To unify, strengthen and expand the Sri Sathya Sai Organisations worldwide and firmly establish their connection with the sacred Abode of Peace, Prashanti Nilayam, with greater coordination and cooperation as directed by Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
A Brief History of Sri Sathya Sai Organizations
In 1961, during the festival of Dussera, Sri Sathya Sai Baba announced:
I am starting a Seva Samithi (Service Centre). People who become members of this samithi (centre) and perform selfless service will be liberated from the cycle of birth and death; not only themselves, but also their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But the test will be severe. I will see how many will withstand this test and emerge victorious in the end.
This marked the sowing of the seeds of a unique, entirely voluntary organisation that accepted into its network any individual without any distinction of caste, colour, creed, language, faith or socio-economic status and which would grow into a gigantic tree that would spread across the world in more than 120 countries.
On March 18, 1963, a Sri Sathya Sai Bhajan (Devotional Singing) Centre was inaugurated at Baba’s ashram in India, Prashanthi Nilayam (“Abode of Peace”). Within a few years, several bhajan groups sprang up in various states of India.
On July 5, 1965, the first Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithi was formally constituted by a few devotees in Bombay (now known as Mumbai) and blessed by Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Over the next year, similar units were formed in several other states with the guidance of Baba, who personally guided the structure and function with administrative rules and regulations founded on the principles of Love and Service:
The Sai Organisation is created to develop and foster Love; it is not established by coercion; it arose from the heart and expands the heart. The inner desire to attain Love and expand Love has taken external form as this Organisation.
Sri Sathya Sai, 21 November 1970
The Organisations bearing my name should not be used to publicise My Name or to create a new cult around My worship. They should try to spread interest in japam (recitation of the Name of God), dhyaanam (meditation) and other sadhanas (spiritual practices) that lead man towards God; they should demonstrate the joy that is derived from bhajan (group devotional singing) and Naamasmarana (remembrance of the Name of God), the Shaanthi (peace) that one can derive from Sathsang (good company). They should render seva (service) to the helpless, the sick, the distressed, the illiterate and the needy. Their seva (selfless service) should not be exhibitionist; it should not seek any reward, not even gratitude or thanks from those who receive it. Seva is sadhana, not a pastime of the rich and well-placed. Everyone must realise his own truth. That is the purpose of all the teaching, all the healing, all the counselling, all the organisation, all the advice that I give.
17 May 1968
I have not the slightest intention of using the Seva Samithis (Service Organisations) to propagate My Name or to pay homage to My Name on canvas. No! I am satisfied only when spiritual efforts and disciplines to uplift and purify man progress everywhere.
17 May 1968
From the late 1960s onwards, spiritual seekers from all over the world were attracted to Prashanthi Nilayam and, with Baba’s blessings, they founded local centres in Sri Lanka, the USA, Mexico, East Africa and Australia, and the first World Conference of Sai Organisations took place in Bombay (Mumbai). Over the next few decades, centres flourished in over 120 countries and world conferences were held every five years, where Baba would unite, instruct and guide the organisation through various committees, councils and foundations, which were adapted over time to suit the circumstances and needs of the time. Baba would personally guide the various entities in their day-to-day functioning.
In 2021, the organisation’s global units combined all entities – the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, which managed the ashram institutions, universities and hospitals; the Sri Sathya Sai Service Organisations which managed the centres and trusts across India; along with the centres around the world – in a show of unity to form the Sri Sathya Sai Global Council.