October 29th 7:30 pm - Musical Program by the devotees from Nizamabad District

This evening at 5:30 pm Swami came on to the veranda of Sai Kulwant Hall. Even though the weather all day was cloudy and raining. Swami's arrival into Sai Kulwant Hall made it feel bright like a sunny day. Then Devotees from Nizamabad District who are here in huge numbers greeted Swami arrival with loud claps. Some of the members of the Sai Samithis there presented Swami with flowers. Swami lit the lamp that was brought by the lady Devotees. After giving Pada Namaskar to few devotees from Nizamabad district Swami gave permission to begin the program.

The program started with five children performing dance and offering pranams to Swami. During the dance the song they danced to had a wonderful message. The message was "Devotees from all over the world come to Swami to learn the ultimate way to Peace, and they find it with Swami's Divine blessings.

The musical program showed all the Divine's Avatars as Lord Rama, Lord Krishna, Lord Shirdi Sai Baba and our very own Bhagawan Sathya Sai Baba. They even showed some of the miracles each Avatar performed. Beautiful songs and dances accompanied all these events. During Sathya Sai Baba Avatar they showed all the seva Swami was doing. The 40 minutes long program ended with all the children offering pranams to Swami.

After a few minutes to everyone's surprise Swami got up from the chair, huge claps were resounding in Sai Kulwant Hall as Swami came to the children walking and took pictures with them. After that prasadam was distributed, while this was going on Swami called the boy who performed as Lord Krishna and blessed him. Then the devotees from Nizamabad sang few new bhajans. At 6:30 pm Aarathi began four different aarathi's were being taken while the aarathi song was being sung. It was a sight to see Swami between these four aarathi's. Few minutes after that Swami left Sai Kulwant Hall for Yajur Mandiram (swami's home). Ending the events for the day in Puttaparthi.

Click here to see more pictures of Musical Program

October 26th 7:00 pm - Swami's divine darshan in Moon

Many devotees from all over the world have written to us about Swami's Divine darshan in Moon. We have received emails from devotees in many parts of India, United States and United Kingdom etc. We ourselves saw the Divine darshan of Swami in the moon for the last few nights. We were waiting for some pictures from devotees because our camera's are not that powerful. But Devotees at SaiBabaofindia.com have already put the pictures online here is one of the pictures from their site.

October 26th 2:00 pm - Parthi Yatra by the devotees from Prakasham District in Andhra Pradesh

For the past two days in Puttaparthi there were programs by the devotees from Prakasham District. Day before yesterday evening they even had a rally outside mandir. Even though the rainy weather was not co-operating with their proceeding. It didn't seem to stop their enthusiasm for the event. They marched on dancing and singing bhajans and even had few fire crackers to lighten up the sky on a rainy day. They were even distributing prasadam along with the rally.

Click here to see more pictures of Parthi Yatra

October 24th 8:00 pm - Things are back to normal after Dasara Celebrations

Report for 22nd October

Morning Darshan

Prasanthi appears to be settling back into the normal routine as the crowd has reduced significantly after the majestic Navratri and Vijayadasami celebrations.

Swami came for darshan today in his car at 9.40am, whilst bhajans were going on. After speaking to a few lucky devotees on the verandah, Swami proceeded towards the mandir where he blessed the priests who had performed the Veda Purusha Sapta Maha Yagna. He then accepted aarti at 10.45am and headed back to His residence.

Afternoon Darshan

Swami came for darshan in his car a little earlier than normal, much to the delight of the devotees assembled there. Swami kindly accepted a thank you card from the UK group leader (puppet) and further enquired as to how they boys were doing. Bhajans started at 5pm as normal and finished at 5.40 as Swami accepted the aarti and retired to his residence for the evening.

In the evening, the UK Grama Seva boys were privileged to have a spiritual satsang with the warden of the Brindavan Campus, Sri B Narasimhamurthy. One of the boys asked for further clarification on Swami’s Vijayadasami discourse on Truth and Righteousness. Sri Narasimhamurthy explained what Swami had meant yesterday in more detail. He said that God is Truth, God is everywhere and this is the real truth. Dharma is what you have to do and this is a choice between Shreyas and Preyas. Whatever you do, do it with love not hatred. Sri Narasimhamurthy then detailed out a 9-point plan which he has devised to help man further his spiritual progress:

1. Early to bed, early to rise.
2. Simple living and high thinking – reduce material needs and desires. Unity in thought, word & deed.
3. 30 minutes of satsang everyday – company of good people. As Swami says, “tell me your company,    I’ll tell you what you are.” For those of you unable to have satsang daily, you can do Swadhyay (study    of spiritual literature).
4. 30 minutes of solitude – spent on your own and contemplate.
5. Constant namasmarana – constant repetition of the Lord’s name.
6. Hands in the society and heads in the forest.
7. Do Seva all the time – this can be broken down into 3 types of Seva:
   1. Mental - pray for the wellbeing of others
   2. By word – always speak kindly and lovingly
   3. Action – use every opportunity available, regardless of size, to help others. “If you can do one act     a day for 10 days, you’ll experience spiritual bliss.”
8. Dedicate all activities unto God – e.g. People do activities because they have to or because they    derive happiness from it. However, it should be done because of your love for God.
9. God is everywhere so see God in everything and see everything in God.

Sri Narasimhamurthy also gave a means to monitor your spiritual progress in daily life, in the form of simple ABCD

   * Awareness of Inner Bliss
   * Balance of mind – equanimity
   * Ceiling on desires
   * Dedication to welfare of others

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October 22nd 12:30 pm - Report on Dasara Celebrations in Puttaparthi

Report for October 21st

Morning Program

On this auspicious day of the Dusshera function, Prasanthi Nilayam was reverbrating with extra vigour. Also on this day, Shirdi Sai Baba chose to take Maha Samadhi in 1918. He told one of his close devotees the day before that he would leave his mortal coil on the day of Dusshera.

In the Threta yuga, Lord Sri Rama was victorious in his battle with the demon king, Ravana. He then returned to Ayodha where he was crowned king. In the kali yuga our dear Swami, the Veda Purusha himself, came to the poornachandra hall to carry out the poornahuti of the yagna. This ceremony took place at 10am this morning. Swami then watched over the rituals for over 45 minutes. This included the yagna ceremony and he blessed all the priests who were fortunate to take part. The Poornachandra hall was completely full as everyone was keen to get a glimpse of Swami performing the yagna Himself. The scene before our eyes took our imagination back to the Threta yuga yagnas.

For the first time the grama seva was performed for the full 9 days of the navratri function. Usually on dusshera the sisters of the Anantapur campus would do grama seva within the Prasanthi Nilayam ashram. However in addition to this, Swami instructed the students and the UK group to continue with the service activities in the villages. Some of these villages that were fortunate to receive Swami’s prasadam on Vijayadasami day were Tarakarama Nagar, Djp(Deenajanoddharana) and Cheya. These villages are located behind the ashram. In total over 200 homes received Swami’s prasadam including 58 students in the Deenajanoddharana orphanage.

The UK grama seva group expresses their deepest gratitude towards Swami for allowing them to take part in this grand event covering 145 villages in 8 days. Service of this magnitude is only possible with the Divine blessing.
Report for October 20th

Afternoon Darshan

Swami came for darshan at 4.15pm in his chair today, just before the rahulkalam started at 4.30pm. He then spoke to the UK grama sevagroup leader puppet and instructed him to give a talk. Swami then spent over 20 minutes with his students looking fondly at the various models and presentations of dushhera craft works.

Sri Sanjay Sahani then introduced the 2 speakers for the evening. These were Ajit Poppat (puppet) and Sri S.V.Giri (previous vice chancellor of the Sri Sathya Sai University).

Sri Ajit Poppat (puppet) spoke in his usual charismatic and energetic manner. He spoke on leading a Heartificial instead of an artificial life and elaborated on this by quoting the 5

"L’s" given by Swami. These are:
Listening - to "Avatar Vahni" i.e. the teachings of the living master.
Learning - learning to put into practice the above teachings
Lifting - lifting oneself above the physical plane to mental, intellectual, psychic and
eventually to the spiritual plane.
Living - live what you have learnt
Loving - to love selflessly.

Sri Ajit Poppat spoke of how one of the boy joined the UK Grama Seva group faced with a very difficult choice. Few days before the departure of the group the boy’s Mother who was suffering from Cancer, became very serious. The Father informed the Group leader that the boy will not be able to come.

However, the Mother insisted that her son should go for Grama Seva and serve our Lord Sai, despite the fact that she was in a very critical situation. During Grama Seva, the boy received a phone call from the Father explaining that his Mother’s situation is getting worse and Doctors have given her only couple of days. The father wanted the boy to come back home. The boy wrote a letter with a picture of his Mother and gave to Swami. Swami immediately read the letter on the Veranda. Soon after that the boy received a call from his family who explained that his Mother wanted him to stay with Swami and complete the Grama Seva activities in the villages.

She was very proud that her son is serving our Lord Sai at her last moments. The sacrifice made by the mother and son, touched the heart of our dear Lord Sai. Swami, looked at the boy with a motherly smile many times during darshan. Sri Ajit Poppat ended his talk with a prayer to Baba.

Sri S.V. Giri then spoke eloquently on his recent experiences during Grama Seva. He narrated an incident in a village where a family shared their prasadam with their pet dog as they considered it to be an equal member of the household. Sri Giri then compared this to a similar experience in the life of Shirdi Sai Baba. In another village, Sri Giri noticed a marked improvement in the self confidence of the inhabitants as a direct result of the love showered on them during Grama Seva over the years.

After Sri Giri had finished his talk, Swami gifted us all wih His divine discourse on this auspicious day of Vijayadasami. To the great delight and joy of the audience, Swami then stood up for the first part of the discourse and spoke whilst standing. Swami started off saying that this auspicious day gives great joy to many people, however this day was also a day of grief to many people in the past as this was the day Shirdi Baba left his physical body and took maha Samadhi. Swami then explained the importance of following Sathya, Truth and Dharma, Righteousness. He then quoted the story of Lakshmi Bhai who was given two gold coins by Shirdi Baba symbolising Sathya and Dharma and to the amazement of the audience he materialized these two coins.

The rest of Swami’s discourse elaborated the principle of Sathya and dharma. Swami said that following the above basic principles is superior to any form of worship or prayer and everything done should be based on truth.

Swami concluded saying that all of us are a reflection of "Sathya Sai" and that God is one, whether we call him Rama, Krishna, Jesus or Allah.

Swami ended his talk singing the famous song "Bhaja Govindam".

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October 21st 8:30 pm - Dasara Celebrations in Puttaparthi

Morning Program

This morning the Yagnam continued in Puttaparthi. Swami first came to Sai Kulwant Hall and after blessing the devotees there Swami came to Poorna Chandra Auditorium where the yagnam was going on. It was around 10:00 am. The Poorna Chandra auditorium was filled with devotee who wanted to get Swami's blessing on this auspicious day and to see the conclusion of the yagnam. The yagnam ended with Swami's blessings around 11:15 am. After the yagnam purohits went to Chitravathi River to bring holy water. The programs ended soon after that with aarathi and devotees were given prasadam after that.

Evening Program

This Evening as part of Dasara celebrations two devotees gave speeches. After that Swami gave a discourse. During the discourse Swami materialized two Gold coins that Shirdi Sai Baba gave to Lakshmi Bhai during the last days of Shiridi Sai Avatar. The discourse was followed by bhajans, after one bhajan Aarathi started and soon after that Swami left for his residence ending the Dasara Celebrations in Puttaparthi.

October 21st 11:45 am - Devotees in Kolkata, india pay tribute to Swami during Durga Pooja

During the Dasara Festival devotees in Kolkata celebrate Durga Pooja. So the each are in the city create Pandals (Stall that are transformed into temples) and choose a theme to decorate their pandals. And one of the pandals from the College Square in the city choose to replicate Swami's mandir in Puttaparthi. As you can see from the pictures they have done a very good job. Wishing all the devotees a Happy Durga Pooja and Dasara

October 21st 8:00 pm - Grama Seva continues in Puttaparthi

Report for 20th October

Morning Darshan

On this very day, Swami declared his avatarhood. At the age of 14, Swami left his parents’ home to fulfil His divine mission. Today being the 9th day of navratri the crowd continues to grow in anticipation of the Dusshera celebrations. Today’s rahulkalam (the inauspicious period of the day) was between 9 - 10.30am, therefore Swami’s students left in the early hours of the morning for Grama Seva.

As usual many villages received Swami’s prasadam. One particular village that was served was called, Janakampalli, in the Bukkhapatnam mandal. The village consisted of approximately 1150 houses with an approximate population of 4500. In total there were 7 sub groups made up of 12-14 Sai students each. This also included a group of the UK Grama Seva group. With Swami’s grace, the activities which included nagarsankirtan, distribution of prasadam, bhajans and aarti were completed quickly and efficiently.

The group returned to Prasanthi Nilayam at 10.15am and went straight to the Yagna at the Poornachandra Hall. Our dear Swami entered the Poornachandra hall just after the rahulkalam ended, to reside over the Yagna. Swami blessed all the priests taking part during the mantra pushpam aarti. He then headed towards the Sai Kulwant hall where thousands of devotees were waiting eagerly since the early hours of the morning. Swami did a full round of darshan in his chair giving love and joy to all, and then headed to the interview room to bless the chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi. After a short interview Swami headed back to Yajur Mandiram.

Afternoon Darshan

Swami came for darshan at 5.40pm, taking a full round in his chair. He then went onto the portico to bless an eminent Indian classical music clarinet player. The musician with his accompanying artists started playing a few select Bhajans, songs and ragas. The ragas played included Hamsadhwani, 2 bhajans of which one was Prema Mudhita Manase Kaho and finished with raga bhairavi. Out of His infinite grace Swami materialised a gold chain for the clarinet player and gave new clothes to each of the musicians. Whilst the music was being played, prasadam was issued to all devotees present in the Sai Kulwant hall. Swami called for aarti at 6.40pm and then retired to his residence for the evening.

Report sent to us by Arvind Tank

October 21st 7:45 pm - Grama Seva continues in Puttaparthi

Report for 19th October

Morning Darshan

On this auspicious day of Durga Ashtami the 8th day of the Navratri function, various activities have taken place. On this holy day, the instruments (Astras & Vehicles) are worshipped. Today is the day Swami, Himself performs the worship of the vehicles. This tradition has been followed since the ancient times of Bharat (India). On this day, the Pandavas completed their time in exile and the 13th year of hiding. On this day, the weapons that were hidden away were reclaimed.

In the usual manner, Grama Seva commenced with Pradikshana around the Sanctum Sanctorum.

One of the villages covered today was Locherla. This village is located in the Kotachero Mandal, and consisted of over 800 houses with approximately 3350 residents. The community spirit was noticeable as one of the teams arrived and the villagers were waiting for us eagerly. As the supply vehicles drove into the village, they were cheerfully welcomed by the local children who were all shouting "Sai Ram Sai Ram!!" whilst the parents and grandparents welcomed us quietly with a heartfelt smile and twinkle in their eyes.

With the Army of Swami’s students, Swami’s prasadam was distributed very rapidly before lunchtime as per Swami’s instructions.

Afternoon Darshan

Our dear Sai Lord arrived on the commencement of the Vedam at exactly 5pm. Swami gave darashan to all present in the Sai Kulwant hall. As today is the Druga Ashtami, the hall was completely full on both Ladies and Gents side.

Swami instructed the All India President, Sri Srinivasan that the speakers of the day be introduced. The first speaker was Srmt. Anjali Devi, a famous film actress, who has been with Swami for many decades. Anjali devi, donated the land in Chennai, which is where Sai Sundaram stands today.

Srmt. Anjali Devi mentioned how Swami kindly accepted the land for the construction of Sai Sundaram. The Siva Lingam worshipped at the Athi Rudra Maha Yagna, constructed in Chennai, is currently installed in the new temple at Sundaram.

Srmt. Anjali Devi was instrumental in the making of the movie "Shirdi Sai Parthi Sai" which was composed by her late husband Sri Athi Narayan Garu. She narrated how Swami directed her in every aspect of the making of the film including necessary changes to the script and selection of the artists that played the various characters. This movie was eventually translated into five languages; English, Telegu, Hindi, Italian and Tamil. She expressed extreme gratitude to Swami for giving her the opportunity to play the role of Eswaramma, the Divine mother, and for guiding her all along.

It was amazing to see the interaction between Swami and Srmt. Anjali Devi on the verandah as she was speaking. It was an informal talk during which she stopped at times to converse with Swami. This interaction gave the audience much joy and delight.

Srmt. Anjali Devi concluded her talk requesting Swami’s permission to continue with the filming of "Shirdi Sai Parthi Sai" to include the next period of Swami’s life. To the great joy of the audience Swami blessed her by waving His Abhaya Hastam.

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October 21st 11:15 am - Grama Seva continues in Puttaparthi

Morning Darshan

The chanting from the Veda Purusha Sapta Jyana Yagna could be clearly heard from the Poornachandra hall, as the devotees sat in the Sai Kulwant hall. The Nadaswaram was being played which added the festive mood of the Navaratri function.

As the Yagna was being performed throughout the day, to generate uplifting vibrations for world peace, at the same time Swami’s students and faculty members were spreading His message of love in the Kotacharu Mandal. One of the villages that received Swami’s prasadam was Talamarya and Avulkutla (which consisted of 15 houses in a very remote farmland).

The group reached all the villages and houses in and around the area, regardless of the remoteness and inaccessibility of the houses. This was only made possible by Swami’s love and grace on the villagers.

Afternoon Darshan

At 4.40 the Vedam singing started, signalling the arrival of our dear Lord Sai. Swami arrived in the silver car for darshan and headed towards the portico, where he spoke to UK Gama Seva group Leader Puppet for a very brief moment.

Sanjay Sahani, got up to introduce the speakers for the day, which included 1) Sir Narashimamurthi, The Warden for the Brindawan campus. 2) Krishna Kumar, Student.

Warden Sir, spoke for almost for an hour on various topics including the life and mission of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and the super speciality hospital. He mentioned that there are 36 slokas describing the life and mission of the Avatar. He mentioned and described the various stages of the Avatar, 1st comes the Leela, the pastime of Sai Baba. 2nd Mahimaha, 3rd Updesa, 4th Vidha, establishing the educational institutes, 5th Vaidy, the establishments of the hospitals and 6th Establishment of Sanatana Drama.

Sir Narashimamurthi also explained how to win Swami’s grace so that Swami would come to you. All you have to do is call him to your heart with tears in your eye "Lord I belong to you". The only condition required to win His grace is Faith.

The second speaker Krishna Kumar, spoke from his heart about the Glory of Sai Mother. Krishna Kumar spoke with examples of all the attributes of Swami that make him a Mother.

Whilst the talk was going on Swami was in a very delightful mood as He would be playing with handkerchief, like a little boy and when He looked up and found that everyone was looking and smiling at Him, he gave the amazing smile (like Krishna did when He was caught doing something)

Our dear Lord Sai is so kind that He materialised a gold chain for Krishna Kumar and just like a mother Swami put the chain around the boy’s neck Himself. It was a very beautiful sight to observe.

Swami listened to few bhajans before taking the Aarti and headed towards the divine residence at 6.30.

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October 19th 7:15 pm - Speech by Actress Anjali Devi this evening in Sai Kulwant Hall

This evening there was a speech by Actress Anjali Devi in Sai Kulwant Hall, where she talked about her experiences with Sathya Sai Baba. She talked about how Swami helped her children in their Education. She also talked about her experiences when she first came to Puttaparthi for Swami's darshan. Talking about the television series she did about Swami's life. In the television series she acted as Swami's mother. While narrating this incident she said that role was her last performance and once you act as Swami's mother why would you want to act as someone else's mother. She said that many devotees are enquiring about the television series (Which only showed Swami's Childhood) and why the series has not been further produced. She said that they were waiting for Swami's permission to continue the series further. Two other devotees also gave speeches this evening. After Aarathi Swami retired to Yajur Mandiram (swami's home).

October 19th 11:45 am - Today is Ayudha Pooja in Puttaparthi

In mandir the Ayudha Pooja just finished. All Swami's vehicles including the ratham (chariot) were decorated and were offered Pooja. Today's morning programs just finished after the Ayudha Pooja.

October 18th 8:00 pm - Grama Seva continues in Puttaparthi

Report For October 17th

Morning Darshan

The Grama Seva activities commenced in the early hours of the morning at 7.45am.The UK Grama Seva Group were originally allocated Dhupampalli and neighbouring villages. Unfortunately due to that fact these villages were inaccessible by the Sumo vehicles, the planning committee then changed the villages to Chedrayaipalli and Kottalapalli.

Before Grama Seva commenced, the UK boys went around the village chanting Vedam and singing Bhajans. Swami has mentioned that doing this will spiritually cleanse the village. It also serves as announcement to the villagers regarding the seva activities.

Chedrayaipalli consisted of approximately 145 houses with an additional 20 houses in the neighbouring village, Kottalapalli, which was served by Sai Students.

After successfully completing the distribution of Swami’s prasadam, the UK boys and Swami’s students performed the Aarti together in the village Mandir.

Afternoon Darshan

The UK Grama Seva boys were given a uplifting and inspirational talk by the group leader Sri Ajit Poppat (puppet), prior to going for Swami’s darshan.

He spoke on the importance of regular spiritual practices which will lead to many benefits. He spoke about:

- Devotees never make mistakes…. Because a true devotee never does anything, everything is done by GOD
- Devotees never waste time…Every act is dedicated to GOD
- Through spiritual practices devotees are awakened to intuitive knowledge. This knowledge comes from within automatically.


Ajit Poppat also mentioned the importance of surrendering everything to GOD so that GOD can work though you to achieve all of the above. Therefore you will be successful in all aspect of life. Ajit Poppat illustrated the above with very comical examples in his usual manner.

With mind focused and heart full of love for Swami, all the UK Grama Seva boys headed towards Sai Kulwant hall to receive the darshan of Bhagawan. Our Beloved Swami’s heart is as soft as butter that melts immediately whenever there is a call from a pure heart. Today, Swami displayed this yet again by coming for Darshan at 4.45 on his Chair in order that everyone could get a very close darshan.

Swami kindly continued His darshan from the portico as his gave Sanjay Sahani instructions to announce the speakers for the Prashanthi Maha Vidhvan Sabha.

The first speaker was Sri Srinivas Rangarajan. He spoke eloquently on Karma Yagna. Rangarajan, mentioned some of the points of Karma Yagna as follows: -

Offer to God within
Perfection
Equanimity
Intention (feeling)
Offer every act to GOD


For instance, when he gave blood in the hospital Swami enquired whether he had given blood. However, it seemed that Swami was not happy with the response, even though it was “Yes”. Swami then said “You did not give me blood, you gave blood to the patient.” Therefore, one must strive to see God in everyone. An example of perfection was that during grama seva a few houses were located in a remote, inaccessible area of the Dhupampalli. However the student insisted on going to these houses even if it meant going by himself.

The second speaker was a university student, Natesh Shankar Shetty. He spoke from the heart about the mother aspect of God. He elaborated on this by singing the bhajan, Janani Maa Sai Janani Maa. He then went on to explain how the bhajan emphasises Divine knowledge and bliss. He spoke for 20 minutes and ended by emotionally declaring to all how his deep gratitude towards Swami for granting him this immense opportunity on his birthday. Swami then out of his infinite divine love materialised a ring for him.

Swami then instructed for the Bhajans to begin and within 10 minutes called for Aarti. As Swami was getting back into the car, he called for the UK grama seva group leader, Sri Ajit Poppat (puppet). Swami then inquired if the group was regularly taking part in the grama seva and if they were happy. Sri Poppat replied Anand-Paramanand (Bliss-absolute bliss).

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October 17th 1:00 pm - Grama Seva continues in Puttaparthi

Report For October 16th

Morning Darshan

Today was the auspicious day of Mangala Vaar (Tuesday), a day dedicated to the worship of the divine mother. The name itself, as described by Swami, was declared to Hanuman by mother Sita on the day Hanuman reached Sita with Lord Rama’s message and ring.

Swami had given special instructions yesterday for the Grama Seva students to depart early at 7am. As usual, the Pradakshina of the Mandir took place with Vedam and Bhajans and made its way towards the vehicles.

A special village had been selected for today’s distribution of Love. The village itself was located 35km from Prashanthi Nilayam and consisted of 1400 houses. The village was noticeably poor and deprived yet the villagers received all the students with a hearty smile and welcome.

Throughout the service the UK group were joined by a band of joyous children who joined in the chanting of this year’s Grama Seva mantra. This mantra “Aum Satchitanandaya Namah” was given to all students by Swami himself the day before Grama Seva started.

Afternoon Darshan

For the first time since the beginning of Navratri, Swami came out early at 4.30pm to bless us all with His divine chair darshan. All the grama seva boys were overjoyed, as they had missed the morning darshan and were now able to get close to Swami in physical proximity.

Swami then proceeded towards the veranda where He blessed the UK Grama Seva group leader, Sri Ajit Poppat (Puppet) on his birthday. Swami then spent the remainder of the evening session on the portico, where He interacted with numerous Sai students and blessed 2 boys with a chain and a ring. He then requested for Bhajans to begin that lasted for 10 minutes.

As part of the Prashanthi Maha Vidhvan Sabha Swami blessed Professor Anil Kumar to give a talk. Professor Anil Kumar spoke for over 45 minutes in Telugu in his usual witty and jovial manner. He gave examples of how Swami is the Embodiment of Divines Skatis, Maha Lakshmi, Drug and Saraswati. Professional Anil Kumar quoted a number of Telegu Poems written by great Telegu Scholars, in front of Swami. After the talk Swami accepted aarti at 6pm and retired to Yajur Mandiram.

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October 16th 12:00 pm - Dasara Celebrations continue in Puttaparthi

Dasara Celebrations continue in Puttaparthi. The yagnam is going on in Poorna Chandra Auditorium. This morning Swami came to Sai Kulwant Hall first after blessing the devotees there Swami went to Poorna Chandra Auditorium to watch the proceeding and yagnam which is happening there. Around 10:30 am after receiving aarathi Swami returned to Yajur Mandiram (swami's home). The yagnam is still going but the mikes were switched off.

Click here to see more pictures of Dasara Celebrations

October 15th 1:00 pm - Dasara Celebrations begin in Puttaparthi

Dasara Celebrations begin in Puttaparthi. This morning at 9:00 am Swami arrived at Sai Kulwant Hall. The Yagnam begins in Puttaparthi, this yagnam will go on till the day of Dasara which is on 21st October.

October 14th 7:00 pm - Grama Seva begins in Puttaparthi

Grama seva begins in Puttaparthi. Students and devotees are going in vehicles to the near by villages to provide food and clothes to the residents there. This is the second day of the Grama seva.

Morning Darshan

The Grama Seva group commenced the second day with an early morning prayer in the form of Suprabhatham. The thought of the day, read by the group leader, conveyed a very powerful message, which helped focus the group for the purpose for which they had come.

Swami did not come for morning darshan, however our beloved Baba sent kind instructions for the Grama Seva to commence before 09.00am. With the chanting of the Vedam the procession started lead by Swami’s students themselves, including the UK Grama Seva boys. The boys performed a Pradikshna around the Mandir whilst chanting the vedam.

The vehicles for the Grama Seva rolled out of the Prashanthi Gates just prior to 09.00 with the chanting of "Jai Bolo Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba Ji Ki - Jai". It was wonderful to witness this scene as truck after truck left Prashanthi. The UK grama seva group were extremely privileged to offer service in the form of food and clothing to a local village known as Enumulapalli.

The villagers greeted the groups with the singing of divine hymns with young children offering festive lights. Immediately the vedam was commenced by the students closely followed by bhajan singing in the form of Nagar Sankeerthan ending in Atari at the village temple. During the distribution of our beloved Swami’s prasadam all the boys were received with love and humility, which was reciprocated by all.

The first day of seva concluded at 12.30 for the UK group. Swami’s love on this first day touched 25,000 people spanning 18 villages.

Afternoon Darshan

The UK group gathered with high spirits after a challenging and fulfilling morning. Bhajans commenced at 5.00 pm promptly, just prior to Swami’s arrival. Our beloved Swami was in a wonderful mood whilst giving darshan from his car during which He took letters from a number of devotees. Swami spoke the UK group leader enquiring about the group and their activities on the first day. Swami was especially interested in the location of the village and wellbeing of the group. Swami further asked about the planned activities for the following day.

Swami returned from the interview room within a few minutes to give another chance for darshan to one and all, however to the delight of the gathered audience, Swami performed a complete round of Sai Kulwant hall from his chair. This took place whilst enchanting bhajans were continuing in the background. Swami left for His residence after taking Aarti at approximately 6.00 pm.

Report sent to us by Arvind Tank

Click here to see more pictures of Grama Seva

October 12th 1:00 pm - Sai Youth from Kerala are in Puttaparthi

Sai Youth from kerala are here in puttaparthi for the last few days. The will be performing some cutural programs for Swami. Yesterday after bhajans Swami presented one of the boys who sang bhajans from Sai Youth with a gold chain.

October 5th 1:00 pm - Vishwa Viraat Roopa announcement after evening bhajans

Yesterday evening after the bhajans an announcement was made that Vishwa Viraat Roopa - cosmic form will be visible in the sky. So everyone in Puttaparthi headed to airport, at around 6:15 pm Swami also arrived at the airport. All the vehicles and devotees in Puttaparthi were headed to airport. The whole road was filled with devotees. The airport runway was filled with devotees, Swami had hard time even getting out of the car at the airport due to huge number of devotees. After an hours stay in airport, Swami returned back to mandir. It took quite a while for Swami to return to mandir due to traffic on the airport road.

October 3rd 12:00 pm - Youth from Gujarat perform cultural programs in Prasanthi Nilayam

Devotees from Gujarat performed cultural programs in Sai Kulwant Hall yesterday evening. It was a drama. Sathya Sai Baba presented them with clothes after the event. Swami also presented two of the performers with ring and a gold chain. The events ended at 6:20 pm after aarathi.