The
Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that Selfless service
to humanity was the essence of devotion. He was addressing the gathering after
inaugurating the 92nd Birthday Celebrations of Sri Satya Sai Baba, in
Prashanthi Nilayam in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh today.
The
Vice President said that Sri Sathya Sai Baba, a Loving God to His devotees, a
universal teacher and humanitarian to others, inspired millions of people
across the globe to actively participate in service of humanity. He further
said that his teachings emphasize truth, love, peace, right conduct, and
non-violence. The service activities of Sri Sathya Sai Baba's organisations
that have worked in the national spirit are truly commendable, he added.
The
Vice President said that the clarion call of Sri Sathya Sai Baba motivated
devotees across the world to form service organisations in about 125 countries
to serve the under privileged and needy. He further said that the Trust under
the divine guidance of Sri Satya Baba has provided clean drinking water to over
a million people in about 700 villages in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh.
Such drinking water supply water projects were provided in East Godavari and
West Godavari Districts of Andhra Pradesh and Medak and Mahabubnagar Districts
of Telangana, he added.
The
Vice President said that the service activities in the fields of Education,
Health Care, Providing Safe Drinking Water and other free services undertaken
by Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust under the guidance of Sri Sathya Sai Baba have
been having great impact on the society in India and humanity worldwide.
The
Vice President said that Sri Satya Sai Baba’s principal message was love and he
was the embodiment of selfless love and his life was a saga of selfless love
for the humanity. Baba served all humanity irrespective of caste, creed, race
or religion and he propagated and practiced Unity of all Faiths symbolized, he
added.
Following
is the text of Vice President's address:
"I
am extremely fortunate to be with all of you on the eve of the 92nd
birth anniversary of SriSatya Sai Baba and the launch of the archives today.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba, a Loving God to His devotees, a
universal teacher and humanitarian to others, inspired millions of people
across the globe to actively participate in service of humanity.
He was a great transformational leader. He
transformed the physical landscape here at Puttapathi. A small village has
become a vibrant global spiritual retreat. He transformed the villagers’ lives
through the provision of drinking water. He transformed and demonstrated how
values can be inculcated through education and how healthcare can be delivered
to the poor. He established hospitals and educational institutions which are
rendering services and imparting education completely free of charge.
His teachings emphasize
truth, love, peace, right conduct, and non-violence. The service activities of
Sri Sathya Sai Baba's organisations that have worked in the national spirit are
truly commendable. It is heartening to note that the clarion call of Sri Sathya
Sai Baba motivated devotees across the world to form service organisations in
about 125 countries to serve the under privileged and needy.
The Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust was set up by Him
in 1972 with the objectives of extending relief to the poor, including
education and healthcare and any other objects of general public utility
without any discrimination of caste, creed, or religion.
Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust is a Public Charitable
Trust and not a religious Trust. It currently operates:
- two Super Specialty hospitals,
- two General Hospitals and
- two Mobile Hospitals
- a four-campus deemed
university described by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council
(NAAC) as a crest jewel of the Indian university education system;
- two residential schools with
Classes I to XII
The Trust under the divine guidance of Sri Satya
Baba has provided clean drinking water to over a million people in about 700
villages in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh.
Such drinking water supply water projects were
provided in East Godavari and West Godavari Districts of Andhra Pradesh and
Medak and Mahabubnagar Districts of Telangana.
A project to modernize Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra
Pradesh and the canal from Kandeleru to Poondi reservoir in Tamil Nadu was
taken up in order to provide drinking water supply to the city of Chennai.
The service activities in the fields of Education,
Health Care, Providing Safe Drinking Water and other free services undertaken
by Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust under the guidance of Sri Sathya Sai Baba have
been having great impact on the society in India and humanity worldwide. Sri
Sathya Sai Central Trust has been carrying on the service activities, which
were started by Sri Sathya Sai Baba in the same spirit with which they were
initiated.
Sri Satya Sai Baba’s principal message is love. He
is the embodiment of selfless love and His life is a saga of selfless love for
the humanity. Baba served all humanity irrespective of caste, creed, race or
religion. Sri Satya Sai Baba propagated and practiced Unity of all Faiths
symbolized by His statement:
There is only one religion; the religion
of Love
There is only one language; the language
of the Heart
There is only caste; the caste of
Humanity
There is only one Law; the Law of Duty
There is only one God, He is
Omnipresent.
Baba always exhorted people to do selfless service.
He says, “Hands that help are holier than the lips that pray”.
In fact, this is in the grand Indian tradition of
seeing every human being as divine and therefore, serving human beings is taken
as service to God.
I am pleased to note that Sri Sathya Sai Seva
organisation which plays a key role in many service activities undertaken by
the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust is spread through the length and breadth of
India having very active units in all the states of the country. I am impressed
by the fact that there are 14,700 Balvikas centres where in nearly 300,000
children are given orientation in Indian culture and taught Human values.
The universal message of Sri Sathya Sai is being
spread across the globe in 125 countries by the Sri Sathya Sai International
Organisation.
After the Mahasamadhi of Sri Sathya Sai Baba in
2011, the Trust has continued its public welfare works with the same spirit of
service.
I am delighted that the Trust completed a project
for supply of drinking water to another 118 villages in Anantapur district,
constructed 300 more houses to flood affected people of Orissa and participated
in the disaster relief operations of Hudhud Cyclone and in the Chennai
cyclones.
About 100 Sri Sathya Sai Schools in the country, set
up by devotees, are being provided with financial assistance to improve their
infrastructure like buildings, furniture and computer facilities to improve the
quality of education.
The divine inspiration provided by Sri Sathya Sai
Baba continues to drive the Trust’s new initiatives.
Among the recent additions is a new building in Sri
Sathya Sai General Hospital, PrasanthiNilayam, modernization of both the Super
specialty Hospitals, advanced Research Centre of Sri Satya Sai Institute of
Higher Learning, 2nd Mobile hospital in Chennai, a new women’s' college
building and a school building in Dharwad, Karnataka and construction of new buildings
at Sathya Sai Baba School, Mysuru.
I am extremely happy to inaugurate the Archives
today.
In His lifetime, Sri Sathya Sai Baba had written
several books, addressed devotees in thousands of forums, written letters and
messages to people of all walks of life.
Many of these teachings and messages are available
in different formats, both audio and visual. The Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust
has collected these and has preserved them for posterity so that they would be
available for seekers of knowledge in the years to come. There is a veritable
treasure house of 7000 manuscripts, 9000 audio spools, 5,50,000 feet of films,
5000 CD / DVDs, 10,000 Video tapes of about 18,000 hours and 1, 50,000 photos.
These can be used by researchers and those who wish to study the message of
this great sage.
A state of the art Archives centre has been
established as per International standards in Prasanthi Nilayam for this
purpose. The Archives centre which is one of its kind in the country is built
on multiple levels with custom designed special vaults. The building has inner
and outer shells, sterile corridors, illumination at 300 lux , high levels of
dust control and robust security systems. I am told that this system can ensure
preservation of the archived material for hundreds of years.
These items have been digitized and kept in the
Archival building. This would facilitate content access in electronic form and
help disseminate the message of Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
Sri Satya Sai Baba was a great spiritual leader who
distilled the essence of Indian philosophical heritage and conveyed it in a
very simple but effective way to the masses.
As the great sage Narada describes a divine person:
Sa tarati lokaanstaarayati (He not only navigates the ocean of life but also
helps all others to cross this ocean).
He used to address his devotees as “paramatma
swarupullara” (embodiments of divinity). With this perspective, he said, “If
you lift the hand to serve, to help, to console, to encourage another man you
are lifting it for God, because in every man is God.” He had also said,
“Service is worship. Each act of service is a flower placed at the feet of
God.”
For Him, Selfless service to humanity was the
essence of devotion. This echoes the conception of devotion that Narada gives
us in his Bhakti Sutras: “Saa parama prema roopa”. This unconditional, sublime
love can transform human beings into devoted souls serving God through service
to humanity.
That is the grand ideal set by Sri Satya Sai Baba
before us and demonstrated through his speech and actions that this is really
possible. It is the same spirit and the eternal flame he has kindled that is
making our lives more meaningful.
I invoke Baba’s gracious blessings on the Trust and
all of us around the world so that we can lead fulfilled lives. May we follow
the path of Satya, Dharma, Prema, Shanthi that he has shown us.
May we commit ourselves to work, as Sri Satya Sai
guided us, for the progress of humanity, with love, compassion, right conduct
and truthfulness.
Jai Hind!"
***
KSD/BK