuni became brighter and Baba stood there stark naked. Later when cooled down and dressed again Baba said, “This is My Simollanghan” and thus hinted at His departure from this world soon on Dassehra Day. This Darshan provided an enlightenment that Baba’s body cannot be described as Hindu or Muslim or of any cast or belonging to any religion in vogue.

1916
Ramchandra Dada Patil became seriously ill. One night. appearing before him, Baba told him that he would recover soon but Tatya Patil will die on Vijaya Dashami Day in 1918. Thus by substituting Tatya’s name for HIS, Baba foretold Tatya’s passing away. However, Baba sacrificed his body to save devotees life by saying ‘instead of him another person will go?’.

1916
Baba averted Gopal Narayan Ambadekar’s effort of suicide by prompting him to read an appropriate incident from Akkalkot Swami’s Chaiitra (religious scripture) and avoided greatest sin in his devotees life.

1917
Shyam, the faithful servant of Baba falls at Baba’s feet and dies, merging in Baba.

1917
Baba tells Shringeri Sharada Devi, “Gori, I will appear in Andhra [Pradesh] with the same name of Sai Baba but in another Avathar . Then again, you will come to me. I will keep you with me and give you joy.”

1917
Baba names a young girl Shivamma Thayee and proclaims that she will be a saint.

1917
Haribhau Karnik of Dahanu (District Thane) wished to offerd. one more rupee to Baba while leaving Shirdi, but could not do so. On the way at Nasik, in the Kala Rama Temple another saint Narasing Maharaj demanded one rupee from him. Karnik gave it willingly thinking that Baba was demanding the rupee he wanted to offer at Shirdi. Baba fulfilled in HIS many mysterious ways devotees’ desire to offer dakshina  through all the media.

1917
Sai Baba appeared at Thane (North of Bombay) to inquire the well-being of Appasaheb Kulkarni’s wife and children when he was away on tour. When Appasaheb returned Baba not only fulfilled his desire of offering Rs.10 as Dakshina but also favoured him by returning nine rupees consecrated by His touch. These nine rupees are the symbol of nine bhakti services done to HIM.

1917
Upasani Maharaj (Aged 47 years) made Sakuri (near Rahata) his permanent residence.

1918
Rao Bahadur Moreshwar Pradhan purchased Lendi Baug and later presented it to Shirdi Sansthan’. Baba himself planted some trees at the Lendi Baug.

1918, April 1
At Vile Parle (East) (now suburb of Bombay) on Hanuman Road, Narayan Mahadev Thosar’s residence (later known as Narayan Ashram) was built a Hanuman Temple. On the day it was consecrated, Baba paid Rs. 25 to a Brahmin named Waze and made him perform Shri Satya-narayan Pooja.

1918
Prof. G. G. Narke, son-in-law of Butty got a permanent job by Baba’s Grace as Professor in the Engineering College at Pune. Baba always remebered him by saying ‘where has he (Narke) gone? Baba gave him a begging bag (zoli) for collecting food -an exercise in cultivating humility and eliminating ego.

1918, August
Baba offered Hemadpant a glass of butter-milk and said, “Drink it all, you won’t get such opportunity again suggesting that time for his Samadhi has arrived.

1918, Sep 9
Das Ganu wrote ‘Shri Sai Stavan Manjaril at Maheshwar (Madhya Pradesh) on the banks of River Narmada.

1918, Sept 28
Nath Panthi saint Rama-Maruti of Kalyan passed away.

1918, Sept 28
Sai Baba had a slight attack of fever which lasted for 3-4 days. Since then Baba abstained from food and day by day His weakness increased.

1918, Oct 1
Baba asked a Brahmin devotee by the name Waze to read ‘Raum- Vijay’ (by Sridhar Swami) and listened to it for 14 days.

1918,Oct 8
A tiger met its death at the feet and presence of Sai Baba and was emancipated.

1918, Oct 15, Tuesday
On Vijaya Dashmi, Sai Baba left his mortal coil at about 2-30 p.m. Few minutes before He gave Rs. 9/- as prasad to Laxmi Shinde. These nine coins represent nine dimensional devotion to GOD.

1918, Oct 16 
WednesdayEarly morning Baba appeared to Das Ganu at Pandharpur, in dream and said, “The Dwaraka mai has collapsed and all the oilmen and grocers have troubled Me a lot. So I am leaving the place. Go there quickly and cover My body copiously with flowers”.

1918, Oct 16 
Wednesday in the evening Baba’s body was taken in procession through the Shirdi village and then interred in Butty Wada with due formalities.

1918, Oct 27
On the 13th day Baba’s devotees from all over gathered and funeral rites were performed by Balasaheb Bhate with a feast (Bhandara) to Brahmins and poor. Later Upasani accompanied by Bapusaheb Jog went to Prayag (Allahabad) and performed all the remaining obsequies on the banks of River Ganges.

Indian saint Kabir.
In this poem he mentions the state of ‘Sahaja‘ meaning born within you and spontaneous

Where there is neither sea nor rains,
Nor sun nor shade;
Where there is neither creation
Nor dissolution;
Where prevails neither life nor death,
Nor pain nor pleasure;
Beyond the states of Sunn and trance;
Beyond words, O friend,
Is that unique state of Sahaj.
It can be neither weighted
Nor exhausted,
Is neither heavy nor light;
It has no upper regions
Nor lower ones;
It knows not the dawn of day
Nor the gloom of night;
Where there is neither wind
Nor water nor fire,
There abides the perfect Master.
It is inaccessible,
It is, and it will ever be;
Attain it through the Master’s grace.
Sayeth Kabir: I surrender myself
At the feet of my master,
I remain absorbed
In his true company.

Below, this poem can be nothing but Kabir’s description
of the internal chakras system cumulating in the
top chakra at the crown of the head always referred to as
the Lotus flower of a 1000 petals. see page

Garden of Flowers

Do not go into the garden of flowers
O friend, go not there.

In your body is the garden of flowers.
Take your seat on the thousand petals of lotus
and there gaze upon the infinite beauty.

There is a strange tree,
which stands without roots,
bears fruits without blossoming.
It has no branches and no leaves.
It is Lotus all over.

Two birds sing there:
One is the Guru and the other the disciple.
The disciple chooses the manifold fruits of life
and tastes them
And the Guru beholds him in joy.

Kabir

Kabir (c.1440-1518) has left many references to Sahaja samadhi in his songs
Born in the 15th-century an Indian poet and saint, whose writings influenced Hinduism’s Bhakti (Worship movement) his verses are found in Sikhism’s scripture in their main spiritual book the ‘Adi Granth’.
Saint Kabir, was a 15th-century Indian saint who wrote down some enlightened poems and quotations, words on how to walk the path of righteousness (Dharma) Saint Kabir poems are associated with the Bhakti movement, (Bhakti meaning, the devotional element of praise to God) Kabir’s lines inspire the shunning of all vices, greed, hatred, pride and the false reality known as the ‘Maya’ or illusion.

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“Are you looking for me?
I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas,
not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues,
nor in cathedrals:
not in masses,
nor kirtans,
not in legs winding around your own neck,
nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me,
you will see me instantly —
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.”
― Kabir

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“Many have died; you also will die. The drum of death is being beaten. The world has fallen in love with a dream. Only sayings of the wise will remain.”
― Kabir.

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“All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop.”
― Kabir

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“If you want the truth,
I’ll tell you the truth:
Listen to the secret sound,
the real sound,
which is inside you.”
― Kabir

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“Love does not grown on trees or brought in the market, but if one wants to be “LOVED” one must first know how to give (unconditional)LOVE..”
― Kabir

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“If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive, do you think ghosts will do it after?”

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“Many have died; you also will die. The drum of death is being beaten. The world has fallen in love with a dream. Only sayings of the wise will remain.”

---

“…But if a mirror ever makes
you sad
you should know
that it does
not know
you.”

---

“All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop.”

---

“If you want the truth,
I’ll tell you the truth:
Listen to the secret sound,
the real sound,
which is inside you.”

---

“The river that flows in you also flows in me.”
― Kabir
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“Love does not grown on trees or brought in the market, but if one wants to be “LOVED” one must first know how to give (unconditional)LOVE..”

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“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty.

You don’t grasp the fact that what is most alive of all is inside your own house;
and you walk from one holy city to the next with a confused look!

Kabir will tell you the truth: go wherever you like, to Calcutta or Tibet;
if you can’t find where your soul is hidden,
for you the world will never be real!”

---

“… What is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.”

---

“If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive, do you think ghosts will do it after?”
― Kabir

---

“There is dew
on these poems in the morning,
and at night a cool breeze may rise from them.

In the winter they are blankets, in the summer a place to swim.

I like talking to you like this. Have you moved
a step closer?

Soon we may be
kissing.”

---

“The guest is inside you, and also inside me;
you know the sprout is hidden inside the seed.
We are all struggling; none of us has gone far.
Let your arrogance go, and look around inside.

The blue sky opens out farther and farther,
the daily sense of failure goes away,
the damage I have done to myself fades,
a million suns come forward with light,
when I sit firmly in that world.

I hear bells ringing that no one has shaken,
inside “love” there is more joy than we know of,
rain pours down, although the sky is clear of clouds,
there are whole rivers of light.
The universe is shot through in all parts by a single sort of love.
How hard it is to feel that joy in all our four bodies!

Those who hope to be reasonable about it fail.
The arrogance of reason has separated us from that love.
With the word “reason” you already feel miles away.”

Like a sesame seed contains oil and a flintstone has fire, you also have god within and must realise that on your own.

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A man doesn’t become wise just by reading books. When he experiences love, it is then he becomes more knowledgeable.

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Don’t be proud of your high palace, tomorrow, you will be lying beneath the ground that has grass and on which the animals thrive.

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I searched for a wicked person, but I failed to find one. Then I searched my own mind, and realised that I was the most wicked one.

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You must utter such words that not only make your body calm and composed, but also gives joy to others who listen to you.

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Pride is like a tall date tree. A date tree is tall, but it’s of no use as it doesn’t offer shade to travellers, and nor are its fruits reachable.

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William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827)

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker, seer and prophet. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake’s work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts.

According to Northrop Frye, who undertook a study of Blake’s entire poetic corpus, his prophetic poems form “what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language.” Others have praised Blake’s visual artistry, at least one modern critic proclaiming Blake “far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced.” Once considered mad for his out spoken views on organized religion the Pope and many politicians and dignitaries of his time. Blake is highly regarded today for his expressiveness and creativity, and the philosophical vision that underlies his work. He himself once indicated, “The imagination is not a State: it is the Human existence itself.”

While his visual art and written poetry are usually considered separately, Blake often employed them in concert to create a product that at once defied and superseded convention. Though he believed himself able to converse aloud with Old Testament prophets, and despite his work in illustrating the Book of Job, Blake’s affection for the Bible was accompanied by hostility for the established Church, his beliefs modified by a fascination with Mysticism and the unfolding of the Romantic movement around him. Ultimately, the difficulty of placing William Blake in any one chronological stage of art history is perhaps the distinction that best defines him.

Poems and Quotes by William Blake

Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein (Albert Einstein questions ‘Reality’)

• “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.”
• “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
• “Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.”
• “I want to know God’s thoughts; the rest are details.”
• “The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.”
• “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
• “The only real valuable thing is intuition.”
• “A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.”
• “I am convinced that He (God) does not play dice.”
• “God is subtle but he is not malicious.”
• “Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.”
• “I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.”
• “The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.”
• “Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.”
• “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.”
• “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
• “Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds.”
• “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
• “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”
• “Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one’s living at it.”
• “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”
• “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”
• “God does not care about our mathematical difficulties. He integrates empirically.”
• “The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.”
• “Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”
• “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.”
• “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.”
• “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
• “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.”
• “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
• “Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.”
• “Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity.”
• “If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.”
• “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the the universe.”
• “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.”
• “Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.”
• “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
• “In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep.”
• “The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there’s no risk of accident for someone who’s dead.”
• “Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves.”
• “Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!”
• “No, this trick won’t work…How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?”
• “My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
• “Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.”
• “The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking…the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.”
• “Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.”
• “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”
• “A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.”
• “The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.”
• “Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
• “You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.”
• “One had to cram all this stuff into one’s mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.”
• “…one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one’s own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.”
• “He who joyfully marches to music rank and file, has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.”
• “A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
• “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” (Sign hanging in Einstein’s office at Princeton)

Copyright: Kevin Harris 1995 (may be freely distributed with this acknowledgement)

On July 14, 1930, Albert Einstein welcomed into his home on the outskirts of Berlin the Indian philosopher, musician, and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. The two proceeded to have one of the most stimulating, intellectually riveting conversations in history, exploring the age-old friction between science and religion. Science and the Indian Tradition: When Einstein Met Tagore (public library) recounts the historic encounter, amidst a broader discussion of the intellectual renaissance that swept India in the early twentieth century, germinating a curious osmosis of Indian traditions and secular Western scientific doctrine.

The following excerpt from one of Einstein and Tagore’s conversations dances between previously examined definitions of science, beauty, consciousness, and philosophy in a masterful meditation on the most fundamental questions of human existence.

EINSTEIN: Do you believe in the Divine as isolated from the world?

TAGORE: Not isolated. The infinite personality of Man comprehends the Universe. There cannot be anything that cannot be subsumed by the human personality, and this proves that the Truth of the Universe is human Truth.

I have taken a scientific fact to explain this — Matter is composed of protons and electrons, with gaps between them; but matter may seem to be solid. Similarly humanity is composed of individuals, yet they have their interconnection of human relationship, which gives living unity to man’s world. The entire universe is linked up with us in a similar manner, it is a human universe. I have pursued this thought through art, literature and the religious consciousness of man.

EINSTEIN: There are two different conceptions about the nature of the universe: (1) The world as a unity dependent on humanity. (2) The world as a reality independent of the human factor.

TAGORE: When our universe is in harmony with Man, the eternal, we know it as Truth, we feel it as beauty.

EINSTEIN: This is the purely human conception of the universe.

TAGORE: There can be no other conception. This world is a human world — the scientific view of it is also that of the scientific man. There is some standard of reason and enjoyment which gives it Truth, the standard of the Eternal Man whose experiences are through our experiences.

EINSTEIN: This is a realization of the human entity.

TAGORE: Yes, one eternal entity. We have to realize it through our emotions and activities. We realized the Supreme Man who has no individual limitations through our limitations. Science is concerned with that which is not confined to individuals; it is the impersonal human world of Truths. Religion realizes these Truths and links them up with our deeper needs; our individual consciousness of Truth gains universal significance. Religion applies values to Truth, and we know this Truth as good through our own harmony with it.

EINSTEIN: Truth, then, or Beauty is not independent of Man?

TAGORE: No.

EINSTEIN: If there would be no human beings any more, the Apollo of Belvedere would no longer be beautiful.

TAGORE: No.

EINSTEIN: I agree with regard to this conception of Beauty, but not with regard to Truth.

TAGORE: Why not? Truth is realized through man.

EINSTEIN: I cannot prove that my conception is right, but that is my religion.

TAGORE: Beauty is in the ideal of perfect harmony which is in the Universal Being; Truth the perfect comprehension of the Universal Mind. We individuals approach it through our own mistakes and blunders, through our accumulated experiences, through our illumined consciousness — how, otherwise, can we know Truth?

EINSTEIN: I cannot prove scientifically that Truth must be conceived as a Truth that is valid independent of humanity; but I believe it firmly. I believe, for instance, that the Pythagorean theorem in geometry states something that is approximately true, independent of the existence of man. Anyway, if there is a reality independent of man, there is also a Truth relative to this reality; and in the same way the negation of the first engenders a negation of the existence of the latter.

TAGORE: Truth, which is one with the Universal Being, must essentially be human, otherwise whatever we individuals realize as true can never be called truth – at least the Truth which is described as scientific and which only can be reached through the process of logic, in other words, by an organ of thoughts which is human. According to Indian Philosophy there is Brahman, the absolute Truth, which cannot be conceived by the isolation of the individual mind or described by words but can only be realized by completely merging the individual in its infinity. But such a Truth cannot belong to Science. The nature of Truth which we are discussing is an appearance – that is to say, what appears to be true to the human mind and therefore is human, and may be called maya or illusion.

EINSTEIN: So according to your conception, which may be the Indian conception, it is not the illusion of the individual, but of humanity as a whole.

TAGORE: The species also belongs to a unity, to humanity. Therefore the entire human mind realizes Truth; the Indian or the European mind meet in a common realization.

EINSTEIN: The word species is used in German for all human beings, as a matter of fact, even the apes and the frogs would belong to it.

TAGORE: In science we go through the discipline of eliminating the personal limitations of our individual minds and thus reach that comprehension of Truth which is in the mind of the Universal Man.

EINSTEIN: The problem begins whether Truth is independent of our consciousness.

TAGORE: What we call truth lies in the rational harmony between the subjective and objective aspects of reality, both of which belong to the super-personal man.

EINSTEIN: Even in our everyday life we feel compelled to ascribe a reality independent of man to the objects we use. We do this to connect the experiences of our senses in a reasonable way. For instance, if nobody is in this house, yet that table remains where it is.

TAGORE: Yes, it remains outside the individual mind, but not the universal mind. The table which I perceive is perceptible by the same kind of consciousness which I possess.

EINSTEIN: If nobody would be in the house the table would exist all the same — but this is already illegitimate from your point of view — because we cannot explain what it means that the table is there, independently of us.

Our natural point of view in regard to the existence of truth apart from humanity cannot be explained or proved, but it is a belief which nobody can lack — no primitive beings even. We attribute to Truth a super-human objectivity; it is indispensable for us, this reality which is independent of our existence and our experience and our mind — though we cannot say what it means.

TAGORE: Science has proved that the table as a solid object is an appearance and therefore that which the human mind perceives as a table would not exist if that mind were naught. At the same time it must be admitted that the fact, that the ultimate physical reality is nothing but a multitude of separate revolving centres of electric force, also belongs to the human mind.

In the apprehension of Truth there is an eternal conflict between the universal human mind and the same mind confined in the individual. The perpetual process of reconciliation is being carried on in our science, philosophy, in our ethics. In any case, if there be any Truth absolutely unrelated to humanity then for us it is absolutely non-existing.

It is not difficult to imagine a mind to which the sequence of things happens not in space but only in time like the sequence of notes in music. For such a mind such conception of reality is akin to the musical reality in which Pythagorean geometry can have no meaning. There is the reality of paper, infinitely different from the reality of literature. For the kind of mind possessed by the moth which eats that paper literature is absolutely non-existent, yet for Man’s mind literature has a greater value of Truth than the paper itself. In a similar manner if there be some Truth which has no sensuous or rational relation to the human mind, it will ever remain as nothing so long as we remain human beings.

EINSTEIN: Then I am more religious than you are!

TAGORE: My religion is in the reconciliation of the Super-personal Man, the universal human spirit, in my own individual being.

Copied from the web site https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/04/27/when-einstein-met-tagore/

Science and the Indian Tradition: When Einstein Met Tagore is a sublime read in its entirety. Complement it with physicist Lisa Randall on the crucial differences between how art, science, and religion explain the universe, then revisit Einstein’s correspondence with Freud about violence, peace, and human nature, his little-known exchange with W.E.B. DuBois on race and racial justice, and his letter to a little girl in South Africa on whether scientists pray.

1. Holding on to Reality is samadhi.
2. Holding on to samadhi with effort is savikalpa samadhi.
3. Merging in Reality and remaining unaware of the world is nirvikalpa samadhi.
4. Merging in ignorance and remaining unaware of the world is sleep.
5. Remaining in the primal, pure, natural state without effort is sahaja nirvikalpa samadhi.

Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950)

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About Ramana Mahashi

Ramana Maharshi was a guru of international renown from southern India who taught during the first half of the twentieth century. He was born in 1879 near Madurai, Tamilnadu. His father was a farmer. He was the second of three sons. The family was religious, giving ritual offerings to the family deity and visiting temples. One unusual aspect of his family history was a curse that was put on the family by a wandering monk who was refused food by a family member. The monk decreed that in every generation, one child in the family would renounce the world to lead a religious life.

Ramana was largely disinterested in school and absent-minded during work. He had a marked inclination towards introspection and self-analysis. He used to ask fundamental questions about identity, such as the question “who am I?”. He was always seeking to find the answer to the mystery of his own identity and origins.

One peculiar aspect of Ramana’s personality was his ability to sleep soundly. He could be beaten or carried from one place to another while asleep, and would not wake up. He was sometimes jokingly called “Kumbhakarna” after a figure in the Ramayana who slept soundly for months.

In the summer of 1896, Ramana went into an altered state of consciousness which had a profound effect on him. He experienced what he understood to be his own death, and later returned to life.

He also had spontaneous flashes of insight where he perceived himself as an essence independent of the body. During these events, he felt himself to be an eternal entity, existing without reliance on the physical body or material world.

Along with these intuitions came a fascination with the word “Arunachala” which carried associations of deep reverence and a sense that his destiny was closely intertwined with this unique sound. At the age of sixteen, Ramana heard that a place called Arunachala actually existed (the modern town’s name is Tiruvannamalai) and this brought him great happiness.

Ramana was nearing the end of high school when a careless criticism describing him as a person not fit to be a student jarred him into making a final decision to leave school. He had been reading a book on famous Tamil saints and resolved to leave home and lead the life of a religious seeker. Naturally, he planned to go to Arunachala, the place which was the focal point of all his religious ideals.

When he was seventeen years old, Ramana left for Arunachala, arriving after four days of mostly train travel. He went directly to the central shrine at the temple and addressed the Shiva symbol (linga) stating he had given up everything and come to Arunachala in response to the god’s call.

Ramana spent ten years living in temples and caves meditating, and pursuing spiritual purification, keeping the disciplines of silence and non-attachment. At this point, his reputation as a serious teacher (he was called Brahma Swami) began to grow and other seekers began to visit him. His disciples, some of whom were learned individuals, began to bring him sacred books. He became conversant with the religious traditions of South India written in the different regional languages.

Early disciples had a difficult time learning about Ramana’s background and even his native language because he was silent and refused to speak. As time passed he ceased his ascetic phase and began to live a more normal life in an ashram setting. Many people came to visit him with a variety of problems, from both India and abroad.

Ramana’s disciples constructed an ashram and temple, and space the accommodate the many visitors. All ate the same food and Ramana sat with the rest of the people during meals and did not expect special treatment. The ashram was a sanctuary for animals and Ramana had great fondness for the cows, monkeys, birds, and squirrels that inhabited the grounds.

Ramana continued to practice the method of inquiry into the nature of the self best expressed by the question “who am I?”. He recommended renunciation of enjoyment of physical and mental pleasures as a means of entering into a state where the oneness of the self and cosmos could be perceived. He also felt that a person who is not attached to the results of his actions can live in the world like an actor that plays his or her part but is immune to emotional disturbance, because he realizes he is only play-acting on the stage of life.

Ramana was able to demonstrate his own non-attachment when thieves broke into the ashram and he counseled the disciples and visitors to let them have anything they wanted. He remained calm during the incident even when struck by one of the thieves. He also displayed no loss of equanimity at the death of his mother, who had come to live at the ashram after selling the family home.

Ramana developed cancer and when his devotees voiced concern about losing him, he responded with the statement “I am not going anywhere, where shall I go? I shall be there where I am always.” He died in April, 1950, sitting in lotus position. 1896, a young schoolboy left his family and driven by an inner passion, went to Arunachala a holy mountain in south India, to be absorbed into awareness and consciousness. Soon after he had realised by direct experience that nothing existed apart from universal consciousness which was experienced in its unmanifest form as awareness and in its manifest form as the appearance of the universe. An ashram was established at Arunachala. His basic teaching was Self-inquiry – Who am I? In the beginning Ramanna Maharishi spoke little, his teachings were transmitted in the form of a silent power, which stilled the minds of those attuned and occasionally gave them the direct experience of stillness. He was and is, one of the greatest masters who lived in this age.

SaiBaba of Shirdi, Indian Saint 

whos origins are unknown, some indications exist that suggest that he was born not far from Shirdi. Historical researches into genealogies in Shirdi give support to the theory that Baba could have been born with the name Haribhau Bhusari. SaiBaba was notorious for giving vague, misleading and contradictory replies to questions concerning his parentage and origins, brusquely stating the information was unimportant. SaiBaba of Shirdi was also an opponent of religious orthodoxy – both Hindu and Muslim. Although SaiBaba himself led the life of an ascetic, he advised his followers to lead an ordinary family life.

SaiBaba encouraged his devotees to pray, chant God’s name and read holy scriptures – he told Muslims to study the Qur’an and Hindus texts like the Ramayana, Vishnu Sahasranam, Bhagavad Gita (and commentaries to it), Yoga Vasistha. He advised his devotees and followers to lead a moral life, help others, treat them with love and develop two important features of character: faith (Shraddha) and patience (Saburi). He also criticized atheism. In his teachings Sai Baba emphasised the importance of performing one’s duties without attachment to earthly matters and being ever content regardless of the situation.

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Why fear when I am here?

I am formless and everywhere

I am in everything and beyond. I fill all space.

All that you see taken together is Myself.

I do not shake or move.

If one devotes their entire time to me and rests in me, need fear nothing for body and soul.

If one sees me and me alone and listens to my Leelas and is devoted to me alone, they will reach God.

My business is to give blessings.

I get angry with none. Will a mother get angry with her children? Will the ocean send back the waters to the several rivers?

I will take you to the end.

Surrender completely to God.

If you make me the sole object of your thoughts and aims, you will gain the supreme goal.

Trust in the Guru fully. That is the only sadhana.

I am the slave of my devotee.

Stay by me and keep quiet. I will do the rest.

What is our duty? To behave properly. That is enough.

My eye is ever on those who love me.

Whatever you do, wherever you may be, always bear this in mind: I am always aware of everything you do.

I will not allow my devotees to come to harm.

If a devotee is about to fall, I stretch out my hands to support him or her.

I think of my people day and night. I say their names over and over.

My treasury is open but no one brings carts to take from it. I say, “Dig!” but no one bothers.

My people do not come to me of their own accord; it is I who seek and bring them to me.

All that is seen is my form: ant, fly, prince, and pauper

However distant my people may be, I draw them to me just as we pull a bird to us with a string tied to its foot.

I love devotion.

This body is just my house. My guru has long ago taken me away from it.

Those who think that Baba is only in Shirdi have totally failed to know me.

Without my grace, not even a leaf can move.

I look on all with an equal eye.

I cannot do anything without God’s permission.

God has agents everywhere and their powers are vast.

I have to take care of my children day and night and give an account to God of every paisa.
The wise are cheerful and content with their lot in life.

If you are wealthy, be humble. Plants bend when they bear fruit.

Spend money in charity; be generous and munificent but not extravagant.

Get on with your worldly activities cheerfully, but do not forget God.

Do not kick against the pricks of life.

Whatever creature comes to you, human or otherwise, treat it with consideration.

Do not be obsessed by the importance of wealth.

See the divine in the human being.

Do not bark at people and don’t be aggressive, but put up with others’ complaints.

There is a wall of separation between oneself and others and between you and me. Destroy this wall!

Give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, and clothes to the naked. Then God will be pleased.

Saburi (patience) ferries you across to the distant goal.

The four sadhanas and the six Sastras are not necessary. Just has complete trust in your guru: it is enough.

Meditate on me either with form or without form, that is pure bliss.

God is not so far away. He is not in the heavens above, nor in hell below. He is always near you.

If anyone gets angry with another, they wound me to the quick.

If you cannot endure abuse from another, just say a simple word or two, or else leave.

What do we lose by another’s good fortune? Let us celebrate with them, or strive to emulate them.

That should be our desire and determination.

I stay by the side of whoever repeats my name.

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.

If anyone offends you do not return tit for tat.

I am the slave of those who hunger and thirst after me and treat everything else as unimportant.

Whoever makes me the sole object of their love, merges in me like a river in the ocean.

Look to me and I will look to you.

What God gives is never exhausted, what man gives never lasts.

Be contented and cheerful with what comes.

My devotees see everything as their Guru.

Poverty is the highest of riches and a thousand times superior to a king’s wealth.

Put full faith in God’s providence.

Whoever withdraws their heart from wife, child, and parents and loves me, is my real lover.

Distinguish right from wrong and be honest, upright and virtuous.

Do not be obsessed by egotism, imagining that you are the cause of action: everything is due to God.

If we see all actions as God’s doing, we will be unattached and free from karmic bondage.

Other people’s acts will affect just them. It is only your own deeds that will affect you.

Do not be idle: work, utter God’s name and read the scriptures.

If you avoid rivalry and dispute, God will protect you.

People abuse their own friends and family, but it is only after performing many meritorious acts that one gets a human birth. Why then come to Shirdi and slander people?

Speak the truth and truth alone.

No one wants to take from me what I give abundantly.

Do not fight with anyone, nor retaliate, nor slander anyone.

Harsh words cannot pierce your body. If anybody speaks ill of you, just continue on unperturbed.

Choose friends who will stick to you till the end, through thick and thin.

Meditate on what you read and think of God.

I give my devotees whatever they ask, until they ask for what I want to give.

You should not stay for even one second at a place where people are speaking disrespectfully of a saint.

If you do not want to part with what you have, do not lie and claim that you have nothing, but decline politely saying that circumstances or your own desires prevent you.

Let us be humble.

Satsang that is associating with the good is good. Dussaya, or associating with evil-minded people, is evil and must be avoided.

What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get.

Recognize the existence of the Moral Law as governing results. Then unswervingly follow this Law.

All gods are one. There is no difference between a Hindu and a Muslim. Mosque and temple are the same.

Fulfill any promises you have made.

Death and life are the manifestations of God’s activity. You cannot separate the two. God permeates all.

Mukti is impossible for those addicted to lust.

Gain and loss, birth and death are in the hands of God.

When you see with your inner eye. Then you realize that you are God and not different from Him.

Avoid unnecessary disputationò

The giver gives, but really he is sowing the seed for later: the gift of a rich harvest.

Wealth is really a means to work out dharma. If one uses it merely for personal enjoyment, it is vainly spent.

To God be the praise. I am only the slave of God.

God will show His love. He is kind to all.

Whenever you undertake to do something, do it thoroughly or not at all.

One’s sin will not cease till one falls at the feet of Sadhusò

Be ashamed of your hatred. Give up hatred and be quiet.

The Moral Law is inexorable, so follow it, observe it, and you will reach your goal: God is the perfection of the Moral Law.

I am your servants’ servant.

Always think of God and you will see what He does.

Have faith and patience. Then I will be always with you wherever you are.

Rumi

“We are the flute, our music is all Thine;
We are the mountains echoing only Thee;
And movest to defeat or victory;
Lions emblazoned high on flags unfurled-
They wind invisible sweeps us through the world.”

Love is a Stranger
“Spirit, find your way, in seeking lowness like a stream.
Reason, tread the path of selflessness into eternity.
Remember God so much that you are forgotten.
Let the caller and the called disappear;
be lost in the Call.”

Rumi (Died 1275)

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About Rumi

Alaluddin Rumi is one of the greatest spiritual and literary figures of all time and was the founder of the Mawlawi Sufi order. He was born in Wakhsh ( Tajikistan ) under the administration of Balkh in September 30, 1207 to a family of learned theologians.

His father Baha’ al-Din Walad (Bahauddin), who was a religious scholar and Sufi. When the Mongol invaded Central Asia,Rumis father took his family westward, visiting Damascus and Naishapur on the way to the Hijaz. Here, the young Jalal al-Din (Jalaladdin) met and received the blessing of Farid al-Din (Fariduddin) Attar, the outstanding Sufi poet of the day. Rumi turned out to be his successor in this style of uplifting Persian Sufi poetry. He is reported to have said, as he saw Bahauddin walking toward him with the young Rumi a little behind, “Here comes a sea, followed by an ocean!” . The family made the pilgrimage to Mecca and then set out northward to Anatolia and settled down in the city of Konya , Turkey . It was here that Rumi was to spent some forty-some years of his life. Whilst living in Konya Turkey he composed his beautiful poetry. Rumi became like his father, a religious scholar and mastered the sciences of his day. He was also initiated into the mysteries of Sufism. But it was the meeting with the mysterious Sufi, Shams al-Din Tabrizi (Shams), that set his soul on fire and turned him into an incomparable poet of Divine Love and Illumination.

Rumi composed his Mathnawi and Divan-i Shams, the monumental works devoted to gnosis and divine ecstasy, following the encounter with Shams which changed the literary and spiritual landscape of Persian and Turkish worlds. Rumi was not a poet who happened to practice Sufism, but great Sufi master the rhythms of whose soul were expressed in poetry. He founded the Mathnawi Order, which exercised such a profound influence in the Ottoman world as well as its poetic and musical arts. He became a luminous star for both Persian and Turkish speaking worlds and his influence in these worlds subsists to this day. Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi died on December 17, 1273

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Only Breath by Rumi<>/h3
Music Doudouk by Lévon Minassian
Voice Victor Vertunni

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu,

Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East

or the West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not

composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or the next,

did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is placeless, a trace

of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two

worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner only that

breath breathing human being.

Rumi

Born 1544, Ahmadabad, India
died c. 1603, Naraina

Hindu-Muslim saint

A cotton carder by profession, Dadu became a religious wanderer and preacher, settling for periods of time at Sembhar, Amber, and finally at Naraina, near Jaipur (Rajasthan state)

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Poem by the saint Dadu

When by touching the touchstone we have become dispensers of happiness,
the false idea that there are two will have been driven away.

O brother, we have become one,
when, united in bewilderment [ 1 ], The true word has entered our minds. (refrain)

When we have found the secret of Malayagiri [ 2 ] All such errors as family and caste will have been driven away.

When the Hari-water has been found close by,
then drop mixing with drop will have merged in Sahaja.

When all the various disparities and errors have vanished,
says Dadu, one will be united within a single body.

Touching the touchstone avail yourself of gold [ 3 ],
of the happiness-giving sahaja surati.
On the creeper of delusion hangs the fruits of sensuality.
Do not lose yourself on it, o friend!

O my mind, without Ram the body fades away,
When it returns to dust,
tell me, what is there left to be done? (refrain)

As long as your body is healthy do not forget Him.
This wordly existence is like the parrot on the silkcotton tree.
Do not rejoice in it!

This is your opportunity: recognizing Jigjivan [ 4 ],
comprehending, seeing Him you will obtain happiness.
Do not lose yourself in many different bodies!

Dadu says: Do not allow yourself to be beguiled!

Through samjami [ 5 ] he will become one who always imparts sanctity,
no impurity will stick to his soul.
The lotus [ 6 ] of this person will bloom,
the Brahma-knowledge will blossom.

Play in the sea of happiness and sins unlimited will disappear.
Become a pure being and unite with the Creator! (refrain)

To the passage of the inaccessible proceed,
and unite real being with real being.
Approach the seat of the Guru and be absorbed in the house in the state of one liberated.

That man will worship, he will be engrossed in the play of love.
The Beautiful One shall be served in sahajaim;
on Mount Kailasa the merging is performed.

No difference between night and day is visible,
sahajai occurs spontaneously.
Dadu, behold his sight, o servant, addicted to this liquor!

Where there is no two, there is Sahaja, there joy and sorrow become one.
Sahaj neither lives nor dies; it is the state of complete nirvana
Amidst all duality hold your consciousness in the vacuity of Sahaja,
and drink nectar when you have attained the final state of arrest and then there is no fear of death or of the flux of time.

One’s self is a tender plant wherin blooms the flower of Sahaja;
The true guru teaches how to achieve it in a natural way,
But very rare are the persons who can understand it.

Prana and pyanda [ 7 ], flesh and blood, ears and nose,
All play wonderful sport in Sahaja.

When consciousness reaches the Sahaja state, waves of duality vanish,
Hot and cold become the same, everything becomes one.

Come, says Dadu, let’s go to that land where neither moon nor sun can go [ 8 ] Where neither night nor day can enter and all is merged in Sahaja.

[ 1 ] Mohan

[ 2 ] the Malayagiri is a range of mountains in western India

[ 3 ] liberation

[ 4 ] Jagjivan is the life-giving aspect of Vishnu

[ 5 ] yogic self-control

[ 6 ] Sahasrara

[ 7 ] the vital breath and body

Kong Qui, better known as Confucius, was born in 551 B.C. in the Lu state of China (near present-day Qufu). His teachings, preserved in the Analects, focused on creating ethical models of family and public interaction, and setting educational standards. He died in 479 B.C. Confucianism later became the official imperial philosophy of China, and was extremely influential during the Han, Tang and Song dynasties.

Early Life

Confucius, also known as Kong Qui or K’ung Fu-tzu, was born probably in 551 B.C. (lunar calendar) in present-day Qufu, Shandong Province, China. Little is known of his childhood. Records of the Historian, written by Ssu-ma Chi’en (born 145 B.C.; died 86 B.C.) offers the most detailed account of Confucius’ life. However, some contemporary historians are skeptical as to the record’s accuracy, regarding it as myth, not fact. According to Records of the Historian, Confucius was born into a royal family of the Chou Dynasty. Other accounts describe him as being born into poverty. What is undisputed about Confucius’ life is that he existed during a time of ideological crisis in China.

Philosophy and Teachings

During the sixth century B.C., competing Chinese states undermined the authority of the Chou Empire, which had held supreme rule for over 500 years. Traditional Chinese principles began to deteriorate, resulting in a period of moral decline. Confucius recognized an opportunity—and an obligation—to reinforce the societal values of compassion and tradition. His social philosophy was based primarily on the principle of “ren” or “loving others” while exercising self-discipline. He believed that ren could be put into action using the Golden Rule, “What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.” (Lunyu 12.2, 6.30).

Confucius

When you calm your mind and your senses,
you become conscious of your always-present inner Self

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Better than the one who knows what is right is the one who loves what is right.

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Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance….

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Mens natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them

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By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.

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It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.

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A good man does not give orders, but leads by example

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When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.

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If you know, to recognize that you know, If you don’t know, to realize that you don’t know: That is knowledge.

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The grass must bend when the wind blows across it

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Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

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The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

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Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star.

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“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

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No matter how busy you may think you are , you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-choosen ignorance.

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When it is obvious that the goals can not be reached , don’t adjust the goals adjust the action steps.

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The perfecting of one’s self is the fundamental base of all progress and all moral development.