Sai Newsletter Jan:Feb 2010 - The Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre of ...

SAI
N e w s l e t t e r
January/February 2010
How can you reach the Divine Abode?
Here’s how...
You are Invited...
“Likhitha Japam is an easy way to bring about the union of the
two hearts; the heart of the the devotee and the heart of the
Lord.”
Sathya Sai Baba
You may choose any name of the Lord or a simple prayer for this
spiritual exercise. His name or the prayer is written first by
thinking of His form, followed by reciting His name or the prayer
(of your choice) with full concentration.
First, you have to examine yourself to see whether you are
following this path of harmony in thought, word and deed. When
you examine yourself honestly you may find that most of the time
these three, thought, word and deed, will be going off in three
different directions, without any unity between them. Swami
says, when thoughts are different, words are different and
actions are different, that you have the
characteristics of a demon, not of a saint.
Such disharmony will not benefit you nor
endear you to the Lord.
Wishing
you
a Happy
& Holy
New Year!
Swami says: “Write the Likhita Japam with
devotion pouring from the depths of your
hearts with single minded concentration
and write the likhita japam until your last
breath. Swami Himself will accept this.”
To learn more about
the universal message
and humanitarian works of
Sathya Sai Baba,
you are cordially invited to
attend the public meeting
that will be held on:
Saturday January 16, 2010
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm at
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre
of Toronto-York
40 Voyager Court North,
Toronto, ON
Tel: 416 SAI BABA

UPDATES...
Gift Box Project
The Centre,
this year, once
again decided
to participate
in the
Operation
Christmas
Child project
which had
received
tremendous support in past
years.
As part of Bhagavan Sri
Sathya Sai Babaʼs 84 th
birthday celebrations the
centre members aimed to
donate 84 gift boxes filled with
toys, clothes, books and
treats to less fortunate
children (ages 2-14 years)
living in countries of South
America and West Africa.
This project gave us a
wonderful opportunity to
connect and give joy to
children living in far away
lands as Equador, Chile, El
Salvador and Sierra Leone.
The idea was not to just
purchase the gifts by merely
dipping into our wallets but by
placing a ceiling on our
desires and the money thus
saved was used to buy the
gifts.
In this manner, by making a
small sacrifice, both
the donor and
recipient derived joy!
Donors were also
asked to include a
letter or picture for the
child receiving a gift
box and to pray for the
child.
We again exceeded
our expectations and received
around 180 gift boxes. These
gifts were
collected during
the week of
Swamiʼs birthday
celebrations,
ready for delivery
in time for
Christmas!
Centre members
of all ages were excited to
participate in this activity and
it encouraged family members
to work together in placing a
ceiling on their desires and
touch the life of a child.
May God bless the donor, the
recipient and the gift alike.
Jai Sai Ram
Sandhya Mistry
One Paragraph
That Explains Life
Arthur Ashe, the legendary
Wimbledon tennis player was
dying of AIDS which he got due
to infected blood he received
during a heart surgery in 1983.
From world over, he received
letters from his fans, one of
which conveyed: “Why does
GOD have to select you for such
a bad disease?”
To this, Arthur Ashe replied:
“The world over - 50 million
children start playing tennis, 5
million learn to play tennis,
500,000 learn professional
tennis, 50,000 come to the
circuit, 5,000 reach the grand
slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to
semi-final, 2 to the finals and
when I was holding up a cup, I
never asked God “Why me?”.

FROM THE PRESIDENT
Aum Sri Sai Ram, Dear Sisters and Brothers, Youth and Children,
I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy New Year, lots
of cheer and best wishes as we usher in year 2010. With Bhagawan
Babaʼs grace and blessings, we had a very memorable birthday
celebration program which brought much joy and happiness in our
lives. We started with Unity Bhajanʼs in October, followed by 24 hour
long Akanda Bhajan, Ladies Day celebrations, weeklong community
service activities prior to the Cultural Program, and finally
concluding with the all day spiritual program and special Birthday
Satsangh. Congratulations to all the support teams including the
children and youth who did an awesome drama and dance
presentation for the cultural program. Everyone lovingly supported
each other to make them come alive and wholesome! This will have
undoubtedly made Swami very proud and happy.
Experiencing happiness has been our number one goal in
everything that we undertake to do at the Centre. Over the last two
years we have continued to build a strong infrastructure of
dedicated teams and resources, programs and activities that will
enhance our spiritual growth. In addition, sharing Bhagawanʼs
message of love and hope with our brethren in the community will
have to remain as one of our key objectives in the coming years,
supported by a genuine desire to welcome one and all to the
Centre.
As we usher in the New Year, let us give our wholehearted support
to the newly selected President, Sister Chandra Gopie in preserving
our love, unity and harmony amongst us. We also pray that Swami
grants us with a divine opportunity to be in His physical presence in
the Summer of 2010. Although confirmations are pending, we may
be forming a group of well over 300 devotees from our Centre
membership to join the Canadian National Pilgrimage. Whether we
can physically join or not, we all feel that we are traveling together
as ONE and continue with our prescribed sadhana and lovingly
support each other over the coming months in that spirit.
Finally, my love and gratitude to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
and all the Centre members and office bearers for allowing me the
opportunity to work with them closely over the past two years. May
Bhagawan Baba shower everyone with His love and grace so that
we too can be beacons of love and light to all those who come in
our midst.
With Love and Light,
Vinod Lad

CHILDREN’S PAGE
Sadako Sasaki, (1943 - 1955) was born during
World War Il in Japan. On August 6, 1945 when
the world's first atomic bomb detonated in the sky
over Hiroshima, Sadako lived about 1 mile away
from where the bomb was dropped.
Ten years after the atomic bombing, life returned
to normal for Hiroshima City and its people.
However, something was very wrong with
Sadako's health. She was diagnosed with
leukemia, was hospitalized and
given, at the most, a year to
live.
Sadako's best friend — came to
the hospital to visit and cut a
golden piece of paper into a
square and folded it into a
paper crane. At first Sadako
didn't understand why her friend
Chizuko was doing this but then
Chizuko retold the story about the paper cranes.
Inspired by the crane, she started folding them
herself, spurred on by the Japanese saying that
one who folded 1,000 cranes was granted a wish.
Though she had plenty of free time during her
days in the hospital to fold the cranes, she lacked
paper. She would use medicine wrappings and
whatever else she could scrounge up.
With her family around her, sadly, Sadako died on
the morning of October 25, 1955.
She had folded 644 before her death and her
friends completed the 1,000 and buried them all
with her. An exhibit which appeared in the
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum stated that
Sadako had achieved her goal.
Sadako, a heroine for many children around the
world has become a leading
symbol of the impact of nuclear
war. Her story is told in many
schools on the anniversary of
the Hiroshima bombing.
Dedicated to her, people all over
the world celebrate August 6 as
the annual Peace day.
The Sadako story has touched
many hearts of children and
adults alike who have undertaken the mission of
making 1,000 origami cranes wishing everyone
good health, peace and love.
If you would like to participate, seek assistance
from your parents, teachers, librarian or even
YouTube on how to make origami cranes.
You may also email the Editor for assistance.
Published by the
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre
of Toronto-York
For additional information
on Centre activities, please
visit the following website:
www.sathyasaitoronto.org
To provide comments or
feedback to the Editor,
please email:
theeditoris@gmail.com