Sri Sathya Sai Region 8 Newsletter - Third

Transcription

Sri Sathya Sai
Region 8 Newsletter
Third Quarter 2012
Each one of you should ask himself the question: Mahatmas (great souls)
and Mahapurushas (great beings) were also persons like me. They were also
embodied beings. When they could attain perfection, I can also succeed if I
follow their method. What profits me if I spend my time in discovering the
faults and weaknesses of others?
Therefore the first sadhana (spiritual practice) is, search for the faults and
weaknesses within thyself and strive to correct them and become perfect.
The unceasing toil of each succeeding day has as its aim and justification
this consummation: to make one’s last days sweet and pleasant. But each day,
too, has its evening. if the day is spent in good deeds, then the evening blesses
us with deep sleep, invigorating refreshing sleep, the sleep about which it is said
that it is akin to samadhi (superconscious state, transcending the body, mind
and intellect).
–Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Prema Vahini, pp. 6-7
Annual Region 8 Conference................ 4
Regional Bimonthly Meeting.............12
Gram Seva Project.................................13
Mahasamadhi Anniversary Service...14
Sri Vedanarayanan................................15
Hollywood Center.................................17
Lower Puna Center (Hawaii)...............18
Mission Viejo Service...........................18
Karuna Center Anniversary.................19
Buddha Poornima in Arcadia..............21
Holistic Food Project, Torrance..........22
Center Spotlight: Upland....................23
Trees of Love, San Diego.....................25
The Small Quiet Voice..........................27
Sai Stories from Ojai............................28
What is Love?.........................................30
Sri Sathya Sai Region 8 Newsletter
August
September
Important Dates for Region 8
August 4
Day at the Beach with Ability First
August 25 Sri V. Srinivasan, All-India President of Sathya Sai Service
Organizations
Oct. 27-28 Oxnard Free Medical Camp
October
November
Cultural & Spiritual Holidays
December
August
10 Krishna Janmastami
29 Onam
September
17-18 Rosh Hashanah
19 Ganesh Chaturthi
26 Yom Kippur
October
16-23 Navaratri
20 Avatarhood Declaration
24 Vijaya Dashami / Dasara
November
10-11 Akhanda Bhajan
13 Deepavali
19 Ladies Day
22 Thanksgiving
23 Sathya Sai Baba’s Birthday
28 Guru Nanak’s Birthday
December
25 Christmas
Nov. 10-11 Global Akhanda Bhajan
Nov. 17
Sathya Sai Baba Birthday Celebration
Region 8 Officers
Dr. C. Chandradas, President
(661) 341-1046 drchandradas@gmail.com
Rohan Balasuriya, Vice-President
(310) 702-2971 RohanLBa@aol.com
M. Srinivas, Devotional Coordinator
(805) 523-8348 msrinivas3@hotmail.com
Eric Wing, Education Coordinator
(805) 200-7512 eric.wing@sbcglobal.net
Sri Jeevaprakash, Service Coordinator
(949) 285-0822 sri.jeeva@gmail.com
Young Adults
Shriram Bhat, Young Men’s Representative
(626) 475-7271 shrirambhat@gmail.com
Rachna Desai, Young Women’s Representative
(213) 949-7224 rachna216@gmail.com
Pravin Wagh, Young Men’s Advisor
(949) 274-9019 pravinwagh@gmail.com
Ravi Bakshi, Young Women’s Advisor
(714) 469-6342 ravi.bakshi@ymail.com
Region 8 Website: http://region8saicenters.org (password: sairam)
Visit the newsletter section to download high-resolution PDFs, past issues.
Newsletter ideas or comments? Please send them to: bhagavan9@gmail.com
Newsletter Article Submissions - please submit articles to the Newsletter team member assigned to your Center:
Vidya Alekal vidyaalekal@yahoo.com
Hemet, Upland, Chatsworth
Maneck Chichgar saaimanper@gmail.com
Corona (Karuna), Hawaii Centers
Sunil Nayak tustinsaicenter@yahoo.com
Tustin
Rohan Balasuriya rohanlba@aol.com
Arcadia
Harini Narasimhan bhagavan9@gmail.com
North San Diego, San Diego
Saras Kollengode sarask@gmail.com
Lakewood, Lomita, Glendale, Mission Viejo
Natasha Earling babaskid@hotmail.com
Los Angeles, Hollywood, Torrance, South Bay
Sai Shankar nsaishankar@gmail.com
North East San Diego
Marlene Lande revmar9@hotmail.com
Las Vegas
Edna Hall midwife93465@yahoo.com
Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Atascadero
Mamata Kalle hemukalle36@gmail.com
Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Ojai
Rachna Desai and Shriram Bhat (listed above)
Young Adults
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
His Message and His Works
Special Regional Devotional Meeting
Keynote Speakers:
OV
E
E
B.E. Electrical (Hons.)
N ON
VIOLEN
CE
E
AC
L
PE
G HT
RI
UCT
ND
Sri V. Srinivasan
CO
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RI
UCT
ND
CO
L
OV
E
TRUTH
N ON
VIOLEN
CE
TRUTH
President, All India Sri Sathya Sai Baba Organization
PE
AC
Dr. Narendranath Reddy
Chairman, Prasanthi Council
Both speakers will be introduced by Dr. Mike Congleton,
National Council President, Sri Sathya Sai Baba Organization of America.
Our region is blessed with a visit by Sri V. Srinivasan, President of All India Sri Sathya Sai
Baba Organization, Trustee of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam and
Trustee, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. He is a Senior Member, Institute of
Electrical & Electronics Engineers, USA and Chairman, W.S. Group of Industries. He has
had the privilege of serving Swami for more than 40 years and will share some of the
intimate Divine experiences and deep insights he received from Bhagawan.
Please mark your calendar and join us to enjoy this very special occasion!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
The Ball Room at DoubleTree Suites by Hilton, Anaheim Resort
For more information please call:
or M. Srinivas
(805) 523-8348
DoubleTree Suites
by Hilton
2085 South Harbor Blvd.
Anaheim, California 92802
(714) 750-3000
Harbor Blvd.
Dr. C. Chandradas
(661) 341-1046
Katella
Orangewood
Chapman
From West Covina, Pomona, Diamond
Bar, Corona: Take the 210 or 10 or 60 or 91 to
57 South. Exit on Katellla and turn right at the
exit. Turn left on Harbor Blvd.
From South Orange County, San Diego:
Take the 5 North, exit on Chapman Ave. Turn
left at the exit and turn right on Harbor. Turn
left on Orangewood. Enter from Orangewood.
From Glendale, Los Angeles, Cerritos: Take
5 South and exit on Harbor Boulevard, turn
right at the exit.
Annual Region 8 Conference
at Buckhorn Camp, Idyllwild
June 1-3, 2012
W
e were blessed to have three very special guest
speakers at the regional conference this year:
Professor Anantharaman, Media Coordinator
for the Central Trust; Dr. Narendranath Reddy, Chairman
of the Prasanthi Council; and Dr. A. Ramakrishna,
Director of the Sri Sathya Sai World Foundation.
Professor Anantharaman has been a devotee of Sri
Sathya Sai Baba for over forty years. He holds a BE degree in Mechanical Engineering, an MBA from Harvard
Business School, and a PhD from Columbia University.
He spent thirty-five years in several senior positions as a
Managing Director and CEO of different companies. He
has taught in several business schools in India and abroad
and is currently a professor at the School of Business at the
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning.
Dr. Narendranath Reddy graduated in medicine with
distinction from S.V. Medical College, Tirupathi, Andhra
Pradesh and subsequently specialized in Internal Medicine at the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry.
Later he completed his specialization in Endocrinology
and Metabolism at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine,
New York. He has been a consultant and a practicing Internist-Endocrinologist in Southern California for over
thirty years. A fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Endocrinologists, he
is also on the teaching faculty at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California.
Four generations of Dr. Reddy’s family are devotees of
Swami, with Dr. Reddy himself having come to Swami at
the age of five. For twenty-five years Dr. Reddy and his
family have hosted a Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center in their
home. Dr. Reddy currently serves as the Chairman of the
International Medical Committee of the Sri Sathya Sai Organization as well as the Chairman of the Prasanthi Council. He is the President of Sri Sathya Sai Baba Society of
America and also serves as a Director of the Sri Sathya Sai
World Foundation, the governing body of the Sathya Sai
International Organization.
Dr. Ramakrishna is a Director of the Sri Sathya Sai
World Foundation, appointed by Swami. He has held high
positions at Larsen & Toubro (L&T). He was inducted into
the Board of Larsen & Toubro Limited, India, in 1992 and
was operational head of the ECC Construction Division.
He received an honorary degree of Doctorate of Science
from Andhra University and an honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological
University. He has received many awards and serves on
the board of several large corporations.
Dr. Ramakrishna was responsible for the L&T construction of devotee housing and the Prasanthi Nilayam
airport; and of many humanitarian projects undertaken
by the Sri Sathya Sai Organization such as the two SuperSpeciality Hospitals, the Chaitanya Jyoti Museum, the
massive water projects, and most recently the Sri Sathya
Sai International Center for Sports in Prasanthi Nilayam.
In addition to these three outstanding guest speakers,
the conference program included a question-and-answer
session with the three speakers, Young Adult and children’s programs and presentations, a session of sharing Sai
experiences, devotional singing, and yoga.
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Third Quarter 2012
Excerpts from Retreat Guest Speakers
ed to a big full picture of Swami and said, “Him, that’s
Him who came and bothered me.” Then we asked her if
He was there in flesh and blood. She said, “Yes! Take Him
away! Don’t let Him ever bother me again!” All we could
say was, “Hallelujah!” Then we took her out, sat her down
and told her exactly who her visitor was. She was speechless. Since
then, this lady has been to Prasanthi Nilayam two or three times
and is now a Swami devotee.
Thinking about such an ex
perience, the next logical question
we could ask, now that Swami is no
longer here in His physical form,
is, Can such things happen again?
Yes! In fact, more easily than before
because the Mahasamadhi on April
24, 2011 has released Swami from
the restraints of His physical form.
Now He can go all over giving instructions, appearing in
dreams, dropping policy directions, much more than in
the past. Don’t be surprised if Swami pounces on you as
you turn a corner somewhere and says “Boo” to you. He
has done it before and He can still do it in spite of the fact
His physical form is not here. Kasturi himself narrates this
story: One day, several years ago, Kasturi went to a spot
outside Swami’s room and waited for Him to come out.
Suddenly, someone was standing behind Kasturi covering
his eyes and asking, “Guess who?” It was Swami. Swami
got out from the back door of His house, went around to
the front and completely surprised Kasturi. Kasturi said
that his reply was “a cascade of tears.”
Another delightful human incident occurred in
Prasanthi Nilayam. My mind goes back to a day about
fifteen years ago. Swami had just bestowed earrings on the
chief priest of the yajna. With care Swami placed the studs
of the earrings on the chief priest’s hand. I was present in
the audience that day. That is why I remember it vividly.
The poor priest let slip the screw of one of the earrings
and it fell on the floor. He didn’t know what to do so he
started searching all over the stage. Swami also joined
the search in full view of all the people who were present
there. Almost everybody there expected this omniscient,
omnipresent, omnipotent Divinity to materialize another
Professor Anantharaman
Sai Ram to all of you. I am looking forward to being
with you for the next three days in these idyllic surroundings. In fact, I used to attend similar annual retreats when
I was in New Jersey almost ten years ago. At that time we
fantasized how wonderful it would
be if only Swami attended one of
these retreats Himself in the United States; in fact, away from the
bustle of Prasanthi Nilayam, away
from the devotees who constantly
keep asking Him, pestering Him
with questions—“Swami, will my
daughter get married?” “Swami,
when will the stock market get
back to its normalcy?” “Swami,
should I paint my house blue, or
shall I paint it red?” These are the
constant questions that barrage
Swami. We used to wonder: Why doesn’t Swami get away
from all this and attend one of these retreats? It was one of
our fondest hopes when I was in New Jersey. In fact, I once
asked Swami, when I told him about all these retreats taking place in the United States, if He even knew about some
of them. He startled me by saying, “Of course I attend all
these retreats.”
I didn’t believe a word of what He said at that time until
an experience I had a couple of retreats later. It was in upstate New York on Memorial Day weekend. I was with one
of the local organizers who was going around the canteen
kitchen one morning to check and see if everything was in
order. Suddenly one of the kitchen help, a local person and
a non-devotee, accosted us and asked, “Now who is this
guy whose photograph you’ve stuck all over the place?”
Not knowing how exactly to describe Swami to a complete
outsider, we told her, “He’s our guru.” She asked, “Now,
what is this guru business?” We said He’s our teacher. Then
she said, “What’s He doing in my kitchen instead of teaching you guys?” We asked her what she meant. “Yes, He
came pottering in, told me not to add mayonnaise, not to
put too much potato in the salad, not to put too much
salt. I asked Him to go away. I don’t let people interfere
with my work!” Then we took her out and asked her if she
could point out the guy who was bothering her. She pointSri Sathya Sai Region 8 Newsletter
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Third Quarter 2012
screw and be done with it. But no, Swami had to find that ees of the wealth they hold in trust for the needy in society.
last article. But the tiny screw eluded the search of man Love and cooperation, not competition, is the cornerstone
and God. Swami searched extensively on the stage as far of His social reality. His political science.
as the screw could go. There was a lot of anxiety on His
One day while in Brindavan there was a discussion on
face and you could easily imagine Him saying, “Now where the Bhagavad Gita. Mr. Gokak was astounded at Swami
has that screw gone?” Finally He found the screw and there quoting Max Mueller and other scholars during these diswas a great, delightful joy on His baby face at the moment cussions. He asked Swami, “How to you find time to read
of discovery of this lost treasure. In fact, in my few years all this?” Bhagawan said, “I have no time to read books but
at Prasanthi Nilayam, it is this aspect of Swami—this I am the repository of all this knowledge that you read in
childlike, human aspect—that
these books.” We cannot fathappealed to me most.
om the illusion of humanness
Actually, Chitra and I tried
that is Swami. During the 85th
to go back to India in the year “Our greatest privilege is that God came Birthday, right on the stage,
2000 for good. We went to as man, circumscribing all His powers to in the full view of millions,
Prasanthi Nilayam and Swami accommodate the human form. What greater Swami wept, broke down and
totally ignored us for a month;
wept, more than once. Why?
love
can
the
Creator
show
His
creation?”
didn’t even look at us. At the
Was this a grief at His impendend of one month He came to
ing departure? And on March
me and asked, “When are you
20, 2011, in full public view,
going back?” I said, “Swami we
He suddenly folded His hands
have come for good! And You are asking me when we are in salutation. Why? Was it goodbye? Both are essentially
going back?” In the meantime we had sold our house in human acts. And when He stayed in the hospital for a full
New Jersey. So reluctantly we came back and we had to twenty days, His body went through decay as any human
wait another three years before Swami would summon us body would. He was perfectly capable of walking out of
to return and stay. Thus began almost a decade of enjoying that hospital at any moment that He wanted. Of this, I am
Swami’s physical proximity. Before this period when I certain.
was a visitor from afar who visited Prasanthi Nilayam for
Why this illusion? We will never know the answer to
two weeks in a year, the focus was different. By the time I this question. We can only conjecture and theorize. But,
got used to the changing kaleidoscope of textures, smells of one thing we can be certain: Divinity was with us all
and events, it was time to go back. The emphasis then was the time, with all its omnipresence, omniscience, and omto get as many darshans as possible under your belt. But nipotence. Kasturi said that the most memorable occasion
when I stayed for a much longer period, the emphasis was in his entire sojourn with Swami was the day when Swami
completely different. I could sip to my heart’s content at suddenly stretched on the floor and asked Kasturi, “Can
the fountain of divinity and at the wisdom presented at I use your lap as my pillow.” “Most gladly,” replied Kasthe several afternoon festivals. More than anything else turi. His exhilaration was purely, completely upanishadic.
I could watch Swami at close quarters and observe this Later, he could see in the fragrant silence, the rhythmic
many-faceted gem shedding more hues than the colors of breathing of the cosmic child. Kasturi abdicated his perthe rainbow; each hue more resplendent than the other.
sonality and became the mother. Hands patted the cheek
The profundity and simplicity of Bhagawan was ex- and time stood still. He could only wonder at the words
pressed by Mr. Gokak, the first Vice Chancellor of the of Vivekanda. “Inscrutable are Thy words. So is my destiny.
Sathya Sai University. Bhagavan, he felt, could explain It is unknown nor do I wish to know but let my desire be
the origin of the universe much better than any physical fulfilled through an intimacy with the Lord.” Our greatest
scientist, and the origin of life better than any biologist. privilege is that God came as man, circumscribing all His
Swami’s version of the physical sciences completely en- powers to accommodate the human form. What greatchanted Prof. Gokak. Love and the principle of trusteeship er love can the Creator show His creation? Generations
constitute the core of Baba’s social and economic message, to come will hardly believe that such a One as this ever
within which the rich know they are the owners and trust- walked the Earth. Sai Ram
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Third Quarter 2012
think Swami liked it because it was concise and conveyed
the whole meaning. He looks for the inner, pure feeling in
us and is not interested in the outward appearance but in
the inner prema.
We are very blessed and fortunate to be the contemporaries of this living and loving Avatar. As it is recorded,
this Triune Avatar—Shirdi Sai, Sathya Sai and Prema Sai—
has never come before and will never come again. So we
are very unique and very blessed
people to be the contemporaries
of this Avatar. Three things are
impossible to get by human effort.
You can get these only by divine
grace.
1) Human birth
2) Longing and love for God
3) Contact with a great soul
These three things you can get
only by divine grace. Swami says
there are 8.4 million species on
Earth—species not beings. The
pinnacle of that creation is human
birth. Only through human birth can a soul attain the
highest, liberation or self-realization. Even the demigods
and the angels have to be born as humans to realize the
highest. That is the value of human life and that is why we
need to make the best use of it. Swami says, if we don’t use
it wisely, we might have to be born again and again and
again.
Dr. Narendranath Reddy
Kasturi, used to go around and talk about Swami’s
message and love at various places. So, one time he went
to West Bengal and came back and expected a pat from
Swami regarding what a good job he had done. But when
he came back, Swami completely ignored him. Whatever
Swami does He does to perfection. If He ignores you, He
can ignore you perfectly. You don’t exist; He sees through
you. So, Kasturi was feeling very
miserable. He said it is a living
death when Swami ignores you.
His mother was living in Prasanthi
Nilayam at that time and saw the
misery of her son so she went to
Swami. She told Swami, “My son
is not eating or sleeping properly,
please forgive him for whatever he
did.” Swami told her, “Yes, ask him
to come.” Kasturi went to Swami
and fell flat at His feet and said,
“Swami I don’t know what I did
but please forgive me for anything
wrong that I did.” Swami said, “No, you didn’t do anything
wrong. But they had a flyer which said at the bottom that
you will give interviews to the devotees.” Kasturi said,
“Swami I didn’t tell them to put that on the flyer. They put
it there.” Swami said, “But you were enjoying it inside.” So,
this rascal ego is always there to enjoy self-glorification.
Swami says, “ABC” equals “Always Be Careful” how the
ego plays.
About twenty years ago the Bal Vikas group from my
region went to Prasanthi Nilayam and were singing some
songs and one of the songs was “Door of my heart open
wide I keep for thee; wilt Thou come; wilt Thou come; precious Baba come to me.” In those days Swami was in the
Mandir and He opened the door and said, “I am coming.
I am coming.” This is how He responds to the devotee’s
sincere feelings.
M.S. Subbulakshmi was a great singer and devotee of
Swami. He loved her very much and she loved Him very
much. Once Swami asked her to come and give a talk. She
said, “No Swami, I’m just a singer. I can’t talk.” But she is a
good devotee who implicitly followed Swami’s command
so she came to the podium and said, “Swami You are my
mother, You are my father, You are my teacher, You are my
friend, You are my God, Jai Sai Ram.” And she sat down.
Then Swami said, “This is the best speech I ever heard!” I
Narrative from Portions of Dr. Reddy’s Talk
Dr. Reddy went on to explain that out of the billions
of people on Earth, the very fact that we are interested
in attending Sai conferences, listening to devotional singing and serving those in need, is the grace of God. He
also said that many people have been blessed by coming
into contact with a great soul or teacher but we are even
more fortunate because we have come in contact with the
Teacher of teachers.
Once, Dr. Reddy and a great scientist and Stanford
graduate were sitting at Swami’s feet. The scientist said to
Swami that he knew he had not done anything in this lifetime to deserve this blessing, so it must have been something he did in a past life. Swami said that it was not only
because of what he had done. It was the accumulated good
merit of himself and all his ancestors that brought him to
Swami’s feet.
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Third Quarter 2012
You might be thinking, “Now that Swami is gone, how cutting during the surgery but when she woke up the pain
can we get the blessing of contact with a great soul?” Even was gone.
by looking at Swami’s picture with intense love, you can
Dr. Reddy said that we should enjoy these miracles but
get this blessing. Swami once told Dr. Reddy that thinking we should not forget that Swami says they are only His
about touching Swami’s feet in one’s heart with devotion calling cards meant to attract our attention. He said they
is equal to touching His physical form. Swami was un are like a mosquito on an elephant. We should not focus
equivocal about this. He also mentioned how nobody our attention on them. Rather we should move on. Dr.
recorded the voice of Rama or Krishna but Swami’s Reddy said there is an explosion of information now with
voice has been recorded countless times so all can hear modern technology but Swami says too much informaHis words. And He has been
tion gives unrest. Swami says
videotaped so all have easy
we need transformation, not
access to seeing Swami’s form.
information. Swami says that
“Swami
says
that
what
people
are
after
on
the
Dr. Reddy mentioned how a
what people are after on the
woman had shown up to hear World Wide Web is wealth, wealth, wealth World Wide Web is wealth,
a radio/television personal- but that what we should be looking for is wealth, wealth but what we
ity from Santo Domingo, Doshould be looking for is work,
work,
worship
and
wisdom.
Work
equals
minican Republic give a talk
worship and wisdom. Work
in a restaurant in Haiti about selfless service. Worship equals pure love equals selfless service. WorSwami. This talk was given in for God. Wisdom equals self-inquiry. With ship equals pure love for God.
November 2011 after Swami
Wisdom equals self-inquiry.
these,
you
can
escape
the
‘net’
.
”
had left His body. After the
With these you can escape the
talk, the woman came up to
‘net’.
the speaker and asked if she
Dr. Reddy said that Swami
could meet Swami. He told her
emphasizes two things for
that it was not possible because Swami was no longer in making spiritual progress. One is to be grateful and the
the physical body. She said that wasn’t possible, because other is to purify the heart. Be joyful and count your blessHe came to her in a dream and told her to come to this ings. Be like Job of the Bible who said, “The Lord has given
restaurant to hear the speaker give His talk about Swami. and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the
Dr. Reddy said these kinds of things show us that Swami is Lord.” We should see everything as a sign of His grace.
still here guiding and helping us.
Express gratitude for everything in life.
From May 2 to May 11, profuse amounts of vibhuti and
Swami used to go to Horsley Hills. After spending two
amrita started manifesting on pictures in the emergency weeks there, everybody was packed up and ready to go.
room of the Orthopedic Department at the Super Special Swami told everyone to wait and that He would be back
ity Hospital in Puttaparthi. Subsequent to this there in a minute. One of Dr. Reddy’s friends who lives in San
was a major train accident on the Hampi Express near Francisco, followed Swami to see where He was going.
Puttaparthi. All the people that were hurt were brought to Swami went to where a buffalo was kept and when He saw
the hospital and helped. This shows how Swami is making this buffalo He materialized some vibhuti and put it on
His presence known prior to an event where His devotees the buffalo’s forehead and in its mouth and said, “Bangaru,
will be needed. Dr. Reddy also mentioned how Swami’s you did a good job and wonderful service.” This buffalo had
presence is being made known in similar ways in places carried water from down the hill every day for two weeks
such as Indonesia and Thailand.
for the devotees up the hill. Swami says everything has
The wife of one of Dr. Reddy’s friends, who was a long- consciousness and you should be grateful for everything.
time devotee, had severe shoulder pain for many years.
Dr. Reddy then talked about purity of the heart. He
She consulted many doctors but could not find any relief. quoted Jesus who said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for
On November 23, 2001 on Swami’s birthday at 4:30 AM, they shall see God.” Purity means always having the vision
Swami came to her in her dream and operated on her of God. There was an international conference in Rome
shoulder. She experienced a lot of pain and could feel the many years ago and they wanted a message from Swami.
8
Third Quarter 2012
Swami said, “Unity is divinity. Purity is enlightenment.”
Once you realize unity, you experience divinity everywhere. The minute you are pure, you are enlightened. All
the practices we follow such as devotional singing, selfless
service and study circle have only one purpose: purifying
our hearts. We need to get rid of our negative tendencies
such as desire, anger, greed, jealousy, attachment, and
pride. These are our six inner foes.
How to get rid of them? We
think we are better than when
we first came to Swami for sure
but Swami says, until we are 100
percent pure, we need to strive.
Only when we are provoked will
we know how stable we are and
how far we have progressed. Some
people ask, “Why do we need an
organization?” We don’t need a
Sathya Sai Organization for selfrealization. The Organization is
the ground where we have scope
for conflict and confrontations to
see how our ego is so that we can try to improve. That’s
why Swami allows all these dramas. Everybody is a saint
in their own shrine room but only when we come across
people in society will we know how stable we are. Sister
Theresa of Avila used to say that the greatest austerity is
to be able to think about God in society. In the forest anybody can be a saint. When Sister Theresa was on a trip to
spread the word about Jesus, the wheel on the cart broke
and she fell and hurt herself. She spoke to Lord Jesus in
her heart and asked Him why He did this to her when she
was His friend and was doing His work. He answered that
He only does this to His friends. And she replied, “That’s
why You have so few friends.” This is why we should have
intensity towards God; because there will be tests.
Dr. A. Ramakrishna: Narrative
Dr. Ramakrishna explained how he came from a scientific, materialistic background. He hoped to share some of
the experiences he had that uplifted his life and demonstrated to him that Swami is God. He said that the success
he had in school and in his professional life were due to
hard work and to God’s grace. As an engineer he worked
for India’s largest engineering and construction company,
Larsen & Toubro. That company
built 125 power plants, sixty-five
cement plants, forty-five fertilizer plants and many other similar
projects. Later when he came into
Swami’s fold he was involved in
many new projects that were totally different but brought much
credit to his company and himself.
Dr. Ramakrishna first met Swami at a dinner in Madras to which
he was invited. Swami was very
sweet to him and asked him to
come to Puttaparthi since he had
some work for him. When he went to Puttaparthi he had
an interview which he felt was unbelievable. Swami told
him everything about his past and even some of his future
and said how happy He was that after many births he had
come to Him. The first thing that Swami asked Dr. Ramakrishna to construct was a sixty-five foot statue of Hanuman to be erected on the hill above Hillview Stadium
in concrete! Swami materialized a miniature Hanuman to
show him what it should look like. While doing this, Dr.
Ramakrishna realized that the steel framework necessary
to carry the load ended up looking very much like a human skeleton and told Swami that he only had to imitate
Swami’s design of humans to make it work.
Later, Dr. Ramakrishna worked on housing projects
which Swami wanted built in a way that was strong, quick
and economical. He experimented with techniques that
later turned out to be useful in developing low-cost housing for India’s poor. From 1990 to 2011 Swami gave Dr.
Ramakrishna and his company the opportunity to work
continuously on projects of this sort that demonstrated
speed of construction and quality in an economical way.
The methods which he and his company developed turned
out to be an ideal model for construction, in which everybody involved, from the engineers and workers to the
customers, were happy.
9
Third Quarter 2012
Dr. Ramakrishna said that Larsen & Toubro is now do- These projects were undertaken with immense help from
ing 11.8 billion in business. He said that there are those in Swami. Even though they made no money on them the
the company who feel this is due to modern techniques company employees enjoyed great personal satisfaction
that facilitate good strategy—flow charts and the like. But and a good reputation which led to many new projects.
he feels strongly, from what he has experienced, that their
One of the new projects that came to Dr. Ramakrishna’s
success is due to Swami’s grace. He said that if there is a company was the building of a water project that brought
God walking on Earth in modern times, then it is Swa- drinking water to 750 villages in Anantapur. Seventy-five
mi. He said he feels this way because he has seen Swami jeeps were purchased to inspect the work sites; 4,000 kilomaterialize so many things and Swami’s knowledge, even meters of pipeline were laid with water treatment plants;
though he came from a small
and 250 reservoirs were dug
village in Andhra Pradesh
making this a massive project.
and only had a seventh-grade “…a good manager leads in such a way as to When this was accomplished
education, is immense. He has bring unity among all concerned with actions in a record time of eighteen
experienced Swami giving demonths, the Chief Minister
that
are
the
best
for
all.
Dr.
Ramakrishna
tailed information in physics,
for this district, who had been
geography, mythology, history, said these were lessons that he used in his unable to get the job done
and philosophy in a clear way own work which brought about successful through the government, used
that a common person can una pun stating that Anantapur
results.
”
derstand.
used to mean endlessly poor
Dr. Ramakrishna went on
but after the project was finto say that Swami said there is
ished the area became Anannot only one religion that takes you to the goal. If you are tapuri which means a happy city. Dr. Ramakrishna went
a good Christian, or a good Muslim, or a good Hindu, for on to say that this was just one of many projects Swami
example, you will reach God. He said that Swami teaches had them do. Other projects included the hospitals, adprofound truths that are needed today such as “Love all; ditions on the university campus, some colleges, hostels,
Serve all” and “Hands that serve are better than lips that and stadiums.
pray.” These teachings will help us to reach the ultimate
Swami made Dr. Ramakrishna a Director of the World
truth that we are God.
Foundation and through this he has become aware of the
One day Swami was teaching His management students wonderful service his fellow devotees have been doing
in Kodaikanal and asked Dr. Ramakrishna to give a talk. around the world. He said he was truly impressed.
He asked the students, Who was the best manager among
Dr. Ramakrishna ended his talk with a few personal
all the characters in the Mahabharata? They first said Lord anecdotes. One time when Swami called him and his wife
Krishna but Swami said to leave Him aside because He is in for an interview he sweetly praised his wife but then
God Himself. So, they needed to come up with someone asked her why she was always arguing with her husband.
among the remaining characters. The students came up She explained to Swami that her husband traveled all over
with various answers but Swami said the best manager was the world and left her to take care of the children and
Yudhisthira (Dharmaraja) because he followed dharma. the house. Swami, turned to Dr. Ramakrishna and said,
In other words, a good manager leads in such a way as to “Bangaru, after all she is your wife and you love her very
bring unity among all concerned with actions that are the much. I understand you are traveling a lot. Why don’t you
best for all. Dr. Ramakrishna said these were lessons that take her once in a while to all those countries where you
he used in his own work which brought about successful go?” Dr. Ramakrishna confessed that after that his wife
results. Swami also sent him all over the world doing has traveled all over the world, much more than he. In
construction projects and even told him which ones would this way Swami brought harmony to his home. Swami also
make money and which would not. Dr. Ramakrishna’s told his wife not to worry about her husband since Swami
company decided to do 5 percent of their work under was always with him and he would not have any health
Corporate Social Responsibility. This means that these problems.
projects were built at cost with no profit for the company.
10
Third Quarter 2012
Region 8 Retreat Program
Children’s Program
In addition to a value-based singing and dancing program, which the children presented on Sunday, supervised
outdoor games were organized for girls and boys. These
included basketball, volleyball, table tennis and special
games of human Foosball and Frisbee golf. Nature walks
were also conducted for the children. During a two-hour
slot on Saturday afternoon, set aside as “Family Fun Time,”
adults were also welcomed.
shared a personal miracle that happened when he was a
child. Arvind also described the Mahasamadhi in Prasanthi Nilayam, saying that Swami’s divine vibrations are
strong there and there is no mistaking His presence.
The “show” also featured parodies of familiar television
advertisements “selling” products of a spiritual nature. A
refreshing, delightful humor framed deeply considered
questions. The first commercial was for the “Not-i” phone,
which has a unique feature:
When asked for directions
Young Adults Program
or help, it points the user
The San Diego Young
to something unselfish or
Adults (YAs), with a few
something that serves the
additional actors provided
greater good of humanity.
by the Orange County/Los
The next ad was for “PaAngeles (OC/LA) YAs, pretience,” a product which
sented a contemporary skit
makes life’s difficulties disbased on a discussion beappear by changing one’s
tween two young women Sai Arvind Muthukrishnan shares a personal miracle in the Young Adults
response to them. Patience
presentation
on
Saturday
evening.
devotees eating at a restaucomes in a FREE, bright
rant. One was overwhelmed
green box and is part of
with everyday life, while the other shared her experience the “Divinity Combo Pack,” which includes “Purity” and
of Sai Baba’s teachings which helped her to become calm “Perseverance” and is also available as a green wristband
and positive, even in the face of the stresses and challenges to help people remember that everything becomes easier
that arose in her life. The skit was based on ideas taken and more comfortable with patience.
from Dr. Sandweiss’ book, With Love, Man Is God.
The last product was a “Journey-Beyond-the-Form
The second skit was presented by the OC/LA group, Kit” (Survival Kit) which included nearly a dozen items
with a few actors from the San Diego YAs. It addressed for surviving after the passing of Sai Baba. It answers the
the conference theme of “Journey Beyond the Form.” question, How do you stay on track and keep following
This skit was presented as a television news show featur- Swami’s teachings now that He is no longer embodied?
ing interviews with Sai devotees of all ages. It focused on Featured items included special sunglasses that allow the
the way in which Swami inspires devotees to do service wearer to see Swami in everyone, a flashlight of illuminaand how devotees continue to experience Swami in their tion, a map to guide the traveler to destinations such as
lives. Among the interviewees was Eon Burchman, an ac- “Bhajanville,” and vibhuti, of course.
complished jazz musician, who presented his version of
The retreat’s primary speaker, Prof. Anantharaman,
the familiar bhajan, Bolo Bolo Sub Mil Bolo, Om Namah congratulated the YAs on successfully injecting humor
Shivaya. Storyteller Michael McCarty shared his experi- into their presentation. He reminded the audience that
ences with Swami and of going beyond the form. Sister Swami Himself was quite humorous.
physicians, Dr. Sumati Bavisetty and Dr. Supriya Bavisetty,
The retreat ended on a high note leaving us all enerwho volunteer at the Sri Sathya Sai Baba Free Medical and gized and spiritually charged.
Dental Clinic in Culver City, spoke about how Swami has
–Narration, summary and transcription by
inspired them in their careers. In one clip, Group 3 Sai
John Harrison
Spiritual Education children shared how they enjoy serSSBC Ojai
vice and how service makes them feel closer to God. YA
Arvind Muthukrishnan was interviewed in person and
11
Third Quarter 2012
Regional Bimonthly Meeting
O
ver ninety devotees gathered at the Regional Bimonthly Meeting in Newbury Park on March 31
to celebrate their love for Baba. The event was
held at the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Church. As if to echo Sai Baba’s core teachings, the
church banner that hung over the stage stated: “All Life
and All Truth Is One. All Souls Are Worthy of Respect and
Love.”
After devotional singing by the Central California
devotees, the children of the Thousand Oaks Sai Spiritual
Education (SSE) program gave a presentation. Two of the
students, Rachna Despande and Sarathi Farkas, explained
the universality of all religions by telling us about the “sacred guidelines for living” that all religions hold in common. These guidelines included the value of respect for
one’s parents, being true to one’s Self, daily prayer, loving
action towards others, charity, service, and ceiling on desires as expressed through Christianity’s Ten Commandments, Baba’s Nine Point Code of Conduct, and the Five Pillars of Islam.
The SSE children offered a musical presentation with
the theme “Sai Is All—There Is Only One Religion, the
Religion of Love.” They sang songs from the Christian,
Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim traditions, all in the
native languages of each faith and ended with a beautiful
bhajan medley dedicated to Sai.
Just as Baba was often heard to say “Love My uncertainty,” the program’s agenda had to be rearranged at the
last minute because the guest speaker Berniece Mead was
delayed by traffic congestion. But Berniece’s message was
well worth the wait! Her talk reflected how Baba’s declaration that “My life is My message,” later changed to “Your
lives are My message.” Our responsibility now is to put that
teaching into practice and live His message through our
lives. She stated that we have to play the part of the embodiments of God now. We should do it with full faith.
When we say yes to the Lord, we must be ready to do anything.
Berniece shared her story of how, at the age of fifteen,
she accepted Lord Jesus as her Savior and how she wanted
to share this with everyone, including her future husband
Ron. But after giving birth to her son, she began to wonder—could Jesus be the only way?
She was introduced to Sai Baba through Hal and Victoria Stokes and soon took her first trip to see Baba in 1978
in a group with thirteen other devotees. She had a deeply
moving experience in Baba’s presence and wept and wept
and wept for forty-five minutes. She did not want to return
home. As Baba guides all of us on our spiritual journey,
which often seems to be an outward journey of ups and
downs, her next trip to the ashram was a challenge, a “testing trip” as Berniece described it. She questioned, “What if
Baba is not who He says He is?” She prayed to Lord Jesus,
“If I do not belong here, You have got to get me out!” To
erase all doubts Baba called her in for an interview and
lovingly stated, “I hear all prayers, even prayers to Jesus.”
Berniece, a gifted singer, was raised singing gospel music. She shared her love of God, the lessons of the “testing
trip” and her experiences of His omnipresence through
the lyrics of the song, “Lord Lift Me Up and Let Me Stand
on Higher Ground.”
Baba instructed her to “Follow Me” which she echoed
in song, singing, “I will follow You wherever You may go…
Nothing can keep me away…You are my destiny.”
Baba, in His loving way, also is a stern task master guiding us firmly to show us the spiritual path. Berniece shared
the story of her son Jay’s paralyzing accident and described
how Baba scolded her for having too much attachment to
her son. He asked rhetorically, “How many sons have you
had? Do you remember any of them? You have a role to
play.”
For Berniece, guidance and inspiration have often come
through songs. She then told how a song happened to
come on the car radio as she was weeping intensely following Baba’s leaving the form. The radio called out, “Stop
your crying. It will be okay. I will always be in your heart.”
In conclusion, Berniece reminded us that we have to
be wonderful lights glowing in the darkness around us.
She challenged us, Are we really going to do the best we
can? We need to begin to see God in everyone. There was
not one dry eye in the church as Berniece ended by singing “Amazing Grace” and as everyone joined in and felt in
their hearts the words on the banner over the stage: “All
Life and All Truth Is One. All Souls Are Worthy of Respect
and Love.”
-Bruce Bouche
SSBC Ojai
12
Third Quarter 2012
Gram Seva Project in Honor of Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s Mahasamadhi
M
embers of the Arcadia and Glendale Centers
conducted a gram seva project in observance
of the first anniversary of Bhagawan’s transitioning from His Presence to His Omnipresence.
The effort of the participants was truly cooperative.
Many contributed their time, energy and money to procure the groceries and toiletries which were distributed.
Over twenty men, women and children labored for a few
hours to load supplies onto a truck. Much effort of a different kind was exerted by a small group of dedicated individuals at a middle school in the community of Sun Valley
in the city of Los Angeles.
Maria Duran, a counselor at Sun Valley Middle School,
has much respect for the Sathya Sai Baba Organization.
On the urging of a colleague, she volunteered as a Spanish
interpreter at two successive Sai medical camps, coming
away with a full heart and a renewed desire to serve the
needy. Maria jumped at the opportunity to assist in a gram
seva project for the distressed families of children at her
school. Sun Valley Middle School is teeming with children
from low-income families from Mexico and other Latin
American countries, and over 90 percent of them receive
subsidized school lunches. Maria focussed on children
who receive a 100 percent subsidy. The number was a staggering 323 families; and our gram seva was for only 108.
Maria removed some families living in homeless shelters,
as their immediate food needs were temporarily satisfied.
She then called in children from the remaining families
to assess their level of need. She made time in her hectic
schedule to send out letters in English and Spanish to well
over 100 families, calling many of them individually.
On the 24th of April, a number of families were already
waiting outside the school auditorium an hour ahead
of the scheduled distribution. When our truck arrived,
children were on hand to help unload it and to assist Sai
volunteers carry the bags into the auditorium. At 10:00
AM, with the recipients—mostly mothers and small children—seated in the auditorium, the principal entered and
greeted the families and thanked them for providing the
opportunity to serve them. As arranged by the school,
representatives from the Los Angeles City Mayor’s office,
the Los Angeles County Office of Social Services and from
the local councilman’s office addressed the families briefly
on the services available to them through their respective
agencies and also handed out informational material. The
free services included classes to locate and obtain jobs, resources for those experiencing domestic violence, services
for abused and neglected children, programs for youth,
parenting classes, mental health programs, and services
for those addicted to alcohol and drugs.
Maria Duran also warmly greeted them and explained
the procedure for receiving the bags. The recipient families
then came up in an orderly fashion and received two large
bags of groceries and one bag filled with toiletries from the
hands of the ten Sai devotees. The grocery bags contained
ten pounds of rice, ten pounds of beans, four pounds of
sugar, a bottle of cooking oil, two jars of peanut butter, a
bottle of jelly, a box of cereal, two cans of cooked beans, a
100-pack of corn tortillas, a packet of crackers, and four
pounds of flour. The bag of toiletries included two toothbrushes, two tubes of toothpaste, two pairs of socks, two
bars of soap, two hand towels, two small blankets, a cap,
a packet of adhesive bandages, a bottle of dry skin lotion,
and two tubes of lip balm. Children from the Leadership
Class were on hand to help carry the heavy bags out of the
auditorium. Expressions of gratitude were heard over and
over again as the families left with the much-needed items.
“You have no idea how valuable your generosity is to
these people,” said Connie Nemeth, the motherly head of
the Parent Center and herself a member of the community. “Many of them, being illegal residents, live in constant
fear of being deported. Even though there are some free
services available to them from the government, they are
afraid to ask for them. They try to be as invisible as possible. They see the school as a safe environment and that
is why so many came to receive the food and groceries;
very few would have been here if the venue were different.
By your kindness you have not only provided them some
much-needed food and other items but more importantly,
you have communicated to them that regardless of their
poverty and their questionable status in this society, they
are valued as individuals. God bless the people of your organization for your loving hearts!”
Each one of us felt specially blessed by Swami that day
for having been given the precious opportunity to make
a small, positive difference in the lives of these disenfranchised individuals.
–M. Srinivas
Devotional Coordinator, Region 8
13
Third Quarter 2012
Mahasamadhi Anniversary Service Activities
S
ai devotees in Orange County organized a week
of service activities dedicated to the anniversay of
Swami’s Mahasamadhi. Activities started with several projects dedicated to serving food to the needy and
culminated in an emotion-filled devotional meeting, during which some of Swami’s favorite devotional songs from
years past were sung.
The Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Tustin has regular service activities each Saturday throughout the year,
including hot breakfast service and delivery of packed
lunches. Combined, these activities provide 300 to 400
meals every week. The three hot breakfast projects at the
Mental Health Association (MHA), South-West Community Center and Salvation Army serve a total of 250 needy
people. The sandwich project at the Isaiah House serves
125 packed lunches to homeless women and families.
The Mahasamadhi Anniversary commemoration was a
week of service. It commenced with the regularly-scheduled service activities of different Centers, like those of
Tustin, and continued with two special service activities
as well as a grand multi-Center weekend food service
on April 22. It ended with the special Mahasamadhi Day
breakfast on April 24. Both of the special service activities
were conducted at MHA, Santa Ana. Devotees expressed
a lot of enthusiasm for volunteering as soon as the plan
for the two days of special seva was announced. They were
eager to show their gratitude to Swami for everything
received and for what continues to be received through
His grace. On Sunday, April 22, fifty-five volunteers from
the Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centers of Tustin, Mission Viejo,
and Lakewood and the Young Adults of Region 8 came
together at the MHA to prepare and serve lunch. A row of
skillets was set up to cook fajitas, while the adjoining table
had rows of griddles set up to cook quesadillas. A group
of women in another room prepared Mexican salad and
Spanish rice. At the same time, the lunch-packing group
was assembling lunch bags with sandwiches. The dedication to the task was expressed by one of the volunteers: “I
have a feeling of gratitude. His grace is very strong here
and I have no words to express it. Everything is Swami and
without Him we won’t be here.”
The homeless and needy were served a hot lunch consisting of Mexican salad, Spanish rice, beans, fajitas, cheese
quesadillas, mixed fruits, juice, peanut butter sandwiches,
apples and nutrition bars. Lunch was served to about seventy people at MHA. Additionally, the same food was
served to eleven shelters in and around Orange County.
Some shelters were located as far as thirty miles away.
People at various shelters eagerly looked forward to the
delivery and were delighted and thankful for the sumptuous food. One of the recipients remarked how he looked
forward to the “Sai Baba meals.”
About 600 people were served during this event. In addition, Taco Bell gift cards were distributed along with
food to people at MHA, which provided them with a minimum of two meals.
The Mahasamadhi Day seva on 24th April was even
more auspicious since it coincided with the evening program at Prasanthi. Volunteers met at around 6:30 AM to
prepare breakfast. About twenty-five volunteers participated on this holy day even though it was a work day. The
breakfast menu consisted of wheat pancakes, bean burritos, scrambled tofu, oatmeal, fruits, milk, and juice. The
breakfast was served to about fifty people. Additionally,
food was served to two other shelters in Orange County.
About 200 people were served during this event.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba has said:
“If you sincerely, unhesitatingly, constantly, gladly, lovingly, offer all your skill and strength to the service of others,
God will melt and move and manifest Himself in you, before
you, with spontaneous Grace.”1
Emotions ran high among the volunteers on both days.
They came from different Centers, spoke different languages and practiced different cultures. The one common
thread among them, however, was their love for Swami. It
was definitely Swami’s grace that seva went like clockwork
even with so many volunteers working on a flurry of tasks
in a packed space, many of whom participated for the first
time. All the work finished with minimum fuss and confusion, once again proving that Swami is the doer and we are
just the instruments.
On the Mahasamadhi Day, after the food was served,
one of the recipients approached a volunteer and said, “A
higher power just came and told me that you guys have
brought so much contentment.” This person did not know
that the seva was dedicated to Swami. We were amazed
that he had this vision. It was the icing on the cake.
Swami has gone nowhere. He has assumed His infinite
form and is right amongst us, watching our every thought
and action. Let us feel Him in our hearts.
1.Sri Sathya Sai Baba, “Be a Snake Charmer,” Discourse 21, Sathya
Sai Speaks, Vol. 7.
14
Third Quarter 2012
Special Devotional Program
Sri Vedanarayanan
A
fter offering his pranams
to Swami, Regional President Dr. Chandradas
welcomed Sri Vedanarayanan.
In his introductory remarks Dr.
Chandradas reminded us that our
Lord Sai resides in our hearts and
that we must go within to reach
Him, especially now since more
than a year has passed from the
time He left His mortal coil. Dr.
Chandradas then described our
guest speaker Sri Vedanarayanan
as a familiar figure to people who
visit Prasanthi Nilayam, since he
is the person who leads the vedic
chants prior to darshan. He has
been in Sai’s service for the past
twenty years teaching Vedas at
Sai’s institutions. Sri Vedanarayanan is also the recipient of the
National Teacher of the Year Award, an award that was
given to him by none other than Abdul Kalam, former
President of India.
Sri Vedanarayanan began by offering his pranams
to Swami and singing the verse Tvameva matacha pita
twameva. He wished all present a happy Memorial Day,
especially since the occasion brought back memories of
our Lord Sai. He said that the past year was a challenging time. Just like a child runs to his or her mother in
times of trouble, we Sai devotees had formed the habit of
running to our Mother Sai but now we feel His physical
absence. He reminded us that sunset is a mere myth because the sun really never sets and always remains in its
full glory. He recounted the story of a young girl he met
in Boston who told him that it was only fair that Swami
left His human body because when He was alive only
those who lived in Prasanthi Nilayam or who visited
Prasanthi Nilayam could feel and
experience the physical presence
of Swami; but now that He was
in His ethereal form everybody
could enjoy Him.
Sri Vedanarayanan posed the
question, What is the purpose of
the Sai Avatar? He told us that
to get a human life is very rare.
Of the eighty-four lakhs of species present on planet Earth only
we—humans—can associate with
the Divine and be divine, since
we have the power of discrimination. But we have squandered that
divinity by trying to conquer everything. We have forgotten to be
divine and to live like real human
beings. Today we see a crisis in everything, blaming others for our
problems instead of setting ourselves right. He told the story of a student who was not
paying attention in class but who figured out a jigsaw
puzzle of the world map by assembling a picture of a human being on the obverse of the puzzle. Similarly if we
set ourselves right, the world will be right. He said that
everything in nature has a unique characteristic. Fire
is hot; ice is cold. Similarly, humans are endowed with
the five human values and with the potential to develop
character, but today human beings are human only in
form and not by the flowering of their innate nature.
Sri Vedanarayanan reminded us that Bhagawan came
down to earth to help His children out of His supreme
love for us—even at the loss of His self-respect to protect
our self-respect. He recounted the story of Ramesh and
Mahesh, Swami’s childhood friends. Because of their
complete faith and trust in Swami, Swami took upon
Himself the task of writing answers to their exam papers
15
Third Quarter 2012
in their handwriting. They were the only three who passed someone who has unity of thought, word and deed is not
the exam in first class. Sri Vedanarayanan said that true only a devotee but a mahatma. He said we should pracfriendship should be like milk and water; once mixed they tice not EHV (Education in Human Values) but HHHV
should be indistinguishable. This mixture of milk and wa- (3HV)—head, heart and hand values. He continued by
ter boils over when hot because the water evaporates and saying that the mind is a terrible thing. He gave the exthe milk appears to be running after it. But if you sprinkle ample of being inside the interview room with Swami
water on the overflowing milk it settles back down into the and looking outside. Swami mentioned that by looking to
pot. Swami has said, “Surrender to Me and I shall absolve Him we are near God but by staring outside we distance
you of all your sins.” Sri Vedanarayanan told us that Swami ourselves from God. Similarly our mind is like a key in a
left His human body to help
lock—a turn to one side locks
His devotees. He was ready
it; a turn to the other side unto sacrifice His body for His “Sri Vedanarayanan told us that Swami locks it but it is the same key.
devotees. He expects nothing left His human body to help His devotees.
Sri Vedanarayanan gave exfrom us, only that we become
amples of how to control the
He
was
ready
to
sacrifice
His
body
for
His
ideal human beings through
mind. He said that the mind
transformation of our hearts, devotees. He expects nothing from us, only cannot be controlled. Rather
so that we might practice selfthe mind is denatured in the
that we become ideal human beings… .”
less love.
same way that pulling the
Sri Vedanarayanan remindfangs from a snake makes it
ed us that the very sight of Sai
less poisonous. Similarly refilled our hearts with joy and we would run after Him like moval of bad thoughts subdues the mind. Do not follow
ants following a trail of sugar. But then he asked, “Are we the thoughts; let them go; don’t act upon them. Also, do
following His teachings?” As an example, he cited a re- not be like the mother who runs after a child; let the child
cent visit to a Venezuelan vedic retreat for young people run and as soon as it realizes the mother is not around
where he was the only speaker for the entire retreat. They it will return to the mother. Bad thoughts are natural—
practiced a rigorous sadhana. The retreat was held on a just don’t act on them. Keep the mind busy like a monkey
mountaintop. It was very cold but the male participants trained to go up and down a pole. For the mind the pole is
wore only dhotis even in the pre-dawn sessions. Sri Ve- namasmarana. He reminded us that we need to always be
danarayanan was surprised and embarrassed since he was in good company. Just as paper used to wrap something
clothed in warm garments from head to toe. The practice takes on the odor of the material it wraps. By association,
that the young Venezuelans imposed on themselves were our mind is affected by the company we keep.
as follows:
From the six vices of lust, anger, greed, sloth, jealou1. Vegetarianism
sy and ego, Sri Vedanarayanan chose three—lust, anger
2. No alcohol consumption
and ego—and described ways to avoid them. Lust can
3. No gambling
be controlled by reciting the following mantra given by
4. Compulsory Gayathri japam
Swami, something that he had experienced and practiced
5. Strict celibacy.
as a young person chanting, “Kleem Krishnaya Govindaya
He advised that vedic chanting creates vibrations. Cre- Gopijana Vallabhaya Swaha.” He said anger can be conation itself started from vibration. Creation equals vibra- trolled by four different methods:
tion plus materialization. He continued by stating that ve1. Look in the mirror when angry
dic chanting is a form of social service. Natural disasters
2. Drink cold water
could be avoided by vedic chanting.
3. Sing bhajans loudly
Sri Vedanarayanan reminded us that we think devotees
4. Go for a long walk.
are searching for God but in reality God is searching for
As an example of how to control the ego he narrated
His true devotee. He said that we are yogis in the morning, a story of a saint. This saint when he was returning from
bhogis in the afternoon and rogis at night. He posed the his morning ablutions in the river used to walk by a rich
question, “Who is a true devotee?” His answer was that man’s house. The rich man decided to irritate him by spitSri Sathya Sai Region 8 Newsletter
16
Third Quarter 2012
ting betelnut spittle on him. The saint quietly went back
to the river and cleaned himself. Again as he walked past
this rich man’s home he was spat upon. Again he walked
back to river and cleaned himself. This continued fourteen
or fifteen times. The rich man was surprised at the composure of the saint. Finally the rich man stopped the saint
and asked him why he did not lose his cool, to which the
saint replied, “Your spittle only dirtied my physical body.
By getting angry my entire being would have been dirtied
and made impure.” Sri Vedanarayanan said the best way to
get rid of ego is to do seva since service to man is service
to God.
He talked about 20th March 2011. On that day Swami
gave a final message. Swami had not been giving darshan for several days. Therefore the boys whose birthdays
had fallen on those days did not get the opportunity to
be blessed by Swami. So the boys kept coming with the
hope that Swami would bless them. On that day Swami
came out and blessed thirty to forty boys. Then, when the
Samastha Lokah prayer commenced, instead of the usual
abhayahasta with both palms up, He folded His hands in
namaskar, shocking everybody in the audience; but signifying that from now onwards if you want to worship Me
see Me in each and every one.
Sri Vedanarayanan concluded by saying, “Love all serve
all; help ever hurt never; and seva kills ego.”
Submitted with loving pranams at His Lotus Feet.
–Maneck G. Chichgar
SSBC of Karuna
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Hollywood
Sai Ram!
Here it is. Quite funny! Right?
This is what the Hollywood Center has been up to for many years every Sunday
morning, plus our monthly rock ‘n roll visit to convalescent homes, and lately our
commitment to provide food and other necessities to Safe Place for Youth, the homeless teenagers of Venice Beach. All our projects are a lot of fun filled with a lot of heart
and love. We don’t really do anything. Swami amazes us always by showing us how it
all comes together by His gracious will. But we are totally, deliriously happy to be His
instruments. How lucky we are to receive such blessing! Baba, we love You!
Sai Ram, with love,
–Ella
SSBC of Hollywood
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Third Quarter 2012
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center
of Lower Puna
The Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Lower Puna
is located on the east side of the Big Island of
Hawaii—the rainy side, the lush-with-vegetation
side, the no-beaches side.
We have an active membership of six with an
occasionally active membership of seven more.
Our Center meets every Sunday at 4:00 PM for
Study Circle. We are currently reading and discussing Dr. John Hislop’s book Conversations with
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Study Circle is followed by about forty-five minutes of bhajans and prayers. On the third
Sunday of the month we try to have an open meeting and pot luck. This is when the other seven members usually attend. On Birthday and Gurupurnima we have been having Swami’s darshan by playing the DVD Pure Love on mute
while we sing bhajans. We all derive great joy from this.
Since we are a very scattered and small number, our service projects are usually individual. We occasionally work
with non-Sai groups in the area on larger undertakings. Some of our projects include cleaning trash from the highways,
giving rides to needy persons, helping neighbors with building projects, volunteering on public service committees,
housing and feeding visitors to our Center and our island.
We always enjoy having guests come to speak. We were fortunate to have had Dr. Choudary Voleti come about six
months after Swami left His body. It was uplifting to listen to him and greatly appreciated his visit. We look forward to
having other speakers in the future.
Jai Sai Ram!
–SSBC Lower Puna
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Mission Viejo Service Opportunities
Lunch for the Mental Health Association
Come one and come all. Let us faithfully serve Him
with love and love Him through our service.
On the fourth Sunday of every month, the Mission Viejo
Sai Center is blessed to serve lunch from noon to 1:30 PM
at the Mental Health Association in Santa Ana, California.
Food is pre-cooked and taken to the shelter by Center volunteers. Items like vegetable rice, broccoli and potatoes,
garbanzo beans, salad, fruit juice, and milk are served. The
food provides a healthy meal for the body. Swami’s love
given through Center members feeds the soul.
Excess food is delivered to the Wise Home for women
who have survived domestic violence.
Occasionally, hygiene kits with toiletry supplies are assembled at the Center and also distributed. Sometimes
free haircuts are given by a sweet devotee. As we leave,
everyone in the Home says “Thank you Sai Baba” and applauds. It is His grace.
Breakfast for Salvation Army Hospitality Home
There is tremendous happiness in making others happy
despite our own situations.
Every second Sunday, a group of women and men from
the Mission Viejo Sai Center go to the Salvation Army
Hospitality Home to prepare breakfast for about 45-55
people. To see God in everything we handle and in everyone we meet is a large part of the experience of this work,
in which Center members find His sweetness.
We carry with us fruits of all kinds, a variety of vegetables, pancake batter, water and coffee. The preparation
begins at 5:30 AM. With the feeling of love in our hearts
we start serving at 6:45 AM. The people are so happy with
the “best breakfast” they receive. They leave saying a big
“Thank you,” “Very tasty,” “Come again.”
Submitted with gratitude to our Beloved Lord
–Sunila Weerasuriya
Service Coordinator, SSBC Mission Viejo
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Third Quarter 2012
Special Anniversary Celebration at the
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Karuna Center
T
he Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Karuna Center took
great honor in hosting a very special guest Mr.
Sunil Nayak in celebration of its
Twelfth Anniversary. Mr. Nayak
is currently the president of the
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of
Tustin and a dedicated member of the Sai Organization. We
were fortunate to have Sunilbhai
(Brother Sunil) grace our Center’s anniversary celebration
since he seldom, if ever, visits
other Sai Centers to give talks.
Sunil shared wonderful and
loving experiences from his life
growing up with Swami in India
and America.
The Center activity commenced as usual with the Ganesh prayer and the Gayathri
Mantra. At the request of our devotional coordinator, Mr.
Nayak sang the three opening bhajans. Sunilbhai began
with a melodious Ganesh bhajan—Mangala Dayaka Hey
Gananatha, followed by an enchanting Guru bhajan—Sri
Guru Parthi Nivasa. He wrapped it up with a lovely Devi
bhajan—Devi Bhavani Maa. All three bhajans were truly
a treat to our ears!
Upon offering his most humble pranams to our dear
Mother Sai, Sunilbhai began his talk emphasizing the following: Life has a meaning; devotion to God is the greatest thing that one could ever aspire to have in life. Never
forget the One who has created you; the purpose of our
birth is to love God.
To this day, Sunilbhai is very grateful to his grandparents. His grandfather was educated only up to third grade
but his devotion to God was tremendous. Money didn’t
matter but devotion to God was of utmost importance.
His grandfather taught him to respect all religions and
all saints but told him that presently there was someone
on earth who had come as God,
Himself. His grandfather took
him for his first darshan of Swami when he was three years old.
That darshan set the destiny of
his life.
His grandfather would always
host or invite any swamiji that
came to town. He kept Sunilbhai in that kind of environment
from a very young age by taking him to talks by saints and to
bhajans. At that young age, talks
seemed boring and Sunilbhai
would fall asleep but he would
love to listen to the bhajans. He
felt some vibration when chanting God’s name. He also experienced the singing of many bhajans in the presence of Swami.
Sunilbhai said we have a wonderful opportunity to know the
living Master but people don’t realize it. God is born from
age to age to give us the same teachings in an easy-to-understand way. If we are not interested in God when God is
born on earth then that is our own misfortune.
In India, he noticed that people had very little material
wealth but had a lot of devotion. Later when he left India
and came to the USA, he realized that people in the USA
had everything but they weren’t happy and that devotion
to God was missing in this society. When he left India his
grandmother gave him a book, Sathya Sai Speaks, but he
did not read it until later in life. He had friends and they
had everything in life but had many problems. Some resorted to drinking. He didn’t understand this. If you have
so much, then why would you resort to drinking? Society
is filled with so many problems. He wanted to search for
these answers as he felt so depressed about life. It was at
this time that he started to search for a deeper meaning in
life and opened the book that his grandmother had given
him.
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Third Quarter 2012
When in India, Sunilbhai was in the presence of God,
however, in America Swami’s physical presence was not
there, so he knew he had to find Swami within himself.
He found his answers in Sathya Sai Speaks. In this book he
found a message: “Pray to Me; I will guide you and guard
you.” When he first read that, he thought to himself, How
can a human being make such a statement?” So he put
this message to the test and truly prayed to Him, as he
wanted to find a deeper meaning in life. Unless you have
that yearning for God, you will not reach Him. He also
kept in mind the words of Shirdi Sai Baba who said, “You
look to Me and I will look to you.” Within months, as he
read more and more of Swami’s teachings, he began to feel
the connection with Swami. Life started to have a deeper
meaning. He started to attend the Sai Center on a regular
basis. The connection with God became so close that even
when he would see the arathi being offered to Swami in
a movie, he would be in tears, because he knew that God
was born on earth.
Soon he went back to India to see Swami. The first thing
Swami asked him was, “What are you doing?” He replied,
“Swami I am studying.” Swami asked him, “What is the
purpose of study? Is it to get a degree?” Swami said, “To
study in life is to make your mind steady.” Modern day
education fills your mind with information but it doesn’t
really make you a good human being. Education is used by
many to fulfill desires. Another very important question
that Swami asked him was, “What do you want?” Sunilbhai said, “Swami, I want to be able to spend more time
with You so that I can learn more.” Swami laughed and
told him that he could do that even by spending only one
minute with Bhagawan.” He then added, “You listen and
follow what I say, you will reach the goal.” He explained
that everything in life is focused around love and discipline. If you have these two things, you will always be in
bliss.
Sunilbhai explained that Swami has emphasized that
when given the opportunity you must sit in total silence
and only then will you be able to grasp the deeper things.
Swami explained, “If you are too busy with all triviality
you will never grasp what I have come to teach you.” The
value of discipline that Swami imparted is what helped
Sunil to evolve quickly. He understood that it was very
important to always stay in focus and always have God in
mind. Swami said you should have discipline in all that you
do. In order to stay disciplined we must tame our monkey
minds. Sunil gave examples of how Swami reminded
him that the time after darshan was given to him (us) to
contemplate on God. One day after darshan, Sunilbhai
smelled wonderful treats in the bakery nearby and decided
that since there was nothing else to do he would go and
enjoy a pastry. When he came back for darshan Swami
asked him, “Where did you go?” Then Swami said, “All the
life, loading and unloading.” With this, Sunilbhai realized
that time should have been spent in contemplation of God
instead of listening to the needs of the body.
As Sunilbhai had asked Swami that he might spend
more time with Him, Swami granted that by giving him the
opportunity to attend the Summer Courses in Kodaikanal
and Bangalore. Being a bit jetlagged, Sunilbhai found it
difficult to stay awake and Swami noticed this. He said
to him, “See the sleep is depriving you of the experience
of being with Me. Be mentally prepared and always have
discipline.”
Brother Sunil concluded with the counsel: “Love God;
never forget Him. Offer everything as a form of worship
to God. He is always there, guiding us and guarding us.”
–Mona R. Kotecha
President, SSBC Karuna
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Third Quarter 2012
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Arcadia Celebrates
Buddha Poornima
O
n the full moon day of the month of May, devotees of the Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Arcadia
were treated to an exciting Buddha Poornima
program. The Arcadia Center has been celebrating Buddha Poornima for ten years. This year’s program was a
slide presentation with audio which took devotees on a
pilgrimage to North India following the footsteps of the
Buddha. Through photographs of today’s India and an accompanying audio travelogue, devotees were transported
2,636 years into the past. That was the year prince Siddhartha was born. The slideshow journey traced Buddha’s
life from His birth to His Parinirvana (Samadhi) eighty
years later.
After Sri Sathya Sai Baba left His physical form, He gave
us the Mahasamadhi in Prasanthi Nilayam as a visible and
dynamic icon of His continuing presence among us. Similarly, at the request of His devotees, Buddha nominated
four holy sites. Visiting them, He said, was equivalent to
seeing Him in person. The first site was the Lumbini Park
where he was born under twin Sal trees. The second site
was Bodh Gaya (Buddha Gaya) where He attained enlightenment under a Bodhi tree. The third was Varanasi
where He delivered His first discourse The Noble Eightfold Path and the fourth was Kusinara where He passed
into Parinirvana (Samadhi), again under a Sal tree. The
slideshow pilgrimage began with visits to these four sacred sites. Arcadia Center devotees saw the monuments
built at these locations in memory of the events associated
with them. They heard the audio narrative explain the significance of each site, invoking the happiness, the sadness
and the awesomeness of important events in Buddha’s life.
After visiting these four sites a detour was taken to the
river Ganga at Varanasi, at the confluence of the mythical rivers Varuna and Asi. Devotees saw vivid pictures of
the famous ghats Manikarnika and Dharbhanga at Varanasi where religious activities such as praying, meditating,
bathing and cremation of the dead take place continuously.
A visit to the river Ganga highlighted a boat ride just
before sunrise. The lore of that place instructs that if one
makes a wish as the sun first appears over the water, the
wish will be fulfilled. Another beautiful sight was a visual
of candles floating on small paper crafts with marigolds
in the waters of the Ganga, lit against the darkness before sunrise; a trail of tiny lights bobbling downstream in
the flowing waters, finally merging in the fog of breaking
dawn.
When the slideshow narrative returned from this auspicious detour at the Ganga to Buddha’s life, devotees saw
the hill and the cave of Dungeshwari where Siddhartha
underwent self-mortification before He declared the Middle Path. Devotees also visited the rocky hill called Vulture
Peak or Gijjha Koota where Devadatta, (Buddha’s cousin
who was very jealous of Him), tried to kill the Buddha by
toppling a large rock. This is a scary place even today.
The Arcadia Center pilgrims saw the remains of the
large monastery called Jetawanaramaya where Buddha
stayed for twenty-five rainy seasons and where He delivered about 70 percent of His discourses. The slideshow
narrative led Arcadia Center devotees through the monastery. To be in the same room with Him, to drink water from the well where He drew water and to occupy the
same hall where ancient devotees sat in audience is an
awesome and humbling experience.
The last venue was the sacred site of Parinirvana and
cremation. An amazing feature at this location is an ancient and large supine statue of Buddha. Viewed from the
front He seems to be smiling. Seen from the middle He
seems to be gravely ill and from the end, standing at His
Lotus Feet, He has attained Samadhi. Photos showed the
Arcadia Center devotees each viewpoint.
Lord Buddha stayed at Jetawanaramaya Monastery for 25 rainy
seasons and delivered most of his discourses there.
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Third Quarter 2012
The program illustrated how Buddha’s teachings have
been woven into the cultural fabric of India. For example,
the top of the Asoka pillar depicting four lions seated on
an inverted lotus which is erected at Saranath and at the
location of Buddha’s first discourse, is the emblem of India. The Dhamma Chakra or the wheel consisting of twenty four spokes, a significant Buddhist icon, adorns the national flag of India.
The audio visual presentation completed the pilgrimage
with a quotation from Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba:
You have seen hundreds of funerals; but no lesson has
been learned. Buddha saw but one. It changed the course
of his life and opened a new chapter in the history of the
world. You have seen long processions of sanyaasins; Buddha saw only one sanyaasi. You have seen sick men by the
hundreds. The renunciation by the sanyaasins, the suffering
of the sick, the pitiable condition of the aged—these made
profound impression on Buddha. He left his palace, his wife
and newborn child to seek the remedy for the miseries of life.
If you cultivate a mind that will welcome such transforming
impressions, these discourses will benefit you. When all the
millions who gather all over this ancient land to listen to
spiritual discourses put into practice a tenth of what they
hear, Bharat will rise once again to the pinnacle of spiritual
glory. But do not despair when confronted by the obstacles,
the atmosphere, the handicaps, the dissensions and the
doubts. They are all good omens, no unpropitious ones. You
will soon delight in the restoration of Sanathana Dharma to
its pristine glory. This must happen; it will happen; it shall
happen.1
The Buddha Poornima program concluded with the
unison chanting of the Loving Kindness Discourse given by
the Buddha to send unconditional love to all the worlds.
Jai Sai Ram.
-Neil Munaweera
SSBC Arcadia
1.Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Sathya Sai Speaks, Discourse 19 in Volume 7.
Holistic Food Project by the
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Torrance
As part of its ongoing selfless service sadhana the
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Torrance conducts the
Holistic Food Project. The central work of this project
is distribution of food to the hungry in the local area.
Center volunteers prepare delicious rice dishes and
burritos, which are delivered personally to the needy.
This central work, however, is only the initial exercise in a broad effort that aims to address additional
needs wherever and however they may arise. When
food is delivered, additional concerns are identified
and an effort is made to handle them.
For example, some of the recipients are homeless
immigrants. Center volunteers not only facilitate the
recipients’ access to information but also support networking opportunities that might lead to actual jobs.
Information is sought and shared by word of mouth
and by online post.
Torrance volunteers also provide technical support
for equipment such as phones and computers which
provide essential information about jobs and even application forms for positions.
The Holistic Food Project emphasizes the importance of personal interaction. A genuine concern to
help the needy squarely faces the challenges that present themselves and attempts to address those challenges without flinching or turning away. This requires
equanimity, flexibility and imagination. It requires
multifaceted resources and a network that facilitates
access to those resources. It requires believing in the
potential and inherent divinity of the person whom
the Sai volunteer meets. The emphasis in the Holistic
Food Project is on the whole life of a person and on the
interdependence of all of us
The Torrance Center feels richly blessed by Swami’s
grace in the operation of this project.
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Third Quarter 2012
CENTER SPOTLIGHT
Sathya Sai Baba Center of Upland
T
he Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Upland, located
at 1916 Glenwood Way, Upland, California, began
twenty-seven years ago in 1985. At that time the
Tejura family moved into their house. The Upland Center
is a continuation of a bhajan group started and run by
Swami’s devotees Bob and Jean Reinhart in their house in
Claremont, California. When Swami asked Bob and Jean
to go to Puttaparthi, they looked for a home in which to
continue the bhajan sessions. The Tejura family had just
moved to Upland and was glad to host Center activities.
Since then, this Center has been providing a loving
atmosphere for individuals and their family members to
pursue spiritual practices and to follow the teachings of
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
Center members meet once a week on Sunday from
10:30 AM to 12:30 PM. After the opening ceremony, children between the ages of six and sixteen attend the Sathya
Sai Spiritual Education (SSE) program. The parents and
the adults study Swami’s literature and discuss ways and
means of putting the teachings into practice in their daily
lives. The children and the adults regroup to sing devotional songs and conclude the session with arathi and closing prayers. The Center participates in community service
projects once a month and on special occasions such as Sri
Sathya Sai Baba’s Birthday and Christmas.
The Upland Center also provides an opportunity to
learn vedic chanting for those who are interested. Interested members join together on Sunday mornings and chant
Vedas from 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM.
Sathya Sai Spiritual Education (SSE) Program
The Center’s SSE classes are conducted by trained
teachers and teachers-in-training. Children attending
the SSE classes are divided into three groups according to
age. Each group meets separately and studies Swami’s prescribed value-based education. Every class is conducted
according to a five-step lesson plan consisting of meditation, prayer, story, song, and activity. Each step of a lesson in any given class is aimed at increasing the child’s
awareness of each of the five values: Truth, Love, Right
Action, Non-Violence and Peace. Each value, in turn, instills an awareness of the five sheaths and the five primal
elements in the creation and an awareness of their interrelationship. SSE students also participate in Center service activities.
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Third Quarter 2012
The SSE children of the Sathya
Sai Center of Upland participated
in plays that were presented in
front of Swami. Some of the girl
students were very fortunate to
receive saris and blessings from
Swami.
The SSE students who have
graduated from the program return to participate in the service
activities of the Sathya Sai Organization as Young Adults. Some
of them serve as Young Adult
Representatives.
Devotional Program
The Center’s devotional program consists of study circle,
bhajan practice and bhajan singing. The adults participate in the study circle discussing
various facets of Swami’s teachings. The Center generally
uses Swami’s discourses as the base material. During festival times individual members share their understanding
of the significance of a respective festival. This is followed
by a moderator summing up the discussion and then explaining Swami’s teachings and how they apply to these
festivals.
On the second Sunday of every month, after the Center’s service project is completed, members learn a new
bhajan which is taught by an experienced bhajan singer.
The Center has compiled 56 bhajans that were taught.
Members are encouraged to practice and sing from these
bhajans. During festival days the
Center members are allowed to
sing bhajans of their choice and
to express their love for Swami in
the form dear to them.
Service Program
On the second Sunday of every month, Center members
and their children join together
to prepare sandwiches. These
sandwiches are distributed to the
needy through a local church.
Canned foods and dry cereals are
collected on a continuous basis.
These items are also distributed to
the needy through the church. On
special service days hot meals are
provided to the homeless. During
the week of Sri Sathya Sai’s Mahasamadhi Day, the Center
packed dry cereal, rice and beans into sturdy packages and
provided them for distribution to the needy.
In conclusion, Swami has blessed this Center with a
group of individuals and families who work together harmoniously. Their love for Swami is deep-rooted and exceptional. New members find it easy to mingle and feel at
home. A group of five dedicated office bearers, selected by
Center members, administer Center activities with heartfelt dedication.
–Suryaprakash Sangana
SSBC Upland
“God is self-luminous. He illumines all, He is beyond Nature, which is but a manifestation of
His Glory. So, He can be seen only by the Eye of Wisdom, an eye that can be won only by His
Grace. Hence, worship of God is an essential part of sadhana (spiritual practice). He who fails
in seeing himself can never succeed in seeing others, in seeing anything outside him. Engage
yourself in sadhana that will secure the Grace of God.”
–Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Geetha Vahini, Ch. 20, p.187
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Third Quarter 2012
Trees of Love
T
his project was initiated as part of the Sai Spiritual Education (SSE) program at the Sri Sathya
Sai Baba Center of North East San Diego during the school year 2011–2012. The SSE students formed
a club called “Little Hearts for Mother Sai” through
which they have been working on projects focused on
building their character and helping Mother Earth. The
project evolved over a period of three years. In the first
two years, the SSE students practiced within their own
class and then within the Center. In this third year the
project was opened up to include participants from all
the Sai Centers in San Diego, California.
The project team included two SSE student leaders,
teachers, mentors, and overall project coordinators. The
goal was to practice Swami’s teachings by combining the
following three disciplines:
1. Education by learning about Swami’s message of
good conduct and love
2. Devotion by disciplined practice (sadhana)
3. Service by planting the Trees of Love to rejuvenate
Mother Earth
Swami has said:
“…if there is a tree that is full of good flowers, it will fill
the entire area with good flavor and will spread its fragrance. In the same manner, if there is an individual with
a high code of conduct, he [or she] will not only improve
himself [or herself] but will also improve the entire society
around him [or her] through his [or her] good conduct.” 1
The challenge in this project was to build healthy and
strong Trees of Love through regular and disciplined
sadhana.
Swami has said, “When you water the roots of a tree,
all the branches and leaves will get the benefit.”2 Therefore, the foundation of the project was designed to grow
strong and deep Roots of Love. To earn one root, a participant must do a sadhana of their choice every day for
one week. A cumulative total of thirty-eight Roots of
Love make one Tree of Love. Why one week? We believe
if you repeat a sadhana every day for a week the chances
are much higher that it will become a good habit. Why
thirty-eight roots? The project began on Guru Poornima
Day 2011 and concluded on Mahasamadhi Day 2012,
allowing dedicated participants to create a whole tree
within this time period and earn His grace.
Swami has said that we should, “See good; be good;
and do good.”3 The SSE student leaders and children set
an example by following Swami’s message, selecting the
sadhana of their choice and practicing it. Each week after
1.Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Summer Showers in Brindavan, 1978, p, 277
2.Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Discourse 27 in Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 21
3.Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Summer Roses on the Blue Mountains, 1976,
p. 151
25
Third Quarter 2012
the SSE class, the leaders collected the Roots of Love along
with the selected sadhana. They also inquired if the participant planned a sadhana for the upcoming week. Here
are some examples of the sadhana the students selected:
• See good: Refraining from watching too much
TV and playing too many video games; reading
good books; seeing good in others
• Be good: Practicing meditation, namasmarana,
prayer, God thoughts, satsang
• Do good: Helping parents and others; participating in service; conserving energy; sharing resources
The image below shows the kinds of sadhana undertaken by the entire group of participants. The size of the
word indicates its frequency of occurrence:
Trees of Love at a nature preserve in Alpine, California.
We teamed up with the San Diego River Park Foundation
which re-forests the land ravaged by the last two forest
fires in San Diego County.
The dedicated team included coordinators and volunteers from the San Diego River Park Foundation as well
as devotees of all ages from Centers in San Diego and Los
Angeles. Many individuals participated in this auspicious
event. Swami’s grace was plentiful for all. The previous day
and through the night there were heavy thundershowers
leading up to a hailstorm in the morning as we reached
the site. As we all prayed to Swami the dark clouds literally cleared away over the mountain allowing us to work
with an ideal ground for tree planting. As soon as we completed planting fifty trees, the rain clouds came back as if
to take care of watering the newly-planted saplings. All
were wonderstruck by His grace and love.
Please join our sadhana program for the coming year
2012-2013. Visit our project site at:
• www.treesoflove.org
• or www.treesoflove.us.
Thank you Swami for teaching us to follow in Your
footsteps and to lead our lives as beacons of light and love.
Jai Sai Ram! Lots of Love,
–Trees of Love Project Team
SSBC North East San Diego
At the beginning, the project stood as follows:
Where we started
Where we wanted to be
Building Roots of Love with each week of sadhana, the
children put together a total of ten Trees of Love, which is
380 weeks of sadhana.
On April 14, 2012 as part of the week-long Sri Sathya
Sai Aradhana Mahostsavam program we planted the
26
Third Quarter 2012
D
The Small, Quiet Voice
uring the recent Camp Buckhorn Conference, I
had an interesting lesson in listening to my inner voice. First of all, the conference reminded
me of my early trips to Prasanthi Nilayam. Swami says
that the ashram can often be an Intensive Care Unit
where people come to heal. Unfortunately, the healing
process is not always pleasant, especially if it’s a surgery
on the ego.
This time, at Camp Buckhorn, while sleeping in the
cabin, I felt a bit like I was back in a shed, out of my element and the comforts of home. I was also dealing with
a strange stomach ache that wouldn’t go away. I volunteered with my wife Shelley to help out with registration
but Leslie and Bruce Bouche had it all very well organized and I wasn’t really needed. I was asked by Saras to
lead a song but I messed up the second line. I started to
feel even more useless. I hoped she might ask me again
so I could redeem myself. She did and I told her I would
sing “Ramachandra,” an English song. It was to be the
last song of the conference so, while waiting my turn, I
picked up my tambourine and played with the percussionists. Then the tabla player turned and asked me to
stop playing. He was not wrong in asking me to stop and
I knew this because I am an amateur and sometimes I
don’t realize when I’m off the beat. Later he turned to
me again and asked if I could play the same beat as the
other tambourine player but I knew that I could not so
I declined.
But now I was really worried. My ego was sliding
down a slippery slope. What if I messed up again on the
song I was about to sing? Then I got an inner prompting not to sing “Ramachandra.” At this point I started to
panic but a calm inner voice said, “Sing Dhimita, Dhimita, Dhim.” I resisted at first because I’ve been singing
mostly English these days since I think Swami wants me
to understand what I’m singing. In the end, I followed
this instruction and sang that song. Later I was told it
was a good choice because everyone knows it and it had
a lively energy.
This made me feel better but when time came for the
sharing session I was just not up for it. Something told
me to go for a walk and I came across the kids and some
adults who were playing volleyball and basketball. I
joined in and it was fun, especially a one-on-one basketSri Sathya Sai Region 8 Newsletter
ball game with Eric Wing that was really a joy. He beat
the pants off me even though I fouled him shamelessly
but it was all in good fun. I was beginning to think that
maybe the lesson of this conference for me was learning
to listen more to the inner voice.
Later in the day, I again got an inner prompting to
pick up a hooded sweatshirt and a Rubik’s cube, which I
saw lying on a bench, and to ask the next person I came
across if they knew who owned it. So, I asked the first
person I came across and she said, “Well, yes, this is
my daughter’s sweatshirt but she doesn’t own a Rubik’s
cube.” In a moment, the daughter came down the path
and said, “Oh, that’s my sweatshirt and Rubik’s cube.”
Now, more than ever, I was thinking that this listeninglesson was it.
In the evening I again got an inner push to ask if the
kitchen needed help washing dishes. When I asked the
person in charge, she said, “As a matter of fact, we do
need help since one of their dishwashers couldn’t make
it today.” So, I ended up helping and it turned out their
commercial dishwashing machine was almost identical
to the one I use at a Sai service project I attend in Ventura. The staff member I worked with—I think his name
was Francisco—was very nice and we hit it off. I learned
that he lived in the area, had worked several years at the
camp and went to a local church. We both worked hard
and got it done. He thanked me and I felt better about
myself even though I missed most of the evening speaker.
The next day, I was sitting at a table outside the dining
hall having lunch, when someone came to me to say that
a kitchen staff member wanted to see me before I left. I
thought that I would go inside to see what it was about
when I had finished lunch. But before I was done, Francisco came out, walked over to me and presented me
with a new Camp Buckhorn T-shirt. He thanked me for
helping him. I couldn’t believe it. It seemed like a perfect
confirmation of what I had been thinking about with respect to “listening to that small, quiet, inner voice.” Francisco and I gave each other a hug and I felt like Swami
was telling me, through this little drama, that He is still
here guiding us through this play.
–John Harrison
SSBC Ojai
27
Third Quarter 2012
Sai Stories from Ojai
The essays that follow came about because of a request from the Region to submit an article
describing a service project which the Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Ojai completed in honor and
remembrance of the first anniversary of Sai Baba’s leaving His physical form. Unfortunately, the
Ojai Sai Center was unable to pull together a service project for this event. We decided, instead, to
get together and share an experience, a teaching or a dream about Baba that was meaningful to the
person who shared it. The following essays are a record of what transpired.
Shelley Harrison
In 1971 I went to a yoga teacher who was a follower of
Sai Baba. I felt drawn to Baba through the bhajans and
because He accepted everyone, regardless of their background and beliefs. It didn’t matter what religion you belonged to or didn’t belong to or where you were on your
spiritual path. The main thing I was drawn to in His teachings was that you should be a good person and do the best
that you could do. The first time I visited Him in India in
1978, I remember that He looked at me and I felt He had
X-ray vision. He looked through my eyes and down to my
heart and I thought, “Oh boy, He sees everything, even
things I don’t want to see.” I thought that was going to be
the end of my relationship with Him. But what I got from
it was that He accepted me as I was even though I didn’t
accept myself. I know that regardless of what I am doing,
He accepts who I really am. I’ve been saying “I love You
and trust You, Baba” to myself recently to help me be open
to His filling all my thoughts, words, deeds and being with
His love.
Allan Parigian
When the opportunity to write this essay first came up
a couple of months ago, I sat down and began to write
something. But when I was trying to write, it was trying. I
was attempting to come up with a teaching that was very
meaningful to me. I went back to my first trip and was
writing down some things that I had read at that time that
were very transformative for me. Yet it didn’t flow. I was
trying too hard.
Then what came to me was something that I’ve shared
before with most of you and I thought, you know, this is
very appropriate for the anniversary of Swami’s Mahasamadhi. It was the dream that I had about a month prior
to Swami being taken to the hospital, before any of the
events that led up to His Mahasamadhi. In this dream, I
was in Prasanthi Nilayam. Katie was with me and we were
in something like a cathedral. It seemed very spacious and
we were behind a partition of some type. I likened it to
a church pew because we were standing behind something. And then, in front of us, on a raised altar, I looked
and there was Swami. But Swami was prostrate and his
feet were facing straight forward and there were people
walking around. Walking and kind of milling about. As
I looked and looked closer, I exclaimed, “Oh, my God!
Don’t they understand what has happened? Swami’s dead.
Swami’s gone.” I woke up at that moment in tears. I related
that dream the next morning to a few people and then forgot about it.
I forgot about it until we were in Arizona, when Swami
left his body. We had a call from Dr. Chandradas while
we were there, which I am forever grateful for; just to
have known so soon. On our way back we stopped at our
friends Claire and Sylvester Scott’s house because of what
had just occurred and because we just wanted to be together and talk about this a little. So it was at this time that
I remembered the dream. Later, Claire asked if we wanted
to see the proceedings. Swami was in state and it was on
the internet and we said, “OK, sure.” So they brought up
the video of what was occurring and I looked at it and
there were chills throughout my body. Tears came to my
eyes again and I said, “Oh my God, that’s my dream!” Everything was oriented in the same fashion, everything that
I saw was there, not to a “T” by any means but it was basically that dream.
Of course, I realized then that Swami, like he has done
for each and every one of us, in His very, very loving way,
was preparing me.
28
Third Quarter 2012
Marybeth Dixon
Years and years ago Leslie and I were involved in making a bhajan- and English music tape for Swami and we
all lived in my house where there was a lot going on. The
tape was called Sharanam. I don’t know if it’s available any
more but it turned out really well. We also did a children’s
tape and that was neat too.
Anyway, there was a lot of stuff going on in the house
and we were kind of running out of money and people
were beginning to argue, as people will. So we almost had
finished our tape and we had somebody there, Lenny Matlin. He was doing the mixing, singing and actually a lot
of the writing. He’s the one that wrote, At Your Feet Dear
Lord We Pray and that was on the tape. But, anyway, we
got to the end of all this and we couldn’t really pay the
bills and some of the musicians were leaving already. The
phone bill had not been paid and the flutist had left and we
wanted to put a flute on the song Murali Krishna.
So, one morning we got up early and there was a huge
pipe break in one of the bathrooms. It was just flowing
all over the place. What are we going to do? We’ll have to
drive to a pay phone, or whatever; but somebody picked
up the phone and there was a dial tone. So we ran through
the phone book and picked the closest plumber while figuring how we were going to pay for him. He came out and
he fixed the plumbing but he was interested in what we
were all doing.
He said, “Well, I’m a musician.” We said, no kidding,
what do you play? He said, “The flute.” So, here comes this
beautiful flute obbligato above Murali Krishna and that’s
what went on our tape. I think somebody gave him a tape
and that’s the last we ever heard of him.
Leslie Bouche
I really had a hard time deciding what I wanted to share
because there are a million things I have experienced in
forty years with Swami and I see His hand in everything.
So, what jumped into my mind was not some of the amazing things that happened in darshan or in interviews or
any of those types of experiences, but a really small thing
that has stayed and stayed and stayed with me. It was one
of those intensely personal experiences where Swami
wasn’t physically present but I heard Him in my heart.
Years and years ago, when our younger son Iggy was
about seven, he bought me this little glass whale. (I’ll pass
it around.) Of course, I always treasured it because he
picked it out. It was something that came from his heart.
He gave it to me for Mother’s Day. I always had it on my
dresser which was way on the opposite side of my bedroom from my bed. It was on a high dresser all the way
across the room.
So, fast forward ten years to about 1997 when I had become a single mother. During that time I had the ability, because of certain circumstances in my life, to go see
Swami, to go to the ashram, every year. I was making these
trips by myself which was so extraordinary because, after
all the years of going with kids and all that entailed, it was
so amazing to just have that special time to be in the ashram alone. This was a very important time of life for me,
full of changes. So, here I am, packing for my trip, folding
my saris, doing everything on the bed. I travel to India,
arrive at the ashram and I’m in my room unpacking my
clothes and saris and what do I find, carefully wrapped
up in the fringes of one of my silk saris? That little glass
whale! I thought, “Hello! What are you doing here? You
hitchhiked all the way to come to the ashram!”
You know, it had been across the room when I was
packing. I had no sense of how it could have ended up,
wrapped up, folded into my sari. I’m sitting there and
looking at it sort of in amazement and what I heard was
Swami’s voice clearly in my heart and mind and what he
said was, “Dive Deep.” That is what that whale has meant
to me since then.
Back then in 1997 I would have had no way of guessing
that I would end up working as a hypnotherapist, helping people heal. That’s what I do now. Every day, every
client, I see that glass whale and I hear Swami say, “Dive
deep; dive deep; dive deep.” So it’s very, very precious to
me and very alive; and it’s just one more way in which I
feel Swami’s hand in every aspect of my life. There is no
way that I would have known back in 1997 how incredibly important, how central to my life those words “Dive
Deep” would be.
Bruce Bouche
I think that for me the most important teaching of Baba’s actually occurred in an interview when He married
Leslie and me. I’ve told the story before but it is the story
that I think is most important to me and will guide the
rest of my life.
We were sitting with Him and it was just the three of us
in the small room. He was talking with Leslie and then,
without skipping a beat, He turned to me and said, “What
is spirituality?” I said, “Baba, it’s unity with God here [tapping my heart] and out here in the rest of the world.” He
said, “No!” because He always says no. He said to forget
29
Third Quarter 2012
about the outside and He tapped His heart and said, “Go
Inside.”
Then He started talking about conscience, the voice of
conscience, being God and that the voice of conscience resided inside. Then He took His three fingers and He leaned
forward—because we were literally right at His feet—and
put His nose almost against mine and threw His three fingers at my heart and said, “You are God; You are God; You
are God.” Just like that, He sat back up and continued talking with Leslie.
That admonishment “You are God; You are God; You
are God” is really what I’m most grateful for because it reminds me who I am. At certain times it’s very clear and at
other times it’s not very clear. But I think we are God and I
feel that more, and more and more. It’s not any fireworks.
It’s not a halo because, needless to say, I’m not angelic.
But with all of this challenging stuff that I think I have,
it’s maya. That takes on a very different meaning for me
now. It just is. It’s not good; it’s not bad. It just is. There’s
no difference between that stuff and God stuff, because all
is God. There is no second. That is becoming more and
more clear. I get distracted, especially now with work. I
get very, very distracted but that rides underneath the current. With that thought riding the current, there’s peace.
That peace is expressed as love. It’s sort of a resonance. It’s
not any big hoopla.
–Compiled by John Harrison
SSBC Ojai
What Is Love?
What is love? Many people think love is like loving
your family, friends and worldly possessions. People
think, “Why should I love my enemies or strangers
for that matter?” This type of love is only natural but
it is worldly. The love that Swami showers upon us is
called Divine Love. It has no boundaries and flows
endlessly.
Divine love is when you love everyone and everything, regardless of their shape, size, color, or race.
This type of love has no limits, no time, no quantity.
It is selfless, pure love that expects nothing in return.
Why should we have divine love? A person living in
love has no enemies, sees life as a celebration, and is
happy and content. They have no worldly desires and
are always in bliss. If you want to find God, then love
is your ticket.
Swami says: “Love all; serve all.” It means that you
have to love and help everyone that you can. Love isn’t
just limited to liking everyone. You can show your
love by doing selfless seva. For instance, you can help
the needy, donate to charities, or lend a helping hand
to someone even if you do not know them. Every
good deed, big or small, counts. For example, you
could talk to someone who’s lonely, comfort someone
who is in distress, or even just smile and wave at the
person crossing the street. You might think it’s not
much but you might have just made their day, with
that simple act of kindness and love. Love grows by
giving.
When you do selfless seva the love you give out
rebounds back and makes you happy and content as
well. Here is a personal story. One Sunday we were
driving to Bal Vikas when we saw a beggar on the side
of the road. He was sad and hungry. We had food in
the car, so we stopped to give him some. He was grateful and thanked us multiple times. I felt a strange and
wonderfully warm sensation. It felt good to give to
the needy man. The love we gave him bounced back
and made me feel good. So you see, love makes everyone and everything happy. God showers all of us with
love. Now it’s our turn to send some love back. Swami
says, “Service to man is service to God.” By doing seva
you aren’t just benefitting yourself and others; you are
making God happy.
Thank you. Jai Sai Ram.
–Rakhi Ratanjee
Age 12, SSBC Karuna
30
Third Quarter 2012
Quilting
Sarath: 760-917-0442
San Marcos
San Diego, North County Tustin, 7:30 AM
San Diego, 12:20 PM
Hollywood
Narayana Seva
Ella: 310-392-1419
Third Saturday Food Bank
Chandra: 858-618-1592
NE San Diego, 9:00 AM
Quilting
Donna: 858-974-9709
Downtown Homeless Feeding Narayana Seva
Ram: 626-914-2385
Donna: 858-974-9709
Breakfast, Lunch, Preparation of
bagged lunches
Sathi: 949-293-3605
Sandwich Making & Distribution
Prasad: 310-921-2910
Torrance - South Bay
Glendale
Sandwich Making
Nat: 562-924-8141
Lakewood, 7:00 AM
Sandwich Making
Hari: 909-444-1666
Arcadia, 4:00 PM
Shelter Feeding
Reddy: 310-377-2365
Torrance, 10:00 AM
“RAIN Project” – Breakfast
Chitra: 805-241-5205
Feeding Project
Robin: 310-866-2547
Lomita
Quilting
Joe: 858-514-8154
San Diego, North County Thousand Oaks, 7:00 AM
Quilting
Donna: 858-974-9709
San Diego, 12:20 PM
NE San Diego, 9:00 AM
Food Bank
Chandra: 858-618-1592
Convalescent Home Visit
Hari: 909-444-1666
Arcadia, 2:00 PM
Every Sunday
Breakfast
Sathi: 949-293-3605
Breakfast
John: 805-643-6674
Ojai, 8:00 AM
Third Saturdays
Chitra: 805-241-5205
AC
Hot Meals for Shelter
Vijai: 714-602-3574
Upland
Stand Up For Kids
Ramesh: 858-484-7043
San Diego, North County
Sunila: 949-455-2557
Mission Viejo & Tustin SSE
Narayana Seva
Sunila: 949-455-2557
Mission Viejo
Narayana Seva
Aravind: 513-255-6882
Fourth Sundays
Chatsworth, 3:00 PM
Upland, 10:30 AM
Sandwich Making
Vijai: 714-602-3574
Narayana Seva
Sunila: 949-455-2557
Mission Viejo
Second Sundays
Hurt Never
Serve All
PE
Third Sundays
Make Sanwiches & Pack Lunches
Merrill: 805-886-6564
Santa Barbara
Soup Kitchen
Edna: 805-801-3806
Atascadero, 4:30 PM
First Sundays
October 27-28
Sri Jeeva: 949-285-0822, sri.jeeva@gmail.com
register at: http://region8saicenters.org
Oxnard Free Medical Camp
Saturday, August 4
Sri Jeeva: 949-285-0822, sri.jeeva@gmail.com

Help Ever
Ability First – Day at the Beach

TRUTH
Love All
OV
E
L
Tustin, 7:30 AM
Sujana: 310-259-2083
Los Angeles, 3:30 PM
Hemet
Elder Home Visit
Ella: 310-392-1419
Burritos
Sheryl: 951-301-1079
Breakfast
Mark: 805-482-5187
Thousand Oaks, 10:00 AM
Camarillo, 8:20 AM
Hollywood
Teaching Computer Skills
Ram: 310-922-1578
Second Saturdays
First Saturdays
Every Saturday
N ON
VIOLEN
CE
http://www.region8saicenters.org
E
Region 8 Service Projects
G HT
RI
UCT
ND
O
C
Sri Jeevaprakash, Service Coordinator
(949) 285-0822 sri.jeeva@gmail.com
Eric Wing, Education Coordinator
(805) 200-7512 eric.wing@sbcglobal.net
M. Srinivas, Devotional Coordinator
(805) 523-8348 msrinivas3@hotmail.com
Rohan Balasuriya, Vice-President
(310) 702-2971 RohanLBa@aol.com
Dr. C. Chandradas, President
(661) 341-1046 drchandradas@gmail.com
Regional Ofﬁcers
First Tuesday 7 PM
2796 Lolani Street
Pukalani, HI, 96768
Deva Chappelle
(808) 575-2777
Maui (Hawaii)
7:00 PM
916 Flackstone Street
Orcutt, CA, 93455
Eugene Jaffe
(805) 929-2212
Santa Maria
7:00 PM
625 French Street
Santa Ana, CA, 92701
Sunil Nayak
(714) 544-0772
Tustin
305 West First Street
Tustin, California 92780
(714) 669-0522
Help Ever
Love All
OV
E
AC
Hurt Never
Serve All
PE
Please contact the Center presidents listed for more
information about their Center’s Service activities and
Sai Spiritual Education classes.
Young Adults:
Shriram Bhat, Young Men’s Representative
(626) 475-7271 shrirambhat@gmail.com
Rachna Desai, Young Women’s Representative
(213) 949-7224 rachna216@gmail.com
Pravin Wagh, Young Men’s Advisor
(949) 274-9019 pravinwagh@gmail.com
Ravi Bakshi, Young Women’s Advisor
(714) 469-6342 ravi.bakshi@ymail.com


TRUTH
4:00 PM
59 Verde Vista Drive
Thousand Oaks, CA, 91360
Chitra Chandavarkar
(805) 241-5205
Thousand Oaks
4:30 PM
2961 Motor Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Beverly Carman
(310) 837-8568
Los Angeles
Saturday
Service, SSE & Young Adults
7:30 PM
21021 Madrona Avenue
Torrance, CA, 90503
Rajeshwar (Raj) Kataria
(310) 739-3302
Torrance –
South Bay
San Marcos
7:00 PM
2157 Coast Avenue
San Marcos, CA, 92078
Sarath Saratchandra
(760) 727-2824
8:00 PM
21128 Doble Avenue
Torrance, CA, 90502
Pradeep Amatya
(310) 486-0332
Torrance
Santa Barbara
7:00 PM
1626 Santa Barbara Street
Santa Barbara, CA, 93103
Patti Grifﬁn
(805) 963-9248
7:30 PM
26801 Saddleback Drive
Mission Viejo, CA, 92691
Bhagwan (Ben) Punjabi
(949) 363-0849
Mission Viejo
7:30 PM
1943, 262nd Street
Lomita, CA, 90717
Taraneh Abbassi
(562) 597-4288
Lomita
7:10 PM
1118 East Colorado Street
Glendale, CA, 91205
Madhusudan Mohanty
(909) 945-2349
Glendale
Friday
7:00 PM
767 Amiford Drive
San Diego, CA, 92107
Gary Yoder
(619) 229-1058
San Diego
Sathya Sai Baba Book Center of America
7:45 PM
2165 Coachman Lane
Corona, CA, 92881
Mona Kotecha
(909) 606-3439
Karuna
7:30 PM
Crescent Heights United
Methodist Church
1296 N. Fairfax Avenue
W. Hollywood, CA, 90046
Gene Massey
(310) 476-3668
Hollywood
7:30 PM
9345 Ventura Way
Chatsworth, CA, 91311
Gregory Slee
(818) 888-0511
Chatsworth
7:20 PM
384 Twilight Court
Camarillo, CA, 93012
Pamela Chan
(805) 642-6613
Camarillo
7:30 PM
3012 Gilmary Avenue
Las Vegas, NV, 89102
Gilbert Lebner
(702) 259-5518
Las Vegas
Atascadero
7:00 PM
Second Thursday 6:30 PM
7007 Del Rio Road
Atascadero, CA, 93422
Corinna Dilts
(805) 534-9274
7:30 PM
5310 Josie Avenue
Lakewood, CA, 92713
Saras Kollengode
(562) 943-4992
Lakewood
Arcadia
7:30 PM
1220 Oaklawn Road
Arcadia, CA, 91006
Priti Abhat
(626) 351-8508
Thursday
L
4:15 PM
13-1267 Malama Street
Pahoa, HI, 96778
Geoffrey Last
(808) 965-0386
Puna (Hawaii)
10:00 AM
1006 Luna’ai Street
Kailua, HI, 96734
Douglas Pearson
(808) 479-9560
Oahu (Hawaii)
7:00 PM
41459 Shadow Palm Way
Hemet, CA, 92544
Winfried Platzer
(760) 349-9124
Hemet
10:30 AM
1916 Glenwood Way
Upland, CA, 91784
Prakashrao Sangana
(714) 993-6787
Tuesday
Upland
7:30 PM
2758 Dove Tail Dr.
San Marcos, CA, 92078
Chitra Saxena
(760) 436-2230
5:30 PM
1458 South La Luna Ave.
Ojai, CA, 93023
Leslie Bouche
(805) 646-3250
Ojai
12105 Darkwood Road,
San Diego, CA, 92129
Srinivas Raghavan
(858) 780-0832
Northeast San Diego San Diego –
9:30 AM
North County
Monday
N ON
VIOLEN
CE
Sunday
http://www.region8saicenters.org
E
Region 8 Sathya Sai Sai Centers
G HT
RI
UCT
ND
O
C

Sri Sathya Sai Region 8 Newsletter - Third

Transcription

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