Saturday, August 6, 2016

I've published the newest edition of the Shri Sai Satcharita - Baba's Life Story

For the past year or so, Baba had been coming to me, mostly as thought, insisting that I must publish a "new" edition of the Shri Sai Satcharita: The Wonderful Life and Teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba, his life story.

The original was written in Marathi by Govind Raghunath Dabholkar, also know far and wide as Hemadpant - the name bestowed by Shirdi Sai Baba on him. Years later, in 1944 it was finally translated into English by N.V. Gunaji. That is the edition I have re-issued.

It was a beautiful opportunity for me to really dive deeply into the Satcharita. I had had for some time a different version, that I purchased in Shirdi, during my blessed one week there in 2008. As an obligatory obligation, I had read most of it then. It was time to see what was really up. What I found was that in N.V. Gunaji's translation, there were many anachronisms. Indian English that had not been in common usage for generations. Unfortunately, there were many spelling mistakes, that had maybe existed for generations. How they crept into the book, into Gunaji's translation, I do not know. But they were there. So there were a number of issues I had to tackle in reissuing. I had to become an editor of Baba's life story. HE told me to go ahead.

So within a month or so working almost full time on it, I had completed the task. I must have read and re-read the Shri Sai Satcharita twenty or thirty times; that was a Divine Blessing in and of itself, being that it is one of the most powerful spiritual books ever written. So now it is available through amazon.com throughout the world and bookstores in many places. Both as an eBook kindle edition and a very beautiful trade paperback edition. Soon I will be adding other distribution channels, as Baba wishes. The more people that can have the opportunity to read the Satcharitra, that is the ultimate goal.

Here is an excerpt from my Editor's Preface:

Who was Shirdi Sai Baba? Baba lived all his adult life in Shirdi, a small village in India. To the unknowing, He seemed a simple beggar, dressed in torn clothes, having no need for any material item. Claiming neither the Hindu nor Muslim religion, nor any religion. He lived in an abandoned Mosque with no roof and every day took his food from a few people, making his rounds with his begging bowl, door to door. What really was happening; He was burning the karmas of everyone who came to Him, in the dhuni (Divine Fire) Baba kept burning at all times. Healing and giving guidance on every level. Hundreds of thousands of miracles are attributed to Him in His life and they have multiplied now after His Mahasamadhi. Baba left His physical form in 1918, but his Divine Energy and Intention and Power is always available and at work in the world. The Shri Sai Satcharitra is a discourse based on experiences Baba’s devotees had with Him during His life on earth. It is said that Shirdi Sai Baba caused it to be written through Shri Anna Saheb Dabholkar - Hemadpant - by giving inner motivation to him. Baba had clearly told him: "I Myself write my own life. Hearing My stories and teachings will create faith in devotees' hearts and they will easily get self-realization and bliss...." Every chapter is a mixture of philosophy, anecdotes, and teachings. His book is akin to the Vedas for Sai’s devotees.” To many people, The Divine Truth imparted by this book is even greater than the knowledge contained in the Vedas and the Gita, because all the characters and events in it are real and authentic and have been recorded in detail by many devotees. We have attempted to remain true to N.V. Gunaji’s original English translation. While some of the sentence structure and references may be slightly obscure for the Western reader, what is clear is that since the original English translation by N.V. Gunaji was published, that it has in its unaltered state, been a core component of the spread of knowledge and devotion to Shirdi Sai Baba in the English-speaking world. To help the reader with some of the obscure Hindi words and references in the Satcharitra, we have added an extensive Glossary.

It is available from amazon.com, you can click right on this link here, to see it and purchase from amazon. It is also possible to "read inside the book", actually inside of the different editions, the kindle and paperback are two separate works.

It's available also at amazon.in, amazon.ca, amazon.co.uk and on all the other amazons worldwide. It is my fervent hope that everyone reading this blog, at least takes a look now at the Sri Sai Satcharitra.

Evan

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Thanks for your comment ... hope I can approve it soon. Evananda