Lovely Sai Ram,

 

Swami said a saying thus, ‘Service to man is service to God’. But many among us just keep wondering about ways to serve humanity. Many of us find it difficult to dedicate ourselves to some social activities too often. ‘Attending seva is impossible today’, we say. Some of us plan, but fail it into put to practice. While few others underestimate their individual humanitarian service capabilities.

If you are trying to discover ways to serve the needy then our sai sister Rajeshri and her friends seems to be quite a good example. Rajeshri from Panaji sai samiti is a computer engineer by profession. And she along with her friends has dedicated every Sunday for the educational upbringing of the poor children of a village called Curca (Cudca).

 

  

 We asked her a few questions.

 

Q. Tell us something about your tuition Activity at Curca village?

àThe activity was started in the mid of January 2008. Initially we started with Balvikas in Curca village at Nagesh temple. When we went through the academic progress of the students we noticed that most of them were under average and used fail in many subjects. This was due to the unawareness among their parents in educating their children and their financial problems in going for tuitions. We came out with the solution of starting with the activity of tuition classes.

 

Q.  How did you approach them?

 à  The elders along with the sai youth girls visited all houses in the village and informed the children and their parents regarding the importance of balvikas, tuition activity and advised them to attend the  same on every Sunday at 11:00 am. Initially it was Shri Nagesh temple, then we shifted to Shri Somnath Nair’s Residence.

 

Q.  You all have no teaching background. How did you prepare yourself for it?

àIn the beginning we had children from standard 1^st to 7^th. Students were divided according to their standards and each group was allotted to one youth. As days passed students of even the higher classes started attending the tuitions. The new place is the residence of Shri Somnath Nair.

 

Q. How many (in fact who) assist you with it?

à Initially we were very few. We are a total of 10 carrying out tuitions activity namely: Siddhi, Priyag, Shruti, Jaya, Aparna, Aditi, Ruhi, Smriti, Pragati & Shubha.

 

Q. That’s eleven including you!

à Oh yes!

 

Q. Any Progress found in the children?

à Many children were weak in their basics when they joined as there was no body to train them. Their school staffs were not that serious about working on their basic skills. Thus, our main aim is to improve their base & to let them know the importance of studies in life. On that note, an improvement is seen among the students. To give an example, the students who used to fail in 2 subjects are clearing their subjects. Yet, those with failing in more than 2 subjects need to be furnished & trained in a better manner.

 

Q. That’s a very noble service to society as you are taking care of educare and education as well. It is an inspiration to all of us. You are indeed a blessed soul. Let swami’s grace be upon you.

à Sai Ram! Thank you. We have a long way to go. Do tell us how we can improve in this way to make our activity better. Sai Ram.

 

That was a short conversation with Sister Rajeshri. Hope it has started tickling the gears in your brain. While devotion is vehicle, service is its fuel by which you will reach Swami. Many have begun their journey. When are you starting?

 

‘Attending seva is impossible today……..’ who said that!

 

Happy Ganesha and Ramzan!

Sai Ram!

 

Swami has changed the divine manthra ‘Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu’ to ‘Sarva Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu’

 

To know about latest happenings in Puttaparthi and receive daily good thoughts SMS, ‘JOIN saisms’ to 567673434. It is free!

 

All Goa Balvikas student’s examination under ’second group’ category was conducted in Mustifund High School, Panaji. Around 53 balvikas students appeared in the test. The examination began at 3pm to 5pm. Meanwhile, the balvikas teachers held a meeting on improving their ways of teaching. The paper-set was prepared by Balvikas teachers of Maharashtra and will be sent back there for correction.

 

Shri Nagesh, a form of Lord Shiva is one of the reowned temples of Goa. It’s surroundings which includes a lake makes sai devotees remember puttaparthi.

It was the installation day of Shri Maharudra Nagesh temple (in Goa we call it ‘Saptaha’) and so many kirtan and bhajan singer groups were invited. One such group was Sri Sathya Sai Organisation. After the series of melodies kirtans sung by the local singer groups, Sai devotees took the task to reverbrate the environment with bhakti-rasa. It began at around 3 pm with three samitis mainly Ponda, Karmali and Kundaim participating. Singing continued as devotees looked at the sai youths in awe, for it was a rare sight to see young generations among the kirtan groups and in such a good numbers. As the time passed and the 7 O’clock was coming near, the tempo of bhajans increased. With the last bhajans like Subramanyam subhramanyam… not only devotees but the priest himself could not help cradling and clapping to the tunes. At 7pm it was time to hand over the lead to other singing group. All devotees sung Aarti and parted with happy moments and prasadam.

 

Sai youths  with the name of Sai gathered once again to renovate a house for a poor lady name ‘Vishranti Gaude’ at ‘Kanera’ a remote place that comes in Kundaim village of ponda taluka (Goa).

The story of Vishranti Gaude:

This widow has a hard life. With death of her husband, the responsibility to take care of her two children, girl now passed her 12^th and boy studying in 4^th came on her. With no special skill by which she could earn, this lady since then has been going house to house to wash clothes and utensils and cook food.

Tragedy took toll when the roof top of her house collapsed along with the wooden first floor during a rain storm. The house was made of mud, which worsened the condition. The estimated loss of property was 50,000/-; where 40,000/- was the computer her daughter got from school as per a scholarship scheme.  Fortunately, no one was at home. But what could she do next. No neighbor was willing to help. The government officials took no action. What will she do?

 

How we came to know:

By Swami’s will, a sai devotee found a column in a local newspaper mentioning about the above story. He immediately contacted his fellow Sai youths. They surveyed the house, planned the budget, the accessories, and time. The date was confirmed.

 

On 3^rd of August:

 Another Swami’s miracle, the day was sunny. Lord Indra (the rain god) seemed to be in a very good mood so he sent only light showers in between. At about 9 am the Sai youths gathered at the site. They had brought all the necessary items including G.I. sheets, 9 metre wooden log (they brought from a place that’s about 7 kms from the site. the road was very narrow and the vehicle was a mini-truck), and welding machine. The work began with Sai’s name. Youths worked like experts and within 5 hours the roof was ready.

It was one of the happiest moments. Though nothing great was accomplished, the joy we found amidst the Sai circle is unexplainable. And the smiles in those poor people’s lips is what we want to see. It is different story every time, but one thing is common- We find the divine force every time around us. It says, ‘I shall do my work through you. Be my instrument and attain my grace. I shall help you to overcome every hurdle. Have no fear. Just attempt.’

Sai Ram!