In Conversation: What is Rural Development?

July 23, 1998

Coming towards a student …

Swami: Do you want sports?

Student: No, Swami.

Swami: (Pointing to another student) He is a dancer. He danced in Brindavan. He was young then. But now he has grown like giraffe. (To that student) Do you dance now also?

Student: Yes, Swami.

Swami: In the Hostel? Boys will be frightened to see you dancing. (To the School hostel Warden) Today is your Hostel Anniversary, is it not?

Warden: Yes, Swami.

Swami: Anniversaries come and go.

Warden: Swami, please talk to the students.

Swami: (To the Institute students) When is your Hostel Anniversary?

Students: 25th December, Swami. (Bhagavan had inaugurated the Senior Hostel at Prashanti Nilayam on Christmas Day, 1980)

Sri Sathya Sai Hostel decorated on Christmas Day - its anniversary

Swami: How do you know? Hardly any of you were here then. It is 20 years now. You were not even born then. See, on the coming Sunday you cannot come to Poornachandra. They are making the sets for the serial. The scene depicts Shiva and Parvati coming down the Himalayas and performing a Shiva Tandavam (the cosmic dance). If they build it outside, there are chances that it will get spoilt when it rains. So I told them to do it inside.

Students: Swami, please come to the Institute or to the hostel.

Swami: In the Institute, you will be sitting on chairs. It would not be like coming to Poornachandra. In Poornachandra, you will sit down and your mother-in-law will serve Pakodas! (To a student) You have not yet come for a Poornachandra session, is it not?

Student: Yes, Swami.

Swami: (To a teacher, referring to his shirt) What is this cloth?

Teacher: Swami, Khadi.

Swami: What colour is this? It is like bathroom cloth!

Teacher: Swami, it was nice when it was new. Now it has faded.

Swami: What is this dress? Is it a Safari suit?

Teacher: Swami, it is Khadi Safari.

Swami: Where did you get it stitched?

Teacher: Swami, it is from the Muslim Weavers’ Association, Anantapur. We had undertaken a project, I purchased it then.

Swami: I am asking as to where you got it stitched?

Teacher: Sai Tailors.

Swami: The stitching is not good.

Teacher: Swami, nice Khadi cloth. Gandhian.

Swami: How is teaching going on? What subject are you teaching?

Teacher: Integrated Rural Development.

Swami: What is Rural Development?

Teacher: Developing the villages… SAI is the starting point.

Swami: Rural Development is about providing drinking water and sanitation to the villagers. Health will come along with good sanitation. The villagers must also be taught to grow drumsticks, coconut trees along with coriander plants etc., near their houses. This can help them to be self-sufficient. 

Teacher: Also, they must be taught to be united.

Swami: You are not telling these to the villagers.

Source: Students with Sai: Conversations (1991-2000)