Shradha (Faith) and Saburi (Patience).Messages by Guruji Shri C. B. Satpathy

[SS91]

Hemadpant records in the Sri Sai Satcharitra that nobody knew of Sai's parents, birth or birth-place. Many a times enquiries were made and questions asked of Baba and others, but no clear or satisfactory answer ever manifested. By one account, he was said to have been born to a Brahmin couple who gave the child away to a Sufi saint, Roshan Shah, for upbringing. But this is not substantiated. Saints like Namdev and Kabir were in the same league; none knew of their birth since they were found as infants in mother-of-pearl shells. Namdev was found on the bank of Bhimrathi River by Gonayi, and Kabir on the bank of Bhagirathi River. Sai was "found" in Shirdi.

In keeping with the Bhakti cult prevalent at the time, it seems Sai Baba was an inheritor of the traditions of Maharashtra that began with Gyaneshwar (also spelt Jnaneshwar). Jnandeva was born between AD 1270-75 and wrote his tome Jnaneshwari in 1290. He was followed by Sopana (1277-96), Muktabai (1279-97), Namdeva (1270-1350), Eknatha (1533-199) and Tukaram (1608-1650). The last great Maharashtrian saint before Baba was Ramadas (1608-1681). Thus, Sai Baba's origins can be found in the rich tradition of saints who are part of Maharashtra's history and culture. Baba was "born" in Marathwada, which was long under Muslim rule. With Karnataka and Tilang-Andhra, this region formed part of the Deccan Plateau. These three regions have a common calendar called Shalivahan Shaka and share a linked cultural heritage. The Satvahanas, Rashtrakutas and the Chalubas ruled over the region during the first twelve centuries.
 
Even before Jnandeva, two strong religious streams dominated the land: the first was the Mahanubhavas and the other, the Nathas. Namdev, a contemporary of Jnandeva, carried on the Vitthal sampradaya (sect) and was the main fulcrum of Pandharpur, which gained prominence during Namdev's time. Both Namdev and Jnandeva were brothers of the same sampradaya and after Jnandeva's demise in 1296, Namdev proceeded to the north, to be in Punjab for twenty-one years, hence his cult grew in north India too. His outpourings and writings, called abhangs, grew in popularity, especially under Tukaram and Ramadas (whose most famous disciple was Shivaji, the great Maratha leader) and came to be sung in both parts of the country. Such can be the outreach of saints.
 
The Maharashtra plateau was ruled, since the twelfth century, from Devagiri (Daulatabatl), an ancient fortified capital. The city was built by Bhillana, the fountlcr of thc Yaclava dynasty. He died in AD 1191 and was succeeded by King Jaipal who ruled till 1210.
 
His rule was followed by Singhana, whose rule extended till Mathura in the north and Kaveri Delta in the south. Towards the end of the thirteenth century, great creative activity took place in Deccan Plateau and many works of literary and artistic excellence emerged.
 
Between 1318 and 1347, Devagiri was ruled by the Khiljis, and later the Tughlaks (when under Mohammad-bin, the capital was shifted from Delhi to Daultabad). For three hundred years thenceforth, the entire Deccan Plateau came under the influence of Muslim sultans. Hindus and Muslims tried to maintain cordial relations, sometimes by alliances like when the sultan of Bijapur, Yusuf Adil Shah married a Maratha princess. The minister Muhammad Gawan employed Hindus in state services and supported religious tolerance. Emperor Adil Shah (1534-57) went to a neighbouring ruler to pay an official visit to the emperor of Vijayanagara, showing him to be an equal.
 
Several smaller strains also contributed significantly in maintaining harmony. A Muslim governor in 1326 ordered the reinstallation of a Shiva lingam in Madhukeshwara temple at Kalyani. Allauddin Ahmed II was comforted during illness by a sage of Gangapur, who worshipped Dattatreya.
 
Later, however, the struggle between the Deccan Sultanate and the Vijayanagara rulers led to the Battle of Talikotta and the destruction of Hampi, the capital city. The Deccan Sultanate fell into oblivion with the coming of Mughal powers from central and north India. By 1636, the Nizam Shahi kingdom was wiped out. The Bijapur kingdom ceased to be an independent entity and became part of the Mughal empire in 1686. Golconda suffered a similar fate in 1687. By then the British, who had come for trade, slowly took over the political domination of many regions of the country. For the next two hundred years, an assortment of European rulers, dominated mostly by the British, ruled the country.
 
By the time the Sepoy Mutiny or the First War of Independence took place in 1857, Sai Baba was all of just about twenty!
 
Source:http://www.shirdisaigift.com/about-sai-baba/sai-baba-history.html

JaiSaiRam...

[SS91]

Faith and Patience

The two keywords that Sai Baba would repeat to all his followers seem to be finally coming home to me.

Shradha means patience and saburi means faith. All my life I have never been religious for the simple reason that my parents have a mixed marriage.

My father is a Maharashtrian Hindu Kshatriya and my mother is a Parsi Zoroastrian.

They had a love marriage and for both of them religion never made a difference. They preferred being good human beings to being idol worshipers.

So I grew up in a house where a line of gods from all religions sat on the altar, which incidentally was dusted everyday, but not prayed before everyday.

For any special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary or any religion’s major holiday we would gather before the altar and light a diya that would last twenty four hours. Then the gods would be forgotten till the next big event in the house. In fact unlike other kids who tell stories of standing and praying before the altar before exams, I never did.

My mother believes that each one of us has a “hot line” to God and if we want something we must ask him directly. There is no need for a pandit or priest to help us and nor is there a need for special prayers.

Anything that comes directly from your heart will be passed on to Him. So I used to sit with my study books and look at the problem which I could not solve and mentally tell God, don’t let this one come in the exam. Worked like a charm most of the time.

I knew that if I wanted something badly enough it would happen, but I did not have the Shradha and Saburi (Patience and Faith) to believe that it would happen. Of late that has changed. I recently have rediscovered a number of people on the internet whom I had given up hope of ever seeing again.

One such school friend came down to Agra on business and wanted to catch up. So we decided to meet at a popular coffee house and when I was on my way I got stuck in the worst grid lock ever, something that would not clear up for at least a few hours.

I had my child with me and my friend was waiting. I felt that it was the worst idea I had had in a long time. Then just like that I decided to test Sai Baba, I told him that the grid lock must clear in the next ten minutes as I can’t be stuck here with my baby for hours.

I looked at the clock at the dashboard and kept inching forward as best as I could. Finally we did clear it and when I saw the clock it was just thirty minutes past the time I said I want this grid lock to clear. So maybe my faith was not strong enough but it was strengthened.

Then last light while putting the layers of quilts on my child and myself I felt my diamond ring slide out of my finger. I put the lights on and started shaking the layers but it would not come out. I then noticed that the light of the diya in front of Sai Baba was not burning. It is something that I relight every time it goes off.

So I went and stood before him, said a short prayer to find my ring, lit the diya and returned to the bedroom. I saw the ring twinkling up at me from the carpet at the foot of the bed. My saburi was rewarded and now I have a lot more patience when I ask him for things.

If it works for me and my family it will work for you. It is based on the “Law of Attraction”. You can attract what you want to yourself, you only need the perseverance, patience and faith to do it.

[SS91]

Shraddha (Faith) and Saburi (Patience) - Twin Sisters

साई वो नही जो तुझे गम में छोड़ देंगे,
साई वो नही जो तुझसे नाता तोड़ देंगे,
साई तो तेरे वो भगवन हैं, तेरे वे मालिक हैं,
अगर तेरी सांसे बाँध हो,
तो अपनी सांसे जोड़ देंगे

Sai Baba’s Guru asked for two coins from his disciples and that is ‘Shraddha’ and ‘Saburi’. Both are not different. They are the sides of two coins, if one is there; other has to be present. The rate at which Shraddha is strong, so is Saburi’s identity and vice versa. Saburi is a mine of virtues and Shraddha is Saburi’s life. It is not possible to think that we would get fruits immediately, today or tomorrow while walking on the path of devotion to Sai Baba. It may happen that we don’t get the fruits immediately so we should not get disappointed. We must take care that our love and trust should not decrease by not getting the desired results. Our devotion should be strong enough to wait for the right time to get the results. When questions like “My devotion is not up to the mark or Sai Baba doesn’t listen me” or “I don’t get answers to my question” crop up in our mind, we get depressed and this weakens the back bone of devotion. So it is inevitable and necessary that the reactions of devotion should not be like this. We should learn to see difficulty from a positive point of view. So we should keep patience and give it a place in our lives also.

दुनिया में अच्छे दोस्त बहुत कम मिलेंगे,
जीवन में सुख कम, दुःख ज्यादा मिलेंगे,
जिस मोड़ पे दुनिया आपका साथ छोड़ देगी,
उसी मोड़ पर आपको साईनाथ मिलेंगे

Can anyone imagine that a seed sown in the ground become a tree and bear fruits immediately? The seed does its natural work in the ground. This effect is not seen outside. To see the effect some patience is essential. The water in the sea becomes vapour due the rays of the sun. This vapour then gets converted into clouds which give us rain. But this process cannot occur in few minutes, it requires a long time. Most of the phenomenon are invisible, but have their own importance. The earth quake which occurs is also not a phenomenon of few minutes or a day, but the process take places from long time in the earth’s crust. The mother has to bear so much pain to give birth to a child. For this she has to keep much patience and courage.

If we don’t get desired answers while walking on the path of devotion, generally we become depressed or we are left without faith। To overcome this situation it is very necessary to have patience। Devotees should leave the thought of getting something from their devotion; instead they should try to go ahead in the matter of spirituality. This again requires patience. Sai Baba said, “If a man does any deed, he would get it’s result one day”. Saburi is a tough test to be passed on the path of devotion. This test can be taken by Guru only. A common man goes to a market to purchase an earthen pot which is of very nominal value i.e. Rs. 20-25. He pays for the pot only after checking the pot by turning it around again and again. Likewise in the path of devotion, the devotion should not be outwardly or just to show off. It must come from within. It should encourage us.

किसी को खिल के हंसाना ,
इससे बड़ी इर्बदत नही,
किसी को शिरडी खली हाथ लौटना,
श्री साई की आदत नही

Shraddha is as much important as Saburi. Shraddha is the foundation of the path of devotion and Saburi is the time taken to walk on that path. The path of devotion is a personal experience of one’s deeds. One has to do all the tasks himself while walking on the path of devotion. No one can do anything without surrendering himself to his Guru. If we have to repair our gold ornaments, we have to give i.e. surrender our gold ornaments to the goldsmith. So unless we surrender our mind to our Guru (Sai Baba), we won’t get any result. After surrendering to our Guru now requirement of Saburi is necessary. The fruit of complete devotion is Guru’s blessings and God’s blessings. But God or Guru are eager to pour their blessings only on the one who has complete faith and devotion on them. Now to fill up the blessings, God/Guru requires a container/vessel. Likewise each food/eatable requires a specific vessel to be stored in, in the same way God/Guru requires the vessel. For example we store wheat in a big vessels and milk in a small vessel. If we have to interchange the food/eatable to another vessel/container, then first we have to empty the vessel, clean it up and then only it can be used.

तू ही ब्रह्म, तू ही विष्णु,
तू ही तू है विधाता,
सब की बिगडी बननेवाला
तू ही तू है जीवनदाता

Now to store God/Guru’s blessings or to get the benefits of the blessings, each one has small or big vessel. But no one has any vessel empty. This means that the vessels are full of one or other things. Due to our good deeds, we somehow get the blessings of God/Guru, but due to non availability of space in the vessel, we feel as if we have got nothing even after getting it. For example, if someone comes at our door to give us pure ghee free of cost, but if we don’t find any vessel empty or else if we are ready to empty any one vessel, then we have to return the pure ghee. So even if we receive Guru’s blessings, our vessel has not enough space because it contains many dirty things and we are not ready to empty it. So we have the said feeling of not getting the blessings or benefit. Let’s see which empty vessels we have. We have our ‘mind’ and ‘intelligence’. These two are the largest vessel to keep Guru’s blessings. So immediately clean them up so that they are suitable to store Guru’s blessings. But due to past birth deeds and lust they are fully filled up. It will take much time to clean and empty them. In order to clean a drum of coal tar it has to be heated many times and it takes much time. The meaning of this process is Saburi. So to get the blessings and grace of Guru make Shraddha and Saburi the foundation of your life.

क्यों रखे बाबा से दूरी भक्ति से होती इच्छा पूरी
मन चाहा फल देते है श्रद्धा और सबूरी
Source : Sai Leela Magazine

[SS91]

While thinking of Shri Shirdi Sai, we must remember 

While thinking of Shri Shirdi Sai, we must remember Shri Sai, as the Param Sadguru or the Supreme Perfect Master is God, is in God and will always remain as God. He had embodied Himself by the love aspect of God for the suffering lot and that His kindness is unfathomable. His job is to carry out the functions of God creation, sustenance and destruction, and to lead souls in their spiritual journey towards Divinity. After leaving the body He is there in His God State, as a Cosmic reality. He is looking after His devotees and children as much today as he used to when he was at Shirdi.

His devotees may go on taking birth life after life, but Shri Sai will be there always to help and guide them towards happiness and spiritual evolution. We must, therefore, make Him our mainstay of life and pray to Him with all our heart and soul.


....by Guruji C. B. Satpathy
 

[SS91]

Message of the week - Guruji Shri C. B. Satpathy
……“Human beings, a very few of them, in the path of spiritual evolution spread over hundreds of lives, reach the “Beyond State of God”. Having reached that state, a few of them, as a player in the Divine game come to the earth in human embodiment. Some such souls, known as Shivatmas remain in the God state or the Parambramha state, with all the attributes of God i.e. unlimited power, unlimited knowledge and unlimited love. It is this attribute of unlimited love or kindness that forces some of them to come down to earth in human form and ameliorate the misery of life-forms on earth. Such a soul is known as a ‘Sadguru’. When the Sadguru leaves His body, the same Divine “love aspect” operates through another body, ready for the purpose. Someone may ask as to where does the soul of Sadguru go after he leaves his body. The soul of Sadguru is eternal, all pervading and always in the state of Parabramha or Almighty. All Sadgurus are the same spirit and are within each other as much as they are within God or in a state of God. There are five Sadgurus guiding the affairs of the Universe at any point even today and at all points of time to come. For example, if an ant were to move on the body of one Sadguru, the sensation will be felt by the other Sadgurus. Their personalities may seem to be different but their egos are one - the ego of the Oversoul or God. Being in God state whatever they say becomes the command of God for that time as also for all times to come.

While thinking of Shri Shirdi Sai, in the context of His Mahasamadhi day, we must remember that-:

Shri Sai, as the Param Sadguru is God, is in God and will always remain as God.
He had embodied Himself by the love aspect of God for the suffering lot, and that His kindness is unfathomable.
His job is to carry out the functions of God - creation, sustenance and destruction, and to lead souls in their spiritual journey towards Divinity. After leaving the body He is there in his God state, as a cosmic reality.
He is looking after His devotees and children as much today as He used to when He was at Shirdi.
His devotees may go on taking birth life after life, but Shri Sai will be there always to help and guide them towards happiness and spiritual evolution.
We must, therefore, make Him our mainstay of life and pray to Him with all our heart and soul.”…….

 

[SS91]

Shraddha And Saburi, Faith And Patience
The Sage of Shirdi, the Saibaba, emphasised two virtues for wellbeing: faith or shraddha and patience or saburi. The two virtues are complementary. Each is both, the cause as well as the effect of the other; and both are the means as well as the end of the other. Between them they contain a complete code of conduct for life.

 Shraddha is devotion. It is faith that helps one accept all happenings — the good and bad — with equanimity. Faith is what makes a disciple trust his guru and a child, its parent. Saburi or patience is not just the ability to overcome the urge for instant gratification. Patience is not the art of ad hoc management of mental restlessness. Patience is the intuition that inspires you to just be and wait for the will of God to unfold and work itself out. Patience helps you to live uncomplainingly, and so you are able to accept without anger what you know cannot be changed.


Patience is what enables a tree to let all its leaves fall without demur. The tree stands denuded, without a sense of shame, despondency or heartbreak. It stands as comfortably as ever. It lets the sun, the air, the rain and the season to work their magic. They denude it; they later laden it. The tree surrenders to them, not out of helplessness but out of natural design.

 When the season turns, tender new leaves dress it with flowers and fruits in due course. Patience is not to stoically brave winter in the hope of spring; rather, it is to accept spring and winter alike. It is to surrender with a joyous heart to the will of God as represented by the current moment and condition.

 Faith is the insight that tells you that patience and surrender to the will of God is the best course your life can take. Wisdom is in understanding and valuing both faith and patience. Patience is born of faith and in due course it serves to strengthen faith.

 If patience and faith are so intricately woven, why did the sage emphasise these as two virtues? Why did he not advocate either this one or that? If faith is exclusively emphasised, it can promote blind belief. On the other hand, if patience is singularly emphasised, it can lead to the shirking of responsibility and indolence.

 Patience without faith can become sloth. Faith minus patience can turn banal. Either way, the result will be counterproductive. In tandem, the two virtues uplift. If both patience and faith are required, which among these comes first? Where does one begin?

 Asking which came first, patience or faith, is very similar to asking which came first, the egg or the chicken? It perhaps depends on an individual's spiritual configuration as to which path suits his psyche best: faith or patience. Whichever route one may begin with, the two paths keep twinning and finally the two converge towards a common goal.

 Does patience of the tree-type not kill enterprise? Surely not! Otherwise the tree would never grow and bring forth its wonderful flowers and fruits! Yet, yes: patience and faith, as they mature and begin to lodge in one's mind, kill such enterprise as is inspired by sheer greed for material gain, unrelated to honest need.

 Greed is contra life and nature. Is there any religion anywhere in the world that has upheld greedy enterprise and glorified it? No tree competes with its neighbour to double its output just to outperform the other. The supreme enterprise in life is self-realisation. Patience and faith proactively support this enterprise.

Courtesy :K S Ram
The Times of India

[SS91]

The Guru is His Teachings 
By the light of the sun, the whole world awakens. By the light of the sun, darkness is banished, slumber gives place to wakefulness and sloth gives place to activity. By the light of the sun, all beings in this world see things, perceive things clearly. In darkness, one stumbles and falls, loses one’s way and is ever in danger of injury. In the light one is able to proceed, move towards one’s goal; one is safe from danger. All progress, all activity is temporarily suspended in darkness.

Thus the sun is the awakener; the sun is the enlightener; the sun is the marga darsaka (one who shows the path). It is the sun that guarantees smooth, unhampered progress towards each one’s destination. When the sun is not there, one is, as it were, blind, even though having eyes.

In the life of a sincere seeking soul, in the life of a jijnasu, a mumukshu, a sadhaka, a spiritual aspirant, the Guru is, as it were, the sun. It is the Guru that awakens us from our slumber of ignorance. It is the Guru who, by his light, banishes the darkness of ignorance and wrong notions that the jivatma has about life, and brings in the light of right reasoning, right perception and right thought. It is the Guru that also makes us see the way, through his own lofty, sublime personal example, through his own dynamic philosophy, through his own teachings and personal instructions.

It is the Guru that points out the path and makes us see the path clearly. He points out the pitfalls and dangers upon the path, makes us alert, vigilant, jagrit. And, even as the sun initiates activity, so the Guru inspires us to arise, awake, seek knowledge, attain illumination and become forever blessed. All this and more the Guru does.

And the effulgence of the Guru, the radiance of the Guru, the light of the Guru, is his teachings, jnana-upadesa. It is his message, his sandesa, his instruction, his adesa. These constitute the real Guru and these constitute real guru kripa.

 

[SS91]

The Master - A True Friend

Once a Master takes upon Himself immense load of responsibility and He tells the disciple that he is neither body nor mind nor intellect, but something more glorious - soul or spirit, Jiva realises that he is no longer a slave of his senses engaged in sensual pursuits, but finds an inner satisfaction, peace and serenity which keeps him engrossed all the time at the seat of the very Self. All this is the work of the Master, and much more besides. To wash clean a jiva from the impurities of the world is no mean task, but it is absolutely necessary for a spiritual life.

He has to be pulled up from his senses, mind and intellect, and this no one but a Master can achieve. To stop the course of the mighty rush of sensory currents flowing headlong into the world, and to hold them at one center, is a gigantic task in itself. After the preliminary cleansing process, He pulls scales from the inner eye and gives it vision and Light; and He breaks the seal on the inner ear, making the jiva hear the inner music of the soul. By His individual attention and care He makes an adept out of trash and scrap - capable of understanding and enjoying the unspoken language and unwritten law of God, and of doing actions without the aid of outer organs and faculties.

He always saves His disciples, no matter how dangerous a situation they may be in. His protecting arms serve as a shield and buckler, and the disciple leads a charmed life, as it were. The Master does all this simply because He has taken charge of a jiva; there is no obligation on the disciple's part, nor does he necessarily know about it. Again, the Master takes upon himself the burden of his disciples' sins and iniquities.

Sadguru is the real friend of the disciple. He saves him from tense and hopeless situations. He comes to his aid when he has despaired of all hope and relief, and is surrounded by seemingly powerful forces arrayed against him, From time to time the disciple feels the overpowering influence of the Master working for his good. At times He works in ways that are difficult for the disciple to understand. just as a mother waits in the early morning hours for her sleeping child to awaken, in the same way, even more anxiously, the Master looks forward wistfully to the time when His disciple, steeped in deep ignorance born of matter and mind, will raise his head, look toward Him and gladden His heart.

The loving care of the Master becomes more manifest at the time of the disciple's final leave-taking from the world. The Luminous Form of the Master appears to take charge of the departing spirit and guide it to the new world, to the judgment seat of God.

After that, He takes it to whatever region He thinks best, for further discipline and advancement on the path.

Last but not least, the Master feeds the jiva with the Bread of Life and quenches his thirst with the Water of Life (Naam) until he grows into spiritual adolescence and is capable of a certain amount of self-reliance. The touch of the spark of Naam God-in-Action or the controlling power of God) burns out the storehouse of unfructified karma of ages upon ages, thus rendering them incapable of germinating in the future.


 

Baba Said....
Baba said, "I do not need any paraphernalia of worship either eight-fold or sixteen-fold. I rest there, where there is full devotion".