Who is a Sai devotee and what are the attributes a Sai devotee supposed to pos-sess? ..while many of us as-pire to tag the title ‘Sai devo-tee’ along with our names, let’s listen to Bhagawan’s own words, describing and defining a true Sai bhakta, Sai devotee, through a letter written by Him to a ‘devotee’, as published in Sanathana Sarathi, October 1964. For those who yearn to be saved, Sai Namam is the Sanjeevini, the potent drug. Those who have the Name ever on their tongues must be vigilant so that egoism and the sense of possession (Aham-karam and Mama-karam) do not rob them of the fruits of Sadhana. Really, man is Jnanaswarupa. Since the beginning of Time, man has deluded himself into believing that the world is true and eternal. He is him-

self basically Divine; but, through the influence of the fundamental delusion, he deceives himself into the belief that he is the doer, the sufferer, the beneficiary, the enjoyer etc. So, he is born again and again as a result of this attachment and is sub-jected to the buffetings of duality. He is drifting about in the sea of Samsara. Sathyaanveshana, the search for Truth ought to be the Nitya Kritya of Sai bhaktas, their daily activity. Prema ought to become their Swabhava, their very Nature. Bhava-shuddhi is more im-portant for them than Bahya-adambara, external finery. Be convinced that the Viswa is the Visweswaraswarupa Itself; look upon every ob-ject as suffused with Divini-ty, as Divine Itself. For, that is the Truth. Again, be en-gaged in acts that endow every moment of your life

with holiness and the fra-grance of sanctity. That is the true worship of “He Who Is Time Itself”, the Kala-Swarupa. It is not through their words or their songs that persons are judged as Sai bhaktas! Deeds must be good and correct; that makes the Sai bhakta. That gives joy to Sai. I like the purity of the feelings and emotions. Pravartana or Practice must be Pavitra, Pure. Do Right and Speak Right… Do not do wrong and speak of Right Conduct!

Continued on page 2

Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Message of the Lord -Who is a Sai Devotee?

The Savanne Regional Coor-dinating Committee (Region 1), is very grateful to Broth-ers Vishnu Ramdin and Siva Somanah Chairperson and Spiritual Coordinator respec-tively of the Central Council, Mauritius for having acceded to our request to launched the “Echoes from Region 1 -

Sai Newsletter” on occasion of the National Guru Poorn-ima celebration at Wootum Sai Centre on Sunday 28th July 2013.

We are also thankful to our readers who have expressed their appreciation over this new motive of Region 1.

Brother V. Ramdin, National Chairperson launching the Sai Newsletter

Launching of “Echoes from Region 1 - Sai Newsletter”

Echoes from Region1 Sai Newsletter

Savanne Regional Coordinating Committee (Region 1)

September 2013

Volume 1, Issue 2

Message of the Lord - Who is a Sai Devoteee?

1

Launching of “Echoes from Region 1 - Sai Newsletter”

1

Regional Operations Strategic Framework in Action - Conduct Family Bhajan/Prayer once a week

2

Past Events - Sathya Sai Vrat Kalpam and others

3

Echoes from Sai Centre and Groups

4

Offering Programme by Re-gional Youth

4

Forthcoming Events 4

Chinna Katha - We think

what we eat

5

Devotees Corner 5

Inside this issue:

OUR VISION

To drive Devotees to live

according to the teachings

of Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai

Baba

OUR MISSION

To SURRENDER and to de-

velop FRIENDSHIP with SAI

OUR GOAL

To consolidate the SAI FAM-

ILY by developing a SAI

CULTURE

OUR OBJECTIVE

To create opportunities for

the SPIRITUAL UPLIFTMENT

of devotees

As per our commitment in the Regional Operations Strategic Framework, we are please to put it into action and to come through the current issue of our Sai Newsletter, with the idea of conducting family bhajan/prayer once a week. It should rather remind us that it is one of the Nine Points Code of Conduct, gifted by Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to His Devotees.

There is an age old axiom, -'the family that prays together stays together'. Sai Baba is merely trying to remind us of this forgotten truth. In the early days families used to eat together and pray together, in recent times the notion of every man for himself seems to have crept into families too. Some Sai devotees have expressed this problem -'I am the only Sai devotee in my house - the rest refuse to accept Him - how can I keep to this point of the code?' Sai Baba does not say pray to Him! Have your family prayers in the traditional method of worship, be it Hindu, Christian or whatever. We need not even have Sai Baba's photo there, if this will help achieve the objective of weekly family pray-er and family unity. We should have HIM in our heart. Also, it does not matter if all refuse to join. Start the family

prayer with whoever is willing. Keep to a fixed date and time and continue with faith -let Sai Baba do the rest. Many such family prayers that started with one or two, now include the whole family. If need be, start alone and leave the 'door' open for others to hear your prayer and to join. The important thing to remember is not to be disheartened by the attitudes of others who do not join. Give them time! Not all buds bloom at the same time when the sun shines - but the sun does not give up - it shines daily and silently, and over time - all will bloom!! However, it is important to show that we have bloomed - through our prayers and other spiritual practices. Our family members should see the visible, positive transfor-mation in ourselves - that our spiritual paths have made us more loving, more kind, more gentle, more under-standing .. this will have a greater effect on non partici-pating family members than our actual 'prayer' itself and encourage them to join us, - i.e. we should make the whole day an extension of our morning and evening-prayers. Slowly, they will be drawn to the power that has transformed us and will join us. It is important to be aware that if we as wives and husbands, sons and daughters or fathers and mothers after starting prayers, after becoming 'born again', become intolerant, de-manding, insensitive to the physical or worldly needs of others, and take a 'holier than thou' attitude, then we will drive our family members away from our pray-ers. Moderation and love should be the key guiding factors.

Remember, the best way to promote your own peace and the peace of the world is to live in Truth and Love, through every act of your life. That will be Ramarajya indeed. You must have the vision appropriate to the Universal Love characteristic of True Bhakti. Have the Prema-maya-netra; then, the world will be for you, truly Brahmamaya. Serve Sai with Sat-Karma, Sat-Achara, and Sat-Vakya…good deeds, good conduct and good words. Serve Sai thus: Sai loves these most; that is the Truth of Sai.

…...continued from page 1

If you do not act the advice you give others, you are insult-ing the Name of Sai, that you have taken. Give up show, finery, and exhibitionism. Let your eyes be as soft and cool as moonlight, heart as soft as butter, words as sweet as honey. These should be the real characteristics of the Sai bhakta. Sai’s Reality is Samartha Prema; Sai Drishti is Sa-manjasa Prema. Those who are saturated with these two types of Prema are the true Sai bhaktas. Instead, if you cavil at others, if you hold forth your own pride, and if you struggle to gather riches, you become exiles from the Lord, and stray away from the spiritual path. The Lord does not care for objects; He cares for the subjective wealth of Pre-ma. Sai bhaktas must have full conviction of this.

Regional Operations Strategic Framework in Action - Conduct Family Bhajan/Prayer once a week

Message of the Lord -Who is a Sai Devotee

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Our Commitment and determination are to: Develop a Relationship with SAI; See SAI Everywhere; Bring SAI into the Family; and

Bring SAI into the Community,

Page 2 Echoes f rom Reg ion1 Sa i News le tte r

Volume 1, I ssue 2

Past Events - Sathya Sai Vrat Kalpam and others

Youths of Savanne presented a sketch on occasion of National Guru Poornima Celebration at Sai Centre of Wootun on 21 July 2013.

Page 3 Echoes f rom Reg ion1 Sa i News le tte r

Volume 1, I ssue 2

Our Commitment and determination are to: Develop a Relationship with SAI; See SAI Everywhere; Bring SAI into the Family; and Bring

SAI into the Community,

Sri Sathya Sai Vrat Kalpam was held on 21 July 2013 at the Shiv Shakti Mandir, Bois Cheri. The programme started with Omkar, Rudram, Nagar Sankirtan followed by rituals for the Vrat Kalpam Pooja.

Mahila Retreat was organized on 3rd and 4th August, 2013 at Anan-dam, Vacoas. The theme of the retreat was “Women and Spirituality”. We thanks the resource persons who addressed some 50 participants.

Regional Bal Vikas Quiz was be organized on 31 August 2013. The winners are Anthriksha Lochun, Sudipti Simathree and Eklavya Un-nuth who participated at National level on 31st August 2013.

Ekadasi Rudram was held at the Parameshwari Ananda Nilayam Ash-ram, Beau Climat, LaFlora. We thanks the Prasanthi Group for their devoted contribution. Swami Bless them all.

Spiritual outing for Bal Vikas was organized on 27th July 2013 at Regional level.

The Sathya Sai of Tyack was founded in 1988. The then

members did not have a specific place to meet and they

had to move from one place to another for bhajans and

other activities. With the blessing of Swami, a plot of land

was released by the Government in 1995 for the construc-

tion of a building to house The Sai Centre. Some 70 devo-

tees gather on Thursdays bhajan. The celebration of

Ganesh Chaturthi Festival and organising Sai Katha has

become an annual feature for the Centre whereby 450 to

500 persons usually attend.

Sai Katha has, since 20

October, 2011 become

an annual feature for

the Centre, that is, on

occasion of the decla-

ration of His Avatar-

hood, of Bhagwan Sri

Sathya Sai Baba. On

20 October 2013 the

Centre got the privilege to be honoured the presence of His Ex-

cellency Mr Rajkeswur Purryag, GCSK, GOSK, President of the

Republic of Mauritius for the Sai Katha. The President of the Re-

public of Mauritius stressed on the preservation of family values

and spiritual upliftment of our citizen in order to built up a re-

sponsible nation years.

National Sai Birthday Celebration will be organized at Sathya Sai Centre of Wootun

All Centres and Groups will be celebrating Sai Birthday on 23rd November, 2013.

The Savanne Regional Coordinating Committee will organ-ise Akhanda Bhajan on 9th and 10th November, 2013 at Sathya Sai Centre of Tyack.

National Mahila Day will be celebrated on 19th November at Hindu House, Port Louis.

Echoes from Sai Centres and Groups - Ganesh Chaturthi and Sai Katha at Sathya Sai Centre of Tyack

Forthcoming Events

Page 4 Echoes f rom Reg ion1 Sa i News le tte r

Volume 1, I ssue 2

2. Read Swami’s Discourses/Books Daily and Conduct Weekly Youth Study Circles

3. Engage in Selfless Service Activity as a Group 4. Practice of Dietary Discipline 5. Learn to Speak Softly and Speak Less 6. Take Active Part in Sai Centers 7. Improve Communication and Interact Respectfully with Par-

ents 8. Practice Ceiling on Desires by not Wasting Food, Money, En-

ergy and Time 9. Practice Daily Meditation and Prayer

Lord Sai bestow His Grace to all the youth and give them the strength to pursuit this Sadhana Programme.

The Regional Sai Youth of Savanne has, since 8th August 2013, embarked on a Sadhana Programme as an offering to Lord Sai and which will culminate on 23rd November 2013, for His Birthday. It is the second year that Regional Sai Youth of Savanne has undertaken this Sadhana Programme. All Sai Youth have been motivated to practice this Sadhana Programme as an offering to Lord Sai for His Birthday and to offer the fruits of their efforts, with humility and love, at the Divine Lotus Feet of our Beloved Swami. The Sadhana Programme consists of nine spiritual activities to be under-taken by Sai youth. Each action is a form of spiritual disci-pline and together they enable a singular focus on the Di-vine.

Spiritual Disciplines: 1. Practice Namasmarana - Chanting of The Lord’s Name

Offering Programme by Regional Youth

Chinna Katha - We Think What We Eat

Devotees Corner - Make God Our Priority

T h e r e lived in Mallur, in the state of Karna-taka, a p i o u s Brahmin who was

a great scholar. He had an equally devout wife. Always intent on worship, recitation and meditation, this noble man was known far and wide for his virtuous character. One day, a sanyasi (renunciant) called Nityananda came to his door seeking alms, this made the Brahmin extreme-ly happy. After giving him whatever he could that day, he invited the monk to come the next day too to have dinner with him as he was keen to honour the ascetic with due hospitality. So the next morning he hung green festoons over his doors and made elaborate arrangements to welcome the holy man. But, at the eleventh hour, physical impurity rendered his wife unfit to prepare food for the honored guest or for anyone else. At this moment, a neighbour volunteered to cook the meal and so she was brought in and introduced into the kitchen. Everything went off well and all were as happy as they could be under the circumstances. However, there was one issue which bothered the saint greatly; for some unknown reason during his meal he was drawn by an overpowering desire to steal the silver cup which the host

had placed near the plate. In spite of his best efforts, the evil idea won him over. The sanyasi was at rest only after he clandestinely hid the cup in the folds of his robe as he casually conversed with the Brahmin over the dinner. And after the meal he hurriedly returned to his dwelling lest somebody discovers his act. But that night the mendicant could not get a wink of sleep; his conscience pricked him constantly. He felt he had brought disgrace to his Guru as well as to the ancient en-lightened sages whom he invoked by the mantras he recited He could not manage a second of rest until he ran back into the Brahmin’s house the next morning. Once there, he fell at the feet of the noble host and submitted the stolen article with tears of repentance trickling down his cheeks. Everyone wondered how such a good man could stoop so low. Then someone suggested it might be that the person who cooked the food transmitted this fault to him through the food she prepared. And when they examined the history of the neighbour, they found she was in fact an irrepressible thief! The tendency to steal had, by subtle contact, indeed affect-ed the food she prepared. This is the reason why spiritual aspirants are advised to live only on fruits and tubers, when they reach a certain stage of spiritual achievement. To puri-fy the mind and the intellect for the correct reflection of the truth, the first caution is regarding the food one intakes. And this is no trivial matter when it comes to progressing on the spiritual path.

- Baba

We find time for what we really care about. We probably take the time to brush our hair and get ready each morning. Most likely we give some attention to responding to important calls or e-mails. And we do not miss out on important conversations with that someone special when he or she calls or stops by. So why it is that time with God is often the last thing on our list? We do it if we find extra time, but when other things come up; it is sometimes the first thing to go.

Could it be that we know God will forgive us? Meaning, that is his specialty, right? And we cannot always be assured our teach-er will forgive us if we are late or that a friends will overlook an unreturned call. So we take advantage of his forgiveness, know-ing that he will be waiting for us the next time. But why not just set time with God as our top priority? That way other things may not get done or other people may not hear back from us, but God will. We just determine that time with him is the last thing we toss out on a busy day. If we are willing to make that commitment, stop right now and pray. Ask him to help us commit to spending time with him each day, whether it is first thing in the morning, or before bed.

Everybody is after money, pleasures and other mundane things.

There is so much violence and corruption. What is the use of me being good, spiritual and a role model? Can I change the world and will it change?

First be good and spiritual and follow the right path set by our Beloved Lord. Be Happy, Peaceful, Loving and Wise. Say you are Happy, Peaceful, Loving and Wise for at least one year, then there is a high probability of one person to be attracted by your characters, way of living and be inspired by you.

At the end of another year, if both of you is Happy, Peaceful, Loving and Wise, there is another high probability of two more joining you and becoming like you. There will be a geometric progression because one is inspiring be action another one to be Happy, Peaceful, Loving and Wise. If we calculate how many will be good and spiritual in 30 years, which would be 1073741823. Suppose we are not perfect and we are only 1% successful, then it the figure would have been significant.

So forge ahead and try to be good and spiritual not only in your thoughts but action, everyday life. You will change good enough part of the world.

Ashwin Lochun

Page 5 Echoes f rom Reg ion1 Sa i News le tte r

Volume 1, I ssue 2

The others are part of yourself. You need not worry about them. Worry about yourself that is enough. When you become all right, they too will be all right, for you will no longer be aware of them as separate from you. Criticising others, finding fault with them, etc. - all this comes out of egoism. Search for your own faults instead. The faults you see in others are but reflection of your own personality traits. Pay no heed to little worries; attach your mind to the Lord. Then, you will be led onto the company of good people and your talents will be transmuted. Consider everyone as the children of the Lord, as your own brothers and sisters, develop the quality of love and seek always the welfare of humanity. Be like the bee, drinking the nectar of every flower, not like the mosquito drinking blood and distributing disease in return. If you continue to love, you will be loved in return.

Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sa Baba - Divine Discourse, Jul 25, 1958.

c/o Ajay Lochun

Kader Street

Bois Cheri

Savanne

http//:www.saibabamauritius.org

He addressed her, “I am

going; I don't belong to

you; Maya (delusion) has

g one ; My Bha k t a s

(devotees) are calling Me; I

have My Work; I can't stay

here any longer." When the

brother hurried home on

hearing all this, Baba only

told him, "Give up all your

efforts to 'cure' Me. I am

Sai; I do not consider My-

self related to you".

In spite of repeated pleas,

Sathya would not step into

that building again. He

moved in into the garden

of the Excise Inspector Sri

Anjaneyulu's bungalow,

and sat on a rock in the

midst of the trees. People

came into the garden from

all directions bringing flow-

20th October every year is

celebrated as the Avatar

Declaration Day. It is on

this historically significant

day in the year 1940 that

the young lad Sathyana-

rayana Raju revealed to the

world His Divine identity

and the glorious mission

on which He has come.

Sathyanarayana started for

school as usual. However,

within a few minutes, He

returned to the house.

Standing on the outer

doorstep, He cast aside the

books He was carrying and

called out, “I am no longer

your Sathya. I am Sai.” The

sister-in-law came from the

kitchen, only to be blinded

by the splendour of the

halo around Baba's head!

ers, fruits, incense and

camphor to worship Him.

The garden resonated with

the voices of hundreds

singing bhajans (devotional

singing) and following the

lines of the first prayer that

Sri Sathya Sai taught them.

“Manasa Bhajare Gurucha-

ranam Dusthara Bhava

Sagara Tharanam “

(O Mind! Meditate on the Feet

of the Guru, which will take

you across the wearisome sea of

Samsara or worldly existence.)

To celebrate this landmark

event in Baba’s life, the

Avatar Declaration Day is

celebrated every year with

devotion and gratitude.

Avatar Declaration Day - 20th October, 1940

Phone: 771-2875

E-mail: saisavanne@gmail.com

Sai at your Doorstep

Vibhuti Abhisekam

Savanne Regional Coordinating Committee (Region 1)