Dear Reader,

Six scores and half a decade ago, one fine morning, Young Sathya returned from school, cast away His books and declared to His sister-in-law, “I am going; I don't belong to you; Maya has gone; My devotees are calling Me; I have My Work; I can't stay any longer".

From that momentous morning on the 20th of Oct, 1940, Young Sathya never looked back and today the whole world looks up to Him. Politicians to sportspersons, professors to lawyers, bureaucrats to businessmen, common man to presidents and prime ministers…everybody flocks to Prashanti Nilayam. They need His guidance and blessings.

On the first week of September, it was the turn of healthcare professionals worldwide. More than 900 doctors, health administrators, and other professionals connected with the medical profession converged at His Lotus Feet for an unprecedented international conference on “Sai Ideal Healthcare For All”. They discussed the Sai Health Mission and reminded themselves of the nobility inherent in the doctors’ profession.

For two days they basked in His love… and were transformed and charged… to dedicate themselves in the service of humanity and as one Doctor from the US said, “I pray that Swami will continue to inspire me to serve my patients with love, compassion, and humility so that I can be a pure instrument of His Love".

This is the sentiment that echoed from every participant. You will know what the distinguished speakers spoke at the conference, what Swami told the doctors and what the doctors told Swami, when you read our detailed account of this in our cover story. To bring alive the highlights of the conference, we have decorated the story with lots of pictures and even given audio files for you to download. You are going to be transported to the Sai Kulwant Hall…

In the last issue, we carried a story on the Mumbai deluge and how the Sai workers tirelessly served the affected and the distressed. Now we bring you a feature on Katrina. We tell you what are Swami’s views on natural disasters and what are the lessons that Swami wants us to learn from such occurrences. Rita has also struck in the meantime and the sooner man learns the better.

Col. Joga Rao and Sri Ajit Haksar - two important personalities of the Sai family are no more with us. While Col. Joga Rao was an engineer par excellence who served Swami for more than two decades erecting most of the structures that adorn the ashram today, Sri Ajit Haksar was an illustrious industrialist who first came to Swami in 1981 and apart from other tasks in His mission, played an important role in the setting up of the management programme in Swami’s institute when the course started in 1986. You find articles on them in this issue.

By now, you must have heard about the St. Louis Mayor’s proclamation on Sai Baba. In case, you haven’t, or want to see the actual document, go to our article in the Sai World News section. You will also find in this issue a very moving article in the Window to Sai Seva section about Shanthi School - a school for special needs children in Kuwait. This is a must-read.

When you see the pictures of Swami giving tokens of appreciation to doctors in the cover story and then lovingly distributing watches and clothes to sweepers and cleaners of the ashram in the Prashanti Diary of this issue, we are sure, you are going to say, “This is the our compassionate Lord, our beloved Sai.”

In an attempt to make H2H more reader-friendly, we have a search now in every page which will search all our previous issues and give you the information you want on a particular topic. You will also notice that we have dropped the Miscellaneous section and split its contents into four different sections – SwaMi and Me, Sai World News, Get Inspired and Test Your Spiritual Quotient. So, now you know what to expect in each section.

Before we leave you to explore this issue, one last word - don’t miss the photo album. We have some rare pictures of Swami sitting in decorated palanquins as He used to do during Dasara processions in yester years, as this is the month of Dasara. Dasara immediately reminds one of the sonorous Vedic chants that fill the ashram during this enchanting festival.

Let us fill ourselves with these holy vibrations.
Let us transport ourselves to Prashanti Nilayam.
Let us be in peace and love.

Loving Regards,

In Sai Service
Heart2Heart Team