Grama Seva

One day in the month of October in the year 2000, the Revered Chancellor pointed out to the students a news report that appeared in a small column in a local newspaper, about a poor mother in a remote village, not being able to feed her two children on account of dire poverty, feeding poison instead to both the children and then consuming the poison herself. He said that such tragedies must never happen. He then resolved to bring succour to these poor people in the villages.

This triggered a unique project - The Sri Sathya Sai Grama Seva aimed at sensitizing the students of the Institute to the problems of our society, and needs of the lesser privileged sections of the community and the rural population which accounts for nearly 70% of the Indian population.

Sri Sathya Sai Grama Seva – Objectives

The Grama Seva activity has very noble objectives as its undercurrent. More than benefitting the beneficiaries in the villages, its the students and staff who are benefitted by participating in this initative. The main objectives are:

To expose the students to rural India and to give them a firsthand experience of 'the short and simple annals of the poor'.
To train students to work in teams and groups under constraints of time and resources.
To enable the students to appreciate the joy associated with service.

Sri Sathya Sai Grama Seva - Salient Features

The salient features of this unique service activity conducted by the Sri Sathya Sai Educational Institutions are:

Prasadam (tokens of love) distributed at the doorstep of each and every individual to every household, hut, and dwelling, irrespective of their social or economic status.
Activity conducted in an atmosphere of faith and trust. Number of people in each house identified and tokens of love distributed.
Food cooked, packed, transported and offered with the chanting of God's name, thus converting it into Prasadam.
Teachers and the students partake of the same Prasadam as their food.
Entire activity undertaken by the students and teachers without the help of any external agency.
Activity carried out not by disturbing any academic schedule but during the vacations.

The Grama Seva activity is an annual feature that follows weeks of planning and execution. Each year, the Grama Seva is held for about nine days in the last quarter of the year covering villages spanning the three Mandals of Puttaparthi, Bukkapatnam and Kothacheruvu of Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh..

Following are few of the Grama Seva statistics :

Number of Villages covered - Approx 160.
Total population covered - Approx 300,000.
Food packets distributed - Approx 310,000.
Laddoos distributed - Approx 280,000.
Dhotis and Sarees distributed – Approx 45,000 each.
Total no. of students involved in the seva – Approx 2000, Staff – Approx 220.
Number of trucks / tractors / other vehicles used - Approx 50.

Sri Sathya Sai Grama Seva - Message to Humanity

The Grama Seva aims at communicating the following important message to the society at large:

Service demands Quality and not Quantity.
Love must be the undercurrent of any service activity
Social Service is not 'Slow'cial Service nor is it 'Show'cial service.
Reaching out to the lowest of the low and the poorest of the poor in the social order.
Paropakaaraartham Idam Shariram - The very purpose of donning this human body is to be of service to others.
One must move from Vyashti (Individual) to Samashti (Society) to Srushti (Nature) to Parameshti (Divinity)