Fwd: Glory of the Divine Names of Sri Sathya Sai - OM SRI SAI SHANKARÄYA NAMAH - (30)
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2023 11:27:03 AM
To: The Sathya Sai Center of Norwalk <saicenterofnorwalk@gmail.com>
Subject: Fwd: Glory of the Divine Names of Sri Sathya Sai - OM SRI SAI SHANKARÄYA NAMAH - (30)
From: Ramya Sethuratnam <devotion.region9@sssgc-usa.org>
Date: Thu, May 25, 2023 at 5:01 AM
Subject: Glory of the Divine Names of Sri Sathya Sai - OM SRI SAI SHANKARÄYA NAMAH - (30)
To:
OM SRI SAI SHANKARÄYA NAMAH - (30) Salutations to Sri Sai, Who is the embodiment of Shankara, the all-blissful auspicious God.
'Shankaréti iti Shankarah' is the meaning of 'Shankara'. To explain further, 'Shan' means happiness and 'Kara' means the one who bestows. Shankara is the God who bestows bliss and prosperity upon us, and Sai is Shankara incarnate. So Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai bestows happiness upon us.
Since childhood, Sathyanarayana had a habit of drawing a horizontal line of vibhuti on His forehead. He used to tell His elder sister to put a big dot of 'kumkum' in between the lines of vibhuti. If the vibhuti or kumkum got wiped out, Sathyanarayana would insist on applying it again. But everyone realized its significance much later-that vibhuti symbolizes Shiva and kumkum symbolizes Shakti.
Later in 1940, at the Virupâksha temple in Hampi, Bhagawan Baba gave a vision of His form in place of the Shivalingam and revealed for the first time that He and Virupaksha were one and the same. When the foundation work of the Prashanthi Mandir commenced, many bases which support the Shivalingam were found underground. Someone asked Baba, "Where are the Shivalingams ?" He smiled and pointed towards His stomach. None really understood the meaning of this gesture at the time, but when the 'Lingodbhav' started during 'Mahashivaratri', the mystery was cleared.
Shiva loves vibhuti. The Divine Father Shiva smears vibhuti all over His body so He is also known as 'Vibhuti Bhushan'. In the Shirdi incarnation, Sai created the burning fire through His yogic powers and lit the 'Akhand Dhuni' (the eternal fire).
He used to distribute the udi (vibhuti / ash) from this fire as 'prasad'. Today Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba materializes the sacred eternal vibhuti and gives it to His devotees. Here is one more story about the 'Shankar Roopa' of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. There was a devout couple, who were very sad because they had no issue. The lady undertook severe penance and worship of Guru Dattatreya, and was able to secure His grace. Those who knew about her wish insisted that she should seek blessings of some realized souls and accept a 'Guru'. But the lady had resolved in her mind that unless she got verily the vision of God Himself in a 'Guru', she would not accept him as a Master. Once her husband became seriously ill and had to be hospitalized. At that time Sri Sathya Sai gave her darshan in a dream and called them both to Puttaparthi. When the couple reached there, Swami called them for an interview. In the first interview itself, He gave her darshan in the form of Shankara, with the crescent moon on His forehead, Ganga falling from His head and vibhuti smeared all over His body! This Sai Shankara then filled their life with so much joy, that it left no place for any sadness or regret.
With the darshan of Sai Shankara, all our sins get washed away and on getting His charan sparsh, we become free from bondage.
Bhagirath undertook severe penance and brought the Ganga down to earth from the heavens. The powerful force of its waters would have flooded the earth, so Bhagawan Shiva Shankara held her in His hair and later she started flowing on earth in a regulated manner to bless all. All the people rejoiced. Today Sai Shankara has undertaken 'Sri Sathya Sai Drinking Water Projects' all over India and has given happiness to all the people with the 'Ganga' of grace.
OM SRI SATHYA SAINATH ARPANAM ASTU
With pranams at the lotus feet of our dear Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai baba,
Devotional Wing, SSSGC USA