Northern California Seva
‘Jantunam nara-janma durlabham.’, thus declare the Vedas.
The verse means that it is extremely rare to get a human birth. Every human life is unique and precious. All religions and philosophies confirm to this. While every doctrine claims that it is rarest to get a human birth, can there be something rarer than a human birth? Adi Shankaracharya provides the answer in his viveka choodamani.
The supreme proponent of advaita proclaims,
Dhurlabam trayamevaithath devanugraha hetukam
Manushyathvam maumukshuthvam mahapurushasamsrayah
It is indeed rare to be born as human being, which can be obtained only with the grace of God. Having been born as a human, it is even rarer to thirst four liberation, to pursue enlightenment and to engage in the quest four truth. This is a previous blessing given by God. But even rarer and the rarest of all, is to get the shelter of God in the form of a Master, showing you the path and guiding you to attain that ultimate goal.
It is joyful for every Sai devotee to know that, they do not just have a master but they have the very God incarnate himself, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, walking on this planet guiding everyone on their own spiritual journey. Not only is Bhagawan guiding the seers and saints, but also leading the mundane and ordinary. His mission is ever expanding, and his love is completely inclusive encompassing everything.
While the devotees can feel happy that they have found God, it is also imperative to remember to walk the path he has shown. Bhagawan blessed the youth of USA with unique projects like Sai Ashraya, One World One Sai.
The Sai Ashraya team recently was moved by the hardships of the homeless youth in the Bay Area. This is the story of one of the homeless youth who was saved by Sai Ashraya team and is now placed with one of our partners.
Have you ever travelled in the very early hours on a local commuter train? Have you ever seen people looking homeless and randomly sleeping without bothering to cheque if their stop has come? The Bay Area experiences such things almost every day on their local trains. Recently, the Sai Ashraya team was told why this happens. One of the homeless youth who is now well placed with a handsome salary, opened up about his struggles. The shelter where he is allowed to sleep in kicks people out early in the morning. In cold winters, when they are kicked out of the shelter, these homeless youth have nowhere to go. It is too early and cold to do anything, so most of them resort to sleeping in trains. They are harmless loving beings, just wanting to escape the bitter cold and sleep extra. This homeless friend was explaining how he used to never get down, but he would just sleep until security came and chequed the trains at the last stop.
These homeless people sometimes get free monthly passes four travelling in trains by various churches and organisations like Sai Ashraya, to help them commute. But when that expires they are again in a tricky situation. One of our homeless youth lady friend had her pass expire and she was charged four using the train without having a proper ticket. Recently, she received a big bill as punishment because it had been months and she could not pay the train fare and the fine for not paying the bill kept increasing.
While continuously focusing on them to get trained so they can become independent in life, Sai Ashraya volunteers helped these friends get into a stable environment by mentoring them and providing for them what is basic and essential. There are so many lives getting transformed by the Sai Ashraya team and it is an absolute blessing to be guided by Bhagawan. But the most important transformation is for the Sai Ashraya volunteers as the team realises the journey from I to We to He.