Sai Hamara

A LEADING NEWS PAPER PUBLISHES AN ARTICLE APPRECIATING THE SATHYA SAI CENTRAL TRUST (MAIL FROM SATISH NAIK 2014, AUGUST 5TH)

Om Sairam dearest Sai Family

Swami Founded Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust which was officially Registered in the year 1972. Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust has been doing unparalleled and yeomen service to the mankind and paved way to stupendous projects which stand as " Milestones" of Sri Sathya Sai Avatar, be it the Super specialty hospitals, Educational institutions , Water projects to name a few.

It is a moment of pride and happiness to all the Sai Family as the media which spoke ill on the entire Sai Set up is slowly opening its " eyes".

A leading English daily of India, DAILY BHASKAR in its recent issue has appreciated the contributions of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust especially after Swami's Mahasamadhi. Here is the link for the article.
http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/NAT-TOP-from-crisis-to-credibility-how-sathya-sais-trust-turned-around-the-fate-in-three-4688779-PHO.html

Some Excerpts from this article

(Just three years ago, there were widespread speculations about the future of the empire of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, build (built) over five decades. Sai had created a network of trusts and institutions that provided health care, medical facilities and education to many. Since Sai's presence was considered enough to streamline everything, his passing away on April 24, 2011 led many to believe that end of the empire was imminent" )
On various occasions Swami has said it very clearly that Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust will remain so long as " Moon and Sun" exists in this world. Even though many Non- Devotees and few of our own Sai-devotee family members thought " otherwise", after being carried away by the misleading media reports during Swami's mahasamadhi, it is only His grace that the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust is functioning with doubled enthusiasm with so many service oriented projects in the recent past.

The unique feature of the Trust and the reason for its success in spite of PHYSICAL absence of Swami is because of the amount of transparency and accountability. The Trust is adhering to strict internal audits, contract evaluations and even today the first thing you read after entering the Ganesh Gate is OFFERINGS ARE NOT ALLOWED ( which includes any thing in cash and kind) unlike other temples which lately have come out with life size, fancy, Donation boxes and that's that first thing you see as you enter the Temple premises.

As part of the transparency measures taken up by the Trust, from the year 2011, Annual reports consisting of the expenses, new projects, interest earned on deposits, new donations etc are made public and available on the official website of the Central Trust. Here is the link for the Annual report for the year 2012-2013
http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/Pdf/SSSCT%20-%20Annual%20Report_2012-13%20-%20Web%20Distribution.pdf

As directed by Swami, even today there are no cash offerings and no practice of fund raising of any sorts. Lot of devotees who visit Prasanthi (i am sure you also would have experienced this) keep enquiring with sevadals or fellow devotees as to how to make offering to Swami ( Central Trust).

Here i would like to narrate a personal experience when i went to deposit a cheque sent by a devotee friend to the Central Trust office opposite the South Indian canteen. As i was asked by my friend to deposit the cheque into the " corpus fund" i was asked to wait for my turn. Mean while here entered one " visibly" poor man. He seemed to be little confused and unsure of something. I thought he mistook the Central Trust office for canteen token issuing counter. He was holding 100 rupee note in his hand. Looking at the 100 rupee note and his physical appearance this man reminded me of Lord Krishna's childhood friend " Sudama" ( also known as Kuchela in South India). He came up to me and asked ( in Hindi) "where is the place to make a deposit to Swami's Trust". I told him you have come to the right place. As i was seated next to him and as we waited for our turn, he started a small conversation . He said he is from a very remote village in the Indian state of Bihar. I asked him how did he come to Puttaparthi. He said his son had a heart related problem and was successfully operated in the Super Speciality Hospital. He continued, "such a big operation was done absolutely free of charge and this hospital should exist for eternity and beyond so i am offering this 100 rupees which is from my heart and I know it is nothing compared the huge expenses incurred in running this hospital but I feel it is my responsibility to offer something to Swami's hospital". I really had tears seeing his devotion and more importantly the " impact" made by Swami's hospitals to the poor and downtrodden.. He indeed is a very " responsible" devotee who took pains to find the office and made sure his hard earned money went to the continuation of Swami's mission and in spreading His message of love.

Jai Sai Ram
Satish Naik
Posted on 5th August, 2014