Sai Spiritual Education Quarterly e-Magazine North Central Region, USA

First Quarter, 2013

Editorial We offer our most reverential pranams at the lotus feet of our beloved Lord Sri Sathya Sai Baba!! We are delighted to bring to you this first issue of SAI BLOSSOMS, a regional quarterly magazine, dedicated to the cause of Sai Spiritual Education (SSE). The grand objective of SSE program is blossoming of the spirit of the children; accordingly, Sai Blossoms intends to capture snap shots of this blossoming through their wondrous contributions. In this periodical, you can expect to see thought-provoking and heart-warming articles by SSE students of various Sai Centers of North central region, as well as YAs, teachers, and parents. Children and others are requested to consider contributing under various permanent features – Sai Experiences, Sai Values, Precious Health, and Sai Trivia. Of course, they may contribute in the non-classified category with short essay, article, artwork, puzzle, or in any form that their creativity can take. Sai Blossoms is revamped SSE Matters with revised name, format, frequency, and several added permanent features. We want to take a moment to thank brother Dr. Ashok Hosangadi for serving as Editorial Advisor of SSE Matters for five full years since its introduction. His vision and dedication started and maintained SSE Matters, first as a periodical of Detroit Metro Center and then as a periodical of North Central region. It is of utmost importance for all of us to practice the human values in our daily lives, as set forth by our beloved Bhagavan. The “Sai Values” permanent feature is for sharing how we are living our lives according to His teachings and we are blessed to have a number of contributions in this issue under this column. We would like to take a moment to thank these children and all the authors for contributing to this inaugural issue. We thank our beloved Lord for the opportunity offered to us to spread His glory and message through the Sai Blossoms newsletter and for making our efforts worthwhile. Please note that there is a new mechanism implemented for giving feedback to the author of each contribution which you are encouraged to use. Please use the email address [email protected] for giving general feedback as well as for making submissions towards the next issues. Hope, you enjoy the issue. Jai Sai Ram! Raj Prakash (Editor)

Sai Blossoms – First Quarter, 2013

Akhil Nistala (Student Editor)

Maithri Malladi (Student Editor)

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Sai Experiences DIVINE ENCOUNTER IN MICHIGAN Loving Sairams to everyone! At the outset, I would like to offer my most humble salutations at the divine lotus feet of our beloved Lord Sri Sathya Sai Baba. I am eternally grateful to our dearest Lord for choosing me as an instrument to share one of the most amazing divine miracles that happened in our home in Troy, Michigan. The experience was truly an exhilarating one and I pray to Swami and seek His divine guidance for finding the right words to describe it. Before I start recounting the details of this incredible divine experience, let me introduce you to my family. My husband (Dr. Narayanan) and I have been married for the past 18 years and have been fortunate to be in Swami’s fold for more than 25 years. We are blessed with two sons, Saikishen (13 years) and Saisharan (9 years). Like most Sai families, bhajans, SSE classes, regular prayers, and satsang have been an integral part of our life. My husband enjoys singing bhajans, while I love to chant various slokas. Our children also regularly chant their prayers from veda. Swami often says, “Wherever My glory is sung I shall manifest.” As promised, Swami did show His divine presence at our home on several occasions through manifestations of vibhuthi, kumkum and amrit on pictures of several deities in our altar for the past four years. We have visited Puttaparthi for several years now and were fortunate to have Swami’s darshan on many occasions. Yet we never had any close interaction with Swami or a chance to even speak with Him. Since I missed talking to Swami in person, I started to converse with His divine pictures at our home. I would often talk to Him at our altar or in the kitchen. Swami has been patiently listening to countless hours of my offkey bhajans, tattle-tales, sob stories as well as many happy memories. We have invited our Omnipresent Swami to appear in His physical form at our home on several occasions like Krishna Jayanthi, Hanuman Jayanthi etc. Our immense faith in Swami gave us the confidence that He would definitely come and we started preparing ourselves to receive the LORD Himself. As part of this process, I had given clear instructions to my children on what they were supposed to do when He actually came. The kids had prepared a long wish list that included getting an autograph from Swami and taking a family picture with Swami. Time flew by and a few years later, Swami decided to fulfill these desires and manifested Himself in His physical form. This divine encounter happened at our home about one month after Swami’s Mahasamadhi in 2011. On the 25th of May 2011, Swami visited our home around 5:15 pm. I was out of the house with my younger son for his math lessons, while my older son stayed at home to work on his school project. My husband was on his way home from work and this was the first time that my older son has ever stayed at home all alone. We now realize that this was all part of Swami’s divine plan. While Saikishen was working on his project in our living room, he heard the back door of our home open and at the same time saw a metal hanging on the wall fall to the ground. He got a little scared and began to play some bhajans on his computer and continued with his work. A few minutes later he felt that someone was standing very close to him in the dining room. As he looked up, Saikishen was taken aback and stunned by what he saw. He saw the divine form of Lord Shiva standing right in front of him. Saikishen recounted to us later on, that Lord Shiva was in His grand form with Ganges flowing from His head, a live snake around His neck, His hands holding the trishool and the damaroo, and His THIRD EYE was wide open and clearly visible. He could feel tremendous amount of energy and radiations as he was having the darshan of Lord Shiva. Little did Saikishen know that this was just the tip of the iceberg as more wonders were yet to come.

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Subsequently, Saikishen had a continuous darshan of 11 divine AVATARS – one after another right in our living room. The following divine avatars appeared in front of him and blessed him one after another, Lord Shiva, Lord Mahavishnu, Lord Rama, Lord Narasimha, Lord Vamana, Lord Ganesha,

Lord Kartikeya, Lord Hanuman, Lord Shirdi Sai Baba, Lord Sathya Sai Baba and Finally Lord Prema Sai Baba. During this time, Saikishen was completely frozen in the couch and felt his hands were getting cold. All the avatars had their right hand in a blessing posture and carried their weapons as mentioned in the scriptures. Each darshan lasted for about a minute or so before the next began.

After appearing initially, Lord Shiva transformed to the handsome form of LORD RAMA. Lord Rama was tall, bluish in complexion and carried His bow and arrow. Saikishen was able to notice clearly the attire, jewels and crown worn by Rama. The third Avatar was LORD MAHAVISHNU, with four hands, each hand holding the sankha, chakra, gadha (conch, wheel and mace) and the fourth hand was blessing him. The Lord was smiling and showered him with so much love that Kishen was completely swept off his feet by this wonderful experience. The fourth avatar was the NARASIMHA AVATAR, one of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu who has the head of a lion and the body of a human. Then Saikishen saw a little brahmin boy, carrying a wooden umbrella, a water jug or kamandalu and some scriptures in hand. It was indeed the VAMANA AVATAR. LORD KARTHIKEYA, also known as MURUGA, was the sixth diety who brought His pet and His vehicle the peacock along with Him. Muruga, the embodiment of beauty carried His weapon - the spear or vel as it generally called. His elder brother LORD GANESHA, the remover of obstacles, followed Him. He was accompanied by His pet and vehicle the mooshika (the tiny mouse). Then came the majestic HANUMAN, huge and powerful, holding the mace on His shoulders. He put down His mace and rested it on the table near our television, blessed Saikishen with both hands and then walked away. The last three avatars were the three Incarnations of the Kali Yuga- SHIRDI SAI, SATHYA SAI AND PREMA SAI. Shirdi Sai was very tall and looked similar to the form we have seen in pictures and our beloved Swami was His compassionate self, showering all His love and grace. We have all seen some paintings of how Prema Sai would look like and the darshan of His form was quite similar to Lord Jesus. He had a beard and Kishen could only get a glimpse of Him. His eyes were watering and completely glared by the powerful rays of light and he could not see clearly. He also felt tremendous amount of heat and energy in the house which was caused by the presence of these divinities. Prema Sai then transformed back into our beloved Swami. By now, Kishen was completely overwhelmed by the experience that he was having and ran upstairs to his bedroom, closed the door behind him, put a laundry tub as a stopper for the door and called me on my cell phone. He was in a state of shock and started crying and told me that “Swami actually came home.” Meanwhile, our beloved Swami appeared in his bedroom and was sitting on his bed. Swami smiled and blessed him and spoke in Telugu for about 10-15 minutes, pacified him, rubbed him on his chest and blessed him. I was giving instructions to Kishen to offer water, food to Swami and take His padanamaskaar but he was in no mood to listen to me. Since our mother tongue is Tamil, he could not follow what Swami was speaking, except for a few general words like chaala santhosham, manchidi etc. In the end, Swami spoke to him in English and said, “You have done a lot of good and so now I have come to do good to you. I shall come back again ……….together!” Swami then left after giving His blessings. We reached home just about when Swami had left. His timing is always perfect and I guess the darshan was meant only for Kishen. My whole body was shivering as I entered the house, as we felt divine vibrations all over the house. He narrated the entire experience in detail and I wrote it down in my journal. We were all so charged-up recollecting the whole episode again and again that we couldn’t get a wink of sleep that night. Swami had also left behind some vibhuthi on pictures in the altar and kitchen. Swami responded to our prayers, accepted our humble invitation and came to our home to shower His love and blessings.

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I am sure time will unravel the deeper meaning and significance of this unique experience. We are praying and hoping that Swami will come back again to give Darshan, Sparshan and Sambashan to everyone very soon! As I think of the millions of Sai devotees around the world, I feel each and every one of us are extremely blessed and fortunate to have seen and experienced Divinity in countless ways, when GOD descended on earth as an INCARNATION! This is by far the most amazing and priceless gift we can ever receive and we shall cherish it FOREVER! LOVE YOU SWAMI! Mahimaa Narayanan

Group I SSE Teacher, Detroit Metro Center Email us your Feedback

PRACTICING MEDITATION The reason I am talking about meditation is that at home I always seem to get mad for small things. We learn in Balvikas that meditation can do different things for different people, but for me personally, I want it to help me learn how to calm down. Thanks to the Sai Center and our SSE classes, I have been introduced to the concept of meditation. We have jyothi meditation every week. Even though I don’t always practice this at home, I am glad I get to practice meditating at center. I want to be able to start meditating on some level at home in the near future. But we have learned in Group 2 that there is more to meditation than just closing eyes and sitting still. We have learned that when we meditate, we are trying to become one with God. Let’s see what Swami says on meditation.

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Shivesh Sankar

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

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Sai Values PRACTICING VALUES Value: Peace - Subvalue: Contentment What do I understand by this value/subvalue? If you are not happy with what you have and all you want is more, there is no room for any peace in your mind. Contentment is being happy with what you have and not wanting more. How do I apply this value in life? I apply it by being grateful with what I have. I try not to buy unnecessary things for myself or others. I avoid thinking “I want this, I want that” for things that are not needs. What changes do I see in myself? I used to dislike going to the homeless shelter, but now I changed my attitude about the shelter. I opened up to people. Gayathri Mudigonda

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

PRACTICING VALUES Value: Peace - Subvalue: Discrimination/Conscientiousness To apply Discrimination/conscientiousness in everyday life, think about the consequences of your thoughts, words, and actions, and ask yourself if violence will solve your problems. After I learned about nonviolence and discrimination, I am now more aware of the consequences of violence and non-violence. Mahathi

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

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PRACTICING VALUES Value: Love and Sub-value: Forbearance I learned that if someone does something that hurts you on accident or on purpose, you should not be angry; just ignore it! Love is when you show your good feelings to anyone or anything. Forbearance means to tolerate others’ anger and difficult situations. How do I apply this value? I apply this value by speaking politely to everyone and by trying not to hurt anyone’s feelings through my thoughts, words, or deeds. For example, I try showing love to my parents by talking politely to them and showing love to them. I try not to be angry with them. Another Example: One day some of my friends hurt another friend's feelings by calling her names. I told them that what they did was wrong and I showed love by consoling my friend who was being called names. I spent time with her and entertained her so she could forget her pain. Example: Another day I hurt my mom's feelings. Later during the day I felt guilty and I apologized to my mom and told her that I am trying not to hurt her feelings. I like that I felt guilty when I did something wrong. Example: One day in fifth grade, five of my classmates were sitting at a table. One of them started annoying me. She did not stop. At first, I felt a lot of anger, but then I told myself, ''One minute!''. Then I first controlled my actions, then I thought of my words .Since I controlled my deeds and words, my mind soon calmed down. This is how I practiced forbearance. Sai Namitha Salian

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

PRACTICING VALUES Value: Love and Sub-value: Compassion Some of the values I have learned helped me in school. One day I found a kid who was sad and lonely and missed his parents. I went and cheered him up. He was never lonely again. Another time, I found out that one of my friends had a cousin that could die in a few days. I felt bad and made him feel better. It actually worked! Sometimes, I did not succeed. Once I was playing a game with my friends and the ball hit one of my friend’s eyes. He was sitting in the corner for 5 to 10 minutes. I really wanted to cheer him up, but I’d miss the game. I knew I could do better. So this way there were many opportunities for us to use the values we learned in our daily lives. Tarun Nandakumar

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

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PRACTICING VALUES Value: Love and Sub-value: Compassion My understanding of love is to have a good or positive feeling to everyone and everything at all times. My understanding of compassion is feeling the pain of others and taking positive steps to reduce that pain. How do I apply love and compassion? I will give you a few examples on how I applied love and compassion. I went to India a few years ago. In India, I saw a lot of poor people. They were begging on the streets asking for alms. I felt love and compassion for them and I helped them. I will never forget the happiness on their faces when I helped them. Here is another example of a time that I did not think about using love or compassion. One time my brother and I had a really big fight, and at that time, I wasn’t thinking about love and compassion and I just whacked my brother. I felt really good at that particular time, but then after some time, I started feeling really guilty. So I went and told my brother that I was sorry. And from then on, I tried to control my anger and my temper. What changes do I see in myself and in people around me because I am using love and compassion? My friends at school have started to enjoy being around me. Also, when I get in a fight with my brother, I try to stop it. All this is happening because I am stopping to think about love and compassion. Shivakriti Induri

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

PRACTICING VALUES Value: Love and Sub-value: Patience Patience is an ability to suppress restlessness or annoyance. For me, patience is tolerance or understanding in something. Swami says, “Patience is all the strength that man needs.” I have started to use patience in my daily life. For example - I used to blurt out answers; I now raise my hand and wait for my turn. I can also wait longer for my mom to read me a story and when she doesn’t have the time, I can understand and have patience to wait for the next day. I can listen better and wait as well. However, sometimes I forget to use my patience and make not so good choices. For example, when my friends or family are really annoying me, like my older sister, I might lose my patience. Sometimes this can make them feel bad, but I would want them to know that it was my fault and not theirs. Aditya Jambhale

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

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PRACTICING VALUES Value: Love and Sub-value: Forbearance Forbearance is a very special subvalue for everyone because it is a tool that allows us to deal with anger. One time when I was playing outside, I met a kid that wanted to play with me and my friend, Shray. Since we thought he was nice, we let him play. After a while, we realized that he was pushing me and Shray and was very rough. After that, Shray and I told him to leave. We went and told our mom about this situation. She said that it was not right to hurt him even though he was wrong. I was just so angry at him. The next day, we went and called him back. I thought about what my mom said and became nice to him, and gave him another chance. I clearly told him the rules to the games that we were playing. After a while, we started to play basketball. Again he was being mean and annoying. When I shot the ball up into the air, I missed and he started to yell at me. Finally, I used some of Swami’s strategies, made a good excuse to go home, and controlled my anger without hurting anyone. Saathvik Sunkum

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

PRACTICING VALUES Value: Love and Sub-value: Wisdom Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba taught us, and made practice daily– “Start the day with love, Spend the day with love, Fill the day with love, End the day with love ….that is the way to GOD.” I try to put this quote in my daily life as much as I can. When I wake up, I greet everyone with a smile, and possibly hug my parents and my sister. I watch my words and actions in school, whether I am playing with my friends or am simply talking to them in the lunch room. I always raise my hand and speak softly to my teacher. I also tickle and sometimes tackle my sister with love. That is in my perspective spending and filling the day with love. Before I go to bed, I always greet everyone at home, greet myself, and chant a few slokas with love. I am using wisdom in my daily life by thinking – should I do this or should I not, when I am making decisions – such as, should I play the Wii, or Basketball, or do my homework, or do the practice of the other special things? Lastly, I would like to share what I am currently working on… ….I am trying to control my temper, especially when I am frustrated and also when I am asked to stop watching too many basketball games on TV or on mobile phone. I am trying to understand the value of time particularly when I have lots of homework and other things to practice. Balakrishna Brahmandam

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

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PRACTICING VALUES Value: Non-Violence; Sub-value: Harmlesness We should never hurt anyone even when we are angry. Anger is a strong feeling; - our own inner peace should be stronger than our anger. We should practice to control our anger. Maybe, we can practice this by observing situations where we could get angry and we could control by watching our thoughts, words and actions. This will help develop non-violence. I practice non-violence and peace when I get angry. The first thing I do when I get angry is to be quiet. I practice not saying any words until I calm down. I calm myself down by singing bhajans or remembering a prayer in my mind and thinking about Baba. I like to play my Nintendo DS but I am trying to cut down the time I spend on my games because Baba says “Television is Tele-Visham” – my teacher told me that this means too much electronics can poison our minds. I am practicing to learn to sing and play more bhajans and learn Vedam also. Pranava Sai

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

PRACTICING VALUES “Love All, Serve All” During Christmas season, I enjoy singing Christmas carols at Mayfair and Arlington Court nursing homes and cheering up the old people as they need some company. At home, I try to help my mom and dad by doing some chores like setting up the table for dinner, putting away the dishes, and playing with the kids who my mom watches. I respect what my mom and dad tell me and try to follow their directions. But there are times when I do not like what they say and might not do everything they ask me to do. I know that I have to improve and listen to all their directions. Ananth

Group II SSE Student, Columbus Center Email us your Feedback

DOING THE RIGHT THING I donated some of my Christmas gifts to the Salvation Army “Adopt-A-Family” program. I did this because there are some children whose parents cannot afford to buy gifts for them and they don’t have toys to play with. These children would not be able to play and have fun if others (who have lots of toys) did not share some of their presents with them. After giving away all but one of my presents, I felt very happy and I hope the children who received my gifts felt happy also. Anvesha Guru

Group I SSE Student, Milwaukee Center Email us your Feedback

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HELPING MY GRANDMA When I help my Ammamma up and down the stairs, find her medicines and eye glasses, and put the television on for her so that she can see her favorite Hindi TV shows, I feel good. Why do I feel that way? I feel good because I am helping someone. But why do I help my Ammamma? At first, I used to feel reluctant to stop what I was doing and go help her. I would only do something for her when she asked for my help or my mother would ask me for that. But then Swami started reminding me that I should help her myself. Now I always help my Ammamma. Like my mother and my Balvikas teacher tell me –

Help others, for good things. Don’t be mean, just be kind. Think of others, before yourself. Just be kind, and help others. Anushka Guru

Group I SSE Student, Milwaukee Center Email us your Feedback

THE RIGHT THING At the start of the year, my school had a service field trip to pack meals for hungry children in Africa. Each bag consisted of grain, rice, herbs, flour, and vitamins. We measured, poured, weighed, and glued every bag, and then we put them in boxes. At the end of the day, we had made about 6,000 bags. I was so happy for the children who would receive nourishment from the food that I helped make. “Engage yourself in service activity. Consider social service as service to God. This is the best way to earn God’s Love. Love all and serve all. Your entire life will be sanctified thereby.”-Sai Baba Although it will not always benefit you personally, service is always good for your soul. It sanctifies you, meaning it purifies your soul and makes you feel that you did the right thing. The service activity made me feel like I achieved a goal – I felt I had accomplished a great deal – I felt happy and full of joy. As Swami says, service to anyone is service to God. Anisha Guru

Group III SSE Student, Milwaukee Center Email us your Feedback

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Precious Health BENEFITS OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE FOR CHILDREN

* * * * * * * * * * * * * First Level Benefits * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1. Exercising improves blood circulation.

2. Exercising detoxifies the body.

3. Exercising improves the digestive power (agni).

4. Exercising improves sleep.

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* * * * * * * * * * * * * Second Level Benefits * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1. Exercising makes immune system stronger.

2. Exercising supports height growth.

3. Exercising makes mind better. (Concentration, memory, intelligence)

4. Exercising increases energy.

5. Exercising balances weight.

Raj Prakash

Editor Email us your Feedback

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Sai Trivia 1. Can you complete the following quotes from our Beloved Bhagawan? a. Prasanthi Nilayam is not My home; My home is your _______. b. Education is for life, not for a _______. c. _______ is for the mind what food is for the body. d. Names are many, but _______ is one. e. Tell me your _______ and I shall tell you what you are. 2. Jesus Initially said, He was the _______ of God. Later He said, He was the _______ of God. Finally, He said, My Father and I are _______. 3. Do you know the following prayer: O Lord, take my ______ and let it ______ in fullness of devotion to Thee; O Lord, take my ______ and let them ______ incessantly for Thee; O Lord, take my ______ and let it be ______ in One with Thee; O Lord, take my ______ and let them be in ______ with Thee; O Lord, take my ______, and let me be an ______ to work for Thee. ANSWERS: 1.

2.

3.

Can you complete the following quotes from our Beloved Bhagawan: a. Prasanthi Nilayam is not My home; My home is your Heart. b. Education is for life, not for a living. c. Prayer is for the mind what food is for the body. d. Names are many, but God is one. e. Tell me your company and I shall tell you what you are. Jesus Initially said He was the Messenger of God Later He said, He was the Son of God Finally He said: My Father and I are One. Do you know the following prayer: O Lord, take my love, and let it flow in fullness of devotion to Thee; O Lord, take my hands, and let them work incessantly for Thee; O Lord, take my soul, and let it be merged in One with Thee; O Lord, take my mind and thoughts, and let them be in tune with Thee; O Lord, take my everything, and let me be an instrument to work for Thee

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This issue is offered at the Lotus Feet of our Beloved Bhagavan!! Sai Blossoms – First Quarter 2013

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