Sai Love in Africa & Europe

A professor at Prashanti Nilayam who has travelled the world once remarked “You have seen people coming to Swami at Prashanti Nilayam. I have seen Swami going to people the world over” As the years unfold in the life of the avatar, His universal love is progressively spreading across the globe and blooming in the form of wonderful seva activities done by his devotees and students.

Both in Europe and the USA, alumni have been involved in service activities in Sierra Leone and Zambia for the past two years. Acutely aware of the great suffering and need in Africa, alumni are helping Mr. Victor Kanu, the former High Commissioner of Sierra Leone to Great Britain and leader in Sai service, in spreading Swami’s love & message.

Alumni from UK visited the Sri Sathya Sai School in Ndola, Zambia more famously known as the ‘miracle school’ run by Mrs. And Mr. Kanu (now in their 80s). Their love, sacrifice, faith, and sheer hard work in the past 15 years has made the school a superlative institution in this remote area and has created a positive and lasting impact nationally and internationally. The school has transformed ‘school drop-outs’ into high achievers.

Upon discussions with Mrs. and Mr. Kanu and drawing upon their vast experience and knowledge of working in Africa, following activities were taken up by alumni:

At Ndola, Zambia

1. Sri Sathya Sai Lecturerships: The rationale was that if a good teacher is sponsored to come to this remote area and teach, an entire class of students will benefit. Four lecturerships have been instituted. Each of these contribute toward the training and monthly salaries for the teachers in Sri Sathya Sai School, Ndola, Zambia.

At Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is listed as the poorest country in the world. 80% of the population eat only once a day. Rice is the chief diet with vegetables & milk being a luxury! About 70% of the city does not have power supply. Following activities were taken up:

2. Sri Sathya Sai Scholarships: These were instituted in Sierra Leone by alumni in the UK. Each scholarship provides the tuition fees and accommodation for graduate study at the university in Freetown, Sierra Leone for the four years of graduation, subject to good performance by the student.

3. Sri Sathya Sai Nutrition Project: In direct response to a specific request from the inhabitants of Yonibana township in Sierra Leone for rice, this project helps them during the yearly dry season. 22,500 kgs of rice was distributed to the 400+ needy households in the Yonibana township.

In the words of the Mr. Kanu, “Sai’s Message is Universal Love, which is the sole motive for Service. Your involvement here brings this message of Universalism of Sai to the African people loud and clear”

ALUMNI RETREAT SWITZERLAND

Alumni in Europe met over a weekend for a spiritual retreat this fall. The great Adi Shankara sang the importance of Satsangati and Swami too stresses on good company. For alumni who live away from their homeland, such events are often organized to spend a weekend together in contemplation of our Divine Lord, remembering His words and deliberating on service activities to be undertaken.

The scenic location chosen was Daerstetten in Switzerland. The village is located on the valley floor surrounded by the Alps. The charm of the place was breathtaking with lush green carpeted hills with pine trees, sweet chirping of hopping birds, a meandering stream, all making it a perfect setting to contemplate on the universal love and divinity of Sai. More than twenty-five students along with families attended the programme.

The retreat began on a Friday evening with the reverberating chant of the holy Rudram. The moment was verily divine when the full-throated chant in praise of the Lord of Kailasa coincided with a contemplative scenery (visible through the large windows behind the altar). An alumni speaker then set the tone of the meeting stressing that such an occasion was Swami’s gift and a great chance to recollect, contemplate, rejuvenate and rededicate ourselves to our beloved Lord Sai.

The alumni woke up on Saturday to a fresh, dewy morning well before dawn and enthusiastically began the day with suprabhatam and Vedam chanting. After a sumptuous breakfast, the first session began in the morning. This session was entitled “Everyday spirituality: lessons learnt from Swami” Two speakers recollected their personal experiences with Swami where valuable lessons of life were imparted. This was followed by a well moderated open session where many brothers recalled incidents of how Swami had personally corrected, guided and taught valuable lessons which not only remained etched in their hearts but also brought great transformation to their lives. Another session was entitled “Everyday Spirituality: Lessons from Gita as narrated by Swami”. In this, excerpts from Swami’s discourses on Gita were played where in Swami expounds in detail the concept of vairagya.

The evening Bhajans overflowed with divine love of Swami which had also permeated the entire day’s proceedings. After Bhajan, alumni met in different teams to deliberate on service activities which could be taken up as a group.

The post dinner session was a lighter, and alumni watched wonderful videos of Swami in Kodai and refreshed memories of the Divine Love of Swami. On the whole, the retreat afforded a wonderful occasion to alumni to recharge and enthuse themselves with the Sai love and the desire to engage in selfless seva.

Medicare with Love – Orissa (India)

Medicare with Love:

“Health is an essential requisite for man; it is the very foundation for all his endeavours in the pursuit of the four objectives of life: Dharma righteousness), Artha (Wealth), Kaama (desire) and Moksha (Liberation)” – this statement by Swami forms the basis of the Sri Sathya Sai Philosophy of Medicare. The central theme of this philosophy is to provide high quality medical facilities to the needy, totally exempt of any fees. Sai university alumni have been involved in many different service activities with a focus on medicare. These include medical camps, eye clinics, and blood donation camps.

In addition, creating awareness among the medical community regarding Bhagawan’s philosophy of medicare is something alumni have started to engage in, working in tandem with local Sai Organisation centers. This initiative, being carried out under the auspices of the Sai Organisation and the Sri Sathya Sai Medical Trust, is christened “Medicare with Love”. This initiative is an effort to galvanize the medical community, particularly medical students and doctors, by creating awareness of the Sai medicare philosophy. Swami has said many a time that “A hospital is a temple of healing” and this effort is directed to ignite young minds with the idea of selfless service. It is aimed to motivate medical students, doctors and teachers to try and bring a modification in their attitude towards medical practice. The objective has been to focus the attention of the doctors on providing subsidized or free healthcare facilities to the poor and needy in their respective areas of operation.

Phase 1:

Project proposal, groundwork and execution

With this motivation, Sai university alumni led the scheduling of seminars on the Sai Medicare philosophy in prestigious medical colleges in Orissa. In the month of April 2009, alumni submitted this proposal to Swami for His consideration. Bhagawan was merciful enough to bless the project and give the go ahead for its implementation. Since then the conceptualization, feasibility analysis, execution and follow up occurred seamlessly through untiring efforts of alumni as well as the excellent support received from the Sai Organisation, Orissa.

Under the aegis of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organization, Orissa seminars were held on the1st and 2nd of May, 2009. The seminars were organized in the campuses of Hi-tech Medical College & Hospital, Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences and SUMS Medical College & Hospital. With a collective audience of over 300, the seminars proved highly effective. The content of the seminars are summarized below:

• Overview of Sri Sathya Sai Medical Trust and hospitals providing an insight into the functioning, services, infrastructure and other specialities of SSSIHMS at Prashanti Nilayam and Bangalore

• Human values in medicine, with emphasis on practicing the five core human values in the medical profession

• Seva activities conducted by the Sai Organisation, Orissa with an emphasis on medical service initiatives

Phenomenal response

The response to these seminars was spectacular. Every attendee has expressed interest in joining the activities of the Sai Organisation, Orissa and visit the medical institutions at Prashanti Nilayam and Bangalore. A sample of the numerous responses received are captured below –

Dr Manas R Behra, KIMS, Pediatrics – “It was an excellent presentation, heartwarming. Best part of the presentation was the details about of kind of services conducted. I will be pleased to join the service activities in any capacity you require. Also would be honored to be a part of the team going to Puttaparthi”.

Shri. Adya Das, 2nd year MBBS felt “These presentations are like appetizers. It made me more interested in serving the society and becoming a part of this organization. It would be an honor for me if I could contribute anything to this organization. For me visiting Puttaparthi would be like a dream coming true.”

Two of the three institutions have requested for an encore of such seminars before much larger audiences at those institutions. Observing this impact, senior officials in the Sai Organisation opined that such seminars would go a long way in addressing the dearth of doctors for local medical service activities.

Phase II:

With the Grace of beloved Lord during the second phase of the Medicare movement – another conference was organized in Rourkela, Orissa titled “Humanizing Medicare, An opportunity to serve mankind” was held on June 14th, 2009.

This was for an exclusive audience of Doctors invited from all surrounding towns including the capital city of Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, Baleswar, and Berhampur. The conference had a very heartening attendance of over 171 doctors including, senior consultants, consultants, senior and junior residents and DNB students.

The District President of Maharashtra, Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organization, Medical co-ordinator of Maharashtra, State President of Orissa, State Trust Convenor of Orissa, Medical co-ordinator of Orissa and SSSMT representative other than group of Alumni’s and 30 Volunteers.

The objectives of the conference was to:

• Share Swami’s Message on “Medicare”.
• Overview on Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences.
• Insight on Practicing Human Values in Medicine.
• Medicare activities of Sri Sathya Sai Organization Orissa.

It was successful in touching the hearts of these doctors and paramedical professionals. They were inspired by Bhagawan Baba’s message of ‘Medicare with love; and more than 150 doctors are now active volunteers actively participating in service activities of the SSSSO and in specific to SSSVIP.

Here is something that the doctors have to say:

Dr Sayed Mohammed Soleman – “All the parts have equally touched my heart. I wish ultimately to serve in the Whitefield hospital free of cost and assist the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organization in their seva activities.

Dr Pandit Sahu – “Service rendered at the super speciality hospital (Prashanti Nilayam and Whitefield) touched me the most. Without the Sevadals it is impossible to reach the goal. Service to mankind is service to god as imported by SSSO.”

Dr Sonalika Rath – “No more can we think commercially. Doctors should contribute their service at free of cost and try to arrange and provide surgical instruments and medicines at a low cost to make it affordable for the largest section of the society(needy and poor) so that health care becomes true Medicare.”

Dr. Sidharth S. Pattanaik – “Every bit of the presentation enlightened me with self-realization. I heartily thank SSSO for organizing such a wonderful program. The spiritual side of mine was awakened inside me today. I would love to join such seva activities and love to serve people. I have a dream to volunteer myself in SSSIHMS for serving the mankind.”

Conclusions and road ahead:

The success of this initiative has created an easily replicable model that can be ported across cities having medical colleges and in cities, towns for the doctors conference. The seminar sessions would be held under the banner of the local Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation. A standardized model/manual has been prepared to act as a ready reference for replication. This will act as a platform for seamless integration of Sai university alumni efforts with the medicare activities of Sri Sathya Sai Organisation.

And as Albert Schweitzer has said echoing Bhagawan’s eternal message of selfless service – “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”