Sixtyone Years of Publication

(April 1983)

Our contributors, readers, subscribers,' well-wishers and Sai devotees will be glad to know that Shri Sai Leela has completed sixtyone years of its publication and has entered into the sixtysecond year of its publication from this issue. There are other magazines which have been published for even longer period than this; but it may be noted that they have been devoted to subjects different than the one to which this magazine is dedicated and therefore its publication for so long a time is really to be welcomed and praised.

As stated on the cover page of this magazine, it is the Official Organ of the Shirdi Sansthan. It was originally started with the basic idea of publishing seriatim the Sai Satcharit, written by the late Annasaheb Dabholkar -and to circulate it among the Sai devotees through this magazine and giving publication to the experiences of the devotees about the divine favours shown to them by Shri Sai Baba from time to time. Sai Satcharit is now available in book-form and therefore that purpose is now served; but the second purpose of publishing this magazine is still needed. With the spread of Sai devotion far and wide in this country and abroad, Sai devotees can now be counted in millions and their varied experiences are simply marvellous and amazing. The greatness of our Sadguru Shri Sai Baba lies in fulfilling His promise, which He gave to His devotees during His life-time. He had promised His devotees prosperity during their worldly existence and moksha or relief from the cycle of birth and death. There is actually no gauge to measure the latter part of the above promise; but the former part of it is an every day occurance, which is experienced by thousands of devotees and it will continue for ever. This magazine will therefore have to continue for ever for spreading the greatness of our Sadguru.

The Sai Satcharita contains many episodes that took place at Shirdi during the life-time of Shri Sai Baba. We cannot say that those must be the only episodes that must have happened during the presence of Shri Sai Baba at Shirdi for more than sixty long years. There must be many more incidents relating to Shri Sai Baba, which may not have been heard by Shri Dabhoklar and therefore they might have gone unnoticed. Shri Narsimha Swamiji, a veteran Sai devotee, who spread Sai devotion on a mass scale in the south of India, interviewed many Sai devotees and noted down their experiences. These experiences really speaking form a sort of addendum to Sai Satcharita. In the same way this magazine also serves- the same purpose in as much as it also records the experiences of Sai devotees.

The experiences of a few Sai devotees are read by others through this magazine and it thus helps to spread Sai devotion further in this country and abroad. The modern World is moving towards a very fast life full of frustration. People do not ordinarily find peace and solace in this life. They therefore need some spiritual guidance whereby they can achieve peace of mind. This magazine does not concentrate only on the life and experiences about Shri Sai Baba. It is dedicated to the spiritual uplift and that is done by publishing articles relating to saints and sages of the past and present times, who have helped mankind to proceed on the spiritual path in some way or the other. This magazine thus helps the aforesaid frustrated people who have lost themselves in this great chaos of the modern world.

What Pandharpur is to the devotees of Vitthal in the Warkari sect that is Shirdi to the Sai devotees. They want to know what is happening at Shirdi from time to time. They want to know what changes are taking place at Shirdi. As this magazine is published by Shirdi Sansthan and as it is its "Official Organ" as mentioned before, it naturally gives, to the devotees information they need about the festivals and functions, that are taking place at Shirdi and also about the construction of new buildings and expansion of the Shirdi Sansthan through the Shirdi news, that is being published every month in this magazine The name of this magazine viz. Shri Sai Leela creates a wrong impression in the minds of a few persons who do not care to go through it and shun it from a distance. The subscribers and readers at large of this magazine Know the broad outline of this magazine and the subjects and topics on which articles are being published in this magazine. They will therefore know that this magazine is not limited to any subject but it covers all subjects relating to the spiritual path which helps the devotees to proceed on it. It is therefore a sort of a duty of the readers of this magazine to try to remove any such misunderstanding, that might be lurking at the back of the mind of certain persons, who are devotional minded and who really want to proceed on the spiritual path for their welfare in the next world so that they will also take advantage of the articles that are being published here.

Some contributors and readers of this magazine feel that in order to spread Sai devotion, the circulation of this magazine should be boosted and for that purpose they should make serious efforts. The intention of these people is no doubt good and laudable, but there is saying in Sanskrit, (Na he kasturi kamado, shapyan vibhavakte) which means that the fragrance of kasturi is not required to be made known by taking an oath. Kastoori (musk) has such a strong smell that it will spread automatically.. No body need take an oath for that. To generalize from the above example we may say that any good thing spreads automatically. It does not require much canvassing. The fragrance of Shri Sai Baba's devotion is so sweet and pleasant that it is spreading far and wide, it is spreading at the sweet will of Shri Sai Baba and therefore while making efforts to spread Sai devotion through the circulation of this magazine, we the Sai devotees should remember the teaching of Saburi that Shri Baba wanted his devotees to learn and should not get discouraged. The circulation of this magazine is increasing slowly and steadily and during the last ten years or so it has increased seven times the number which was being printed on 1-4-1973, on which date the issues of English and Hindi and Marathi were separated.

Some readers and contributors of this magazine, criticize that many prose articles and poems are not upto the literary standard. In this connection it may be stated that originally this magazine was started by some Sai devotees for the benefit of other Sai devotees and not for erecting a land-mark in the literary field of this country. There are many other magazines, which are started and are published with this end in view. Those magazines are publishing various kinds of forms of literature such as short stories, essays, novels, poems etc. and literary criticisms with the view of helping the spread of literature and improving its standard in general. However as stated on several occasions, the main aim of this magazine has been to spread Sai devotion and devotion being an emotion, more attention is paid to emotion rather than the literary value of an article while choosing articles for publication in this magazine. Hence we would request our readers, contributors and subscribers to look at the emotion of the writer embodied in his article and not to examine or criticize any article from literary point of view. We are therefore quite sure that all the poems published in this magazine are oozing out emotion like an honeycomb, which is full of honey.

Every living organism in this world wants to undergo a Change—a change for the better and this magazine, in which life is being poured every day by our contributors, is quite alive to change for the better every day. We are thankful to our readers and subscribers as well as contributors, who are constantly thinking about the improvement of this magazine and who are very often sending suggestions to us for making improvement in this magazine. It may be recalled that from 1975 onwards, every year a gathering of the contributors to this magazine is held at Shirdi in the early months of the year. In this gathering many valuable suggestions are being made by sincere Sai devotees for the improvement in the get-up and material of this magazine. Our readers will agree that improvements are being made in this magazine from time to time and some readers are eloquent about it. If some others have not committed it to writing it may be because they have no time to do it or they are thinking that it is the duty of the editor and executive editors to effect improvements in the magazine, which they are publishing. Anyway we wish to point out that we are slowly but surely marching on the path of improvement.

Issuing a magazine every month is not a one man show. It requires co-operation and co-ordination at various levels. The contributors, subscribers and readers are no doubt the main people, who encourage the editor and executive editors to bring out better issues every month; but the printer also plays equally important role in the publication of a magazine. If our readers are getting their issues regularly every month in the first week, it is because our printers are very regular in their work. With the co-operation of all these people, who are concerned with the publication of this magazine and above all with the cherished blessings of Shri Sai Baba, we wish to serve our readers for many years to come