Aum Ganeshaya Namaha
Seeking Help and Maintaining Faith
(I have a separate website but could not afford to maintain all the network of websites I created in 2007. So, moved the content to this blog. I feel nostalgic. I do not even remember that I wrote all this. Now,I only have time to visit the Saibaba temple here in Coimbatore, sweep temple, do some seva near Dhuni and come back home, feed dogs near home. Speak to my Amma and sleep.)
Shirdi Sai Baba’s blessings bring good health and peaceful life. Whenever you have health issues, please share them with your parents, relatives, or good friends you can trust. Visit a doctor, and while you are receiving treatment, believe that saints like Sai Baba of Shirdi are so powerful that you will be fine. Believe that you are getting well every day.
I know it truly pains when you feel God is not answering your prayers, but faith has its own greatness. You can read the article I wrote on StarSai.com: Sai’s Way of Curing the Sick
Always Think, Speak, and Do Good
Sai Baba lives in every life on Earth.
I have realized that people can get rid of health problems by doing good deeds. Do anything you feel is good, such as:
- Anna dhan (food donation)
- Giving sweets to children
- Giving sarees to women doing seva in temples or to poor women during pilgrimages
If you are not living in India, there are other ways to involve yourself in good deeds. If you cannot afford it or don’t find a place where your money will be used properly, it’s okay.
Simply think and speak good. Never think harm toward any life. Try to control your anger and speak only good of others. Do not speak badly of people, even if you don’t like them.
Even if you say good words to people around you and think positively, it helps Sai Baba wash away your previous births’ karma and bless you or your dear ones with good health. I am writing this as my mother has had health issues for years, and she has always been a good person. Perhaps she is meant to do more good—give food to more people who come to our home and gain more blessings.
May Shirdi Sai Baba bless you to realize the greatness of Naam Smaran—chanting the names of saints or Gods in your mind.
The Infinite Power of Healing Is in Your Own Mind
The feeling of pain is an expression of your mind. When a person is suffering from severe health problems, their enemy is the fear of not being able to get cured, worries about their family and career being affected, and financial problems. Once they overcome fear and worries, their faith becomes pure love that they show toward God and Shirdi Sai Baba. This invisible thing called love diverts the mind from pain and takes them to a better state of living:
- Living in confidence that they will be healthy in the days to come
- Living with trust that their Guru, Shirdi Sai, will surely heal their pains
- Living with support—the support of their Guru, trusting Sai from the bottom of their heart that he will surely protect them forever
- Living with wholehearted belief that Sai has the power to cure their disease and make them healthy someday
Leave all your worries family and career problems at the feet of Sai. Don’t mind what your friends and relatives say about your faith in Sai. Just learn to love Sai wholeheartedly. Fill your mind with “Sai, Sai, Sai.” Remember Sai every minute; read and assimilate his stories. This way, when you fill your mind with Shirdi Sai’s thoughts, Sai will reside in your own mind. What more do you need when a saint who has all siddhis lives in your own mind? Sai’s presence in your mind is the infinite power of healing. Sai will bless you with good health.
What to Do When Someone You Know Is in Pain
When you are in pain, your mind will be weak too. Your faith in Shirdi Sai Baba or any true Guru will certainly boost your mind. When your dear ones are suffering from health problems, please don’t feel shy to do the following:
1. Udi Mixed with Water
Apply udi on the forehead and areas causing pain in the body. Give them udi (sacred ash) mixed with water. Udi is the most powerful medicine. Baba cured hundreds of devotees during his lifetime by giving udi, and now millions of devotees who trust udi are being benefited. You can get udi from Shirdi or any Shirdi Sai temple nearby. Baba has performed miracles for many devotees who consume this sacred water.
2. Pray to Sai to Charge Water with His Rays of Blessings
If you live abroad where it’s hard to get udi, an alternative way is to ask someone near the person to hold a container of water while praying to Sai to bless the water with his healing powers, then have them drink it. I usually keep a glass of water in front of Sai’s photo before drinking. Even when I buy medicines for my parents, I keep them under Shirdi Sai’s feet before giving them.
3. Visit Temples, Light Lamps, and Pray at Your House
Please try to visit a nearby temple, light lamps, do annadhan, or perform any kind of good activities according to your ability, and give the prasad to the person who is suffering. If there are no temples nearby, light candles or lamps in a tray under Baba’s feet, make any offerings of fruits to Sai, and give those as prasad.
4. Keep Sai Satcharita Near the Person Being Treated
Wherever you live, please at least print out an online version of Sai Satcharita and give it to the person who is suffering. It’s okay if they can’t read it. The presence of Sai Satcharita is enough. Baba knows whom to pull to that room and make them read, or Sai can even make the sick person read.
5. Speak About Shirdi Sai Leelas, Stories, and Incidents
Always speak positively about the powers of Shirdi Sai Baba. If possible, tell them stories of your friends, relatives, or those you find in Sai Satcharita or the miracle experiences of devotees you find on this site. Tell these stories of how Baba helped and cured diseases. Tell them Baba does no magic. All powers of healing are in their mind because Baba is “Antar Vaasini—the one who lives from inside.” If their mind is filled with Sai’s thoughts, if they always utter Sai’s name, and if they call “Sai, Sai, Sai” for help, surely Sai will heal them. In addition to this, ask them to be calm and have patience. Sai will help them someday.
6. Chanting “Sairam” or Any Mantra
Many Sai devotees have experienced the presence of Sai and his miracles when they remember Sai by uttering his name regularly. It will be beneficial if you say “Sairam” for hours together, or at least try to chant whenever your mind remembers that you are supposed to do chanting. You can chant in the following ways:
- “Sairam”
- “Aum Sri Sai Ram”
- “Shirdi Sai Dwarakamai”
- “Aum Sai Sri Sai Jaya Jaya Sai”
When Baba lived, he encouraged Naam Saptah for seven days without break. We must at least do it once in a while every day. When the person getting treated remembers “Sai, Sai, Sai,” evil forces won’t attack them. If they are in the worst situation, you can do it on their behalf. You can also chant any mantra of your favorite God. I suggest the Hanuman mantra, as Lord Hanuman’s blessings can give them willpower and strength. Try to visit the temple of Lord Dhanvantari, whose blessings bring good health, and Lord Vaitheeswaran, who cures diseases. Mantras of these Gods can also be recited regularly.
7. Play Shirdi Sai Baba Songs or Aarti
If the person suffering is at home, please let them hear or see the aarti of Shirdi Sai Baba if you have CDs. This will create positive vibrations at home. This may seem like a small point, but my intention is to remind you that it’s really powerful.
8. Try to Involve Yourself in Any Good Humanitarian Work
If possible, try to do annadhan or donate clothes or blankets to poor orphanages. Make sure the organization you choose is using your things and money truthfully. I prefer avoiding big charity organizations because many exist only to fund themselves. Find the truly deserving, needy people and say “Sairam” when you give. This is what Sai wants from us. Giving in the name of Sai is powerful. It will wash away the sins of your past births. Don’t spend lavishly all of a sudden. Even when you give as dharma, give as much as you can afford.
9. Baba Likes When You Pray Wholeheartedly
Some people think about other problems and other people watching them in the temple while praying. When you pray, there must be no “wall” between you and Sai. Express yourself to Sai with your hands, legs, and body. Trust me, Baba likes it. Don’t cry on purpose, but if you feel like crying, don’t feel shy. Sometimes Sai uses our tears to wash away past karma. Many days I have hugged Baba’s photo and cried like a child. I was in such unbearable pain over a few issues, and I know Sai made me do it. When you pray while looking at a photo or statue of Shirdi Sai Baba, just remember Sai. When you close your eyes, imagine Baba sitting in Dwarakamai near the dhuni and blessing you. If you love Baba so much, I assure you that you can see him talking to you.
Understanding Pain, Disease, and Karma
The article below is written for devotees facing the worst health problems and is based on my understanding of Sai’s ways. Forgive me if there are any mistakes.
Perceive Pain, Disease, and Suffering in Positive Ways
When the body is not functioning properly, it sends a signal to the brain so that you will treat it, and this signal is what we call “pain.” As we all know, there’s some good even in a bad thing—many diseases will never be treated if you don’t get pain or other symptoms that hurt you. Apart from the benefit of helping you get treated and bringing your body back to good condition, every time you get sick or your loved ones have diseases, please do not feel let down, as there’s another positive aspect when they are suffering:
Their past bad karma is being washed away.
What Is Karma?
What made me launch this site? It’s my karma. You are reading this—that’s your karma. If you find whatever I wrote is wrong and write to me negatively, then I must bear that message calmly as a gift of Sai. That’s my karma.
While we are standing on a rocky seashore, we can hear the sounds of big waves splashing, but the big waves are formed from various small waves that we don’t hear. Similarly, every small act we do is karma, and these karmas collectively become either big bad karma or good karma. Who knows what sins we have committed in our present or previous births? Sometimes we might have committed sins unknowingly, but the law of nature ticks perfectly like a clock without missing a second. No excuses for anyone for any reason.
As You Sow, So You Reap
Loss of life is for the body. Our soul is always living until it takes several births, involves itself in good karma, and finally merges with God. That’s why the soul is called “Amar Atman”—it is ever-living. Though you or your relatives and friends may not have committed any sins in this birth, your soul may have committed a sin in a previous birth. The collective bad activities of previous births will be waiting for the right bad time, based on planetary situations, to affect you. It’s like a “payback”—you did an action in some birth, and now you get the reaction.
The reason I write this paragraph is first to help you understand: do not blame God and our Shirdi Sai Baba just because someone you love met with an accident or is suffering from a disease. Whatever our soul did is recorded in the air. It’s everywhere. My guru used to say that highly evolved spiritual people can see their own karma in front of their eyes and act accordingly. That’s why they don’t mind suffering.
Every bad word we utter, every insult we give to others, every curse we receive, and every single harmful act of ours is recorded both in the air and in our own soul. So when we suffer, we must realize we had planted a sinful seed that is reaping a painful fruit today.
Frustrated and Worried Because Shirdi Sai Baba Hasn’t Helped You Yet?
My objective has always been to help devotees who are facing the worst possible situations in life—a husband suffering from cancer, a wife suffering from an incurable disease, a small baby facing the worst medical situation, a son or daughter who has gone through an accident, a father or mother struggling for their life. I am addressing these children of Shirdi Sai Baba, whom Sai considers his affectionate kids.
I can feel the pain residing in your heart when you or your loved ones are suffering at home or in the hospital. When something wrong happens suddenly, we don’t know how to react. The most common feeling that arises in us is, “Why didn’t Sai help us even after all this?” If he is a saint who has Ashtama Siddhi, why can’t he come down to your call and heal the pains of your friends and relatives immediately? The reason is…
Karma Is Not Transferable
I must explain something very beautiful about how Sai works to save his children. Baba always says he is a humble servant of God. Even the God of Gods loves him because our Shirdi Sai is not like modern gurus whom you see on TV promising instant benefits.
Our Shirdi Sai follows the laws laid by Gods and nature. Though Sai himself is God incarnate, when we worship him as Sai, he is a saint. Even Lord Rama had to suffer pains when he took that avatar and was controlled by laws of nature. Shirdi Sai’s situation is the same. One of Baba’s assurances is, “Keep all your burdens on me, and I am ready to bear them.”
Baba only says to keep your “burdens.” Baba never said, “Keep your karma on my shoulder, and I shall bear it.” Baba didn’t say it because the laws laid by Gods and nature don’t allow Sai to do it, and he can’t. Neither Sai nor any saint or holy guru can do it. Our karma must be borne by us, paid back by us, for which we must go through suffering, and when we suffer, the karma gets washed away.
Please don’t get frustrated or worried that Sai is not caring for you. Sai does care. He is trying his best. It’s your time to face pains, and soon Sai will bless you with good days. No matter how much you try, you can’t escape the effects of karma.
Shirdi Sai Can Reduce the Intensity of Karma
For what reason does a saint so polite, with not a trace of ego, ask you to always say “Sai, Sai, Sai, Sai”? Does that mean he is proud of his name, or does he think you have no other work to do? When you remember “Sai, Sai, Sai,” the evil spirits that use your bad time to attack you will stay away. Though even this can’t help you completely escape karma, instead of a worst-case head injury that could damage the brain, you could escape with very small scratches on the body.
The Natural Feeling of Dejection When You Are Suffering
Sai is a saint. He cares for us. He knows whatever is going on in your family. He knows the one suffering in pain is crying to him. Do whatever you can to please Sai, but never ever say, “Baba, what’s the use in worshiping you? I never get results.” This feeling is natural for anyone. My only request is don’t let this feeling of dejection grow in you. In fact, by saying this, you are embarrassing your own sweet Guru, Shirdi Sai.
Surely you will get results according to your devotion and the little dharma you do, like giving food to the hungry, clothes to the poor, or any good activity that can please Sai and help you wash away your karma somehow, resulting in better health. Always remember…
Baba, Do You Really Care for Me?
I know you pray this way. Only devotees who depend on Sai and love him to the core will ask him, “Baba, do you at least care for me for one minute?” Are you worried, thinking why Sai has not healed the pains yet? If that’s making you doubt whether Sai at least cares for you, here’s the proof:
Shirdi Sai loves you irrespective of what he does for you. The results you see in front of your eyes are just momentary. Again, you might get into another problem and come to Sai for help. The pleasures and pains are like a pendulum taking us on a ride every other day. But are the “results” given by Sai the only way you judge his love for you?
The very fact that you came to this site in your painful state of mind and are reading what this little servant of Sai like me wrote is proof of Sai’s unmeasurable love for you and your dear ones. In this fast world, no one except my close Sai friends will read this article. You are reading because Sai has already blessed you and wants to show that he cares.
Dependency on Shirdi Sai Baba Cannot Become Affection
You can always complain that he is not helping you, but don’t make your complaints survive more than five minutes. The next moment, start to realize how much Sai cares for you, as he has pulled you to him. Baba always says, “It’s not people who come to see me and follow me by being a devotee. It’s me who chooses good souls and pulls them to me like a sparrow tied to a thread.”
To a saint who pulled you to him with affection, is it good if you expect blessings like a business transaction? Sai is not selling blessings. His calculator doesn’t have numbers. It has the nine forms of bhakti, and beyond all this, Sai only expects your affection for him. Dependency cannot become affection. When you depend on Sai for materialistic benefits, you only see him as a “giver” of things and not as a loving Sai Ma.
Do we love our mother only for what she is doing for us? It’s the affection that our mother has for us that has registered in our hearts. Similarly, let’s together perceive Sai as a loving and caring mother who is trying his level best to bless us with healthy living.
Practically Speaking, Sai Devotees Don’t Have Time to Understand Sai
I have seen people coming to a few Sai Baba mandirs with a deal: “Baba, I will come to the temple for seven Thursdays. I will light candles, pay 100 rupees for annadhan, sit for aarti, and go. Please help me get this and that.” A deal is a deal. Baba has to do it because these devotees consider Baba a saint sitting there with powers, and all he wants to do is switch on a button, and everything will happen.
Please try to understand from Sai’s point of view. Sai looks at your atman, which carries all your past bad karma. How can Sai heal your pains within a particular time frame when you may have done sins that require you to suffer for a longer duration?
Mukthi and Eternal Happiness for Mahalsapati
The priest who first invited Sai with “Aao Sai” (come, Sai) was poor all his life. Mahalsapati, who was always with Baba as a priest of Khandoba temple, was given only food, clothes, and very little money by Sai to survive with his family. Even once, when a rich devotee offered to give Mahalsapati lots of money, Baba asked him not to accept it.
Is it Baba’s wish that Mahalsapati, who loves Baba so much, must suffer like that, being poor? The reason is that Mahalsapati’s ancestors or he himself may have committed so many sins in past births that Baba wanted him to wash away the karma in that birth itself. What Baba assured him was mukthi and eternal happiness.
Rest assured, when Mahalsapati lost his life, he would have reached the holy feet of our Shirdi Sai Baba. Is it not worth suffering—to be forever in the company of a saint rather than having lots of money, good health, and taking another birth and suffering in this earthly life? Similarly, Sai has his own way to treat devotees and give them what they deserve.
Shirdi Sai Will Bless You and Your Dear Ones with Good Healthy Life
In some devotees’ cases, Baba may have let them suffer because their karma must be washed away, and only then can Sai give them that eternal happiness. In your case, Baba might take time, but surely, if you totally surrender to him and involve yourself in good acts of dharma from today, Sai will heal your diseases and sickness and bring you or your loved ones back to good health.
If you read about the lives of very good souls, they all would have suffered greatly during their last few days, especially because their remaining percentage of karma is being washed away.
So when you or your friend or your relatives are suffering from severe health problems, and if you are wondering why Baba didn’t help them, understand this fact: Shirdi Sai is also like our real mother who can give us medicine in the form of his blessings, but each one is blessed in a different way.
Sai knows your present problem must be solved. I promise on my holy Shirdi Sai’s powerful words and give you his assurance: “Do not worry. Baba will heal all your pains. Just stay near him calmly.” Having complete faith from today in the above words, please humbly pray to Baba, speak to him, and plead with him to help you. He will surely bless you.
Your Relationship with Sai Didn’t Start the First Time You Learned About Sai in This Birth
I really feel odd when someone says, “I have been coming to Baba’s temple for 15 years. I’ve been praying and singing aarti for the past 12 years.” They won’t stop there. If I say I first learned about Baba when I entered a Sai Baba temple in my area when I was 13 years old in 1993, they will look up and down and say, “Hmm… I’ve been coming since 1970, for the past 40 years.” I wasn’t even born that year. What can I do?
Never judge anyone’s devotion and attachment to Sai based on how long they’ve prayed to Sai or how many generations have prayed. What matters is pure love, even if you started to pray to Sai this very moment, because your relationship with Sai may have started several births before this, and he has pulled you to him in this birth, albeit a bit late.
A Sparrow Pulled by Shirdi Sai When He Was Over 60 Years Old
It’s my habit to give Baba’s photos to anyone anywhere—sometimes even on buses or roadsides if I find that person is good. I never feel shy about giving Baba’s photos in odd places. Sometimes, even when people say no, I will take it as Sai’s gift, though it’s a bit hurtful.
Once I gave Baba’s photo to a 60-year-old man while sitting on a bus who asked me, “Who’s this?” I was surprised, as that old grandpa was even wearing rudraksha and seemed to be leading a spiritual life, wearing a saffron dress. I wondered how he didn’t know about our Shirdi Sai Baba all these years. I felt gifted. At least after 60 years, Baba has pulled a new sparrow to him through me. I’m just an instrument, but the happiness I got matters.
Baba alone knows why you and your friends or relatives are going through such sickness and disease. Baba has been following you for 63 generations, as he mentions in Sai Satcharita. Even in our previous births, we would have worshiped the same Sai when he was living in the form of some other guru.
I can’t reveal the age of Shirdi Sai, and I won’t, but Sai’s life is beyond one lakh years. If someone calls me a fool for writing this, I apologize for mistakes and humbly place their comments under Sai’s feet. Sai has followed the one suffering health problems in all their births. Sai knows the mistakes and sins we committed in past births, so Sai is bound by the truth of karma. But his heart melts when we totally surrender to him, and when our devotion and faith increase, Sai will do anything to save us.
Shirdi Sai Has Been Showing You Motherly Love for Several Births You Took
If our mother in this birth loves us so much, imagine how much Sai Ma must care for you—the one who has always kept his eyes on you and cared for you birth after birth. He would have followed you when you were an insect, ant, or goat, and again through several births as human beings. So Sai has also silently watched the sins you have done. How can he immediately act on whatever “prayers” you do? Can you guess what sins you have done in the past? You can’t, but Sai looks at your atman, which stores all your karma, so Sai has to obey the laws of karma.
Even then, because of his love for you, Sai will surely heal your pains. Whoever reads this article will be blessed by my sweet Guru, Shirdi Sai Baba. Please be confident and don’t feel let down.
My Guru Sai is so kind, so affectionate, and so beautiful at heart. He is your mother for several births. Sai Ma will surely bless you and your dear ones with a healthy, long life.
Is There a Way to Help Shirdi Sai Cure Our Diseases?
Instead of complaining about our Shirdi Sai Baba, let’s help him and ourselves. Let’s make ourselves deserving devotees to receive his blessings. How to do it? I will give you an example.
A rich couple’s only son was gradually losing his eyesight. They had tried all kinds of treatments and consulted doctors, all resulting in no improvements. Finally, they met a guru who asked them to make use of their money. He said, “Your son is suffering from past karma, which is why he is losing his eyesight. Do one thing: Go to all the eye hospitals in the state and donate one day’s expenses for all the patients who come there to get treated. This will be a good dharma that could wash away your son’s past karma.”
The parents, being rich, had no problem involving themselves in this very good act of dharma by accepting the expenses of poor patients in all eye hospitals for one day. Believe it or not, it’s a real-life incident, and their son did get back his eyesight.
Doctors will do their part in treating you and your dear ones, but make sure you also involve yourself in small good acts of humanity according to your ability. I know sometimes your finances will be so limited that you can’t even afford medical bills. That’s why I launched StarSai.com in 2004—because I want people to make charity a day-to-day habit. Why should you go in search of doing good acts only at the time of pain? It will be much better if you start from today to involve yourself in good acts of humanity. If that’s not possible, at least make your thoughts pure. Keeping your mind pure with good thoughts itself will be a blessing for you.
When we help others in pain and help the needy, Baba will add it to our account in his “Bank of Blessings.” There are crores of angels up there whom we call “Devargal.” They will bless us every time we speak and act for a good cause. If we add our good karma this way, we are actually helping Sai to use it at the time of need. Baba will immediately come to rescue us from the jaws of death, as he has assured in Sai Satcharita.
Many ask Baba why he can’t do miracles in their lives. Let’s remember: Sai wants us to involve ourselves in good activities of dharma to create miracles.
Our Sadguru Shirdi Sai Baba acts according to our past births’ karma and present good acts of humanity, irrespective of what sins you had committed in previous births, and blesses you wholeheartedly for a healthy, long life.
Your good karma in this birth will surely help Sai cure your diseases. This doesn’t mean you donate money to charity organizations for annadhan or whatever. Try to take personal care in where you donate. Even if your money is going to change a single person’s life, it’s worth it.
My Prayers to Sai Dhanvantari to Bless You with Good Health
One of my friends suggested the name “Sai Dhanvantari” while discussing this site. Dhanvantari is the 11th avatar of Lord Vishnu and is considered the “God of Medicine.”
Please try to read this sloka as many times as you can. You can get a chanting box of this mantra and have the person suffering listen to it:
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
Dhanvantaraye Amritakalasa Hasthaya
Sarva Maya Vinashanaya
Trilokya Nathaya
Sri Maha Vishnave Namaha
My mother used to do the following:
There’s a grass called “dharba.” She keeps a glass of water, dips the dharba grass inside the water each time, and recites this mantra 108 times. Then she does pooja and drinks that holy water as prasad. She says it reduces her pain.
If you can’t get dharba grass, just keep a glass of water, recite this mantra as many times as you can, and give it as prasad to the person to improve their health. Sai will surely cure your pains by the blessings of Lord Dhanvantari.
Please Share Your Experiences
I am an ordinary person, just a humble servant of Sai. If you have any problems, you can write to me. If I have time, I shall reply to you as a friend. Mostly, I ask all who write to me to light lamps or candles regularly and read Sai Satcharita. I also wish to know how Shirdi Sai Baba helped you solve your health problems and blessed you with a healthy life.
Shirdi Sai Baba and Lord Murugan Bless You and Your Family
I shall add more to this article when my friends help me with more Sai experiences. Forgive me if this article has any mistakes. As I always say, I am a Sai devotee filled with mistakes. I don’t know what made Sai pull me to him. It could be the good heart of my parents that led me to serve Sai. I haven’t done anything worthy in life other than my bond and love with Sai. Only Sai knows why I love him so much.
I pray that my Lord Palani Murugan and Shirdi Sai Baba bless you and your family with a healthy, peaceful, long life.
Aum Sri Sai Ram
Venkatraman C
September 11, 2007
