Ram Navami Ki Hardik Shubh Kaamnayen..

Wishing You And Your Loved Ones A Very Happy & Blessed Ram Navami

आपको और आपके समस्त परीवार को राम नवमी कि हार्दिक शुभ कामनाएँ 

Importance of RAMNAVMI celebration at Shirdi (Baba Nagri) 

In 1897, Gopalrao Gund proposed holding an urs in Shirdi as an expression of his gratitude to Baba for having been granted the birth of a son after many childless years. Baba gave his permission for the celebration and fixed the day for Ramnavami. This was an ingenious touch of Baba's. Urs is a Muslim festival honouring a Muslim saint (usually one who has passed away); by holding the urs on the day of a Hindu festival, the two communities were brought closer together in a natural yet remarkable way. The festival gradually grew in importance and in 1912 some devotees asked Baba if they could celebrate Ramnavami, since it fell on the same day (Ramnavami is the anniversary of Lord Rama's birth). Baba agreed and the festival was held in grand style. From that day, says the Sri Sai Satcharitra, "the urs was transformed into the Ramnavami festival". In Shirdi, two locally historic rituals are carried out during this festival: the sack of wheat that is kept in Dwarkamai is changed and the old one taken to Prasadalaya to be used there, and secondly, the Dwarkamai flags are replaced. When the urs was first celebrated, Gopalrao Gund prevailed upon his friend to supply a flag for the procession. This was Damu Anna Rasne of Ahmednagar who had similarly been blessed by Sai Baba with sons, having come to Baba for this purpose on the recommendation of Shama's father-in-law. In addition, Gund asked Nanasaheb Nimonkar to supply a second flag with embroidery. This was also done and both flags (described as "huge" by M. W. Pradhan, who saw them) were taken in procession through the village and fixed at the two corners of the mosque. Descendants of these two devotees continue this tradition and flags are brought and offered at Baba's samadhi before being taken on a grand procession. The procession begins - as it did in Baba's time - at the house of the three carpenters who did the bulk of the repair work on the mosque (Tukaram, Gabaji and Kondaji, the first of whom personally served Baba for several years). In the evening, the descendants of Abdul Baba perform a traditional "Sandal Procession", finishing at Dwarkamai and applying the sandalwood paste to the nimbar there.

The Ram Navami celebrates the joyous birth of Lord Rama. Ayodhya was the cynosure of all eyes, as King Dasharath finally had an heir to the throne. Lord Rama an avatar of lord Vishnu, agreed to come down to earth to fight the mighty Ravana.

Shree Rama Mantra

Neelambhuj shyamalkomlang Sita Samaropitvambhagam
Pano Mahasaikacharoochapam
Namame Ramam Raghuvanshnatham

Shree Rama Gayatri Mantra

Om Daserathaya Vidhmahe
Sita Vallabhaya Dheemahe
Thanno Rama Prachodayath.
 

Ram Navami is celebrated in order to commemorate 
     the birth of Lord Shree Rama. 

As Rama was considered 
the seventh incarnation of Lord Maha Vishnu, 
the festival is held in high regard by Hindus 
all over the world. 

On this day, 
 devotees of Shree Ram all over the world

observe fast and engage
 in the worship of Ram.
 It is said that
 Ram Navamiis is the oldest festival 
in the Earth from time immemorial, 
Ram Navami is the festival of masses.

Apart from God or Avtar (incarnation) of God, 
Lord Ram is regarded as an Ideal king, 
Ideal son, Ideal husband and an Ideal brother.

It is said that 
Ram Naam 
(the name of Lord Rama)in itself is a divine mantra 
and simply chanting this Ram ( राम ) helps 
one to attain salvation.

 The Mantra ‘Ra ma’ (राम) is called the Thaaraka Mantra.
It is a combination of 'Namasivaya mantra' 
and the

'Om Namo Narayanaya Maha Mantra'
 there by representing the union of Shiva and Narayana.

Wishing you and your loved ones a very Happy and Blessed Ram Navami 

Follow Baba's Sayings in Thought, Word and Deed

God has in-built amazing intelligence in the human brain. We must aim at marvelous achievements by the application of our God-gifted creative brain. We must train our brains to assimilate and preserve, in its layers, all our experiences, scriptural messages and quintessential spiritual wisdom so much so they flash in the eye of our minds in times of need. We must know how great Baba is to endow us with such a sharp, creative brain which can grasp the essence of the holy texts. We have to grasp the inner meaning of the scriptures and store them in the brain and in tune with opportunities we should implement the teachings of Baba.

When we come across a beggar, the golden saying of Baba, viz, "Give charity as much as you can afford" should flash in mind. The satisfaction gained in giving charity has to be personally felt. Everyone has to bear in mind that "God blessed me with wealth to donate to others only, I am only its' trustee". If we do things according to Baba's words, we become a tool in His hands. We would become good and loyal devotees who would obey the commands of Baba in word and spirit. Thus, by obeying the commands of God, we will be His loyal servants. Indeed, as self-purified souls, we reflect the true image of God.

RAM NAVAMI MESSAGE OF SHRI SATPATHYJI

Chanting of ‘mantras’, recital of ‘shlokas’ and individual or group singing of devotional songs (Aarti) is considered to be an important component of worship, not only pertaining to the Deities, but also the ‘Gurus’ in Hinduism. As has been found, devotees find it to be an easier task to sing devotional songs like ‘Aartis’ and ‘Bhajans’ in comparison with the chanting of ‘Mantras’ and ‘Shlokas’. This is so because the ‘Bhajans’ and ‘Aartis’ are written in Hindi or other regional Indian languages and on the other hand, the ‘Mantras’ and ‘Shlokas’ are mostly in the Vedic style of Sanskrit, written thousands of years ago. 

Some of them were created even before the formulation of the Sanskrit language. The ‘Puranas’, were written in a later period, somewhere between the 6th Century AD and the 14thCentury AD.

Generally this part of the puja activity, i.e., recital of ‘mantras’ and Sanskrit ‘shlokas’, in temples and even homes is delegated to the ‘Punditji’ and ‘Pujari’. Many such ‘Pandits’ and ‘Pujaris’ are found to be ignorant about the real purport or the complete meaning of the ‘Mantras’ and ‘Shlokas’. Some of them just go on reciting these as a matter of professional habit. At times the pronunciation of Sanskrit is highly defective and conveys different and awkward meanings. If the original authors of the ‘Mantras’ could listen to the present day archaic style of presentation, they would perhaps turn in their graves. 

Further, there are ‘Mantras’ for every occasion, be it a deity’s birthday or death anniversary of some one’s father. However, one comes across erudite ‘Pundits’ in some temples, but they are rarely to be found.

Thus the ignorant but gullible devotee is waylaid in the devotional path by some of these so called ‘Punditji’s at huge cost of their time, money and energy. The unfortunate devotee has no choice but to agree to whatever the ‘Punditji’ says, does or prescribes to be done, with the fear of losing God’s blessings or incurring a divine curse or losing the good will of the ‘Punditji’ who often usurps the role of an intermediary between God and his devotees!

What the simple devotee does not understand is that the entire system of worship of God or ‘Guru’ is meant to establish and sustain an emotional rapport between the God or ‘Guru’ and the devotees. That is possible only when the devotee is truthful in his emotional beseechment or prayers. This part can’t be delegated to the ‘Punditji’ to be manipulated through the process of uttering of a few Sanskrit words (Mantras), the meaning of which, he may not be aware of.

That is why the enlightened souls like Shri Nanakji (‘Guru Vani’ written in Gurumukhi), Shri Tulsi Das (‘Shri Rama CharitaManas’ written in Hindi), Shri Sharala Das (Mahabharata written in Odia) and many others had tried to make it easy for the devotee to develop a direct emotional bond with God (or the Deity) by giving vent to his feelings through the medium of regional, local and understandable language. In Maharashtra, saint Tukaram wrote ‘abhangs’ in Marathi language and in Bengal, Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to deliver his discourses in simple Bengali language and style. Such changes brought about by these enlightened souls were fully accepted by the common man of the society and were highly beneficial in their spiritual progress. Shri Shirdi Sai Baba also prescribed His devotees to appeal to God in a faithful and truthful spirit in whatever language the devotee found it to be easy to do so. Therefore, the devotees, who recite mantras, should try to understand the meaning of the ‘Mantras’ and ‘Shlokas’ and then recite them during worship and prayer, rather than doing it mechanically. Worship (Puja) without Bhava (devotional emotion) is an exercise in futility. Bhava is the pulsation of heart uniting the human soul with God and there is no role of an intermediary character.

Shirdi Sai used to tell His devotees just to recite His name Sai-Sai lovingly. History has shown that numerous simple, uneducated (in the formal sense of the term) but faithful souls realised God in this manner.

Shri C. B. Satpathy, New Delhi

"Shri Ram, Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram".

श्री राम जय राम जय जय राम

 "Om Sai, Shree Sai, Jai Jai Sai".

 ॐ साई श्री साई जय जय साई