The long and tiring exams came to a close and all of us were in a mood to celebrate our freedom from books - at least for sometime! Why not a Spiritual Picnic? And why not expand our love to a few more? Hence plans were drawn up immediately to invite the inmates of Ananda Mission, an orphanage at Sailashree Vihar (Bhubaneswar), to visit us.

Ananda Mission, run by an NGO, has given shelter to 64 children and our Sai Youths led by brother Manas Ojha are doing pioneering service in taking Bhagwan's message to these little children. Over two years of dedicated service has made the children experts in Vedam and Bhajans and EHV has made them aspire for something higher in life. The children there are a treat to watch and an inspiration to behold. Swami's teachings literally lives in Ananda Mission.

Excitement was in the air and our children were enthusiatic to meet and make new friends. The day started with Omkaram, Suprabhatam and Nagarsankirtan, but the Yoga classes were given a skip that day. Instead the children wanted to clean up the ashram for the new visitors. It was a happy surprise to see our children behave so maturely in an innocent way. Drawings and paintings adorned the notice borad and all the dirt and waste paper found themselves in dustbins. The campus looked fresh as dew. The kids then directed their attention to prepare food for the guests. Sometimes they stumped us with their knowledge about food and sometimes we stumped them by doing some mischief.

It was 11:30 in the morning when at last the 40 children from Ananda Ashram arrived at our premises in a 407 mini-truck arranged by the house owner of Sai Anandam. These children had been singing bhajans throughout their journey to the ashram. They were served with ice-creams the moment they reached Sai Anandam. The happiness in their eyes, the ice cream around their faces and the half eaten cone in their hands made many of us go down the memory lane when we were kids, just kids ! Then one of our illustrious alumnus - Sony bhai - took an EHV class for the visitors and for our kids. The inspiring teacher that he had been all his life, Sony bhai left a mark on the children psyche to be good and aspire for God. The EHV session was followed by bhajans in which the visitors led the show ! Their singing prowess and bhavam not only gave a high to our kids but also touched many a soul. Truly speaking, we really felt the prescence of Swami in Sai Anandam that day. After that they were served with sumptous lunch which was lovingly served by our children. The bonhomie between them was a sight to see. It was really heart to heart relationship. The visitors gave us a pleasant jolt when they offered to wash the utensils with us despite our protests. They showed us what an ideal Atithi should be ! Swami's video and value games followed which made us aware of the greatest gift that one could ever aspire for and we have - Swami ! Forever we remain indebted to Him for all this love - from souls known and unknown - and for giving a direction to our worldly existence.


The visitors were requested to stay back till evening and were the guests in the Baranga Seva group bhajans that day. They floored everyone there too with their beautiful and heart-touching rendering of songs. Many were moved to tears and were seen wiping their eyes repeatedly. Many want these children to visit regularly for the bhajan session.

The time for separation had come. The visitors were no longer "visitors" but family now. In one instance we felt the words - "Vasudaiva Kutumbakam" come alive. We were reluctant to let them go and they were reluctant to leave us. But life moves on - but we were happy that we had made some people smile that day and made new friends who taught us a lot that day.