Shri sai Leela April 1983

RAMANAVANI FESTIVAL AT SHIRDI
The Ramanavami Festival will be celebrated as usual at Shirdi from Wednesday the 20th April 1983 to Friday the 22nd April 1983. All Sai devotees are cordially requested to attend the festival.

K.H.KAKRE
Court Receiver
........................................................................................................................................

Shri Sai Baba's Padukas Go to South

At the request of the organisers of the 20th All India Sai Devotees' convention, Shri G. R. Inamdar and Shri Shriniwasan, from Bombay, requested the Court Receiver, Shirdi Sansthan to allow them to take Shri Sai Baba's Padukas to Nellore and keep them there for darshan of the devotees. Accordingly Shri Inamdar and Shri Shrinivasan went to Shirdi and brought the Padukas to Bombay on 5th January 1983. After worshipping the Padukas at the residence of Shri Inamdar at Prabbadevi on 5th January, 1983, they were taken to Nellore by Shri Shriniwasan, Dr. Parchure and Shri Sadanand Chendvankar. After reaching Nellore on the evening of 6th January 1983 the Padukas were kept for darshan in the convention from 7-1-83 to 9-1-83 where thousands of devotees of Shri Sai Baba took their darshan with full devotion on all the three days of the convention.
After the convention was over, the Padukas were taken to Madras on 10-1-83 by the morning train by Dr. Parchure, Shri Chendvankar, Shri. T. Keshavrao & Shri Vishwanathan. At 12 noon on the same day the Padukas were worshipped and kept in the spacious hall of the Alt India Sai Samaj, Mylapore, Madras for darshan. As it was already announced that the Padukas would be brought from Nellore after the convention was over, lot of people attended the All India Sai Samaj on that day.
On 11-1-83 at 8 p. m. the Padukas were kept in a Palanquin, well-decorated with flowers, alongwith a big portrait of Shri Sai Baba and were taken in procession in Mylapore area and nearby localities accompanied by bhajan parties and music. On the route of the procession, the devotees from almost every house offered garlands to the Padukas and took darshan. The procession returned to the All India Sai Samaj hall at about 11 P. M.
On 12-1-83 at 6 p. m. Or. Parchure and Shri Sadanand Chendvankar, the Executive Editors of Shri Sai Leela magazine, were introduced to the audience at the public meeting held at the All India Sai Samaj hall by Shri. T. Keshavrao, President of the Samaj, and were requested to address the meeting.
In his speech Dr. Parchure said, "Devotion (bhakti) is a great achievement of a devotee. In one Sanskrit Shloka it is stated that a devotee of God (Wasudeo) is not afraid of birth death old age and ailments and this is quite true. When-we surrender ourselves fully to our God, Shri Sai Baba, we feel fully protected according to the assurance given to his devotees by Shri Baba and therefore we become fearless." In the end Dr. Parchure thanked the authorities of A. I. S. S. and the audience.- Shri Cbendvankar also similarly thanked all for their hospitality.
After their speeches were over Shri Vishwanathan, the Secretary of the All India Sai Samaj, thanked the audience and felicitated both the speakers by offering garlands to them.
On the night of 12-1-83, the Padukas were taken back to Bombay by the Madras Bombay Mail by Shri Shriniwasan, Dr. Parchure and Shri Chendvanker. On account of the Pongal festival the Padukas were taken by Shri Shriniwasan to his residence and worshipped on 14-1-83 on their arrival in Bombay on the morning of that day. After the Pooja, the Padukas were delivered back at Shirdi by Shri Shriniwasan on 15-1-83. In the special Hundi kept for the purpose all the donations of the devotees were collected and they were delivered at the Shirdi Sansthan along with the Padukas. Shri Sai Baba's Padukas thus had a long journey in South India for propagating Sai devotion there.
Report of the Ninth Annual Gathering at Shirdi
(Continued from March 1983 issue)
Second Session (Sunday 30-1-83)
After the lunch, the delegates took a little rest and again gathered in the hall at 3 P. M. However some poets had already gathered in the hall at 2 P. M. and started singing a few of their poems. At 3 p, m the proceeding of the gathering started with the suggestions made by the delegates.
In this session the following delegates delivered their speeches for making their various suggestions for improving the standard of Shri Sai Leela and for boosting its circulation. Shri Nagesh Moglaikar, Shri Jagdeesh Deopurkar, Shri Lalwani, Sou Sumati Khanwilkar, Prof.Guoderao Patwari, Dr A. K, Pathak, Shri Ramesh D. Chavan, Shri Anil K. Rasal, Shri Raghunath Sandbhor. Lt. Col. Nimbalkar, Shri Bapusaheb Nirkhe, Shri J. K. Puri, Shri Prakash Karpe, Shri Vijay Hajare, Swami Sanjayanand, Shri Hasmukh Onkar Patil, Dr. Indutai Naik. Shasbikala Rewankar and Dr. B. G. Das. The suggestions made by these speakers may briefly be stated as follows :-
There is much improvement in Shri Sai Leela magazine. However we should still try to improve it further. Many contributors do not get some of their issues through the Post Office. This annual gathering is necessary as it helps us to review our own work. All the contributors should try to enlist new members. It is felt that only old contributors are given a place in the magazine. However new contributors should be given encouragement by publishing their articles. Editorials should also be written in Hindi. This magazine is shaping a generation by impressing good things like devotion and faith on them. This gathering also has its utility in this behalf and it should therefore be continued for improving the get-up and quality of the articles published in Shri Sai Leela. Articles on spiritual subjects are necessary; but they should not be out of proportion. This annual gathering gives all an opportunity to forget their normal family worries and spend two days amidst an atmosphere charged with Sai devotion and therefore it is necessary to continue it every year. Both the issues of this magazine are doing good work in spreading Sai devotion far and wide. Next year's gathering will be the 10th gathering and hence it may be held for three days instead of the usual duration of two days. This gathering is now only a gathering of the devotees coming from all states of India; but I feel that a day will come when it will be attended by devotee- from all over the world. It is understood that the administration of the Sansthan is soon going in the hands of trustees. Shri Kakresaheb should recommend to the new trustees that this gathering should be continued further. We should try to improve the literary quality of our articles, the Maratbi issue is having every year a special issue dedicated only to poems. Prose also has equal importance in literature and it should not be sidetracked. It also should be given equal opportunity. The editors should try to see what articles about Sai Baba are being published in different periodical? and they -should try to reproduce them in Shri Sai Leela. The editors are required to be congratulated for having published a very good special issue of poems. The cover-page should be more attractive. As the receipt of the articles is now acknowledged, the decision should also be communicated to the contributors. There should be a special gathering only of the poets of Shri Sai Leela. The topic "Ask anything about Shri Sai Baba" should be started again The contributors should try to improve the literary standard of their articles. They should continue to write about Leela of Shri Sai baba. It appears that Shri Sai Baba wishes to continue to hold this gathering from year to year. The propaganda of Sai devotion should be continued through this gathering. As suggested by somebody we need not try to improve the cover of all the issues. We may have good covers for some special issues. We should select special experiences of the devotees and publish them in a book form. The pages assigned for Hindi articles may be increased. The children, who are contributing articles to Shri Sai Leela, should be felicitated by giving them some prizes Whenever "Obituary" is printed in Shri Sai Leela, we should print the photo of the departed person. The subscription of the magazine may be increased if the number of pages is also to be increased. The suggestions made by the delegates should be read to the gathering in the beginning so that the delegates may think about them and express their opinion on those suggestions. The photos of Shri Sai Baba in different Sai temples may be collected and their exhibition should be held at the time of the gathering Shri Sai Leela is an international magazine. If it is not possible to publish within six months the, articles received from the devotees, they may be returned to them, We should print in Shri Sai Leela that Shri Sai Baba has left no disciples nor has He 'appointed anybody as his heir. The executive editors should be congratulated for bringing out good issues of Shri Sai Leela. The editorials of the Marathi issue are very well-written and for that purpose the executive editor is required to be congratulated. The articles in Hindi should be written grammatically correct. Special issue of poems in Marathi may be published twice in a year; but prose also should not be forgotten. It should also be given due place. We should publish a special issue of Hindi poems also. The friendship and love among the devotees is increasing because of the gathering. In the annual gathering we get an opportunity to meet people who have seen Shri Baba and had His blessings. So we get inspiration from them in this gathering and for that purpose this gathering is required to be continued. We should consider the possibility of making life members for the magazine so that the magazine could take the shape that we want. In view of the changes that are likely to take place in the management of the Shirdi Sansthan Shri Kakresaheb may please inform whether the gathering would be continued or not. ? ;
As it was time for Dhuparati. the president stated that the rest of the speakers would be given an opportunity to speak on the next day in the morning session and declared the second session to have concluded. The delegates then dispersed to attend the aarti. They had their lunch and from 8, 30 to 10. 30 p. m. the poets and others gave their cultural programmes in the Samadhi Mandir. Due to the limited time at the disposal of the 'organizers some delegates did not get a chance to give their programme. They were therefore promised that they would be given a chance on the next day.
(to be continued)