What the scriptures and other sacred works contain, is no doubt the same as what the Shri Sai Satcharita does; but for common persons like us, the Shri Sai Satcharita is like a loving mother who teaches us, who arouses in us the capacity to take in, simplifying for us simultaneously, the syllabus of study.
We want lasting peace and joy in life. Studying the Shri Sai Satcharita is a means to grooming ourselves, modeling ourselves to the form of the bhakta personalities, the guides on the path to our God, our ultimate longing in life. They teach us all that we want to “be” but might lack the strength to “become”: e.g. to remain firmly anchored in our faith in spite of vicissitudes, also to feel that God is with us every moment of our existence and everywhere around us. This work, an entire world of bhakti, of human and divine love welcomes anyone who wishes to enter it. Then on it is a beautiful journey towards ‘Him’, towards our own ‘Self’ and so an eternal thirst that bhakti quenches only to intensify further. The Panchasheel Examination held under the auspices of the ‘Shri Sai Samartha Vidnyan Prabodhini’, established by the blessings and grace of Sadguru Shri Aniruddha Bapu is an evaluation but yet again with a difference. Param Pujya Bapu says, studying the Shri Sai Satcharita not only implies taking inside of us, the values that it contains, but also acknowledging and implementing them on the outside. For instance, if the work teaches that God wells inside of me and that He is Love, I must acknowledge that I am bound to all creation as He dwells in it. My interaction with fellow beings improves. If I am passing through difficult times, it is the unshakable faith and endurance that will tide me over and endurance and faith are sides of the same coin. I experience strength to face life. Also, the name of the Almighty is not distinct from Him and so chanting His name is experiencing Him. I begin to regularly chant His name.. What has to one day perish, will and what will persist, is His love, His grace, charged with His Will and Wish. It is His Will that will be implemented. The Udi, the sacred ash is what remains after a burning down process occurs. My bhakti, my sentiment for my God is in fact His love and His grace and so is the Udi, the sacred ash, the powers of which, the bhaktas in the Shri Sai Satcharita so often experience. The Udi is an actual experience of the following words: You and I firm together, nothing can stand in the way, ever. |