Grama Seva 2012- Friday 19th October

Friday 19/10/12

With reverence to the lord Sai the UK Grama Seva group gathered at 4.40am to recite twenty one Omkars and the Sri Sathya Sai Suprabatham. Being a Friday the group also offered prayers to Allah.

The group then made their way to the holy Sai Kulwant hall. At exactly 7.30am the group joined the Vedic procession around Swami’s Maha-Samadi Mandir before making their way to the Village (Talamarta, Kothachervu District) for Grama Seva. The village was located approximately 45mins drive time from Prasanthi Nilayam. The village had a population of 5300. The village people warmly welcomed the Grama Seva boys on arrival. Small children were so happy to see the group. Baba’s prasadam was distributed to 1200 houses. All of the villagers adore Baba and were so happy to receive his prasadam. 

Grama Seva 2012- Thursday 18th October

18/10/2012

With the grace of the lord the day began for the Grama Seva group at 5am with twenty one Omkars and Sri Sathya Sai Suprabhatam. This was followed by Baba’s ‘thought for the day’ narrated by Popat Sir.

Morning Darshan began in Sai Kulwant hall at 8am with vedams followed by pradakshina of the Mandir before entering the Poornichandra hall for the Veda Purusha Jnana Yajna ritual. The auspious ceremony began with the lighting of the Yunga fire. Following this the group made their way to the Sri Sathya Sai hospital as part of the Grama Seva. Prasadam was distributed to families who work at the hospital.  

At 4.30pm in the Sai Kulwant hall afternoon Darshan began with Vedam recital. This was followed by two speeches. Firstly, Ruchir Desai gave a superb talk on how Baba’s life was his message in particular in relation to sacrifice. The second speaker Roley Nayarn Mudi beautifully described poetically a verse from the Ramayana to our Sai Rama (Baba). Finally, a musical programme was offered by Baba’s students from Brindavan.

Grama Seva 2012- Tuesday 16th October

 16/10/2012

Today is the first day of Navratri and the commencement of the Grama Seva Project 2012. The day started at 3.30am with the set up of our altar in our Mandir in N6 building. Dawn was blessed with twenty one Omkars and Sri Sathya Sai Suprabhatam followed by the thought of the day and a short discourse by Puppet Sir. The subject of talk was about the divine mother and Navarti. Jyoti meditation and yoga brought to a close the morning session.

At 7.30am, the UK Grama Seva Group was part of the Vedic procession around swami’s maha-samadhi mandir in Sai Kalwant hall. We ultimately bowed down to the lotus feet of master before making our way towards the vehicles. We left prashanti niliyam chanting the name of the lord.

We were allocated the village of Krishna puram in the bukaptam district which consisted of a population of 5400 people, amounting to around 1500 houses. The convoy consisted of six trucks and one tractor with supplies. We joined approximately 100 students from the Sathya Sai institution.

On arrival to the Krishna puram village, the roads were decorated with flowers and rangoli. The villagers reverently stood on both sides of the road welcoming the group. They also broke a coconut and lighted a lamp to welcome the lord Sathya sai baba in their village. We proceeded towards the local temple whilst reciting vedam and Bhajans, which culminated with Swami’s arthi of at the temple.
The supplies which consisted of Pulihora Rice, Ladoo, sarees and dhotis, were off loaded from the trucks. The UK grama seva boys communicated in telegu with villagers and distributed the prasadam door to door.
It took us approximately two hours to complete the seva in our designated geographical area within the village.

On the way back to prashanti niliyam the group stopped under the cool shade of a huge Tamarin tree landscaped by huge Greenland and a hill. We enjoyed eating the same food that was distributed to the villagers within the local region.

The boys took rest for an hour before gathering in the N6 block mandir for the afternoon session, which was held by puppet sir. The topic was the first verse of maha lakshami ashtakam. We then made our way to Sai Kulwant hall for the afternoon Darshan which started by 4.30pm. Vedam was chanted by the Croatia group. The afternoon programme was concluded by a thunderous talk by Poppet Sir narrating the ABC’s of Swami’s teachings through his experiences with Swami which was followed by the Mangala arthi.   One of the UK Gram Seva Boys had the privilege of offering the Mangala Aarthi to Swami.
On returning to our accommodations we all had our dinner together. We then finished the day with a group practice for our programme which is scheduled for tomorrow.

We feel incredibly Blessed by Swami for giving us this opportunity.  This was an  amazing first day of Gram Seva 2012 at Prashanthi Nillayam.
   

Grama Seva 2012- Wednesday 17th October

17/10/12

On this special Navratri festival the UK Grama Seva group met in the early morning to recite twenty one Omkars and Sri Sathya Sai Suprabhatam. Being Wednesday and the second day of Navratri the group offered prayers to the divine mother. 

The group entered the decorated Sai Kulwant hall, where the vedams had started at 7.30am in front of Bhagawan’s Maha Samadi. The group did pradakshina of the Mandir following the vedam boys. Some of the boys who had previously been on Grama Seva described the time when Swami would stand at the edge of the portico blessing all the students to take his message of love to remote parts of the villages.

Today the UK Grama Seva boys where responsible for distributing Bhagawan’s prasadam to a village called Agraharam situated in the Bukkaputum district. This is a large village with a population of almost 4600 people and 1075 houses. As the vehicles entered the village the groups were warmly welcomed with flowers and Rangoli patterns. The children gave lots of beaming smiles.

Grama Seva is an opportunity for the UK boys to give and receive Swami’s love through the villagers. The villagers also received as Swami himself coming to give them prasadam.

We are extremely grateful to Bhagawan Baba, for creating this Prema Yajna through this Grama Seva.

In the afternoon, the UK Grama Seva group were enthusiast and excited in their heart in anticipation of performing a musical programme. The group has been extremely fortunate to have Miss Roopa Panesar join the group for this programme. The programme was warmly received and enjoyed, particularly the performance by Miss Roopa Panesar on sitar.

The programme began with vedams. This was followed by an instrumental rendition of Raag Malkauns on the sitar as well as popular bhajans which was particularly enjoyed by devotees as they clapped along doing the performance. Before the programme finished with bhajans and Aarti the group performed a medley of fast tempo bhajans.