DIVINE VISIT TO DELHI: AN AWAKENING - Review by Angus Cunningham
MARCH 2001 Volume 6 No. 8
Aum Sri Sai Ram!
Devotees all around the world celebrated Mahashivarathri on February
21st. Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba materialized 2 lingams on this
day. He named them each Kshema lingam, (which confers Kshema or welfare
on all) and Atma lingam (which represents our true Self). A video
showing these materializations will be available very soon.
This month we have more new books and several old books back in stock.
Following is a list of all the new books:
NEW BOOKS IN STOCK: -
| Avatar of the age Sathya Sai River of Bliss
Again & Again Thy Lotus feet I seek Prayers and rituals Sai Baba, His divine glimpses (Shirdi Sai) My Divine Sai My Reality – Sai Baba on Himself Along the new Silk Road |
Sathya Sai River of Bliss
Prayers and rituals My Divine Sai Along the new Silk Road |
SHIRDI SAI PARTHI SAI DIVYA KATHA—VIDEO Review by Bala
Mrs. Anjali Devi, the actress and an ardent devotee of Swami for a decade, produced this video under the guidance of Swami himself. The initial part of the Video portrays the first incarnation of the Sai Trinity, Shirdi Sai Baba. It shows his life from birth to death and then continues with his 2nd incarnation as Sathya Sai Baba until the age of 14. Mrs. Anjali Devi plays the role of Swami's Mother Easwarammah and Shirdi Sai Baba’s birth mother, where as Laxmi on the other hand plays the role of Shirdi Sai Baba’s adoptive mother. This set of video in 3 cassettes is 9 hour long. This video was originally produced as teleseries in Telugu and broadcasted for half an hour on Sundays. This film is excellent for children who are curious about Swami and his life. They will enjoy the humour and the scenes containing Swami's materializations. Sai Krupa International Inc directs all sale proceeds of this video to Swami’s Super Specialty Hospital in Bangalore. Mrs. Anjalidevi is expected to Visit New York early this month. Price of this set of 3 videos is $150.00;US$100.00.
OLD BOOKS BACK IN STOCK: -
| 70 Question & Answers
Sai Baba – My beloved mother Life & message of the Buddha Sai Consciousness Living divinity Mind into Heart In quest of God In search of a miracle A compendium of teachings of Sathya Sai Sai Baba A ray from the supreme Path of the pilgrim Baba Sathya Sai – Part II God lives in India Sai Baba Avatar |
God and His gospel
Sai Baba Man of miracles Glimpses of the divine Sri Vishnu Sahasranama Cutting the ties that bind Cutting more ties that bind Cutting the ties work book Sai Baba Gita A story of India and Patal Bhuvaneshwar Sai’s Story (Shirdi Sai) Tryst with Divinity Wife memorandum Hari Bhajan Bina, A song, the journey, our destiny |
| PURANAS: -
Markandeya Purana; Brahma Purana Kurma Purana; Brahmananda Purana Vamana Purana; Vayu Purana Varaha Purana; Linga Purana Matsya Purana; Brahmavaivarta Purana Padma Purana; |
LIGHTSTORM'S NEW BOOKS:
The L.A.D.D.E.R
|
DIVINE VISIT TO DELHI: AN AWAKENING - Review by Angus Cunningham
Dr. Achyuta Nand Dubey, a distinguished agriculturist, founded the Sai community in Belgium in 1979, nine years after first meeting Baba. He has made a beautiful 75th birthday present of an illustrated account of Swami’s visit to Delhi in March of 1999.
Devoting three very full days to visiting devotees in all sections of
the city, Baba took the occasion of the opening of the Sri Sathya Sai International
Centre to appear, with a long list of dignitaries, to enormous crowds.
From PM Vajpayee on down, the dignitaries and Baba spoke on the need for
unity and compassion in the face of dangerous international tensions.
A few years ago, the action of Vajpayee’s government in resuming nuclear
testing excited a matching response from Pakistan, and the world held its
breath. Thus Baba’s visit to Delhi 1999 was timely, and once again
he has shown us the way to peace. Supporting Vajpayee personally,
Baba did not mince words about India’s politicians generally. Saying
their behaviour since the British left had been the cause of disunity and
grievous social trends, Swami exhorted all to live up to the ancient, egoless
values of Bharat. He spoke of the sacrifices made by great Indians
of the past, and reminded his listeners – in inspiring speeches recorded
in this book – that the values they modeled for us today belong to all
humankind.
Swami also made a special case for India making friends Russia, China, and Pakistan. So, while the world press was astonished when, shortly before Christmas 2000, India declared, and has since indefinitely extended, a unilateral moratorium on military action in Jammu and Kashmir, Sai devotees who knew about Swami’s Delhi visit would know the source of such good news.
Rarely can we gain insight into Baba’s work on the world stage, and more rarely still in a beautiful presentation that all the family can enjoy. Dr. Dubey’s book gives us not only many wise and inspiring ideas to think about, but captures the essential spiritual dimensions of an historic occasion – in a format that all the family can enjoy. Price: $11.00;US$7.70
75 VIGNETTES OF VIVEKA
Guruji's Words Of Wisdom On Practical Vedanta
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s discourses in his mother tongue Telugu usually begin with a short and sweet poem. This book is a collection of 75 such poems. The poems are given in both Telugu and English scripts. In the beginning section of the book there is a ‘KEY TO PRONUNCIATION’ in case readers want to familiarize themselves with the Telugu alphabet and speech sounds. Each of the 75 poems is followed by an excellent translation into English and beautifully explained with illustrations using awe-inspiring short stories and incidents from modern world. In one of her illustrations the author (Professor Padma) narrates how Swami helps one of his student rid of his smoking habit. This book is meant for people who would like to start off on a spiritual saadhana (practice) or for those who are in the intermediate stage of the saadhana. The book helps us recognize our own faults, overcome them and makes us worthy candidates for liberation. This is a suitable book for teenagers and up. This would also make a wonderful gift! Price: $4.00; US$2.80
HUMAN
VALUES - THE HEART OF DYNAMIC PARENTING
by Paul Dhall and Tehseen Dhall from the Insitute
of Sathya Sai Education, Australia.
The authors state in their acknowledgements that the main inspiration for this book was the permission given to them by Sri Sathya Sai Baba to hold a Workshop on EHV (Education in Human Values ) for parents, to be held in Prashanti Nilayam itself.
All parents will know that the child’s education starts at home. This book therefore exhorts all parents to educate themselves in the nobility and virtue of human values, so that we ourselves may weave them into the fabric of our own lives, and pass their glory on to our own children.
This book highlights various reports commissioned by the Australian government, that have studied the needs of the children and youth to identify and correct underlying family and community factors responsible for the major challenges we face today e.g. children being bullied in school, lack of family connectivity, family violence and other issues. In a unique twist, the book also contains imaginative hand drawn illustrations which supplement the text creatively and expressively. These pictures bring out the current problem many parents face of having to face their children and pass values onto them, when they themselves are unsure and uncertain as to their meaning and potency. Swami’s teachings are being communicated daily through His discourses, which are discussed in the community in various human values workshops and Bal Vikas classes. The importance of this book is the urgency with which it stresses the importance of these workshops for all, even if we are want of time and inclination.
Baba emphasises, that having a family means we acquire additional responsibility. The book reiterates the obligations of parenthood. The book helps us to prepare ourselves mentally and emotionally for the care and well being of other members of our family by practicing human values, which are truth, peace, love, righteousness and non violence. We can appreciate what it means to have family time as a determinant of peace; communication patterns as determinants of non-violence and awareness and connectivity as determinants of Truth. Price:$7.50;US$5.25
PICTURES FROM THE HEART – A DELIGHTFUL GIFT FROM LIGHTSTORM
Pictures from the heart is a lovely book compiled by the musical group
called LIGHTSTORM, which is wellknown to many devotees of the revered Swamiji
Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The book contains many pictures of our beloved
Swamiji from the early 70s onwards. There are over 70 pictures followed
by articles about life, love and friendship that are very brief and yet
very inspiring and cheerful. Some of these articles also describe
Swamiji’s leelas (sports) that many of us may not have heard and which
are filled with compassion and yet very light and humourous. One
of these episodes describe the awesome and scary incident of how Neil Armstrong’s
life was saved by Swamiji on the moon. This book is highly motivating
and would make a wonderful gift for a friend or a family member.
Price: $30.00;US$21.00
[Ed.Note : We also have Lightstorms’ book Ten Steps to Keshava - $10.95;US$7.70
which describes their life’s experiences after meeting Swami]
THY WILL BE DONE – AN OFFERING BY CHANDUR D MIRCHANDANI
This book was written by Chandur Mirchandani whose family migrated to India from Pakistan as refugees during the partition in 1947. The family eventually settles down in Bombay where the author gets his first glimpse at Swamiji. The author faces lots of calamities in his life and is tossed around like a football. The circumstances in his life brought him to the brink of bankruptcy and acute depression. Swamiji’s grace keeps him floating on his sea of troubles. His frequent darshans and blessings of the lord transform him and his wife gradually. The lesson that we could learn from the author’s story is to be equal minded in all circumstances for equanimity is a very essential characteristic for any spiritual seeker and the reader can perceive the transient nature of this world. Price: $6.95;US$4.90
MY REALITY – SAI BABA ON HIMSELF
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba said, "Getting to know Me is also part of your destiny". And, in his compassion, Bhagavan Baba has over the last sixty years, given occassional glimpses of his divine glory and revealed in bits and pieces His Reality. V.I.K. Sarin considers himself singularly fortunate in that it has fallen to his lot to intensely study the vast Sai literature, including th Divine Discourses, cull out his pronouncements on His colourful personality and piece them together in this volume. The entire book is an attempt to touch in Baba’s own words the intangible and view the invisible. The matter which forms the bulk of each chapter has been taken from many sources and assembled in such a way that give appearance of being a continuous narration. Every word of the book is a faithful reproduction of Baba’s observations. Price: $8.25;US$5.80
SAI
EK ROOP ANEK – SAI IS ONE BUT FORMS ARE MANY - Review by Kan Narayan
The book is a collection of Mrs. Mahamaya Aggarwal’s divine experiences on how she got to hear of Swami, which was quite a few years ago and how Swami guided her and her family to continue to worship God in the name and form in which they have already accepted Him. Mrs. Aggarwal, being born in a middle class Bengali Vedic Brahmin family, was married to Mr. Mahendra Aggarwal of a Punjabi Vaishya family. Her narration is all the more fascinating as she takes us through her divine journey towards the goal of life, as laid out by Swami, to realise one’s inherent divinity. Swami’s message to her and all of us is to Love All Serve All, based on the Nine Point Code of Conduct and ten principles to be followed by the aspirant on a spiritual pilgrimage.
Mrs. Aggarwal has written in very simple words all her experiences including some of the miracles which Swami says are His visiting cards. In one of the miracles, she had to undergo a major surgery in the hospital at Puttaparthi, and yet strongly felt Swami being with her all through her stay in the hospital. This was confirmed later when Swami placed His hand on her head and said , "I am giving happy long life to you". After that with His soft charming smile Baba said, "Nothing of this sort will happen to you again". Mrs. Aggarwal goes on to narrate Swami’s words, "People think that if I do not take letters their messages do not reach me. But the moment a thought comes in anybody’s mind and even before a letter is written I come to know of it ". Reading Swami’s words and His messages through this book is a wonderful experience to all of us. Personally I have been blessed to have had this opportunity to read this book. Price:$4.00;US$3.00
A to Z – WISDOM OF SATHYA SAI - Review by Sanjay Madgal
Back in kindergarten, you were taught that 'A' is for apple and 'B'
is for banana. Well, it's time to re-learn the English alphabet Dr.
Aruna Nath's way. 'A' is for Abode of Peace (Prashanthi Nilayam),
'B' is for Bhagawan Baba, and 'C' is for Commandments of Sathya Sai.
What about the rest of the alphabet, you may ask. That's for you
to find out by reading this compact yet stimulating and thought-provoking
book. Dr. Nath has compiled this micropaedia with the aim of putting
the wisdom of Baba, the Vedas and the Universe together in one place for
easy reference. The title 'A to Z' is a fitting metaphor that captures
the all-encompassing nature of Baba's teachings within an entity that every
one of us can relate to - the alphabet!
This book begins with a brief introduction to Sai Baba and the Vedas.
The large print, compact size and simple, easy-to-understand language make
this book a must-have for all. Price: $5.50;CA$3.85
Jai Sai Ram!