On the occasion of Bhagawan Sri Balasai Baba’s 47th Birthday celebrations, in His divine speech, our beloved Balasai Baba stressed the importance of doing service to others, and also, Balasai Baba said that only singing Bhajans and praying with two hands in the morning and evening is not sufficient, but it is necessary to use those two hands to perform service to others. These words inspired us to do service, and, on the train journey returning to Hyderabad from Kurnool following the birthday celebrations, we discussed just what services we can do. Firstly we thought we can do Balasai Narayana Seva i.e.. free meals Seva (service) to the needy.

We got permission from Balasai Baba on 28th January 2007 when He came to lines to give His blessings. We planned to do this service on the first and fourth Sunday of each month, starting on 4th February 2007. We got permission from MNJ Cancer Hospital to give meals to the attendants of patients who come from the villages. As it is a Government hospital, and because the fees are less than private hospitals, only poor people come for treatment. Since most of these attendants don’t, or are not able to provide their own food, they can get very hungry waiting around for many hours in the hospital, so w e commenced our Seva by distributing items of food to them.

Some of the members of the Balasai Seva Samiti provided the required food items whilst others gave money. A total quantity of 3 kg Sweet, 8 kg Rice, 4 kg Dahl, 7 litre Curd, 9 dozen plantains, cucumber pickle, 150 leaf plates and 200 glasses was given to us for the service.

We all gathered in the ashram by 10 am, and after praying for a while in the Balasai Baba Pooja hall, we then went to the Hanuman temple in Red Hills. There we invited 24 people from the slum area, and after reciting the Food-Prayer, we started with the service. All the poor and needy people were very happy with the provided meals, and all loudly sang jai (praise) to Sri Balasai Baba. We then went to a cancer hospital and served 125 attendants in the same manner. In this way we completed the first Balasai Narayana Seva successfully. Most of the people said that they already knew about Balasai Baba, and, at their request, we gave them each a photo of Balasai Baba. They all felt very happy to receive the added boon of these photos.

On 4th March 2007, the first Sunday of this month, we again started at 10:30 am from the ashram after some prayers. This month we provided a larger quantity of the items because in the last month we ran a little short of food and there were a few people who missed out. All the members of the Balasai Seva Samiti who participated in the Narayana Seva Service, participated by providing the quantity of 5 kg Sweet, 18 kg Rice, 6 kg Dahl, 10 litre Curd, 12 dozen plantains, mixed vegetable pickle, 200 leaf plates and 250 glasses.

First we served to 30 beggars at the Hanuman temple, and then we invited people from two Government hospitals, a cancer hospital, and the Niloufer Women and Children’s hospital, to a place convenient for both, and served to 150 persons. This month we have served to a total of 180 people.

In the coming months, we are planning to visit children who are suffering with HIV AIDS, as well as to the Aged and Orphanage homes, to give them support and to serve them. Interested devotees can join us in the Balasai Narayana Seva in the coming months.