I am an active member of our Sai Centre in Toronto (York).

For the last 15 to 20 years, I have been Santa Claus in the month of December. I go to Seniors’ Homes, where the average age is 85.They have very few people visiting them. I understand they are in some form of pain all the time. Our Sai seva group has seen these seniors in all smiles once they see Santa. At least, they forget the pain for some time. You can see this happiness on their faces. It is a satisfying moment for us. I go to two such places with our group.

I am also Santa at the Satya Sai School here in Toronto. When I make a surprise visit, these kids are so happy. They hug you and won't leave you till the teacher comes.

This is Baba's grace, for us to be able do this seva.

Whenever I watch or observe Sai brothers and sister surrounding me at the "Sathya Seva Samitis," I find them engaged in various kinds of service activities selflessly. But due to my unavoidable circumstances, I haven't been able to dedicate myself as much in selfless service as expected from a true follower of Bhagwan. So I feel very sad about my inability to participate in the Samiti’s seva activities.

As my mother is a Schizophrenia patient (a serious psychological disease), I have to remain at home most of the time for taking care of her. But one thing is certain: taking care of my mother according to Swami's words, since last 8 to 10 months, I have been able to reduce the ill effects of her disease 75% to 85% (this is only my assessment) only due to Bhagwan's blessings. For the word, service, in which work I have been engaged, I got my answer from Bhagwan from the message of "Thought for The Day-12th December 2013".

Hence, I got a lot of satisfaction as I realized Swami was with me. Things are changing gradually and my surroundings are transforming on a spiritual way. I get the strength of doing more and more service as well as welfare works by attending daily online bhajan session in the evening at Prashati Nilayam Live through Asia stream. So I am extremely grateful to "Team Radio Sai" for providing such precious service globally.

I did Narayana Seva along with my family members on the occasion of Christmas. I would like to offer this at the Divine Lotus Feet.

I am part of the Aapravasi Ghat Devotional Group since the year 2002. With the passing of years, apart from singing kirtans and chanting mantras, we started some seva activities. Since 2011, we have engaged ourselves in a special seva on the occasion of Swami's birthday, like constructing a small house for a family in need. Unfortunately, this year, we have not been able to keep up our engagement for Swami's birthday and this really disturbed us a lot.

So we decided to do a special seva on Christmas day. We offered a dinner to the residents of a night shelter. It was the first time that we did a seva on Christmas day and the more so was that it was the first time that these people received a visit on Christmas day. Swami has graced us this opportunity to serve these people on the day Jesus took birth. We had a wonderful time with these brothers. We sang and danced with them.

As it was also the birthday of my son, I brought a cake and celebrated his birthday there. My brother put on a disguise of Santa Claus and distributed gifts to them. It was the most joyful Christmas we ever had. A big thanks to you, Swami, and please give us more opportunities to serve you selflessly.

12 years ago, on a Sunday afternoon in March, I was not in very good health and was feeling somewhat tired. At that time, I worked for half a day on Sundays. I had finished my work and wanted to return home as early as possible to take rest. Along the main road to the station, there were many small huts on the side. As I was walking along the main road, suddenly I saw a very fast motorcycle with two teenage boys driving in a zigzag pattern (perhaps what they considered a thrill.)

A young boy, about 8 years, wearing only a torn trouser and no other covering on top, was playing near the huts. He did not notice the bike and the bike hit him. The boy was hit on the back of the head and was in a shock. There was some blood too. The bike riders did not even bother to see what had happened and sped away. The boy started crying. I could not bear to see the boy suffering. I went inside his hut and called out for his family. Both the parents came out. I told them what had happened. But they somehow did not have much concern. The mother scolded the boy for playing on the roadside and just tried to take him inside with blood all over. (Perhaps because they did not have immediate money for taking him to a doctor.) I could sense that the boy was frightened and was in pain. Since it was a Sunday, all the main shops were closed.

I immediately stopped an auto which was passing by and told the mother that I would take him to the nearby hospital and  asked her to accompany us, which she did. The doctor at the hospital was kind enough to attend to the boy immediately and he was dressed by the nurses; antiseptic injection was given. After examining the boy, the doctor said he assumed that there would not be any internal injuries. He advised the mother to come back if the boy vomited or complained of giddiness, etc. He prescribed some medicine.

I paid for the doctor and also bought the medicines. Along with the medicines, I purchased some mosambis (sweet limes) and a Horlicks bottle. I told the mother not to scold the boy and to keep him rested. I went home later. It took some extra two hours than normal. I told the mother that if she wanted any help, she could call me at my home phone number (there were not many mobiles then).

Between my household work and office job, I did not remember the incident much after that. After two weeks or so, as I was walking to the office, I could see someone walking close. As I turned, I could see the mother and the boy. The mother said “Amma, he is fine now.” The boy also smiled shyly. I too smiled and told him to be always careful on the roads.

I have been immensely blessed to be a devotee of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba since the year 1969.

We, as a family, took a few steps towards Him in the late ‘60s in connection with a serious ailment of my father-in-law, who was diagnosed with cancer and was given just a few months to live. True to His word, He took several hundreds of steps towards us! It was His infinite compassion and grace that gave my father-in-law a new lease on life. His cancer was ‘cancelled’ by Swami and he went on to live for another thirteen years. Swami also promised to take care of our family for ‘generations to come’. He has unfailingly kept His word and His blessings have been showered on every member of the family ever since.

This is a brief account of a real incident and only one of its kind in my life. I was going for shopping one day to a place about a kilometre away through a main road of Trivandrum City, Kerala. About half a kilometre from my house, there was a bus stop which provided a small roof cover. It was drizzling and cold. I saw a poor male beggar under the roof of this bus stop, shivering in the cold weather, with just a dirty cloth around his waist. There was some food on a plantain leaf, which he was eating with his left hand.

I noticed that he was handicapped – with his right hand defective for some unknown reason. I moved on thinking about his plight and what I could do for him. While I was returning that way after about 15 minutes, I approached him, removed my shirt unmindful of my surroundings, and put it on his shoulder. He accepted it and smiled at me. The joy on his face is something I will never forget. His joy was my joy.

Glory to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who actually guided and prompted me to do the service. Rather it was a service done to Swami Himself, the Lord in all of us!

We are three brothers and Swami had given us the good fortune to study in his college in Brindavan for varying time frames. Here's how the glory of our beloved Lord Sai unfolded in the year 1997.

I was posted in Indian Air Force base at Jamnagar in Gujarat, India as a pilot. My wife and I were returning from Rajkot (roughly 90 kilometres from Jamnagar) after the first servicing of our brand new car. When we were 45 kilometres short of Jamnagar, we witnessed a terrible accident. A woman who was the passenger in the front seat had her throat slit by a portion of the metal from the car. The case looked hopeless. However, with the grace of Swami, we got the courage to attempt rescue her. We extricated her from the crash and put her in the back seat of our car. Since she was bleeding profusely, the entire rear portion of the car soaked with blood. The nearest hospital was in Jamnagar at an hour's drive from the accident site.

On reaching the hospital, we arranged for sufficient Air Force personnel to come and donate blood for her survival. Many of my friends and I stayed at the hospital until the early hours of the morning, when the doctors could complete complex surgeries on her. None of us knew who she was or where she had come from until police from the accident site came looking for her. Once she was identified and her relatives arrived, we left the hospital. We visited her later to find that she had not just survived but had all her essential organs were intact. Contrary to my major worry, she did not lose her voice.

This is how Swami uses His instruments to help others! Thank you Swami. Jai Sai Ram

Late one evening, I was driving from my in-law’s place, Padmanabhanagar (Karnataka, India) to Kadugodi with my family. It started raining with big droplets and it got heavier. Somewhere near Bhanashankari, we went past an elderly lady carrying some baggage, drenched in rain. Given the speed we were moving at, we almost crossed her and came to a stop 20 feet ahead of her. I just stopped the vehicle by the roadside and asked my family’s consent saying, “The Ajji (grandma) is walking in heavy rain there behind. Can we drop her at the nearest possible place on our way and go?” My wife readily agreed and we waited few seconds for her to come nearer. We expressed our wish to give her a ride.

Seeing the family seated inside, that grandma felt safe and got in with her baggage in hand. And she said, “Baba somehow keeps sending help like this.” With curiosity, we enquired further and she told us that she got her monthly groceries from some samithi nearby and was on her way to her residence! We got surprised knowing the wonderful ‘Saincidence’ that happened to us.

Had we ignored her, we would have missed a lot. Thank you, Swami, for having given us right mindset to do the good act immediately without second thought.

I was very fond of eating outside, buying new clothes for birthdays, and wedding anniversaries. But after comming to Swami, I am no longer interested in celebrating these occasions, or any other festivals in a grand manner. Instead, I am interested in giving my kid's clothes, toys, shoes, and all our other accessories to poor people, orphanages, or phisically disabled persons. I like to give food items to phisically disabled persons or mentally challenged children. Swami is guiding and talking with me every day after I turned like this. All this is possible only by Swami. I am very happy for these thoughts and actions.

Initially, I was hesitant to venture making this present submission when I read that a spontaneous and beautiful act is one which demonstrates absolute selfless service. After carefully going through the advice once again, I am making this submission with no expectation of reward.

Since few months back, I thought of spreading the gems of messages of Sri Satya Sai Baba with a view to give the benefit to one and all. A spiritual diary containing gems culled from the books by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba (1980) came to my mind and I started sending the daily messages between 6 AM and 6.30 AM regularly to my near and dear which has not only been well received by them but also in turn, they started relaying those messages to their near and dear, thus bringing about a change in their behaviour and actions. Absolutely, I have no intention to get any benefit from that act. On the other hand, I derive great pleasure in sending those messages. I take it as Baba’s gift and blessings to me.

Yesterday, I was in my Senior Citizen Center (in the United States) after taking my armchair yoga class. I wanted to go home, but Miss Mattie, a woman about 90 years, was seated alone on this snowy day. So I decided to play cards with her for a few minutes. As we played, I asked questions. She had grown up in a sharecropper shack near Dothan, Alabama, with holes in the windows, roof, and floor.

Her family struggled in the heat and cold, raising peanuts and some cotton, with little to eat; a life not unusual for the elderly in my Center. Still, she had been a very happy child. At 28, she became a maid for a Senator's family and moved to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where she was illtreated by the mistress, a school teacher, and for months, she had no coat for the frigid winter. Later Miss Mattie married, became a minister.

So little it seemed yesterday, this game of Pitty-Pat and shared stories, yet so joyful.

Swami's hands are wonderful. I got an email from old student asking for help and I was so moved that I went to help his father who was hospitalized after a stroke and whose right side was paralyzed. I did not do anything as it was Swami who sent me. I found a good friend's father who does Reiki (Japanese healing meditation) and took him along. Daily and weekly progress was so amazing that none of his family members could believe it. It was a miracle and good fortune for me to watch that miracle happen.

Thanking for this opportunity and praying to Swami to keep me in his path forever.

One night, while driving back home after picking up dinner from a restaurant, we saw a person at a traffic signal. He looked completely tired and exhausted. He was holding a card that read “Hungry, Tired, No Money, Anything would help."

The signal turned green and we went past him. I felt a driving force from within to help him. We took a U-turn, came back to the same place and gave him the packed dinner we had just picked up. His face beamed with a jubilant smile and with great joy he uttered “Thank you. God Bless you."

Swami, Thank you so much for giving me this intention and opportunity to offer help.

This incident occurred few days back while our family went for breakfast to a famous but simple tiffin centre in Hyderabad. When we finished our eating, an old lady came asking for some food. Usually we keep in mind what Swami wants us to do - instead of giving money, it is better to give food.

We requested the man serving the tiffins to give her tiffin too, and charge us for her meal. My niece, who was accompanying us, asked me to look at the old lady. That 'Bhola (innocent) Lady' was seen blessing us lifting both her hands. If we follow in our daily lives what Swami has been teaching us for the past eight decades, imagine where we will be!

This incident happened during my early days in the Youth Wing, Bangalore. We do a monthly Narayan seva for the mentally challenged inmates of NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences).

There had been a remarkable change in their behaviour from the time this service project was started. So we planned to take a select few for an outing to Vijaya Vittala temple in the outskirts of Bangalore. We even made them play simple games like bucketing the ball, lemon and spoon, etc.

It was a recharging and a memorable trip for all of us. When we retired and when it was the time to bid goodbye and sairam to them, one of the inmates came to me and said, "Sister, today I am very happy. You know what? It had been such a long time; the last time I played was when I was in my village. I am very happy! I am very happy! Thank you, sister." She kept repeating it. Unknowingly tears dropped from my eyes, made me resolve to never give up seva in my life come what may!

Ravi Bala, India

In Feb 2012, Swami gave me the opportunity to help a poor lady get operated for cataracts on both her eyes. This was in my final year of engineering and when my project was going on. This is one of the most memorable events of my life. I felt so much love and joy during this period. She was so grateful to Swami and blessed me profusely with her love.

The eye hospital played a big role by offering to do the surgery free of cost. Swami's omnipresence was there all through the five months of surgery and post-operative care. I thank Swami for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

"Selfless Service" - the very phrase made me think. I have come to understand that I have never been involved in such service. Whatever I have been doing till now is not 'Selfless' because there is always the 'my' involved with that. Now I submit this with a strong intention and a prayer to involve myself in 'Selfless Service.'