From Team Venugaanam

We are delighted to bring you the 30^th edition of Venugaanam this November.  Starting with the precious discourse of our beloved SWAMI, we had given the latest updates on SKM along with some of the celebrations made.

In Atmajyothi, we further continue sharing the knowledge on devotion as indicated in Naradha Bhakti Sutras. Here we discuss the various aspects of the devotion.

The ‘Little Master’ and his experiences with Swami were further continued following Arun Gopal’s article on Sam’s Dilemma.

The issue ends with an article about “Obituary to Common Sense” sourced from London times.

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

World Needs Spiritual Transformation

A Divine Discourses by Bhagawan Shri Sathya Sai Baba during Makara Sankaranthi Day – 14-01-1985

THE four Purusharthas (Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha) are regarded in common parlance

as the purposes of human life. They are given a worldly meaning. But their real meaning is

spiritual. The foremost purpose of the four Purusharthas is to make man realise that his primary

duty is to divinise himself (to transform himself  from Man to Madhava).

The word Purusha does not signify the masculine gender as is commonly assumed. It refers to

the Atma, the Supreme Consciousness, which has no gender and which is immanent in all

beings. Of the two terms Purusha and Prakriti, the latter represents the gross element in Nature.

It refers also to the body. Purusha is the Consciousness, the Indweller in the body. The two are

interdependent. The sastras have declared that the body is jada (gross) and the Atma is

chaitanya (consciousness) and that the body is feminine. Every being can be considered as made

up of both elements and therefore everyone irrespective of sex, is entitled to pursue the

Purusharthas.

Sai Krushna Mandir Updates

There have been some important developments in December 2013. Though it was the coldest month of the year, there was no lack of warmth in the spirits of the children, and the management.

All of us celebrate birthdays and it is associated with fun and joy. Every child looks forward to its birthday party eagerly. However, some birthdays are novel, unique and special as they touch a larger section of people very directly thereby making it all the more memorable. For joy is doubled when it is shared. One such occasion was ANVI’s first birthday celebration with all our school children on Nov 29^th, 2013. 

Atmajyothi

by Shri Lakshminarayan Aithal

 

MEANING  OF  सिद्धो भवति

    17. The  person  who  has  obtained  the  Devotion  doesn’t  desire  to  have  the  following  accomplishments :  योगसिद्धि, तपस्सिद्घि, मन्त्रसिद्धि, etc.  Those  who  take  special  birth  among  demigods  are  called  semi-divine  beings (सिद्धाः);  and  they,  too,  never  obtain  everlasting accomplishments. Here,  सिद्धि (accomplishment)  means  a  devotee  with  the  Devotion  becomes  full  with  God  and  he  establishes  in  His  Form  alone  eternally;  this  is  called नित्यसिद्धि, the  Eternal  Accomplishment;  and  the  rest  of  the  accomplishments  themselves  settle  in  that  devotee.  For,  no  accomplishment  remains  outside  of  God.  If  it  is  so,  those  who  have  settled  in  the  Form  of  God,  do  they  desire  for  any  accomplishment ?

Sam’s Dilemma

by Arun Gopal

There were only a few times in his life that he did not know what to do. This was one such time. A smile crossed his lips. He wasn’t quite sure of what it meant. Was he happy?, was he nervous?, or was there a third option, perhaps an emotion that he hadn’t considered. He was sure of one thing though, today was his and nobody could take it away from him. The neighborhood was as he expected. The lanes were narrow, there was garbage everywhere and the whole place reeked of blood and vomit. But there was this one house that stood out from the rest of the neighborhood. 

Sachin Tendulkar and Sathya Sai - the story of the little master and his 'little' Master [ Continuation from last month’s issue]

By Aravind Balasubramanya

Source : http://aravindb1982.hubpages.com/hub/Sachin-Tendulkar-and-Sathya-Sai-the-story-of-the-little-master-and-his-little-Master   

When the Lord enters one’s life, all successes - spiritual and worldly alike - seem to come by too. And that is what seemed to happen in Sachin’s career too. The year 1998 proved to be the most successful year in Sachin’s entire ODI career spanning nearly 24 years when he made 1894 runs with the help of 9 centuries (in a single calendar year), a world record to date. He also made it a point to visit Swami and have His darshan whenever an opportunity presented itself. It was during one such visit to Swami’s ashram in Whitefield, Bengaluru, that he was blessed with an interview. After the interview, he spent a few minutes in the office of Sri B.N.Narasimhamoorthy, the then warden of the Brindavan campus of the Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. What he revealed there, during a short chat was simply amazing.

An Obituary to common sense

Source- London Times

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense , who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- And maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.