Service
Sri Sathya Sai Baba on Service
Sri Sathya Sai Baba draws an important distinction between conventional social service and selfless service. Any service becomes selfless service, a spiritual activity, when it is performed with the right attitude. This applies to selfless service performed on an individual basis, with another organization, or with a Sai Center.
The most important practice of the Sai Organization is selfless service to society. This is in accordance with the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and in emulation of His great humanitarian works. In selfless service, the motive is to raise consciousness of Divinity through our loving efforts. The spiritual validity of the service is determined by the intensity and purity of our love. Our efforts should reflect selfless love at all times to all people.
General Principles of Service
Selfless service is an individual practice. It becomes a spiritual activity, resulting in spiritual transformation, when performed with an attitude of serving God in the other person, with no focus on the result of the service. Such selfless service has to be performed according to these principles:
The essential message of Sri Sathya Sai Baba is the fostering of unity, including unity of purpose and unity in our actions, and therefore all participants are encouraged to work together in a spirit of oneness.
By overcoming our likes and dislikes and eliminating judgments about others, particularly the ones we serve – it is sufficient if one has an inclination to do good work and a compassionate heart.
Since God is resident in all beings and what we offer reaches Him, we should approach everyone with love and also with gratitude for the opportunity to serve them, particularly since we are transformed by our selfless service and we benefit from the service.
Toward the beneficiaries (our service is a commitment to them and to God resident in them) as well as the people with whom we serve.
Expressed through simplicity, pleasantness, empathy, nonviolence and respect for the beneficiaries.
Undertake each service activity only after a sufficient safety assessment has been carried out to ensure that no participants are at risk of personal injury or harm.
Service Projects
Undertaken in Ashram
Sri Sathya Sai Baba draws an important distinction between conventional social service and selfless service. Any service becomes selfless service, a spiritual activity, when it is performed with the right attitude. This applies to selfless service performed on an individual basis, with another organization, or with a Sai Center. The most important practice of the Sai Organization is selfless service to society. This is in accordance with the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and in emulation of His great humanitarian works. In selfless service, the motive is to raise consciousness of Divinity through our loving efforts. The spiritual validity of the service is determined by the intensity and purity of our love. Our efforts should reflect selfless love at all times to all people.
Serving the Community
As stated in its Articles of Incorporation, the primary purpose of Prashanthi Nilayam/Sathya Sai Baba Abode of Supreme Peace (“The Abode”) is to act as a hub for selfless service to the community. The Abode has been carrying out its activities with a razor-sharp focus on this objective.
As a top priority, the Abode has focused on its “home community” of Tracy, where there is a lot of need for community services. The Abode tries to meet these needs with compassion, love, and respect as the key principles. With a view to both serving those in need, as well as installing a sense of service in the younger generation, these service activities have also actively involved the next generation. Here is a summary of the key activities. Please reach us at prashanthi.nilayam.us@gmail.com for further details.
El Pescadero Park, Tracy
At the encampments at El Pescadero Park, Tracy, the Abode provides food, on an ongoing and regular basis, to our unhoused fellow citizens. These lunches and dinners have included burritos, pasta, Indian delicacies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (lovingly prepared by the next generation), pastries and other snacks, hot chocolate, etc.
Food & Winter essentials
Beyond food, volunteers from the Abode also distribute other essentials, including winter essentials. In particular, given the harsh weather conditions witnessed this past winter of 2023, these essentials have been critical. These distributed items include winter clothing (jackets, suit coats, other clothing items, gloves, etc.) for both men and women, shoes, blankets etc.
Catering to Individual needs
In addition to mass distribution activities, the Abode also caters to specific individual needs – like providing a tent to a lady at an encampment, along with a blanket.
In order to maximize the impact of its service activities, the Abode has been working in association with volunteers from the Sri Sathya Sai Baba Center of Tracy/Mountain House, which is the Tracy chapter of the Sri Sathya Sai International Organization (SSSIO). In addition to the collaboration among the volunteers, the Abode also provides the facility for the Tracy chapter of the SSSIO to operate.
Opening of Shelter at Arbor Way
The opening of a shelter at Arbor Way has provided an opportunity to serve both the residents at the shelter, as well as those still remaining at the encampments. Volunteers from the Tracy chapter of the SSSIO focusing on the needs of the shelter. At the shelter, we have been offering breakfasts, lunches, or dinners on a continuing basis. The offerings have included croissants, bagels and cream cheese, muffins, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pizza, salads etc. As a special offering, the Center also provided a cake to the shelter residents to welcome the New Year.
In addition to sharing food items, we also distributed 50 bags containing winter accessories (blankets, beanies, gloves, and socks) to the shelter residents during the winter of 2023.
In addition to serving at encampments and shelters, the Abode has constantly been looking for other service opportunities, and rising to the occasion. As an example, the Northern California and Nevada region of the SSSIO worked through the Tracy center to meet the needs of a refugee family, and helped them settle in Tracy. Another example has been the organizing of two Covid vaccination drives, helping serve about 150. Also, the Abode has celebrated community events to mark special occasions, like hosting a community Easter (or, as mentioned earlier, distributing a New Year cake to the shelter residents).
Serving Mother Nature - Go Green
The Abode also does its part to serve Mother Nature through Go Green initiatives, and tree-planting drives. A variety of trees including oranges, apples, lemons, plums, pomegranates, grapes, figs, manila tamarind, olives etc. have been planted, and nurtured.
Also with a long-term view of helping the community, the Abode will be starting a computer literacy/career lab. Plans are well under way to execute on this vision. In order to maximize the impact, the Abode is planning to partner with other service entities (like Interfaith Ministries, that operates across from the Abode).
Serving Others
Apart from its home community of Tracy, the Abode also regularly helps other needy communities, like Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. These offerings have been offered directly to residents of encampments, as well as by partnering with service organizations, such as the Alpha Omega Church of Oakland, and Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity of San Francisco. In addition to food items and other essentials, the service items have also included toys and books for children, etc.
Of particular note is that, with the onset of Covid, more than 500 lunches have been served every week, for more than three years, and counting.
The recipients at the encampments and the shelter have been men and women of all ages, including children. The service activities have in fact been energizing and learning experiences for the volunteers. The recipients have been exemplars in expressing gratitude, as well as in sharing the load of distribution. They (and their pet animals!) have reinforced the volunteers’ faith in humanity. When the volunteers celebrated a recipient’s birthday with a cake and hugs, she shared with tears that she had never had a birthday cake, and also had never been hugged. Priceless!