Sathya sai international organisation

Sathya Sai on Money and Service

Madhusudan’s attitude and statements on the topics of money and service appear to be in stark contrast to Swami's. Let us look further into what Swami said about money and service:

What is required for service is not money or materials. A loving heart is the first requisite. All service done without a love-filled heart is as dry as dust. Fill your hearts with love. When you are filled with conceit, everything looks out of shape. When you are immersed in the Spirit, everything looks good and beautiful. Forgetting this higher destiny, people are ceasing to be human.

People dodge the main issue of limiting their desires and instead, donate some token amount for the activities taken up by Sathya Sai Organisations. Money was never desired by Sathya Sai Organisations. The main agenda of our Organisation is to ensure that people stand as ideals for others to emulate. We should change our mindset gradually to be able to achieve this. Sathya Sai Organisations should work for this with unity without any discriminations of caste, creed or nationality.

SSS 21.31: November 21, 1988, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume21/sss21-31.pdf

Religion has declined in this land due to this donation-seeking and donation-granting. Really speaking, the most precious donation is a pure mind. Give that to the Organisation and it will shine.

SSS 7.18: April 21, 1967, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume07/sss07-18.pdf

Through sacrifice you will come to know that your real nature is charity. Charity does not mean that you have given some money to an individual or an organisation. The removal of all of the evil thoughts that are within you is true charity. Charity will , in turn confer purity upon you. Once you have purity, there will be unity. And once you have unity, you can reach Divinity.

Sathya Sai Newsletter USA, Vol. 13, Number 4, p.20, http://www.saibaba.ws/teachings1/selflessservice.htm

You should not draw in anyone as member of the samiti for the sake of the money that he or she may have. Guna (qualities) are more valuable than ānās (coins). Money is the root cause of all misunderstandings and factions. Keep it in the background. Give it the least importance. Have love, humility, detachment and service as your funds.

SSS 8.44: November 21, 1968, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume08/sss08-44.pdf

You need not have to spend a lot of money in service. Sanctify your life by undertaking loving service. Today, the old students of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning have brought a cheque for Rs. 48 lakhs to present to Swami as a token of their love and service. This amount has been saved by them from their salaries, by undergoing lot of difficulties. But to whom should the amount belong, really? This amount is meant to be utilised for service in the villages. It is for serving the poorest of the poor. Therefore, I told them, "My dear ones! You deposit the money in the bank and undertake the service activities with the interest accrued on the amount." Money is of no help in developing good qualities. Sacrifice alone can develop noble qualities.

SSS 37.1: January 1, 2004, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume37/sss37-01.pdf

Pride of wealth is another grievous human failing, which causes the downfall of man. All forms of pride, based on birth, wealth, power or scholarship, have to be given up totally. Only when egotistical pride is offered as a sacrifice at the altar of the Divine can man discover his true nature. This is the dedication that is called for as the first step in the spiritual journey.

SSS 21.5: January 16, 1988, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume21/sss21-05.pdf

The advent [of this Avatar] took place sixty four years ago. All these years, this hand has not stretched at any time to seek anything from anyone. I have not asked anyone. I will never ask anyone and there will never be an occasion for it.

SSS 23.34: November 23, 1990, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume08/sss08-44.pdf

SUMMARY 1. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says "What is required for service is not money or materials. A loving heart is the first requisite. Money was never desired by Sathya Sai Organisations". (SSS 21.31) 2. Madhusudan Naidu, as previously stated, says he asked Dr Ram Shetty for help with continuing his hospital. 3. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says "Religion has declined in this land due to this donation-seeking and donation-granting. Really speaking, the most precious donation is a pure mind". (SSS 7.18) 4. Madhusudan Naidu also claims that Sri Sathya Sai Baba asked Tigrett for money for the Super Specialty Hospital. 5. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says "All these years, this hand has not stretched at any time to seek anything from anyone. I have not asked anyone. I will never ask anyone and there will never be an occasion for it". QUESTIONS 1. If Madhusudan is simply repeating what he hears Swami say as he claims, why is there such a difference between their attitudes to money? 2. What benefit would Madhusudan Naidu see in claiming that Sri Sathya Sai Baba asked devotees for money? 3. What benefit would he see in saying that Swami's mission was dependent on the donations of rich men?

Then how did Swami build the hospitals and colleges?

Sri Sathya Sai Baba said that He never asked for money, He simply willed and the funds became available. Below is one of the very few times when Swami mentioned how these service projects were achieved. Note that in each case it was a devotee who came to Swami offering to complete the project. Swami never asked for money, He simply willed and the money came:

Of course, money is an essential requisite and those who have assumed responsibility for service projects do need it. Six thousand villages have been adopted by the units of the organization and facilities for education and medicine are provided therein, besides roads and wells. When I decide on a project, the wherewithal for accomplishing has to be spontaneously available without any fund raising campaign. My will has the power to concretize my plan. I willed that a College must rise in Puttaparthi; the Rajmatha of Nawanagar built it. In order to feed it with properly trained boys, I willed a Higher Secondary School; Bozzani from America asked that he be given the chance to build it. I thought that at this place education on Sai lines must be available to children from the Primary stage itself. Craxi, the brother of the Prime Minister of Italy, offered to build the School. At Bangalore, when I decided on a plan for a College and Hostel, Mrs. Elsie Cowan asked that she be given the privilege of completing it. Such is the might of my Sankalpa my Will.

SSS 18.25: November 23, 1985, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume18/sss18-25.pdf

SUMMARY 1. Madhusudan Naidu, speaking of those who had given land or money to him: "Because of such people only, Bhagawan’s mission is continuing, otherwise it would have stopped long, long ago." 2. Sathya Sai Baba says "When I decide on a project, the wherewithal for accomplishing has to be spontaneously available without any fund raising campaign. My will has the power to concretize my plan". QUESTIONS 3. Why then would Swami say that it was only because of the donations of rich men that He was able to continue His mission?