Spontaneous Service

HIS morning I spoke to you about the basic outlook that you should have, when you carry on the various activities of the Sathya Sai Organisations; now I shall go into more details, so that you can chalk out various programmes of work, on behalf of the Samithis and Sanghs and Mandalis, in your own places.

Members spoke now about the irreverent and wild activities of students and the need to divert their activities and adventures into channels which will make them useful and worthy citizens. They are but imitating the elders and leaders. They find their parents and teachers fighting with others to gain some ends or fighting among themselves to gain superiority or power. So, they too fight with others and among themselves. The parents, teachers and elders must set a good example. Otherwise all this schooling and college-going activities are sheer waste, nay, positively harmful.

There is a conscience in man, whispering fight advice, restraining unjust hands, which man has almost succeeded in silencing; but, it is the voice of God; it can never be made dumb. Make the children cognisant of it. In Kerala, there is a practice, still happily existing in rural parts, of the elders gathering the children around them every evening and spending an hour or so reciting aloud the stothras in praise of God. It is essential that it must be revived. Time thus spent in is well spent. It will give great peace and joy. Plant a fruit tree; you get fruits therefrom. Plant neem trees; you cannot expect them to yield oranges! Sow falsehood, fear, faction — you reap the same.

Perform acts of sympathy without fanfare

Samithis can hold classes for children and tell them stories from the Upanishadhs and Epics, teach them Bhajans, and get dramas enacted by them on Puraanic themes. Let them also develop reverence towards parents, teachers and elders. The home atmosphere must be made purer, more holy. They must learn by observation that their parents are happy and without anxiety because they have full faith in God and they know that whatever happens is for the best. On Sundays, you can gather the children and teach them, in an attractive way, religious texts. You can give them some nutritious milk also at that time, so that they can get both Ksheeram and Saaram (Milk and Essence).

The doctors among you can serve the poor by treating them without insisting on payment; give the poor all the attention and care that you lavish on the rich, paying patients. Do it for the sake of God; feel that it is the Puuja you are offering Him. The lawyers among you can help those, who for want of a skilled advocate, have to go unfended or have to suffer at the hands of unscrupulous men. Do not publish these acts of sympathy; do them spontaneously without fanfare. That is more precious than demonstrating your service with the help of headlines and photographs. These reduce the worth of deeds of compassion. You must be uncomfortable, when those around you are unhappy; when you ease their discomfort, you are making them happy and making yourself happy, isn’t it ? Similarly, you must be happy, when those around you are happy. This is more difficult than the previous one; but it is the sign of the truly good.

Service done to the disabled is a saadhana

It is your duty to recognise all men as your kin and to share your skill with others, so that the maximum benefits accrue therefrom. The skill is a trust, which must rescue all. Service done in homes for the disabled, the defectives, the feeble minded, the delinquents, the orphans, the refugees — is indeed very beneficial and a good Saadhana. So too, in jails and hospitals. Visit these places often, give solace and strength; light lamp of devotion in the inmates. Do Bhajan; help them to write to their homes, give them books for reading or read books for them, be the kith and kin of those who have none whom they can call their own. Your smile will be a lighted candle in their darkness.

Women devotees, if they have the enthusiasm and support, can start Mahila Sathsangs not only for Bhajans and study of sacred texts and books, but for service of women. Go among the poor in the slums and spread light and joy therein. Gather the helpless girls and try to provide them with some means of honourable livelihood. Sweeten their lives with bhajan and the Saadhana of japa and dhyaana. Women too have a right to know that they are the Aaathma, encased in human form, and they too can tap the strength, the joy and the peace that the Aathma holds. Inculcate in them the prayer habit; that will cleanse the mind of all impurities, and make God shine in His full splendour.