On July 4th, 14 Sai devotees of Sri Sathya Sai Center Hetauda (Region 4) planted 91 saplings of different trees like Lavender, Ashoka, Pine, Gulmohar, and others in the premises of Sri Shankar Jyoti Lower Secondary School at Golfutar Hetauda.
Similarly On the occasion of National Forest Day, 93 saplings were planted on July 8th at Sathya Sai Uddyan, Shankhamul situated at the bank of Bagmati River. The chief guest of the program, former forest minister Mr. Agni Sapkota, offered flowers to Bhagawan and lighted the lamp amongst the vedas chanting by the youths. The Sai youths were singing bhajans while the minister, district forest officer (DFO), the former secretary, other guests and the Sai devotees planted tree saplings. About 200 Sai devotees attended the event. Due to the selfless dedication of SSSION in the campaign to clean Bagmati River, the government has given responsibility to SSSION to construct a park in 12 ropanis of land. SSSION has named this garden as Satya Sai Uddhyan (Sai Garden). The program as usual started with Omkar and Gayatri and ended with Aarati to Swami.
A follow up cleaning program was organized by SSSION at Satya Sai Uddhyan on July 23rd. A total of 35 Sai volunteers collected a truck of garbage.

New Bhajan Group

By the grace of Bhagawan Baba, on July 4th, a new bhajan group was added at Dhapasi, Kathmandu (Region 3) with initial count of 23 members. This brings the total number of bhajan groups in the region to 16. With the addition of this group, there are 109 bhajan groups and 99 Sai centers in Nepal.
Re-inauguration of Sri Sathya Sai Center Kuleswor
Sri Satya Sai Center at Kuleswor was badly damaged during the earthquake in 2015. Bhajans and other service activities of the center were being performed in a rented room. After completing the reconstruction of the center, it was reopened on July 16th. The devotee and youths were very happy to reclaim their “Sadhana Bhawan.” Thus to commemorate the happy homecoming, they named this day as “Happiness is Back.” The youths of this center offered Bhagawan a picture book containing photos of their service activities till date. The youths saved their pocket money, tiffin and other expenses to contribute in the reconstruction of the center. The chairperson of Region 3 and national spiritual coordinator lighted the re-inauguration lamp. About 100 Sai volunteers were present at the occasion. The program concluded with bhajans and Aarati to Swami.
 

Award for Blood Donation

The SSSION received a running shield (award) and certificate from the Blood Donors Association Nepal for collecting 360 units of blood. This was the 3rd continuous year that SSSION received this great recognition. Till date, 715 pints of blood has been collected from different blood donation camps organized by SSSION. The next award certificate was handed on July 23rd at the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the aforementioned association for helping the association by organizing blood donation programmed at 116 times.

Guru Poornima Celebrations

SSSION celebrated Guru Poornima organizing various spiritual and service works.
A total of 2000 Bal Vikas children from 25 Sai centers took out rallies at different parts of the country. The sweet little flowers of Swami’s garden offered their gratitude to their Satguru Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba singing bhajans as they walked through the streets, witnessed by crowd of Sai devotees and curious onlookers. The children were adorned in colorful costumes representing different religions of the world. They were holding placards with Swami’s messages on religious harmony.
The SSE children of Lamsure bhajan group, Hetaunda (Region 4) cleaned a nearby temple and planted saplings of 21 different tree saplings and 150 flowering plants. A group of 43 Sai volunteers along with the children were present during this occasion.
On the same day they organized a public bhajan at Kalika Mandir in the afternoon. After bhajan they performed aarati to Bhagawan Baba and distributed prasadam. A total of 51 Sai devotees were present on this occasion.
On July 23, SSSION organized a Blood Donation Program and collected 31 pints of blood at Birgunj (Region 4). On this very day SSSION acknowledged Sri Keshar Prasad Manandhar, a centenarian and a former teacher of a local school with Bhagawan Baba’s photo and a shawl at Birgunj.
The SSE children of Adharsha Nagar Bhajan Group, Nepalgunj (Region 7) provided a 15 year old disabled boy with school uniform and stationaries. He came from a poor financial background and had been disabled since birth. On the very day they also organized art and elocution competition and a special bhajan session.
The SSSION performed Paduka Pooja at SSS Center Simalchaur (Region 5). A total of 32 lady Sai devotees took part in the ceremony.

Supervision and Inspiration Campaign

On July 23rd, with the motive of monitoring and inspiring each other’s work, 8 centers and bhajan groups of the northern belt of Kathmandu (Region 3) jointly organized a day long program at SSS Center Khopasi. The program started with Omkar and Gayatri. The Chairperson of SSS Center Nala offered flower to Bhagawan and the Chairperson of SSS Center Banepa lighted the lamp. The deputy chairperson of the SSSCT Nepal spoke briefly on the various activities of SSSION. An hour long study circle was held on the topic, “how to run SSS Centers in an effective way”. After study circle, a training session (as prescribed by Prashanti Mandir) on bhajan singing was organized to train lead singers. The chairperson of Region 3 appreciated the work done by Sai centers and groups of her Region and prayed to Swami that they continue to do service and spread His message with even more faith and zeal.
 

Book release

“Dharma Bahini” one of the books from Bahini series, written by Bhagvan Baba was translated in Nepali. It was released on July 30 by the Chairperson of SSSION at Sri Sathya Sai Center Abukhaireni.