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.