From Team Venugaanam

We are delighted to bring you the 27^th edition of Venugaanam this October.  As we enter the festival of Navarathri, we bring excerpts from Swami’s Divine Discourse highlighting the significance of Dussera. Read this to know the divine meaning of Dussehra .

In Atmajyothi, we continue with a new series of discussions on Narada Bhakthi Sutras. These Sutras or aphorisms contain the secret of true devotion and highlight its glory.

T R Mist continues the new serialized story “the Night” which is bound to keep you hooked on. This issue begins with the episode entitled The Game of Shadows.

Lalita shares her views on service and how most of us tend to put off this most essential aspect of our life for later citing personal requirements.

 Breaking rules has become the order of the day and Bhargav brings out this trend humorously in the article- No Rear View Mirror.

Sowmya Roopa shares some special insights as part of her interactions with Bhagavan in the series entitled Golden Moments.

Sai Krushna Mandir is now bustling with activity as the four children have made it their home. To know more about the latest at SKM and how you can volunteer, read the SKM update.

We are happy to have your feedback on how to make ‘Venugaanam’ a better communication tool. Please mail us at contactus@saikrushnamandir.org . Do feel free to share with us your articles, thoughts and ideas.

We pray to Swami to bless all the children and inmates so that they may all come up to His expectations. May Swami turn our lives into a celebration of His message of love, sharing and caring.

With All our Prema,

Team Venugaanam

The True Spirit of Dasara

(A Divine Discourses by Bhagawan Shri Sathya Sai Baba during Vijay Dasami day, October 6,1992)

The celebration of Dasara in the Divine Presence of Bhagavan Baba every year is unique as it is accompanied by a week-long sacred yagna (sacrifice). Even more significant is the fact Bhagavan often speaks on many occasions during this celebration revealing many salient spiritual truths. One such discourse was delivered on October 6, 1992, on the last day of the celebration, called Vijaya Dasami Day. Here is an extract from that profound message. Let us recapitulate these words of Bhagavan as we rejoice in the Dasara celebrations of this year which starts from the 6th of this month.

All things in the cosmos are limbs of the body of Vishnu (God). Hence, no one should have any aversion to anything in the universe. You should not hate anyone, because the same Divine is present in you and in everything in the universe.

The cosmos has three forms: the gross, the subtle and the causal. The physical universe represents the gross form. The subtle form is the mind, and subtler than the mind is the Atma.

Atmajyoti

 

Laxmi Narayan Aithal

TWO  FORMS  OF  DEVOTION.

 Offering  a  leaf,  a  flower,  a  fruit,  etc.  with  Love  to  God  and worshipping  Him  through – studying  scripture,  chanting  hymns  of  praise,  etc.  are  endowed  with  a  part  of  love;  therefore,  it  is  also  called  devotion.  But,  this  scripture  doesn’t  deal  with  that  devotion;  forgetting  all  external  objects,  if  the  excellent  love  is  established  on  God,  this  Great  Love  itself  is  the  real  Devotion.  In  order  to  indicate  this  itself  characteristic  features  of  devotion  is  told : परमप्रेमरूपा, Form  of  Supreme  Love.

    Devotion  shown  through  worshipping,  chanting,  etc.  towards  God  is  called  the  secondary  one (गौणभक्ति). The  first  aphorism  tells : भक्तिं व्याख्यास्यामः, we  clearly  explain  devotion.  The  word ‘devotion’  is  primarily  the  Supreme One  of  the  form  of  excellent  love;  still,  as  a  king  comes  with  his  retinue,  so  this  scripture  has  also  explained  the  secondary  devotion  not  as  its  main  aim;  and  the  main  aim  of  the  scripture  is  the  Supreme  Devotion. The  first  meaning  of  the  word  भक्ति is  the  Supreme  Love  towards  the  Supreme  Self,  the  God.  This,  itself,  is  the  subject  matter  of  this  scripture.

Updates from SaiKrushna Mandir

September turned out to be a really busy month at Sai Krushna Mandir. With the blessings of Bhagawan Baba, trustee Vinod Cartic got married to Poornima on September 15 at Puttaparthi. The couple celebrated their union through a  Sai SathyaNarayana Puja and Grama seva on September 19,2013. The villagers of Hosadoddi, and teachers and children of the Sharavathi Kannada Higher Primary school welcomed and blessed the couple.

The children of Sai Krushna Mandir enjoyed the wedding at Puttaparthi. They were especially thrilled when they had darshan of Swami’s Samadhi at Prashanti Nilayam and heard their favourite bhajans being sung by a large group of devotees.

One of the members Dr. Jitesh Patel flew down from London to be a part of the wedding and visit Sai Krushna Mandir. He was very happy with the way the building had turned out and the affection shown by the children. The children were overjoyed with the books and cookies he brought for them from London.

After all the fun and frolicking came the dreaded exams. And like all children, they developed a new-found interest in bhajans, cleaning, stories, sleeping early and everything else except studying J. With much coaxing, cajoling, and pleading, they sailed through the exams. On September 29^th, with a heavy heart, we bid the children good bye as they left for their respective homes to spend the Dussera holidays with their guardians.

The silence and peace at Sai Krushna Mandir can be compared to the calm after the storm. But it only makes us realize what an integral part these children have become of our lives and we eagerly await their arrival.

We thank all the donors and volunteers who have been generously contributing towards daily expenses to run the children’s home, construction, setting up an RO drinking water system, solar lighting and maintenance of the building. We are also grateful to the volunteers who have devoted time to buying groceries, spending time with the children and helping them learn and catch up with their curriculum. We invite applications for a caretaker who will be paid suitably as per their experience and ability. Support staff families would be provided suitable accommodation and their children would be given appropriate educational facilities also.

 

We look forward to all your active involvement and participation in this God given opportunity. We also welcome you to come and visit the site and participate in the activities of Sai Krushna Mandir. We pray that Swami’s grace will crown our genuine intentions and He will continue to guide and bless the children and residents to live in a happy home and grow to His ideals.

Below are some photos of the Grama Seva and other events that took place last month:

Comfort Zones and Cozy Cocoons

 


Lalita Rao





I read an article on Dailygood.org recently that made me sit up and think. Thoughts and questions popped up and zinged into each other at top speed in my brain.

- When you wake up in the morning, what inspires you to act? to do something different? to change the world? to (most importantly, for me) get OUT of your comfort zone in order to accomplish something? What level of sacrifice are you game for, in order to serve and bring peace, joy, love and happiness to others (that are not your family and friends)?

The person who set off an avalanche of thoughts and questions is Maggie Doyne, featured in the Dailygood article. At 18, she woke up one morning and decided that rather than go to college, she would travel the world during her 'gap year' (the year between high school and college). She ended up in war torn areas of Nepal and stayed. Seeing the impoverished children breaking stone to sell for food, and rummaging through garbage to collect discarded items, did something to her. Before she knew it, she had opened an orphanage, started the Kopila Valley school and now, runs a Foundation called The BlinkNow Foundation. At 23, she is 'mother' to 40 kids in the orphanage and 300 in the school. You can read details of the story on any of the links given here. I believe that with the blink of an eye, we can all make a difference, she says. Maggie called her parents and had them wire her $5000 - her entire savings from part time jobs - and spent it on building up the school.