O!Sai!Shirdi Bhagwan!Yogiraj!Janardhan!Supreme God!
Thou art the Lord of Universe, Argus,Artisan
Knowledge,Truth,Mercy,Love,Joy incarnated in Thee
Inscrutable,immeasurable, immutable art Thy ways
Nature prostrates before Thy presence
Maya, the blinding veil bows down in muteness
No distinction, difference Thy Mercy knoweth
The poor, the rich, the high and the low are equal
Love ye another even as I love you all
Thy message is the essence of all religions
Thou art the beacon light to humanity and world
O!Ocean of mercy, turn me as Thy servant and disciple
Wash my sin and adorn me with pearls of virtue
O!Gurudeva!Brahman, Sri Sainath Maharaj!
Where art Thou? What is Thy form?
Where is Thy nectar of love that brings solace to me
My mind,body and soul are Thou,pity me, pardon me
Art Thou partial? Or deaf to my wails of helplessness
Thou art the ‘Avatar’ and incarnation of Dattatreya
Why uncareful towards me? Baba! Tell me
Mere utterance of Thy name inspires me and my thoughts
Thou art my Bhava,thought and all,surrendered to Thee completely
Despair,disappointment overpower me Baba
Stand by me as my protector,preserver and promoter
Render my life purposeful, conquer devil of defeat
Tie me to Thy lotus feet with bounds of unerring faith in Thee
Shatter forces of evils,distress,disdain
Let Thy form be my rescuer, saviour and guide
Take me as Thy dear Bhakta and ‘Sishya’ and child
I cannot trust human beings and life has become drudgery
Cheat,untruth,wickedness, pomp,vanity rule high
Truth, simplicity,softness, merit,virtue, vanquish
O!Maharaj? Where art Thou? Let me see
Defeated I am in the battle of life
Always push me down the valet the devils of despair in darkness
Why art Thou not impartial? Or art Thou selfish?
Why success to few?Why fortune to the privileged?
Why Thy mercy is not dawned on me for ever
The Soil of Shirdi, a heaven on earth! Purifies all
O!Sai guide me with the light of kindness,mercy
Purify me, provide peace, happiness overwhelmingly to me
Only to serve Thy feet with unflinching devotion and faith.
L.Suryanarayana Sharma, B.A,
Rajupet, MACHILIPATNAM.
Report of the Gathering held at Shirdi As announced in the issue of this magazine for the month of January 1975, the first gathering of the poets and writers contributing their articles to Shri Sai Leela and the well-wishers thereof was held at Shirdi on the 18th and 19th of January 1975.
Thirty persons graced the occasion. Though the bulk of the people had come from Bombay, still a large number also attended from Ahmedabad, Pune and Gwalior. The delegates from Bombay started on 17-1-1975 by 12.30 (P.M) and reached Shirdi at about 9.30 (P.M). As per instructions of Shri K.S.Pathaksaheb, the court receiever, the staff at Shirdi was awaiting the arrival of the delegates from Bombay and did all the arrangements for their lunch and accomadation, no sooner they reached Shirdi. After a heartly lunch the delegates attended the night arati at the Samadhi Mandir and retired for rest.
At Sakori, a village some five km from Shirdi, the celebrations of the diamond jubilee of Sati Godawari Mataji are in progresss. Hence the delegates thought it worthwhile to pay a visit to Sakori and take “darshan” of the revered Mataji and it is a matter of pleasure to state that though the delegates went to Sakori in different groups in the morning on 18-1-1975, they were all given darshan by the revered Mataji. In addition to this programme all the delegates observed all the usual religious ceremonies at Shirdi like attending the morning arati, abhishek etc.After the lunch in the noon the delegates returned for rest.
The first session of the gathering started at 4 P.M in the afternoon of 18-1-1975.As it was necessary for all the persons to know each other, this programme was of self introduction. Shri N.P.Awasthi from Pune, aged seventy eight, presided over the meeting. Shri Awasthi is a person who has spent a few years in the company of Shri Sai Baba and hence he was considered to be the most appropriate person for the occasion. The programme of self introduction was very interesting.Apart from being Sai devotees, which was a common factor among all the delegates, they came to know several other details and achievements of each other.Shri Awasthi concluded the meeting after telling many anecdotes of Shri Sai Baba. Shri K.S.Pathaksaheb, who was detained in Bombay due to some work, came to Shirdi just in time and rushed to the meeting. His presence in the meeting added to the zeal of the delegates. After the session was over the delegated went for sight seeing, arati etc and took rest after lunch.
The second session started in the morning at 9.30 A.M on 19-1-1975 when Prof. N.A.Gore from Pune presided over the meeting. This was an important session when the delegates present expressed their opinion about the present get up of Shri Sai leela magazine and put forth their suggestions for its improvement. Though the present get up of the magazine, which was achieved by the Ex-Executive editor Late Prof.D.D.Parchure after taking great pains, was found to be tolerantly good ,still with a view to further improving the magazine the following suggestions were inter alia made by the delegates.
1)Attempts may be made to increase the circulation of the magazines and popularize them.
2)Information regarding the saints and prophets of other religions should be given in the magazines.
3)Information regarding the holy places of pilgrimage and the temples of sri Sai Baba should be given.
4)Bigger type may be used.
5)Information regarding the persons who have seen Shri Sai Baba in live form should be given.
6)We may think of publishing advertisements in the magazines.
7) We may open a children’s section in the magazines.
A section for questions and answers should be started, where in replies may be given to the questions put up by the readers.
9)Some important articles from Marathi issue may be translated and published in the English issue.
10)Important Marathi books on philosophy may be translated and published in the English issue.
The suggestions were noted down for consideration and the session concluded at 11-45 A.M. The delegates were then taken round by Shri K.S.Pathaksaheb to the new building undergoing construction and shown the facilities and conveniences provided therein. The delegates were glad to inspect the new building under construction, costing about twenty lacs of rupees, which was coming up for the convenience of the devotees.
The afternoon session started with the songs sung by Shri Samel. He sung with devotion a few songs based on the life of Shri Sai Baba and all the delegates were moved with emotion.this session was presided over by Shri K.S. Pathaksaheb who in the beginning told the delegates the economic aspect of the magazines. He said that the Sansthan has to give an annual subsidy of over rupees twenty thousand for publication of the magazines and added that both the Charity Commissioner and the court are advising him to stop the publication. Shri Pathaksaheb assured in the end that he would do his best to continue the publication of the magazines so long as he continued to be in the office. In this meeting the main work was of giving replies to the suggestions made by the delegates in the morning session. Shri Pathaksaheb therefore, said that the executive editors and added that so long as the magazines are not self-sufficient the suggestions which do not involve much cost would be implemented immediately. It may take some time to implement the other suggestions involving expenditure.
Shri Sadanand Chendvankar, the executive editor, pointed out that recently the membership of the magazine has gone up which shows that the magazines are slowly gaining ground and at that the present get up of the magazines is likely to attract more devotees to become members of the magazines. He also assured that all efforts would be made to implement the suggestions.
Dr.D.S.PArchure then gave a reply.He stated that in the beginning that the late Prof.D.D.Parchure the former editor Shri Sai leela was mainly responsible for giving the present get up to the magazines and much of the credit for improvement of the get up goes to him. He then told the delegates that so long as the limit of forty eight pages is required to be observed, it will not be possible to implement osme of the suggestions. He pointed out that some of the suggestions have already been implemented and assured the delegates that further efforts would be made to implement the suggestions. He also thanked the delegates for having given a though to the subject and given them the valuable suggestions.
Shri Sahukar, the General Manager of M/s Godrej and his wife Smt.Maniben Sahukar who are both Sai devotees and who had come to Sakori for the celebration for the diamond jubilee of Sati Mataji met the editors at sakori in the morning of 18-1-1975, as they were informed about the gathering they were kind enough to remain present at this last session. Smt. Maniben was also pleased to address the gathering for a few minutes in which she stressed the greatness of Shri Sai Baba and the simplicity of his teachings.
In his concluding remarks Shri K.S. Pathaksaheb thanked the delegates for having attended the gathering in so large a number and requested to be excused for any shortcomings in the arrangements regarding accommodation or lunch,tea etc. In all the three sessions Dr.S.D.Parchure proposed the vote of thanks. Shri R.S.Pujari from Pune thanked Shri.K.S. Pathaksaheb for arranging this first gathering and requested that this may be made an annual feature.
Dr.K.B.Gawankar delivered a “pravachan” on the evening of 18-1-1975. He is also a person who had sen Shri Sai Baba in live form and hence his words were also considered authentic and valuable.
Shri.S.V.Deodhar was another delegate who had seen Shri Sai Baba when he was alive and hence many delegates asked him a number of questions about the personality etc of Shri Sai Baba.
After the concluding session, the delegates started returning to their homes. The first batch of delegates started for Bombay by the night bus leaving Shirdi at 9-15 P.M. on 19-1-1975. The other delegates left on 20-1-1975 according to their convenience.The feeling among the delegates was that this first gathering was a complete success and that it would go a long way in developing feelings of affinity among the contributors to the magazines. Due to their short stay in this place, they felt that they have started considering them as members of one big family, the family of Shri Sai Baba. The delegates returned with sweet memories of their stay at Shirdi and said that they would be looking up for the gathering to be held next year. The staff at Shirdi Sansthan made all arrangements for accommodation ,lunch,tea etc of the delegates to the best of their ability and deserve thanks for the same.
S.D.Parchure