Service Projects: The spirit of service...

Embodiments of the Divine Spirit! You must realise that your service activities are done for the sake of your own spiritual purification and uplift and have nothing to do with Swami. All actions should be done with a view to purifying the mind and removing all the dross from it. This is Swami's teaching. - Sathya Sai Baba
Discourse in the Poornachandra Auditorium, 21 Nov 1988

US Pilgrimage Service Committee is responsible to oversee the service activities that could heighten the sense of reverence and increase the focus on Swami for devotees during the preparation for and at the time of the Pilgrimage.

Service at Puttaparthy:

Keeping the logistics in consideration, overseas devotees aren’t usually encouraged to take up local service projects at Puttaparthy. However the Service committee will

• Continue to explore offerings for needed supplies and monitory requirements for the Sathya Sai Medical Institution in India
• If given the approval to serve in the canteen, devotees will be organized to provide the help needed
• Prasad for distribution to all devotees will be acquired and made available during the Pilgrimage time. Indian sweets would be ordered at the ashram for distribution in order to keep financial resources at the ashram

Service in USA

Rather than adding more projects, we will focus on efforts that might infuse on-going Sai selfless service projects with increased reverence and devotion, perhaps increasing the number of devotees who will participate in selfless service projects
This may include:

• Encouraging devotees to spend an extra 5 minutes in personal interaction or conversation with a recipient of the service
• Reminding them to put more effort in remembering and focusing on the fact that they are serving God during the activity
• Participating in Sai selfless service between now and Pilgrimage time for at least 108 hours. That would be about 4 hours of service per week. Although no record will be kept for the actual number of service hours, it may help us all be more aware of how much more we could do to serve our brothers and sisters in our communities, whether we are involved in an organized service project or going about our normal daily activities
• Offering a smile or other gesture of goodwill can be another kind of selfless service, and a reminder to see all as incarnations of God