An insightful account on the Project published in
Sanathana Sarathi January 2006 issue...
SRI SATHYA SAI DEENAJANODDHARANA PATHAKAM
Smt. K. Geetha Paramahamsa
Are you studying in Class VII?” Swami paused before a
group of 60 boys sitting in the south-eastern corner of
Sai Kulwant Hall, and asked one during Darshan. It was
around January 2004.
“No, Swami!” the boy replied kneeling down humbly before
Bhagavan.
“VIII?”
“No, Swami!”
“IX?”
“No, Swami!”
“What are you studying?” Swami asked.
“Class X, Swami”, the boy answered. It was, no doubt,
odd, but nevertheless a fact. Swami had a hearty laugh
before He remarked, “jumping and jumping up!” and moved
on. The boy, an inmate of the Children’s Home
established by Bhagawan under the Deenajanoddharana
Pathakam on 20th June 2002, was one of the seven boys
appearing for the Class X public examination in March
2004. He is among the 62 boys that came to Bhagawan to
share His compassion and benediction. All the seven boys
passed Class X, six in first class and one in second
class!
A few weeks before Bhagawan inaugurated the Pathakam, He
had told at a meeting in Sai Kulwant Hall of His anguish
and deep concern, moved by a press report in a Telugu
daily, that a woman with her four children had committed
suicide unable to maintain them and herself, on the
death of her husband. Immediately thereafter, He
instructed enumeration of destitute boys in the three
Mandals of Puttaparthi, Kothacheruvu and Bukkapatnam.
Over eighty boys with their relations came to Prasanthi
Nilayam on 20th June 2002. Of them, only sixty-two boys
(including two that have recently been admitted) with
twelve mothers have stayed on to receive Bhagawan’s
benediction. The youngest of them was only ten months
old and the eldest was under thirteen in June 2002.
When the boys came from the dusty villages, they were
looking shabby in dirty rags, and undernourished. Some
had skin problems while several had problems with
eyesight. All needed a haircut and bath, to begin with.
As they were brought to Prasanthi Nilayam along with
their relations, they were housed in shed No. 30 in the
Ashram. Bhagawan came to the shed on that day and
distributed new clothes and other accessories to them,
as they had nothing to use.
While they were in the shed for about five weeks, the
first thing they began to learn was Veda chanting. How
could it be otherwise for the children of Veda Purusha?
Now they recite Veda well. A few months later, Bhagawan
asked late Sri P.V.Narasimha Rao to visit the Children’s
Home (the complex to which the boys were shifted in July
2003). It was a surprise visit. When Sri P.V. Narasimha
Rao went round the Home and listened to the recitation
of Veda by the boys, he remarked, “simply enchanting!”
When the boys were shifted to the new sprawling complex
on the Guru Purnima Day, 25th July 2003, Swami
personally went there and boiled milk (boiling milk is a
ritual observed by the house owner while house-warming).
The new complex has a prayer hall, a spacious dining
hall with a modern kitchen and stores attached. It has
about 200 independent rooms with a toilet and a bath
attached to each. A solar water heater provides hot
water to all the inmates of the Home.
A few days after their moving into the new complex, they
were in Sai Kulwant Hall for Darshan of Bhagawan when
fruits were being distributed among all the devotees
present. One of the students who came to the group of
inmates of the Home, distributing fruits, offered a
fruit to one boy Nagendra. “No, thanks”, the boy
declined politely, “you have given me one already!”
“What a contrast to some among the grown-ups and
so-called educated who pester us for more, even after
getting their due,” the student wondered. That is the
level of transformation brought about in the boys in a
few days after coming into the fold of Bhagavan.
Bhagavan knows whatever happens in the universe. Does He
not know about what happens in the Mandir? He walked
slowly to the boy and offered a fruit Himself.
“No, thanks, Swami”, he said, “I got already.”
“Doesn’t matter, take it”, said Swami, “I am giving it.”
“No, thanks, Swami”, the boy politely declined.
“What do you want?” Swami asked.
“Chaduvu (education), Swami!” the boy answered. Everyone
was pleasantly surprised.
“I will arrange that”, promised Swami.
Swami again asked, “What more do you want?”
“Nothing, except education”, the boy answered.
Swami was pleased. He materialised a gold chain and put
it around the boy’s neck Himself.
Swami followed up His promise promptly. A new school
building with eight classrooms came up in the complex in
just two months. Trained teachers among Seva Dal
volunteers teach the boys. Besides, quite a few devotees
of Bhagawan work there voluntarily.
Bhagawan inaugurated the new school building in February
2003. He went into each classroom, touched each
blackboard and blessed it. The boys, who were then
attending their classes in some rooms of the complex,
promptlymoved into the new school building.“Till
recently, we had no square meal a day and none to care
for us”, an inmate recalls. “Today Swami has arranged
everything for us. We are well clad and well fed. At the
time of our arrival here, we underwent a health
check-up, the first in our life. We get sumptuous
breakfast, lunch,afternoon snacks and dinner, not to
speak of frequent bouts of Prasadam Swami sends us –
especiallyfruits, sweets, dry fruits, cashew nuts,
biscuits and chocolates – all in baskets!”
Each inmate has six pairs of dress, two pairs of night
dress, sweaters and rugs in winter, mattresses, pillows,
bed sheets, shoes, chappals and what not.
“We enjoy all facilities here on par with the inmates of
hostels of other Sri Sathya Sai educational
institutions, may be better”, an inmate claims happily.
“Not only that, we are given equal opportunities to
stage cultural programmes like them on occasions such as
the Convocation of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher
Learning, Bhagavan’s Birthday celebrations, festivals
like Ugadi, etc.”
Daily routine in the Children’s Home begins at 4.30 a.m.
when the boys wake up and join Nagar Sankirtan. Jogging
follows. On return, they bathe and sit for Bhajan. After
breakfast, they go to school at 7.30 a.m. At 10 a.m.
they have a few minutes’ break to have milk. At 12, they
move for lunch. After lunch, they relax for a while, do
homework, etc., and return to school by 2 p.m. They
attend Bal Vikas classes between 4.30 p.m. and 5 p.m.
when they go into their own spacious playground to play.
After bath, they have dinner at 6.30 p.m., do homework
and study up to 10 p.m. before they pray and go to bed.
The boys find time for hobbies such as kitchen
gardening, painting,cultural activities, etc. They have
been initiated into yoga and are now able to perform as
many as 26 Asanas with ease.
Boys who passed Class X in March 2004 are now taking the
Senior Secondary grade of the National Institute of Open
Schooling. They opted for two subjects in computer
science besides English for examination in April-May
2005. They will take examination in mathematics and
accountancy in 2005-06 when they qualify for admission
to the BCA Course of the Indira Gandhi National Open
University in July 2006. The Computer Lab at the Home
has eleven systems all local area networked (LAN). Ten
other boys will take the Class X examination of the
Andhra Pradesh State Board of Secondary Education in
March 2006.
“We go for Darshan of Bhagavan in Sai Kulwant Hall on
Thursdays and Sundays, and on every festival day by a
special bus”, an inmate says, “and return recharged with
His bliss.” “At the outset, we fell for the excellent
food we were having for the first time in our life.
Today we realise the more valuable things we receive
here owing to His grace – motherly love and affection,
good bringing up in value system and quality education
tempered with spirituality. I do not know how many among
the millions of contemporary students in the country are
that lucky.”
Bhagavan pauses before the group of the boys during
Darshan, and makes affectionate enquiries about their
food, facilities, health, education, etc. As Bhagavan
goes by the boys in Sai Kulwant Hall, most devotees feel
that Bhagavan has utmost concern and compassion for
these boys.
Bhagavan’s love and compassion for them knows no bounds.
When the Class X public examination was approaching, one
boy told Swami in the Darshan line, “I am not able to
remember what I study, Swami!”
“That is education, my boy!” Bhagavan quipped, a comment
on the present-day system of education in which we learn
not much worthwhile to remember.
On 17th March 2003, Bhagavan went to the Home. It was
the day on which the public examination for Class X
commenced.
Bhagavan blessed the boys taking the examination
personally, putting Vibhuti on the forehead of each of
them. Parents see their children off to examinations.
Here Lord Himself arrived to bless them and see them off
to their examinations. What a blessed lot!
Bhagavan had set apart one lakh rupees for each of the
boys at the time of launching the scheme. This will be
gifted with the interest that it earns on the completion
of their education and finding a placement for service.
Bhagavan once explained, “This is only a token of what
Swami gifts them, because they bask all the time in His
Divine aura, enjoying His love, compassion and
protection invaluably!”
Besides the boys, the mothers of some of them, twelve,
live in the Home. Some serve as Ayahs to the boys,
besides helping in the upkeep and maintenance of the
Home.
One, Smt. Venkatalakshmi, had her backbone broken
completely. She was in bed when she entered the Home.
She underwent physiotherapy in Bhagavan’s General
Hospital at Whitefield, Bangalore. It is just a miracle
that she now attends to her work on her own. “I am
having physiotherapy as advised. But my hope centres on
Sai therapy – incessant chanting of Sai Ram”, Smt.
Venkatalakshmi says, “It has paid off. Swami, in His
abundant grace, has allowed me very good improvement in
stages. Today I can attend to my work without support of
others. I can even walk around using the walker. It is
purely a Sai miracle that I am back on my legs.”
“Our best resource here is prayer”, says an inmate.
“Whenever anyone of us has a problem, we all pray
together for him, and Swamiresponds. When someone is
ill, they take him promptly to the hospital for
treatment. But, on our part, we pray for him, and he
will be back soon in good health owing to Bhagavan’s
grace.” It is no surprise that one boy is completely
cured of cancer in the throat having undergone surgery
twice in the Kidwai Hospital at Bangalore. A couple of
boys have been treated of suspected tuberculosis with no
trace of it. At least a dozen boys have had fractures of
leg or hand on different occasions, but everything is
set. More surprisingly, a dumb boy that came with his
dumb mother is now able to speak and study, and is no
different from others.
The boys have their own Homa Kunda – of all things!
“Whenever they performed Homa (Yajna), there was rain.
It is remarkable”, one teacher at the Home noted. “They
do Homa with Sai Gayatri or do Ganesh Homa.” They
celebrate festivals of all religions. The mothers have
grown spiritually, beyond imagination. They do Sai
Vratams, Sita Vratams, etc. They themselves feel that
they have shed the vestiges of their earlier
cantankerous environment of filth, squalour and slang.
“Our aspiration in life is clear”, an inmate declares.
“We have, no doubt, ambition to come up in life getting
good education and winning high positions. More than
that, we aspire to shape into effective instruments of
Bhagavan to perform His work on earth, as a member of
the universal Sai family, imbibing human values dear to
His heart.”
So moves on the caravan – SAI caravan!
An insightful account on the Project published in
Sanathana Sarathi January 2006 issue..
|
|