Sai Seva in the Nilgiris SRI SATHYA
SAI SEVA ORGANISATIONS
TAMILNADU - NILGIRIS DISTRICT
SRI SATHYA SAI GRAMA SEVA - 2003
As part of our
beloved Bhagwan's 78th birthday celebrations, Grama seva was
conducted in78 villages of Nilgiris district during the year 2003
by the sevadals of Sri Sathya Sai Seva organizations, Nilgiris
district.
The
theme of the Grama Seva was Educare since swami lays a lot of
emphasis on educare and has declared it as the Vedas of the 21st
century, "EDUCARE" was chosen as the most appropriate theme for
the 78 grama sevas. In educare, Swami explains about the five
elements and the importance of living in harmony with nature.
Water is one of the
five elements and the scarcity of water was a problem faced by
many villages of Nilgiris district this year. Due to scarce
rainfall and afforestation, many water sources had dried up. There
was need to educate the villagers on the importance of trees and
protection of water sources. Hence as part of grama seva it was
decided to identify the water sources in the villages and plant
special tree saplings like weeping willow etc., which had the
property of enhancing the water in the water sources. The saplings
were to be planted near the water sources.
On
13-7-2003 , Guru poornima day, the Grama seva was started by the
Divine grace of ever loving Bhagwan. Sevadals from all over the
District gathered at the Sri Sathya Sai Community Centre
Yellanalli. The sevadals set out for Grama seva in lorry and jeeps
chanting the divine name and singing bhajans.
The sevadals after
reaching the village formed into a group. Bhajans were started and
they proceeded to the main temple of the village. After offering
pooja and prayer in the local temple, saplings were planted in the
temple premises where pits were dug by the sevadals. The village
elders were made to plant the saplings while the sevadal members
chanted the sacred Gayathri Mantra and sprayed vibudhi in the pits.
Mean while Bhajans were being sung continuously. After that the
sevadals proceeded to the water sources in the villages and dug
pits and planted saplings. Groups of sevadal members went past
every house in the village singing non-stop Bhajans and giving
laddoos, Swami photo, vibudhi and a pamphlet on educare to each
family.
After
visiting each and every house, the sevadal members boarded the
vehicles and set out for the grama seva in the next village.
When the sevadal
members reached every village, the villagers welcomed them and
took them to their temple. They also took part in digging pits and
planting the saplings along with the sevadals. Children and elders
sang Bhajans along with the procession and they guided the
sevadals along the entire village. Due to the spiritual effect of
the Bhajans which were never stopped from the start to the end,
the entire village was filled with divine vibrations and the
villagers showed their love by offering tea and coffee to the
sevadal members.
The
purpose of the Grama seva and the main features of educare were
explained to the villagers.
In this way Grama
seva was completed in 78 villages from July to November. Every
morning, the sevadals assembled in the Sri Sathya Sai Community
Centre. The Grama seva was completed each day by 9 p.m. or 10 p.m.
The houses in each village were scattered and it was mostly a
hilly terrain. It was indeed a difficult job to go door by door
without missing a single house. But the sevadal members,
especially youth, did not feel any difficulty due to the grace of
Bhagwan. They could feel His presence eveywhere. Due to the Divine
grace of our compassionate Lord, grama seva was completed in 78
villages. The Grama sevas in the remaining 38 villages was
completed by the various samithis in the district. The members of
each samithi in the district visited nearby villages and conducted
grama seva in the same way, keeping educare as the main theme. The
Grama
Seva
gave an opportunity to both the sevadal members, youth and the
people of those 78 villages to experience the love of the Divine.
Source:
Radio Sai
E-Magazine, March 15, 2004
http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_02/06March15/08_Window_to_sai_seva/sai_seva.htm
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