Sairam friends,
To me, Sai devotion is very personal. Now a days, I feel little guilty because I feel that I bothered someone a lot. Its not right behavior. I was really depressed all this day and decided to quit having lunch as I wanted Saibaba to answer me. I simply told people around that I am fasting as its Saibaba’s Mahasamadhi day. I told this to my friend when I went to his place and he asked me “Do you think Saibaba will answer if you do this”. I told him “He may not but I am trying to force him” ha ha….While in his place, someone got the prasad for us and I realized Saibaba can’t bear that I am hungry but not having food.
I am reading Sai Satcharita now a days but as of now, no dreams from Saibaba to answer my problem.
Being portrayed good is not always good. It adds to your ego when something goes wrong
I always wondered why everyone see me as “Good” or supposed to be “Good” guy. Especially since people around me know that I am more into Sai devotion, they expect me to be perfect. Even if I do a small mistake, its easy for them to say “You are worshiping Saibaba so much and doing this”.
The past few month, this was really bothering me a lot that its not right to be portrayed as good. The fact is that we all do little mistakes once in a while and even when I do a small mistake, it gets exaggerated just because people say “You pray Sai so much and…”
What I spoke to a women the other day at work made me fulfill my long time desire. Wrote about it in this article – Exploiting weakness, Selling Meditation and being jealous of Sai
Atleast people who don’t know me personally might think I am a flirt or someone bad which is truly amazing experience. I am enjoying this… he he…Further, it helps me get rid of my usual habit of what people will think of me if I do this..if I do that etc. If you want to be do something worthy in life, be yourself and never worry about what people might think of you.
Saibaba has taught me on several occasions that I must be ready to get ashamed and be insulted. If we want honor in what ever we do, we will never be able to do any work we passionately wanted to do.
Today, they did Dussera pooja at work place. I like the way they kept gollu this year as it was divine unlike previous years. My only wish was when we celebrate such events in a work environment, we must also do something to include people in other faith. Example, there could be statues of Christ or Quran verses or Mother Mary in some corner even little further from the gollu. Saibaba’s greatest mission is to unite people or all religion. So in every festival celebrated outside home, we must try to make everyone feel important.
Padmini aunt read this article and sent the Gollu in her friends home…
Gods Angel!
See the Church in the corner along with temple.
Here’s another one from my aunt’s home. I was surprised because everyone in our family are staunch Hindus but these days, people are opening up their heart to show that we are together.
Holy birth!
Though Navratri Gollu is completely a Hindu festival, we might invite our friends and neighbors who belong to other religion. So its good to have such interesting dolls which makes everyone feel special. I agree, none in other religion easily accept a Hindu God as a part of their worship. I personally believe, we must express that we are united when ever we get opportunity. Its one world and a small life after all…
Note – I must clarify that we only have Hindu statues in our home. The point is, when they celebrated Navratri in office where people of all religion work, we can consider to include such dolls too. It will make them feel happy. Everyone should be happy in a festival of every religion. That’s my intention. You don’t need to keep such dolls as your family might be too traditional.
See this article – Born Hindu? Be Hindu for lifetime
Be clear about this. I just don’t want you to convert to another religion but I desire that you accept everyone as part of your life. Its a sweet ecosystem irrespective of all the difference we have. Spread love and show that you are united as much as you can in public events.
We are moving from recording and remembering to experiencing and moving on mindset
First, I shall explain you how technology is shaping the way we interact. The last decade saw social media influence where we take a photo and show it off to our friends. Here, the photography is available forever until we hide or delete it. It’s for people to see and remember the past.
In the last 2 years, we are shifting from this recording and remembering stack to a more intimate way of communicating.
When you share a photo with your friend on any cloud messaging platform like Whatsapp, Wechat or Hike etc, its just between 2 of you. Once your friend has seen that text, photo or video, its with them. They might keep it or delete it. So what happens here?
Do you agree that today we are ignoring the importance of recording and remembering.
Read this article – The Information Age is over; welcome to the Experience Age
Experience stack – Courtesy Tech Crunch
We just experience something for that moment
Example – If your friend sends you photo of Shirdi Saibaba on Whatsapp. You see that. You experience it. How long are you going to keep it in your mobile? Eventually, you delete it and look for a new one.
As we get into digital era, the importance we give to recording and storing is fading away.
Its all about experiencing and moving on….
The reason I say this is that, today, some girls were doing dandiya. I sat with my friend in his place because now a days, I can’t control mouth and keep commenting on others. Someone asked me to take photos and I happily asked for someone’s iPhone to take photos. I took some videos and photos.
Couple of girls asked me to share it with them. I kept asking my friend to share it with everyone. By evening, he told me that he had deleted most of the photos. Its not a big issue but this is how we ignore “Memories” and “Remembrance” factor.
Photography is never done for showing something the same day or next few days. Its for showing your kids after 10 or 20 years. Every year, during New year festival, I used to take photos. People used to ask for it during the occasion and after few weeks, it gets deleted.
My aunt has her college dance photo taken in Government college of Tech before 35 years. My cousin and myself used to often look at it and say how she has applied powder all over her face and trying to make herself look fair.
Why do we delete memories?
100 years from now, someone might be doing a Phd on the way people celebrated New Year or Navratri. Shouldn’t we leave our experiences for them if not for our great grand children?
There’s nothing wrong in celebrating a moment and experiencing it instantly but recording and remembrance matters too.
How many of you have felt bad that none had made a video of Saibaba. There was cinematography Camera during 1918. I am sure about it but why Saibaba never gave any chance for someone to film him? You know, I used to worry that there are very few original photos of Shirdi Saibaba. Ofcourse, Sai did not want more because he knows our world is crazy. So he limited with 1 or 2. Sai wants us to focus on his atman – soul.
If you are taking photos of your kids and simply storing on cloud, please be careful. You must keep a backup and also print atleast few good photos.
Please think twice before you make a group for Shirdi Saibaba on Whatsapp or any cloud messaging platform
One of my friend made a group on Whatsapp and invited me. I was the first one to leave as soon as someone posted a viral meme and video. Kindly understand making a group on Whatsapp for N number of reasons is really hindering our peace of mind. I am in 2 groups, both related to friends at office and even that is a burden for me. I do chat with few Sai friends of mine but never allow anyone to add me in any group.
Especially for girls, here’s a warning.
If you are on any group, people can easily find your number. Some easily tackle any issues but some really face problems due to this. Further, your number must never go to anyone who who doesn’t know you personally. That’s my opinion. I told my friend about the Whatsapp group my Sai friend Padma aunty maintains. She has strict guidelines that people must post only “Om Sai Ram” and occasionally Sai photos. I requested my friend to follow such guidelines but politely requested him not to include me in such groups.
Life is not just to experience and move on
The way we experience something instantly and move on, we are also not remembering our past hardships when we grow ahead in life. Kindly try to keep in mind the path you crossed to reach your current state in life. If you are sad, remember that you will be happy as you walk in the road ahead. If you are happy, remember the days when you were sad and how much thankful you must be for people who were with you in your past.
I am not going to get anything taking video of these girls dancing and even they don’t want to see it as many had taken it. But why should I actually take a video or photo if its going to be deleted in the end? I believe the future generation will be spending hours together doing things which they will never even experience.
We are going to be addicted to some gadgets and think that we are “Living”.
Ten years from now, I might say someone that I used to clean this dhuni in Nagasai mandhir with my friends. If they causally ask for a photo, will I be able to show it. As of now, I don’t have one. Atleast, there must be some ‘How to” video of how to clean dhuni and how we filtered Udi. This might help few people learn how we served Sai. I am not doing much work now but my friends are doing it and I wish to take some photos of them when I get opportunity.
Life is all about remembering experiences.
Venkat
Note – I am very much devoted to Hindu Gods and Goddess and its important that we follow our tradition. I have wrote several articles on the fact that its wrong to change one’s religion. Just that, I also promote making everyone happy and stay united. Differentiation is the cause of most of the problems in India and hence in every public event, we must express our willingness to live in harmony.
