Sri Sathya Sai Grama Seva…a taste of Practical
Vedanta
Hands that serve are holier that the lips that pray
- Sri Sathya Sai
With Bhagawan practice precedes precept. He
Himself would serve food with the love of a thousand mothers to the poor
and the distressed on special occasions in Prasanthi Nilayam during the
olden years that passed by. And His chosen Mother, Mother Easwaramma
always did it with gusto even in the nineteen sixties, when she chose to
distribute clothes to the poor villagers around who assembled in the
premises for this tender care of the loving mother. Bhagawan has now
directed the students to do both (serving food and distribution of
clothes) at the very doors of the needy in the villages.
The
beginning
The real wealth of our country is in the
villages which play the role of the provider. It is the rural India that
feeds the entire country. Not only that, Bhagawan exhorts His students:
“Indian culture and civilisation have been built up from ancient times on
rural communities. Even today this culture survives predominantly in
villages…When the villages grow the states grow and the nation on the
whole prospers. The prospect of the nation is based upon the progress of
the villages. Everyone should be interested in the welfare of the
villages.” Bhagawan therefore wanted the student community in general and
the alumni of the Institute in particular to be meaningfully associated
with the rural uplift programme in a big way. He therefore decided that
the seeds of service to the rural areas must be sown in the minds of the
young men and women before they left the portals of the Institute. A new
service campaign thus got initiated in 2000 which deployed His students in
the filed of operation. As is the case with every activity undertaken by
the Lord, for serving food and clothes to the rural needy also called for
meticulous attention to many details from gathering material to preparing
road maps and obtaining population statistics. Trucks and tractor –
trailors were mobilized and equipped with wireless sets. From the year
2000 this service campaign has been a happening in Prasanthi Nilayam
during the Dasara week, covering nearly a 100 thousand people living in
over a hundred villages and an equal numbers of hamlets. It was indeed a
new ‘Mantra'. And He enjoined upon His students – His sole property – to
march forward in their purity as ambassadors of peace and love to the
villages with food and clothes – the first of His lessons in Practical
Vedanta, the adwaita philosophy in practice. This year's Grama Seva was
planned to cover 150 villages in the three Mandals of Puttaparthi,
Kothacheruvu and Bukkaptanam forming the unit that was called earlier as
Puttaparthi Taluka.
How it happens…
The students are
associated with the work at all stages right from the beginning. The
cooking that starts the previous evening goes on till about
midnight. After cooking comes packing that goes on till the wee hours. The
food packets are then loaded (after sorting out) in the trucks and by the
time this is completed it will be 5:30 a.m. The students and staff set out
from the mandir after circumambulation at 8:15 a.m. heading towards that
line up ready to start. It is to be noted that the sanctity and spiritual
ambience have been maintained all through these entire set of activities.
Bhagawan prefers to call this service not ‘Poor feeding or feeding of the
poor’, but “Narayana Seva” i.e., Service to the Narayana in every being.
The convoy of trucks now head for the villages, carrying sweets, food
packets and clothes. The villages thus visited are some thirty km or so
from Puttaparthi. On arrival, at the villages, the gifts are unloaded and
readied for house to house distribution.
..on to the
villages…
Bhagawan is very particular that all good activities must
start with prayer. So, before distribution students and teachers march in
procession singing devotional songs, with villagers also participate in
the bhajan singing. The distribution parties are invariably headed by
teachers and senior students. The different parties then fan out and go to
different parts of the village to commence distribution. Care is taken to
ensure that no family is missed out. Service is done door to door. A
question may arise in the minds of people as to how does this solve the
problem of rural India? Baba has the answer. Briefly the idea is to
sensitize the students so that the seeds of compassion are sown in their
hearts.
One will not fail to observe that moving about in the rural
areas might give a culture shock to others, but not to Bhagawan’s
students, charged as they are with Bhagawan’s love. The serving of food
packets and other gifts is done methodically. At every house they first
offer greetings and say that they are privileged to convey Baba’s
blessings, after which they hand over with love, the gifts He has sent.
The distribution over, students and staff eat the same food for their
lunch. It is thus a great spiritual exercise of love and devotion than a
mere distribution of food packets. Both the giver and the receiver thus
experience that goes deep into their hearts. The real giver is Bhagawan
and all they do is a courier’s job. Yet how great it is even to be a mere
courier for the transmission of the selfless Love of Bhagawan.
It is obviously a fact that the problems of
the villages are too massive to be solved by such short service campaigns.
But, Bhagawan’s approach to the subject is different. He says that in the
first instance, the service programmes convey to the villagers that there
is someone who loves and cares for them. Secondly, they give students an
intense exposure that they would otherwise never get. And what is more
important is that, in the process they get highly sensitized. By going to
the villages day after day the students learn to feel in their hearts, the
pain constantly suffered and endured by these poor villagers. This
sensitization would remain with the students for ever and one day when
they occupy positions of authority with leverage, would induce them to do
something to change the face of rural India. In this context one should
not miss to remember that the One who facilitated this unforgettable
experience for them, the Eternal Witness, sits in their hearts to watch
and prompt action at the appropriate moment. Off and on Baba tells the
students “Do not see the person as different from yourself. In a spiritual
sense, that person is none other than you, the Universal Self. When you
serve in this spirit, you would discover your true
nature.”
Bhagawan has said: "If you pour spirituality into the ears
of those who are tortured by hunger, it will not be assimilated. First
satisfy the hunger. "Give them God in the form of food; Give them God in
the form of clothes; Give them food in the form of Peace to those
afflicted with anxiety; Give God in the form of medicine to those
suffering from ill-health; Give God in whatever form which will assuage
fear, pain and sorrow. It is only when this is done that spirituality can
soak into the heart", said Bhagawan. Further, in His discourse of 16th
February in 1992 He opened His mind in unequivocal terms that "Grama Seva
is Rama Seva. You need not strive for salvation as a separate goal.
Service to village will itself ensure mukti (liberation). Bear this truth
in mind and act upto it in your daily life."
Sri Sathya Sai Grama
Seva 2007
It had indeed been a hectic week
for the students of all the three campuses who were ordained to carry out
the task of reaching out the villagers with His food and cloth packets of
Love. This lucky lot with minds fresh and enthused and hearts vibrant and
expanded set out with "Sai Ram" on their lips…went to the door steps…and
conquered.
It was not the sweets, food packet or clothes
distributed that mattered, but the feeling behind the action, that was the
message of this Grama Seva which Bhagawan has been stressing, all through,
to reach out the needy with His Divine Love, true to His saying, Grama
Seva is Rama Seva… Jana Seva is Janardhana Seva.
Over 470 Students
from the Sri Sathya Sai University, Anantapur Campus for women and over
two hundred senior girl students from Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary
School with faculty members and staff from both the campuses had been
engaged in packing the food and cloth materials. With the Puliyora rice
cooked and handed over for further processing by expert sevadal group of
devotees and Laddu Prasdam coming in huge numbers from the South Indian
Canteen, prepared by devoted Mahila Sevadals with the help of Higher
Secondary students, these girls students and staff from the campuses were
getting busier during the night hours from 10:00 p.m. till early morning
at 3:00 engaged in phased activities, namely, mixing of the rice to
perfection, packing appropriate quantity to cater to the villagers the
next day. Boys from both Prasanthi Nilayam and Brindavan Campuses along
with faculty members and staff would go out everyday to various villages
with meticulous plan to carry out the task within the
schedule.
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Three mandals of Puttaparthi, Bukkapatnam and
Kothacheruvu covering approximately 150 villages had been covered serving
over 2,50,000 village population. With the entire bunch of students and
staff divided in to six groups of 120 each with 15 of them staff members,
assisted by over 40 vehicles at disposal, the entire Grama Seva had been
organized in a most meticulously under His Divine guidance. Every day they
would serve over 30,000 people in 6,000 households to complete the task in
8 days time. Each household was given one dhothi, one sari apart from
Puliyora rice and Laddu Prasadam counting heads. The last day was reserved
for distribution within the ashram by girl students of Anantapur Campus
assisted by staff members from Anantapur and Primary School. As per divine
command, Puliyora Rice and Chakkara Pongal (sweet dish made out of rice
and jaggery) were distributed at each and every door step inside the
ashram along with Sarees and Dhothis.
Indeed, an act worth
emulating and one would wonder whether the Gods of highest heaven would be
watching this "White Army" of students who were immensely lucky and
privileged to carry out the task at the direct command of God walking on
two feet.
The Programme that was launched in the year 2000 as a
role model operation setting an ideal has come to stay as an annual
feature – a practice to be carried out throughout one’s life wherever
he/she goes. Indeed, Practising the Precept as inspired and taught by
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai
Baba!!!
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