Sai Kingdom (UK) Grama Seva Group 2010 Saturday 09/10/2010: Morning

Sai Kingdom (UK) Grama Seva Group 2010

Saturday 09/10/2010: Morning

On this holy and auspicious day of Sanivar (Saturday), Hanuman is worshipped for his devotion to Lord Rama during the battle that took place in the Ramayana. Hanuman is known for his seva to Lord Rama with his army of monkeys. Today in Prasanthi Nilayam an army of students in higher education left the Abode of Highest Peace to carry out Grama Seva, which is Rama Seva.
The UK group were also given the opportunity to take part in this great service project to carry Swami’s love to the villages in the form of food (annam), laddus, saris and dhotis. The UK group served in a village called Pamdurti, which is located in the Bukkapatnam Mandal, and is a 45 minute drive from Prasanthi Nilayam. The village had a population of almost 1,000 homes.
The villagers had already cleared the streets with water and decorated the door steps with rangoli to welcome Swami’s army of students. The group commenced the proceedings by chanting Vedam as they processed from the centre of the village to one of the Mandirs in the village, where Aarti was then offered to Swami.
The seva activities took almost two hours to complete. The group then moved onto another neighbouring village called Arunagiri. The team returned to Prasanthi Nilayam with loud cheering of ‘Jai Bolo Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Babaji Ki! Jai!’

Gram Seva 2010 - First Day 08/10/10

Om Sairam dearest Sai Family,
the holy festival of Dasara is on its way. Dasara in Puttaparthi is very unique. As a matter of fact every day in Parthi is unique but Dasara for the past decade is having a special place in the hearts of citizens of Parthi and its surrounding villages. Swami out of His immense grace sends His chosen ones knocking every house hold, to every village, touching every one's hearts. What a great fortune it is to receive a pair of new clothes by the Lord Himself. When Swami's blessings rain it pours.

Come Dasara, there is lot of anticipation. There is hope, there is bliss there is everything.
I remember the good old days, when Grama Seva was not so organised like it is now. Swami used to bless a vast gathering of villagers from surrounding villages plus the devotees with His divine darshan in the hill view stadium and many a times He used to personally serve food to every one and give clothes to the assembled devotees.

I remember one such occasion where Swami after finishing the serving, just started distributing the clothes to us and then came this big crowd almost falling on Swami, not to reach Him, but to reach the sarees in His hand. Swami even though was smiling at every one, would have decided to make this Seva more organised. Those days, Charles Darwin's theory "Survival of the fittest" held good. There were few who got more than one pair of clothes and there were quite a lot who didn't get any.

The Grama Seva for this year started on the 8th October 2010 for the next 10 days covering
170 villages of Puttaparthi, Bukkapatnam and Kothacheruvu mandals.

This year a group of 18 youth from the UK headed by Sri. Puppet and students from all the campus of Swami's university are participating in the Grama Seva. A special mention about the group from the UK is to be made as they are the only NON STUDENT community officially participating in the Grama Seva which shows how well they could WIN Swami's heart with their devotion and dedication.

In September, when the South African devotees were in Prasanthi during the Pilgrimage, also did quite a bit of Grama Seva, visiting schools out side the territory of Swami's Grama Seva distributing school bags, stationery, sarees and other essential things for a family.

Hopefully more sevas of this kind would come up. Through Grama Seva, Swami is setting a benchmark where every one of us can take cue and do a similar thing in our localities, in our countries to our fellow brothers and sisters in need. Attached here are few photos from Grama Seva 2010
Jai Sai Ram
With pranams at the Lotus feet of our beloved Lord,
Submitted to SBOI by Satish Naik