The Love in Action section provides a few examples of the invaluable Seva that our Sai brothers perform the world over. It is not a detailed Seva report. In this issue we provide glimpses of few very dedicated Seva activities that are making great impact on many of our fellow brethren in two very vital areas of life – education and health.
Sri Sai Baba Primary and Bhargava Rural High School
Take one step towards Me and I will take a hundred steps towards you!
Whenever and wherever anyone has a noble thought and wants to execute a task beneficial to humankind, Bhagawan in His inimitable style skillfully pulls the wires of His chosen instruments to bring it to fruition.
During the early 1990s, Vatadahosahalli, a peaceful village remotely tucked in Gowribidanur Taluk of Chikballapur District in Karnataka, not too far from Muddenhalli, was in need of a school that would offer quality education to the village children. The father of one of our brothers studying in Brindavan had this inspiring thought of starting a school in this village. One often wonders at the sublime truth of Saint Kabir’s words, ‘Kal Kare So Aaj, Aaj Kare So Ab’ (What you have to do tomorrow, do it today; What you have to do today, do it now). This thought inspired the setting up of the Sri Sai Baba Primary and Bhargava Rural High School.
1992, the alumnus’ parents along with a handful of teachers started to teach about 50 children in rented cowsheds and underneath a Peepal tree. He shared this Seva effort with the classmates during an Awareness class. Inspired by this effort, I wanted to share this with you all – the Sai fraternity. Verily, an inspired thought leading to an inspired action is like a lighted oil lamp that, in turn, lights innumerable wicks – lighting up many lives.
From a Humble Beginning…
From a humble beginning of 50 students, the school now has 360 students. Affiliated to the Karnataka education board, it currently imparts education in Kannada medium from classes 1 to 6. Beginning June 2012, the school has obtained sanction from the education board to provide English medium education from classes 6 to 10. This decision was taken in response to the persistent pleas of the villagers who wanted their children to study through English medium, by which better opportunities would open to them. By Bhagawan’s Divine intervention, at the 11th hour, the school received funds from alumni brothers for the required license fee. As always, the Lord watches over all of us and protects us as the eyelids protect one’s eyes.
The school today has a dedicated teaching staff of 14 teaching students from Pre-LKG to the 10th standard. The school also has the distinction of 100% pass percentage in the SSLC board exams for the past 5 years which is no small feat, keeping in mind the numerous challenges faced by a resource-crunched school.
In 2008, after finishing his B.Com and while waiting to write his entrance exam for a post-graduate program, our brother got the opportunity to share a few photos of the school with Bhagawan. Bhagawan also chose the building. In 2009, Bhagawan also blessed the foundation stone ceremony by inquiring about the function and lovingly blessing the Vibhuti and Akshatha that were encased with the foundation stone. The funds for laying the foundation came through Sai devotees.
When Bhagawan Showed His Presence
The morning of the foundation stone laying ceremony threatened to be a rainy one as the sky was overcast with dark rain-bearing clouds. However, the villagers had decided to go ahead with the ceremony and had gathered along with guests from Bangalore who had come to participate. At the exact moment the curtain was drawn to reveal the beautiful inscription on the stone, the clouds parted and the sun shone through, hitting exactly the foundation stone! It sent shivers of ecstasy across the gathering. Bhagawan, in His inimitable style, had made His presence and blessings felt! This beautiful incident came as a reminder of His assurance that wherever His work is undertaken with sincerity, He would remove all obstacles and show His omnipresence.
However the struggle was far from over. There were funds to build only the foundation and not the entire building. In 2010 our Sai brother had the opportunity to show the building blue-prints to Bhagawan. Bhagawan showed interest in the details and enquired about the children. He especially appreciated the dome structure. The progress of the school’s development was totally offered to Bhagawan.
And Bhagawan did shower His grace! Sai devotees once again came forward to offer funds for completion of six classrooms on the ground floor. These six classrooms are now operational and at last some classes have a proper pucca building to attend lessons in. However, Bhagawan continuously challenges us. The challenge of building the first floor, along with the dome Bhagawan appreciated in the blue-print lies ahead of us.
School’s Mission:To inspire and educate the rural poor to develop their personality; physical, mental and spiritual aspects in order to serve their mother and motherland.
Apart from proffering secular education, the school undertakes many events to bring out the hidden talent of students in view if all round development of a child.
Alumni Role in the School: Spearheaded by the founder’s son and his classmate, alumni role in the school’s development is steadily growing. The first major donation came through the uncle of one of our Sai brothers. Many other classmates of this alumnus too have joined this Mission in their own capacities. They visit the school on a monthly basis to conduct many talent enhancing activities such as Bhajan training, spoken English classes, essay writing and other activities. They have been involving themselves in many ways in the spirit of dedication towards this Mission of Sai. At present they are working to get a website (www.visionsathyasai.org) up. (Please note that the website is currently under construction and will be up and running by 1st January 2012).
Impact of the School: The Sri Sai Baba Primary and Bhargava Rural High School was started at a time when there was no school offering quality education within 15 km radius of the village. At that time, many villagers weren’t even aware of Bhagawan and His Divine Mission. Some of them were subject to negative propaganda about Bhagawan. This school has contributed to education of village children from around 25-30 villages. The school has been a catalyst of transformation as children who had many undesirable habits are now transformed and even parents of such children have now understood Bhagawan and what His Mission stands for.
Some of the current teachers are actually alumni of the school! They are inspired to carry on Bhagawan’s Mission in this school. This has inspired another Sai devotee to start a Sai school in a village called Vidurashwatha about 17 km away.
Future Requirements of the School
No good effort is spared without its share of challenges on being accomplished. The school is working to get the following needs fulfilled in order to become a full-fledged well-equipped school:
- Construction of first floor constituting additional classrooms, computer room, library and laboratory
- A bore well for the water requirements
- Increase in teachers’ salaries
- Construction of boundary wall
- Teaching aids
- Sports goods
- School bus (The students currently are at the mercy of auto rickshaw drivers who often skip their duties of dropping the children at the school.)
- Furniture for Classrooms, Office Rooms and Staff Room
With loving prayers to Bhagawan, the Vidyulekha team requests all to join together in helping our brothers in surmounting these challenges and help in making Sri Sai Baba Primary and Bhargava Rural High School a self-supporting dynamic Sai institution.
Pray, Help & Heal
Janthunaam Nara Janma Dhurlabham (human birth is the rarest of all). This is one of the most invaluable pieces of wisdom that we have heard from Bhagawan. This profound statement also implies that this invaluable human life that has been given to each one of us should be used to make our lives and that of others more meaningful, such as through selfless acts of service.
In accordance to this, one of our Sai brothers found his unique soul call in rendering a unique type of service – facilitating the meeting of receivers (families requiring urgent monetary assistance) and donors. In addition to rendering Prayer Seva, Physical Seva and ‘Donation’ Seva, this act of facilitating the meeting of like minded people to conclude a noble cause is also very important. This Sai brother along with few of his noble acquaintances leveraged the power of online media to spread immediate awareness of urgent needs of aggrieved families. This Sai brother of ours has very beautifully highlighted a few cases in our alumni portal and on the public domain.
Here are a few of such noble endeavours…
Sri Prakash Sarafdar’s son, Rishi Sarafdar, was diagnosed with blood cancer. This lively strong-willed boy studying in class 7 has a younger sister, Rujuta studying in class 5. Sri Prakash and his family were shell shocked and clueless about Rishi’s condition and the arrangements to be made for his treatment. Sri Prakash’s very modest income couldn’t meet the expenses for a steeply priced medical treatment running into several lakhs.
However, the father couldn’t allow his son to wither away… He immediately rose to the occasion and made financial arrangements by way of loans from relatives, institutional loans and so on.
The complex treatment that lasted for close to a year consisted of pre-operation liver biopsy, operation, post operation bone marrow transfusion, which was selflessly donated by little Rujuta, and profuse infusions of very expensive injections and other medication. Sri Prakash, despite his courageous efforts of pooling in finances for the treatment, was soon very deep in debt. Our Sai brother highlighted this moving case in our portal and other blogs making an altruistic plea in our Sai alumni family for help. Sri Prakah’s The family was so overwhelmed by the sheer response to Rishi’s need that they now sincerely feel that the Almighty is always there to help through His ‘instruments’.
Sri Allahbaksh Momin
Sri Allahbaksh Momin, an 18-year old from Pune, lives with his parents in a small house. His father, Sri Maqsood, works in a garage, while his mother works in a tobacco factory. Despite all their efforts, the family still struggle to make ends meet. Momin who had recently completed an ITI course was sent on a work deputation outside Pune by his employers. At the site of his work, Momin fell ill. He came back home and started vomiting. Later his lungs also got infected. He took medical tests at a hospital, which later revealed that he had a kidney-related problem. The doctors soon identified a suitable donor – his mother who wanted to donate her kidney for her son. But the cost of dialysis and the transfer operation was highly prohibitive. Our Sai brother rapidly spread the word online on this emergency situation. By our Lord’s grace, suitable funds were mobilized soon for the treatment and operation. Momin and his parents now eagerly look towards a bright future – thanks to such timely help.
Sri Vaibhav Ganesh Phula
Sri Vaibhav Ganesh Phula, a child aged just 3 years has two punctures in his heart (technically called Tetralogy of Fallots), is in urgent requirement of an Intra Cardiac Repair (ICR) surgery. His father who works as textile salesman and mother who works in a Beedi manufacturing unit are financially very troubled. The task of Vaibhav’s treatment, which runs into several lakhs, was an insurmountable obstacle for them alone. But timely word by this Sai brother has initiated collection of funds for the child’s treatment. However, unidentified efforts by all of us in the Sai family are required for dear Vaibhav. Bhagawan’s Divine hands support all of us in every bit of Seva we do as we are mere instruments in His hands.
Bhagawan’s 86th Birth Day Celebration in the City of Raipur
A seamless integration of our Sai brothers with the Sri Sathya Sai Seva
Organisation of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh was displayed during the planning and execution of the elaborate three-day birthday program in
Raipur. About 25 to 30 of our alumni brothers from various batches were
involved with this program.
The program involved a medical seminar, Premjyoti exhibition and Premanjali – a musical offering of Love. The topic of the medical seminar was Rural Healthcare Need in India, Bridging the gap – The Sai Way.Several renowned health professionals participated and made presentations around the need for human touch in the medical profession. Three of our Sai brothers also made presentations in the seminar. While two of them deliberated on rural healthcare and Sathya Sai medical camps, the other brother who works in Bhagawan’s Whitefield hospital presented the concluding remarks and urged the audience to join the medical initiatives of Bhagawan’s organization.
The Premjyoti Exhibition was a comprehensive collection of images and
models depicting the Divine life and work of our beloved Bhagawan. The
exhibition was attended by over 10,000 visitors in three days during when
our alumni played an active role in translating original exhibits into the
Hindi language.
Premanjali was a two-day mesmerizing musical recital. Our Sai brothers from various parts of the country came together for this program. Apart from the Bal Vikas dance programs, there were performances by musical maestros Padma Bhushan Shiv Kumar Sharma & Padma Vibhushan Pundit Jasraaj. It was heartening to see our brothers, whose musical talents have been blessed by Bhagawan, perform soulful melodies that for years have stired devotion and Love for God in the hearts of devotees world over. The LED screen in the background displayed heartwarming images of our beloved Lord.
Sai Krushna Charitable Trust
Here is yet another inspiring Seva story – a story that is happening in our very midst, a story that offers another clarion call to join His Divine Mission.
Tucked in one of the corners of busy Banglore, a Seva revolution called Sai Krushna Charitable Trust is shaping lives of underprivileged children. Inspired by Bhagawan’s Blessings and direct guidance, the trust came into existence to serve deprived children with love and to provide them a life of purpose and honour.
The trust comprises of Bhagawan’s students, staff, educationists and devotees keenly striving to live His message of Universal Love and Service. The trust currently runs a free school for the village children in Hosadoddi village (Somanahalli) on Kanakpura Road. The school was a separate entity till recently. In January 2011, with Bhagawan’s Grace, the school management was taken over by the trust. The children now also attend Bal Vikas classes in addition to their usual secular academic curriculum to ensure that they come out as noble citizens. The school is a free-learning centre for about 250 children from classes 1 to 10. The children are also provided free lunch, free text and note books at the school.
The other project that Bhagawan had specifically provided details about is the Sai Krushna Mandir – the home for under privileged and orphaned boys. The trust looks after the personal care, education and medical requirements of the children. As per His instructions, the boys will be provided a loving home, a peaceful environment for growth and a chance to excel in their field of interest. The boys will be housed up to the age of 21 and they would be encouraged to live life subsequently as self-reliant and responsible citizens, helping the society around to develop along with them.
As a sign of His Grace, two devotes came forward to donate land for this noble cause. The land is approximately 1.5 acres and is right next to the school – a definite sign that all this is a part of His Divine plan that the children also get free education directly there itself. Bhoomi Puja was performed on Bhagawan’s birthday on 23rd November this year.
