God’s Own Children

– Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thirty year old ChinnaNagamma of Jagrajpalli had darkness staring into her. Future seemed bleak. Her husband had recently passed away. She had four young children. No land of her own. No house to stay in. And like a majority of the rural women in India, she was illiterate. To provide her children with one square meal a day was a daunting challenge. With none of her so called kith and kin coming forward to bail her out of this pathetic situation, she silently, cried out for help in her heart in the hope that if there was a God somewhere, may be He would respond.

Her prayers were not in vain. After a few months of her suffering, she heard from someone that Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba was starting a project that would rehabilitate destitutes like her and that anyone deserving could come and register themselves. Immediately, she came with her children to Puttaparthi and met the people concerned with the project. When she told them her story, they melted. They registered her and sent her back to her village with the assurance that she would be called soon after verification. Chinna Nagamma spent about a week full of anticipation. Yet, no word came from Puttaparthi. Was this project too one of those nonstarters, as with the many government schemes? Or was she found not deserving ? Whose life could be more disastrous than hers? she thought. A few days later, when she was returning from the forest after taking the cattle for grazing, a policeman accosted her. Upon enquiring her name, the policeman broke the news to a trembling Nagamma : You have been called by Bhagavan to stay in Puttaparthi, along with your children. Nagamma could not believe her ears. She was convinced that if at all there was a God, it had to be Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

Today, Nagamma, along with eighty others is a happy resident, of Sathya Sai Nagar at Kammmavaripalli behind the ashram complex. Each of them has a story to tell about how compassionate Swami has been to them. The Sathya Sai Nagar is the result of The Sathya Sai Deenajanoddharana project taken up by the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust in the year 2001. The project had its genesis in 2001, when Bhagavan, made a declaration that He would take up the cause of as many destitutes as possible and rehabilitate them. He recounted how he was moved by the news of a mother who committed suicide by consuming poison after poisoning her three children as she could not combat the abject poverty they found themselves in. He declared that he would provide food, shelter and clothing to as many destitute children as possible, besides educating them to be self-reliant.

Sai Sankalpa (resolve) is Vajra sankalpa. Action followed with lightning speed. To begin with, construction began for two room tenements to house the first come orphans and destitutes, converting His own orchard into a housing colony. Swami himself laid the foundation stone for the project. Sixty boys from such families were selected from Bukkapatnam, Kothacheruvu and Puttaparthi mandals. Some among them had no mother. Some had no father. Some had none. But as soon as they came to Prasanthi Nilayam, they found a loving mother in Swami. Swami would give them clothes, suitcases, blankets and would bless them with His kind words. During the period of construction of Sai Nagar, the boys and their widowed mothers were housed in specially allocated sheds and given some orientation. Volunteers started taking informal classes according to the age of the boys, until they were formally accepted in the upcoming school at Sai Nagar. There were in total 58 boys, the age ranging from 4 to 14 years. The mothers were ten in number

Meanwhile, the construction was progressing fast under the able execution of Nagarjuna Construction Company , a reputed firm in Andhra Pradesh. Bhagavan was involved at every stage of the project, offering practical advice on all aspects. On June 19th 2002,the festival of Gurupurnima, Swami inaugurated the fully completed Sathya Sai Nagar . The grateful boys sang songs of gratitude while the mothers watched them from a distance with tears in their eyes. Bhagwan himself was totally lost in the innocent love of those young children. He listened to their songs with rapt attention, patted them and blessed them profusely.

ater in the year, on 22nd November 2002, the annual convocation of SSSIHL, Bhagwan handed over a cheque of sixty lakhs to Sri Paramahansa , the project in charge, in the presence of the president of India Shri A P J Abdul Kalam. The money was to be used, Bhagavan declared, for making a fixed deposit of one lakh rupees in the name of each boy!

Today, the Sathya Sai Nagar is an ideal of community living. It is more or less an example of a self-sustained, self-sufficient village. When the idea of making a cover story came to H2H, we contacted Sathya Sai Nagar over the telephone, saying we wanted to come there. Within minutes, there was a car in front our office with Sri Prakash , the caretaker of the village and a young driver who must be no more than 14 years of age. When asked about it, Sri Prakash replied that they train their boys in all skills, including driving! Believe us, He was a pretty good driver!