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Touching thousands of hearts in
thousand different ways - Part III
Part 2
By
now, the Village Service work was falling into some kind of a
pattern. Every evening after Bhajans, some of the teachers
from the University would do the sorting of the clothes for the
distribution and plan the loading operations. The clothes were all
stored in the Poornachandra Hall [there was no other closed space
big enough to store them all!], and it had the look of a warehouse,
with trucks lining up one after another for loading! Other
teachers would be engaged in logistic planning, based on the
information collected. Vehicles were deployed as required. Student
volunteers and teachers were given the necessary instructions and
briefing, including route maps etc. Back-up and fall-back
arrangements also were organised. After dinner, the
kitchen-operations would be in full swing, and as things got ready,
the lady teachers and the girl students of the Anantapur Campus
would start the packing, preparing food packets in thousands,
sometimes sitting all night. By 5 A.M., all the trucks would line
up near the North Indian canteen, the final loading point. Huge
crates containing food packets would be loaded into them one by
one. Some of the trucks would carry both food and clothes. Many
tractor-trailers also were pressed into service. At 6 A.M., the
loading operations would be temporarily suspended so that everyone
could assemble for morning Darshan.
Swami
would come out at about quarter-to-seven, slowly walking past the
ladies and the gents. He would then go to the veranda, have a word
or two with the Mr. Narasimha Murthy, Warden of the Brindavan
Hostel. The Warden would then seek Swami's permission and
Blessings. That would be the signal for all the boys to rise.
Marching in rows of three, the entire group of teachers and boys (including
of the Higher Secondary School) would commence their
circumambulation of the Mandir, one group chanting Vedas and the
other group singing Bhajans. After all the students and teachers
have left the Sai Kulwant Hall, some senior devotees in the
veranda would rise to seek Swami's Blessings and they too would
come out to get ready for service. The idea of doing service had
now become infectious, and many elderly devotees eagerly sought
Baba's permission to join the students and contribute their bit.
By around eight A.M., the trucks and the tractors would start
rolling out, with boys singing Bhajans and shouting Jai! Over a
thousand people went for service every day. Elders would accompany
in cars, vans and jeeps, while two mobile squads equipped with
wireless would also leave to provide mobile co-ordination as
needed. To make sure that no time is lost, all vehicles were
required to be refuelled the previous evening itself.
One
of the elders merits special mention. He is Mr. Chiranjeevi Rao.
Often described as Swami's shadow in Prasanthi Nilayam, he was
specially deputed by Swami to make sure that people in all the
villages visited were happy, that no deserving person was missed
out for any reason whatsoever, that everything went smoothly, and
that all the students ate at the appointed hour. Every evening, he
had to personally report to Baba that people in all the villages
visited were content. As a part of his responsibility, Mr. Rao
also took upon himself to give fatherly advice and guidance as
required, and do trouble-shooting if necessary. He knew this
region like the back of his hand, and also the village elders in
some of the bigger villages. Even so, it was a towering assignment
for one pushing eighty-one and with a medical history behind. But
when one works for Swami, He gives all the required strength. This
was very evident from the way Mr. Rao exerted himself without a
moment of rest, from eight in the morning to about three O'clock
in the afternoon, sometimes up to four, or even six O'clock. He
took particular care to oversee operations in the so-called "difficult"
centres, where there were large crowds due to high expectations.
In one place, food supply might be in excess while in another
place it would be running short. Taking advantage of wireless
contacts, Mr. Rao would see to it that there was the required
redistribution so that the glitch was overcome.
When
others were winding up operations and preparing to return to
Puttaparthi, Mr. Chiranjeevi Rao would still be going round from
village to village, personally checking that all the deserving
poor had been given food and clothes. If he felt that some people
had been inadvertently left out, he would make amends on the spot.
In many villages, he would call on the local elders and seek their
help if required. This was also good public relations! He would
make sure that when he left, everyone was pleased with the
attention they had received. He would go to any length of trouble
just to make sure that everyone was happy. As if all this was not
enough, he would, during his movements, stop by the roadside and
distribute food and clothing to farm workers, whenever he found a
deserving person [it was the ground-nut harvest season, and many
people were busy in the fields]. One day he heard at about two O'clock
that in a village some distance away, there were hundreds of
migrant farm workers who had come in search of jobs, from as far
away as seven hundred kilometres. Mr. Rao tirelessly tracked them
down and made them all happy. While he would sternly admonish
students and teachers if they did not eat their lunch promptly [as
per Swami's instructions], he himself would be busy working. Only
after repeated pleas by those accompanying him would he agree to
stop his vehicle near a shady tree and hurriedly gulp a few
morsels of food, by the roadside. The way he insisted on
meticulously complying with each and every instruction of Swami,
was an object lesson to all that observed him.
To
get back to the main story, after leaving Prasanthi Nilayam, the
convoy, made up of trucks, tractor-trailers, wireless-equipped
monitoring jeeps, vans, and the cars carrying the elders, would
head towards the target area for the day. Mr. Chiranjeevi Rao
would form the rear-guard, having made sure that the 'launch' was
smooth. En route, the boys would be singing Bhajans, and in many
places people standing on the roadside, especially children, would
cheer, wave hands, and greet by shouting "Sai Ram!" On approaching
the designated area, the different service teams would peel off to
their respective destinations. The unwritten rule was that to the
extent possible food service should begin by 9 A.M. To meet this
requirement, in a few cases the food trucks would leave early,
sometimes as early as 5 A.M. Despite this, in one instance, the
truck could reach the designated village only by around 10.30 A.M,
though the village was only 35 kilometres away - that in itself is
a sufficient commentary on how bad the roads [where they existed!]
were.
In every village,
the students would park the truck at a central spot and then go
round a few streets singing Bhajans. After this Nagarsankeertan,
the Prasadam distribution would start in right earnest.
Unloading the food baskets from the truck, boys in threes and
fours would go from hut to hut, door to door, and distribute
Prasadam. When the food basket became empty, they would come
back to the truck for a refill. Even isolated houses were covered.
Swami often arranges for the distribution of Prasadam in
Prasanthi Nilayam, and while the distribution is in progress, He
always moves around, doing spot checks, "Did you receive
Prasadam?" This is in the Indian tradition.While doing village
service, the boys did not forget the example set by Baba. While
some were serving, others would do checks just to make sure that
no one was left out.
Part 4
Source:
Radio Sai E-Magazine,
October 15, 2003
http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_01/04OCT15/SaiSeva/Touching.htm
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