GURUVAAR PRARTHNA - 19/01/2017
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Our Beloved Sadguru Sainath, please accept our humble prayers on this Holy Day of Guruvaar. Baba, You said that it is our limitation of mind that we are unable to grasp and retain our essential identity as spirits. Even vedanta proclaims to us that we are not the bodies we wear, we are the Spirit Everlasting, the Spirit Universal, the Spirit Undecaying, the Spirit Supreme. We are the Atman, which is beyond birth and death. Yet, why do so many of us get caught in the chains of human bondage? Why do we allow ourselves to be entangled in the web of Maya? Why do we struggle in misery and suffering. Baba we don't know how to get out of this tangle, and we are looking a Light Supreme to erase our mind set and show the way to our Destination. On this holy day, we start our prayers by reading Your divine guidance from Shri Sai Samartha Satcharitra.
The horse is God's Grace. This is how the puzzle of the nine-fold devotion could be explained. Without devotion one cannot have a union with God and knowledge will not be acquired.
1) Listening 2) Singing the Lord's praises aloud 3) Remembering Lord Vishnu 4) Serving at His Feet 5) Offering prayers 6) Bowing down before Him 7) Being humble 8) Developing affection and 9) Surrendering the atma – these are the nine ways of devotion.
With full faith, even if one of these ways of devotion is practised, Sree Hari who longs for devotion will appear in the home of the devotee.
Chanting of the Lord's Name, practise of austerities, keeping of vows, practising yoga, learning of Vedas and Upanishads, abundance of metaphysical knowledge and its various explanations – all this is a sham without faith.
There is no need to be well-versed in the Vedas nor any need to be famous as a scholar. It is neither necessary to sing the praises of God without feeling. Only the loving sentiment of devotion is essential.
Consider yourself to be the merchant and grasp the significance of that transaction. When the flag of devotion, in the form of the nine-fold Bhakti, flies high, then the Incarnation of Knowledge will be pleased.
When the horse passed the nine balls of stool, the merchant eagerly went forward to collect them. Similarly the ninefold devotion, when adopted, gives complete peace of mind.
Only that will give stability to the mind, develop affection for every being, for which seriousness of mind is necessary. Otherwise waywardness is inevitable. This is what Gururaya said, with love ".
I bow down to Sree Ganesh
I bow down to Sree Saraswati
I bow down to the Guru
I bow down to the Family Deity
I bow down to Sree Sita-Ramachandra
I bow down to Sree Sadguru Sainath.
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Sarveshaam Svaastir Bhavatu
Sarveshaam Shaantir Bhavatu
Sarveshaam Poornam Bhavatu
Sarveshaam Mangalam Bhavatu
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanteeh
-(from Shri Sai Samartha Satchrita, Chapter 21, Ovi 94 - 101)
