Florida Shirdi Sai Temple

1.1 Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi, to His devotees, has come to stay as`Para Brahma Swarupa' (God Incarnate), Supreme Spirit, Primary Cause of the universe and Pure Consciousness. Baba lived a saintly life at Shirdi during the period 1858-1918. His actions are unique in nature, diverse in purpose and different in
character. Baba showered His grace on the devotees in multiple ways -- to some He appeared in dreams, to some in physical form and to selective few He showed His Godly form (Self).

1.2 Lord Sai extended His helping hand and blessings to many `Sadhakas' who tread the path of self realization through meditations. In the process, Swamy (Baba) made the Sadhaka look for internal divinity and upliftment of the soul through constant guidance either by way of direct communication or through messages.

1.3 The author with the blessings of Sri Shirdi Sai underwent all experiences indicated above covering a period of sixteen years (1978-94). Nearly hundred and ninety three messages received directly from Baba were made available to the devotees and readers by way of printed books. The purpose of the present
book is to cover another thirty five messages received in meditation with focus on enlightenment from Sri Sai Baba on "Salvation of the Soul". This is a "Process" and "Sadhana" and has to be pursued sincerely through ones life for the end purpose of holy communion with the Lord (Sai Baba).

2.0 PATH FOR GOD REALIZATION

Meditation
2.1 In ancient times, there used to be ample scope for an individual to choose mountain caves or dense forests for meditation to understand oneself and realize the truth (God). This is not possible for every one today. In the present day world, with several stresses playing dominant role on the physical and mental framework, human being is looking forward to develop the inner spirit. For this purpose, control of body and mind are essential through meditation. Similarly, soul needs to be uplifted and purified through prayer and meditation.

Sacrifice
2.2 Sacrifice to God is an essential component of `Sadhana'. Surrendering passion, possessiveness, desire etc. constitute an important element of such `Sadhana'. Service towards betterment and welfare of humanity is sacrifice to God. It helps to cleanse the heart and also promotes firm-faith in the Lord. Through purity of heart, upliftment of soul is ensured. An elevated soul through sacrifice finds a place with the Lord (God Almighty).

Namasmarana
2.3 Namasmarana is a kind of prayer by way of repeating the name of God (Sai). The process of chanting the precious name of God (`Om Sai Ram' or `Om Sai Sri Sai Jaya Jaya Sai', Allah Malik, Baba and so on) with pure heart is one of the important steps in Sadhana. It has tremendous spiritual potential and almost takes a `Sadhaka' nearer to the final goal of God realization. In essence, salutary effects of `Namasmarana' are as follows:

Cleanses the environment in and around the prayer spot or dwelling.
Tears off `Maya', curbs passions.
Puts strength into the body (to see God and communicate with Him)
Develops concentration on "Reality".
Builds up detachment.
Bliss descends.
Bestows enlightenment (Gyana Jyothi).
Ultimately, the total effect of "Namasmarana" results in the development of an "elevated soul".

Liberation
2.4 Human being is subjected to `Karma' for his actions in the past lives as well as the present one. It is cumulative in effect. Redemption from `Karma' in its duration, magnitude and intensity is in the hands of God. As such, faith in God and prayer to Him are essential to eliminate `Karma'. `Namasmarana' is one of the potent sadhanas which washes off `Karma'. Complete annihilation of `Karmic action', arrests rebirth and thus builds-up a state of liberation -- freedom from `Karma'. It is only through complete elimination of `Karma', the soul ceases to have any further life and merges with the Lord (God).

Elevated Soul
2.5 Soul is like an uncut diamond. Just as a diamond needs to be cut and polished on several edges and faces to reveal its true brilliance, so also the soul needs to be purified through various steps of `Sadhana' -- prayer, penance, sacrifice, service and surrender to the Lord (Baba). Single elevated (evolved) soul saves the sins of millions of people. As such, evolution of millions of people. As such, evolution or upliftment of the soul is important in the process of God realization.

Salvation of the Soul
2.6 Sacrifice and surrender to the Lord (God) are needed for salvation of the soul. Desires of the body have to be suppressed through meditation to brighten the soul. The only hope and path for deliverance of the soul from bondage to the body and rebirth is prayer. Wisdom derived through `Sadhana' put into practice salvages the soul for eternal bliss. Through `Sadhana', one can also awaken the Divinity within and free the soul from bondage. The process in totality, if pursued, would help complete merger of the soul with the Almighty (`Moksham').

`The Process'
3.1 Various steps in `Sadhana' elucidated above, put together constitute "The Process". At times, in the pursuit of spiritual path, additional undefined `Sadhanas' and "The Process" are intertwined giving double strength to the cord woven for God realization. The attached sketch symbolizes various steps involved in "The Process".

Prayer and Messages
3.2 Messages received in meditation directly from Sri Sai Baba on the subject "The Process" are reproduced below in chronological order covering the period (1983-94) with the fond hope that the same would help assist the devotees in their "Sadhana" for God realization.

Prayer: December 1983
"Baba, save me from the agony of life,
Save me from the torture of the mind,
Save me from rebirth,
Allow me to enter into Thee for eternal bliss".

Messages:

February 1984
1. "An ugly insect can be turned into a beautiful butterfly through proper transformation, so also any cruel or wicked person can be transformed into a close associate of the Lord through spiritual transformation".

May 1984
2. "One should avoid moving and thinking only along the path of a circle,
One should aim to move along a straight line,
Any movement on the perimeter brings one to the same point,
Movement on a straight line gives scope to progress,
Even on a straight line, you get stunted,
If `Maya' overtakes you; you get blurred in vision;
To overcome this, you need the vision and grace of the Lord through prayer"

December 1984
3. "Soul is the powerful part of the Lord (Almighty) lying invisible in you -- if you harness the same, you merge with the Lord for supreme bliss"

February 1985
4. "Human life is not the life you lead at the moment, it is a process of lives and deaths till it reaches the sublime state of merger with the Lord. This could be achieved through prayer and penance, the latter embraces sacrifices one carries out to the Lord under multiple facets. As such, life has to be looked in its totality and not in segments".

Prayer: July 1985
"I am in search of the Truth,
The Truth that symbolizes the Supreme,
It is a long process and in this process,
I may make mistakes,
But I still pray to Him to put strength in me to overcome the same,
And reach Him with Supreme bliss".

April 1986
5. "To reach the absolute Purity (Lord Almighty) One should get purified;
This is a process wherein you get burnt several times by the flames of temptation,
`Maya' and desire;
But you emerge purer and purer as gold if you keep the goal -- to merge with Divine Purity".

6. "Life is a process -- a struggle to overcome desire, temporal benefits and unreality (illusion);
In essence, a struggle to conquer `Maya' -- the force that resists seeking the Truth (Reality);
In this process, there may be many pitfalls;
But the helping hand is extended only through one source -- the source of Reality (God Almighty).

March 1987
7. "Human being often forgets that he or she is only a missionary of the Lord in this world".

June 1987
8. "One should cultivate control of thought, desire and mind to serve Me -- this is a process".

August 1987
9. "Physical body is a filth;
Mental part of the body needs control -- as it is dominated by `Maya';
Sensory part of the body needs to be subdued;
Soul of the body needs to be uplifted and purified -- through prayer and meditation;
This is "The Process" for God realization. difficult and prolonged in practice"

10. "Instead of developing extreme attachment to the body and undergoing agony, pray for the opportunity to cast-off the frame (body) and merge the soul with the Lord (Almighty)".
(Translated from a message given in Telugu language).

February 1988
12. "Through prayer seek recluse in Lord Sai and release the soul from bondage"

November 1988
13. "Hear to the voice of the Lord (God Almighty), And conduct thyself on the earth".

14. "Divinity within has to be awakened,
For this, sacrifice from human being is needed in many ways,
Elevated soul through sacrifice finds a place with the Lord,
This is the ultimate goal of life -- this life or repetition of lives".

15. "To define life is difficult,
Human being attributes many values to life,
But in the eyes of God, the purpose of life is one -- to merge with Him.
(Through sacrifice, purity and penance)

September 1989
16. "Do not deal much with this frame (body) for materialistic things,
Detach from the same through enlightenment of the soul,
This is the path for permanent bliss".

November 1990
17. "Develop the inner spirit to control the outer environment,
This enables to control the five elements -- air, water, fire, sky and earth.
Ancient saints have followed this method of meditation (process) to uplift the soul and deliver its bondage from the body".

18. "Environment to protect the process of meditation or prayer needs to be built by the individual (person) seeking the Truth (Almighty) rather than try to create or protect the environment in nature". (Sadhaka through meditation builds up an envelop of powerful radiation around the place of penance which protects him from poisonous creatures, wild animals and also from the influence of Maya'. This is one of the ways to control external environment by developing inner spirit.)

19. "Prayer and meditation helps the process of contact, conversation and holy communion with the Lord. Through this process, detachment of soul with the body develops. The process, if pursued, would help complete merger of the soul with the Almighty (`Moksham').

February 1991
20. "Every cloud has its own silver lining,
But the source behind the lining is the same (Sun);
So is the case with every individual
The source behind individual is God Almighty".

21. "One should make many sacrifices, before one experiences the grace of the Lord".

22. "Dictates of the mind should be honored with discretion,
Discretion should emerge from moral values,
Moral values should be derived through meditation".

23. "Process is `Sadhana',
It cannot be achieved overnight,
It is to be cultivated through devotion and sacrifice to the Lord"

March 1991
24. "Environment of body is different from the environment of
the soul;
The effort to separate the environment of the soul from the body is a long drawn process (Sadhana);
To attach the liberated soul to Lord Almighty is `Moksha Sadhana'".

April 1991
25. "Prayer has the power to shackle the bondage (between body
and soul),
It has also the power to bring you nearer to God (Baba),
Hence, do not give up Bhakti Marga -- path of prayer".
(Translated from a message given in Telugu language).

August 1991
26. "Keep the Lord nearer to you through sacrifice (surrendering passion, possessiveness, desire etc.);
Place at His feet the sorrow and misery of humanity and seek for redemption of `Karma'.

July 1993
28. "The seat for Guru (Spiritual Master) and Daivam (God) is the heart of the devotee. If that seat is worshiped with special prayer (Abhishekam) with emphasis on `Namajapam', the soul gets purified. This brings the devotee nearer to God. Human being merges with Lord Almighty with the purification of the soul. That is salvation of the soul -- `Moksham'."
(Translated from a message given in Telugu language)

Prayer: August 1993
"OM SAI MA
Give me strength to serve you with sacrifice,
OM SAI MA
Provide me patience to pursue your mission of service,
OM SAI MA
Bestow me faith to follow you all the time,
OM SAI MA
Bless me to have your `Darshan as Manifested form of Divinity'".

29. "I (Baba) am every where
`Bhakta' (Devotee) has to realize this truth,
My (Baba's) presence is felt through prayer and faith".

30. "A wondering mind wavers on many things including faith in God,
A doubting Thomas does nothing to humanity,
But a `Sadhaka' should strive for irrevocable faith in Almighty".

February 1994
33. "Sadhana is surrender to Swamy (Baba),
Sadhana is service to Swamy,
Sadhana is sacrifice to Swamy"

1. Sadhaka -- One who endeavors to follow spiritual discipline with a goal to attain `Moksha' (final liberation).

2. Sadhana -- Religious practice towards the goal of freedom from bondage and merger with God.

5. Karma __ Person's cumulative actions in successive states of existence (life) viewed as deciding his fate for next life or destiny.

6. Soul -- Spiritual, indestructible and immaterial part of human being which survives death.

8. Abhishekam -- Kind of ritualistic prayer to a particular God or Goddess -- bathing the idol with milk, sandalwood paste, curd, honey, ganges water and flowers etc.

9. Lord -- Lord Sri Shirdi Sai
Swamy -- " "
Almighty -- " "
Truth -- " "
Reality -- " "

10. Peetam -- A platform like base on which an idol, to be worshipped, is placed or rested.

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