Issue 14 June 2014: Dedicated to the hearts in which Sri Sathya Sai Baba continues to live in today and forevermore, the eternal spirit of Sai.

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Issue 14 June 2014: Dedicated to the hearts in which Sri Sathya Sai Baba continues to live in today and forevermore, the eternal spirit of Sai.

should realize that man has not only a mind which conceives thoughts, but also a heart which can put them into practice.

When he asked Baba to cut the first lock of hair Baba replied I am Baba, not barber! There was a boy named Kasturi who asked for a mantra from Swami.

1 Issue 14 June 2014: Dedicated to the hearts in which Sri Sathya Sai Baba continues to live in today and forevermore, the eternal spirit of Sai. Page 1: Contents Swami s Quote Letter from the Editors Sai Jokes Trivia Pages 2: Preface & Dedication Page 3-4: SSE Seva Activities Page 5-9: SSE Contributions Page 10: Easwaramma Day Highlights We should realize that man has not only a mind which conceives thoughts, but also a heart which can put them into practice. ~ Sathya Sai Baba Sai Jokes Letter from the Editors A young man who was teased about his long hair by Baba was advised to get it cut. When he asked Baba to cut the first lock of hair Baba replied I am Baba, not barber! There was a boy named Kasturi who asked for a mantra from Swami. As he waited, Kasturi bathed in the Ganges and fasted. Nothing came and at lunch Kasturi was disappointed. Swami, who was sitting right next to Kasturi, asked him Why aren t you eating? Kasturi replied sadly, The mantra Swami said What is the purpose of a mantra? Kasturi said To get closer to the Lord. Swami looked down at Kasturi s arm and his own and said Well, how much closer do you want to get? Groups 3 & 4 have published the Sai Voice with the last pages featuring an interview with Shanti Aunty and Putti Uncle and the 30 th anniversary of the center. This newsletter consists of contributions from all of the children in SSE which they compiled also in posters. This has been a collaborative effort and we offer this collection at the divine lotus feet of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Trivia What does Prashanti Nilayam translate to?

Preface Our Norwalk Sai center has been in existence for thirtytwo years now.

the Sathya Sai Center of Pound Ridge, New York, in the home of Mimi Goldberg. Since we met in a barn that was not winterized, the Center had its winter quarters in another devotee s home in the area.

And that search yielded incredibly generous and grateful hosts who happened to live in Norwalk. That was three decades ago, and today the center is larger and stronger than ever.

2 Preface Our Norwalk Sai center has been in existence for thirtytwo years now. According to the Norwalk SSE website: Dedication: In living devotion to, and for Sri Sathya Sai Baba What we so fondly call the Norwalk Center or Our Center began its existence in the late 1970 s as the Sathya Sai Center of Pound Ridge, New York, in the home of Mimi Goldberg. Since we met in a barn that was not winterized, the Center had its winter quarters in another devotee s home in the area. It was only when that family had to make a move to another part of the state that the search for a new location commenced. And that search yielded incredibly generous and grateful hosts who happened to live in Norwalk. That was three decades ago, and today the center is larger and stronger than ever. Looking back retrospectively on thirty-two years of existence, Prasad Uncle said: It s not the thirtytwo years that matters. It s every single week. We go week to week. Every Sunday is a new Sunday. That s the way we feel, that s how Baba has taught us, in many ways. Just as Baba said - My birthday is the date when divinity blossoms in your heart. Every week, we have learned how much we need and love having the center in our home, the importance the center has to us. The selflessness, generosity, and humility of Shanti Auntie and Prasad-Uncle is the highest order of service. Their appreciation of the importance of SSE is unmatched. But more importantly is that Aunty Shanti and Prasad Uncle s selflessness in opening their home brings enlightenment and joy to the many families who attend as well as to them, and with the benevolence of Baba, that joy will be shared by everyone for years to come. Aunty Shanti commented: [these were] the greatest years of my life. And for those of us blessed enough to come to the center, they, most certainly, were the greatest of ours. Salad Seva, October 2013

Salad Seva This year, it has been the privilege of students of SSE to participate in numerous and plentiful activities to give back to the community through salad seva.

In these sevas, students and their families volunteered equipment and ingredients to make the salads.

The pasta, vegetables, and lettuce were then combined to make a salad, which was then packaged in containers.

, branch dates back to 1986, where they started as a food shelter in nearby Norwalk. Today, they provide meals to over 200 families each month, adding up to over 123,000 meals a year.

3 Salad Seva This year, it has been the privilege of students of SSE to participate in numerous and plentiful activities to give back to the community through salad seva. These seva or community service opportunities have allowed for students to practically apply the teachings of Sathya Sai Baba to make the world around us a better place. In these sevas, students and their families volunteered equipment and ingredients to make the salads. The students (along with some responsible adults to avoid any trips to the hospital) then rinsed, cut and prepared the vegetable, and boiled pasta. The pasta, vegetables, and lettuce were then combined to make a salad, which was then packaged in containers. These containers were delivered along with dressing by a parent volunteer to the Operation Hope food shelter. Operation Hope is a center to help address hunger issues. Their Fairfield, Conn., branch dates back to 1986, where they started as a food shelter in nearby Norwalk. Today, they provide meals to over 200 families each month, adding up to over 123,000 meals a year. Every month, the SSE students met both before and during class to reach the goals they demanded of themselves. As students, we believe that these sevas are important in translating the moral platitudes of teaching into the physically understandable act of giving. By doing, we feel that we gain a greater sense of understanding of what we have, and that is the true beauty of any volunteer work. At the DOMUS Center March 2014, making salad for Operation Hope Fairfield, Conn.,

Snack Seva The Snack Seva was initiated as a service activity for the children in Groups 1 and 2, ages

During this seva, the children mix together Chex Mix, dried fruits, granola bars and yogurt raisins to

Domus is a non-profit organization in Stamford that primarily targets juvenile delinquents in the state

Domus has a specific agenda to seek and house homeless, unloved and uncared for children, and to train

4 Snack Seva The Snack Seva was initiated as a service activity for the children in Groups 1 and 2, ages 6-11, at the Norwalk Sai Center in Connecticut. During this seva, the children mix together Chex Mix, dried fruits, granola bars and yogurt raisins to make a healthy snack for the residents in Domus. Domus is a non-profit organization in Stamford that primarily targets juvenile delinquents in the state of CT. Domus has a specific agenda to seek and house homeless, unloved and uncared for children, and to train them in self discipline and skills development in order to help them become good citizens. For the successful completion of this project, we circulate a signup sheet for all of the materials that need to be contributed. For example, every time we do this project, people sign up to donate various food items to help cover the cost. The goal of this seva project is to encourage good eating habits by providing a healthy snack for the residents, which will combat obesity. This service activity reinforces the teachings of selfless service, teamwork and collaboration. By engaging the children in seva from a young age, we can cultivate the roots of self sacrifice and compassion, thus embodying the principle of Service Above Self.

SSE Contributions Each of us has many duties, carry out your duty with love.

For example, keeping our rooms clean and helping to do the daily chores.

Then we had to grab as many chocolates as we could.

This taught us not to be greedy and to limit our desires. ~ Anagha Khisti & Samar Rokkam, Group 1 See God in everyone.

5 SSE Contributions Each of us has many duties, carry out your duty with love. To practice this aspect of Sai into Action, we listed the duties that we could do to help our parents at home. For example, keeping our rooms clean and helping to do the daily chores. ~ Ishana Kumar & Ishaa Kannan, Group 1 If there are no desires, then one can experience supreme bliss. As an experiment, we put candy into a jar. Then we had to grab as many chocolates as we could. After trying to grab the chocolate, we found out that we could only get our hand out if we took one piece. If we took a lot, our hand would be stuck. This taught us not to be greedy and to limit our desires. ~ Anagha Khisti & Samar Rokkam, Group 1 See God in everyone. Do not criticize and find fault with others. From this, we learned that God is in everyone. We should practice loving all and seeing God in everyone. ~ Atma Krishnan & Sai Petro, Group 1 Real Happiness lies in helping others. Fill your heart with compassion. For an activity, we traced our hands on a piece of paper and wrote down how we could help someone. We also placed cut out hearts to show that we are sharing our love with people when we help them. ~ Sriram Pankanti & Siddharth Avvari, Group 1

6 Right Conduct: Right Conduct is living in a moral and spiritual way, rather than by a material and physical way. Right Conduct ties up all the Spiritual Values. When you are truthful, peaceful, respectful, and commit no violence, you are practicing Right Conduct. When you apply this value in your life, you are taking a step towards God. Swami says, If you take one step towards me, I will take one hundred steps towards you. Right Conduct also means doing the right thing without expecting a reward in return. Hence, practice Right Conduct with every action. ~ Anusha Chegu, Group 2 Right Conduct: Sathya is what I teach, Dharma is how I live, Shanti is the mark of my personality, Prema is my very nature. I think that this quote showa how Swami and all beings should live and act. This is Right Conduct. ~ Sanskriti Kumar, Group 2 Truth: When you seek the Truth, you are seeking God. Truth exists so God also exists. Truth is considered as life giving itself breath because if a person loses his/her breath (lies), his/her life will end and become useless. Believe that there is nothing greater than Truth; nothing more precious and everlasting. The tongue should be engaged only in speaking the truth, in speaking sweetly and in consuming what is pleasant and wholesome for the body. ~ Group 2 Peace: Peace is when there is no war or violence. Peace is when everyone works in harmony. Another meaning of peace is to be calm and tranquil. Peace- it can only come from the fountain of Peace within. ~ Group 2 Non-Violence: Non-Violence means not doing harm to anyone. You cannot use words nor do actions that might hurt people. For example, MLK wanted more rights for African Americans. So he used Non-Violence to protest. I think Non- Violence can help the world in many ways. You should be careful with regard to your food. Excessive eating does violence to the body. Moderation is conductive to happiness. Ahimsa is thus what confers happiness. When you realize that God is in everyone, you will practice Non-Violence. ~ Joshitha Arora, Group 2 Love: Love means being affectionate for someone or something. See with the eyes of Love, hear with the ears of Love, work with the hands of Love, think thoughts of Love, feel Love in every nerve. ~ Group 2

I have a passion for eastern classical vocal and dance. However, I particularly enjoy dancing for relaxation and happiness. I am learning Bharatha Natyam from an accomplished guru.

7 I have a passion for eastern classical vocal and dance. However, I particularly enjoy dancing for relaxation and happiness. I am learning Bharatha Natyam from an accomplished guru. The key elements consist of Nritta, Nritya, and Natya. Nritta is a combination of complicated rhythmic footwork along with symmetrical hand movements which enhances the beauty of the dance. Nritya utilizes the face, hands and body to convey the literal meaning of the lyrical of the dance. It is expressed through Angika, use of the body, Vachika, words used, Aharya, costume, make-up, lighting, and decorations, and Satvika, the emotions. Natya is a drama where the dancer portrays a story or tale through mime and facial expressions. I have come to like this art form and with each practice session, involving discipline, hard work, and dedication, I am able to feel the oneness within. Swami s teachings explicitly convey happiness by living in the moment. Each year, we perform for the Volunteers in Service to Education in India (VSEI) to fundraise for a worthy cause. This exemplifies the motto Love All, Serve All. I am able to connect with Swami s message of Love and Happiness from the above illustrations. ~ Deloshene Sittambalam, Group 3 Below is a contribution by Group 3 Student Srishti Arora:

8 Group 4: Sai In Action Sai in action could refer to many different things; it could be a means to take the Sai in you, and to put that into action. Son going to a graveyard every Sunday and putting a flower on each grave, it could be the love between family members, it could be showing up at a friend s house with ice cream when they had just gone through a break up, or it could even just mean the smile shared between two strangers. Sai in action could, and is all of those things. So therefore, Sai in action means the love one shares with others. I find the most effective way to put Sai in action is not just to try to do things that have big effects, but taking every positive thought, like when you think, for example, that girl looks upset, I should go comfort her, and putting Sai in action means to put those things you think of, and putting them into practice. In everyday life, especially that of a teenager, stress in always present. We stress about exams, extra curriculars, and just fitting in. I get the most amount of stress when it comes to exams. Before an exam I sometimes find that I m unable to focus because the information is too boring or too much! I try to put my mind to it, but 9 times out of 10, I can t seem to make any progress. I see in my school that when many others run into this situation, they tend to go bezerk, slamming objects out of anger and yelling at friends. I use a different and much more effective technique. Like meditation, I sit in my desk, close my eyes, cover my face with my hands, and simply breathe. Although I don t say om within my meditation, I feel as though I m not thinking about anything, as though I m the only one in the universe. There is no exam, there are no people around you, there are no grades, high school, college, careers, etc. With this state of mind and Swami s help, I m able to return back to my studies, and continue on to ace the exam. ~ Hari Nair, Group 4 Sai in action for me is putting the best possible effort in everything, while limiting negative emotions. Having the mindset to persevere through challenges when completing a task is difficult and I feel that a true indication of Sai in action is not becoming discouraged. Even more importantly, keeping a positive attitude when facing adversity is crucial in order to give oneself a chance to recover from any challenges that one might face. I find that teachings of Swami apply in every situation working on day-to-day mundane tasks to major school assignments. Making sure to give my all has its own satisfaction regardless of the result and often a successful result is a product of this mindset. ~ Samyukt Kumar, Group 4 Sai in Action, to me, means understanding the importance of the relations we have with people around us. Sitting in the New York Subway is the greatest example of Sai in Action. The people around you they don t have any material connection with you. They are neither family, nor friends or colleagues. Yet they are your fellow human beings, and for a brief moment you share the gift of being connected. I think that looking at the people around you as related to you on a spiritual level, you see them in a different way. Looking around you in that subway car, it is easy to drift away and see them as unrelated, irrelevant. But seeing them as related, as the same, as I am, is the true gift of Swami these relations are more important than anything else in the world. In the words of Robert Oppenheimer: these are the strongest bonds in the world, even stronger than those that bind us [to the people we know], these are the deepest bonds that bind us to our fellow men. ~ Keshav Raghavan, Group 4

9 Sai In Action is embodied through the practice of Swami s principles of Service Above Self, Help Ever, Hurt Never and Love All Serve All. Service to others has been an integral component of my life, particularly at my local hospital and through peer tutoring in my school. When I volunteer, I am able to assist patients who are struggling with various health issues. I also see doctors and nurses compassionately performing their duties. The atmosphere of the hospital encourages me to sacrifice my time for the benefit of those who are in need. In school, I have also been an active proponent of the Positive Behavior Support to impart values such as good citizenship, respect for others and responsibility for our own actions. Swami tells us that living his teachings should not be a matter of convenience. When we do seva and live His teachings, we need to put others ahead of ourselves. We should, like the doctors and nurses in my hospital, be willing to chip away at our little selves in all our actions, so little-by-little the Big SELF is revealed. ~ Gajaan Sittambalam, Group 4 After learning about the five human values, I have putting Sai in Action comes down to learning to control, suppress, and eventually eliminate anger. By doing this, it is easy to follow and incorporate all five values in our lives. One of the very few times that I have been able to suppress my anger was when during a group project the majority of the group failed to do their assigned parts. By not getting angry, I was automatically able to incorporate Love, Peace, and Nonviolence into solving the situation. By not being angry, there was be no reason to lie, therefore it was easy to be Truthful when explaining why our project was incomplete. Wrong actions are also generally direct results of anger, and by eliminating anger, I was also sure that I was incorporating Right Action into the situation, which is the fifth and final of the values. Unfortunately, controlling anger is no simple task, which is why we have to constantly practice the teachings. ~ Suraj Jagtiani, Group 4 Sai in action to me constitutes applying the values we have learned through our numerous years of SSE to everyday, practical situations. For instance, if an opportunity comes up for me to help another person, I will do so to the best of my abilities, whether it be a simple action of holding the door open, or guiding someone through tough school work. It is important to be aware of other's problems and needs besides your own. It is essential to serve your community because hands that serve are holier than lips that pray. I try to find opportunities to help others, such as volunteering at a nearby health care center. As Swami has taught us, it is important not to expect any rewards from aiding another, whether they be material or verbal. In fact, as I have come to realize, the most rewarding aspect of serving another is seeing the smile on their face and knowing that you have made another person happy. Even if that does not occur, you should not be discouraged, and continue to serve others, because you know you have made a difference, and there is no feeling better than that. ~ Nikhil Ramachandran, Group 4

Easwaramma Day Highlights The Easwaramma Day festivities took

After a session of Bhajans, all of the SSE Groups gave

The Pre-SSE and Group 1 children took turns reading different

a lotus, and each one read a short description about what one

Group 3 took on the topic, Happiness Is.

Sai Center has brought happiness and impacted their lives.

10 Easwaramma Day Highlights The Easwaramma Day festivities took place a few weeks ago. After a session of Bhajans, all of the SSE Groups gave wonderful presentations. The Pre-SSE and Group 1 children took turns reading different quotes about nature which related back to the Sai into Action theme for this year. The Group 2 children made a beautiful poster in the shape of a lotus, and each one read a short description about what one of the five values meant to them. Group 3 took on the topic, Happiness Is... and incorporated what happiness was to them and how the Sai Center has brought happiness and impacted their lives. Group 4 shared a paragraph about what Sai into Action meant to them and how they have embodied it into their daily lives. The satsang was summed up with the offering of a unison bhajan to Easwaramma and all the mothers each received a flower.

Issue 13 - January 2011, Dedicated to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Issue 13 - January 2011, Dedicated to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba Contents Page 1: Letter from the Editors Contributions by SSE Groups Page 2-4: Contributions by SSE Groups Page 4: Word Search Crossword