With the divine grace of Bhagawan Baba the group at 4.40am
gathered and recited twenty one Omkars and Sri Sathya Sai Suprabatham.
This was followed by meditation, Baba’s thought for the day, and yoga. On this
Grama Seva pilgrimage the group has been slowly improving their yoga skills
with the overall aim of improving their long term well-being both mentally and
physically.
At 7.30am the group made their way from the Sai Kulwant hall
to the village of K.Locheral, Kothacheru District. The journey took approximately
30mins drive from Prasanthi Nilayam. Some UK boys actually joined some of Swami’s
boys who were also partaking in Grama Seva in a medium sized transport lorry
containing food and clothing supplies.
On arrival the group chanted Vedams through the streets of the village before distributing Baba’s prasadam to the villagers. Baba’s prasadam was also delivered to homes located well into the surrounding countryside of the village. With Baba’s grace and love all were served. The population of this village was approximately 3200. The total number of houses covered was 750.
At 10pm the UK Grama Seva group had the opportunity to see firsthand the canteen used to prepare Baba’s Grama Seva pulihora rice prasadam. The group was astonished by the industrial scale of the project and the mechanism by which the food was prepared. None of the group will ever forget or fail to appreciate the heat intensity used to boil water. It takes approximately 20mins to cook the rice in the large stove used, measuring at least 1 meter in diameter. When the cooked rice is removed via large 20 litre buckets the cooks/sevadals have to be sprayed with cold water to dissipate the surrounding heat that has engulfed them on transfer. The cooked rice is then meticulously cooled and seasoned with traditional Indian ingredients as proposed by Swami. Finally, Sri Sathya Sai Institute girls and sevadals help to pack rice into a bundle using banana leaves and newspaper, ready for distribution. This operation starts daily at 5.30pm and finishes at 3.00am the next day. Bhajans and prayers are also recited continuously during this period so that the food is sanctified. The overall Grama Seva operation is a truly amazing feat constructed and engineered by the Lord so that man serves and feeds with love his fellow man.
On arrival the group chanted Vedams through the streets of the village before distributing Baba’s prasadam to the villagers. Baba’s prasadam was also delivered to homes located well into the surrounding countryside of the village. With Baba’s grace and love all were served. The population of this village was approximately 3200. The total number of houses covered was 750.
At 10pm the UK Grama Seva group had the opportunity to see firsthand the canteen used to prepare Baba’s Grama Seva pulihora rice prasadam. The group was astonished by the industrial scale of the project and the mechanism by which the food was prepared. None of the group will ever forget or fail to appreciate the heat intensity used to boil water. It takes approximately 20mins to cook the rice in the large stove used, measuring at least 1 meter in diameter. When the cooked rice is removed via large 20 litre buckets the cooks/sevadals have to be sprayed with cold water to dissipate the surrounding heat that has engulfed them on transfer. The cooked rice is then meticulously cooled and seasoned with traditional Indian ingredients as proposed by Swami. Finally, Sri Sathya Sai Institute girls and sevadals help to pack rice into a bundle using banana leaves and newspaper, ready for distribution. This operation starts daily at 5.30pm and finishes at 3.00am the next day. Bhajans and prayers are also recited continuously during this period so that the food is sanctified. The overall Grama Seva operation is a truly amazing feat constructed and engineered by the Lord so that man serves and feeds with love his fellow man.
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