“You have to take care of all living things.”

These words of Sathya Sai Baba, conveyed by Michael Goldstein at the Pre-World Conference in 2004 in Rome, were the spark that kindled a fire in the hearts of devotees of the Sathya Sai Group Luebeck, in the municipality of Ratekau, Germany.

How to start? With a study circle during the journey home and small projects in the village of Rohlsdorf.

Helping the river Schwartau

At home, a walk in the countryside along with the singing of bhajans (devotional songs) inspired us to start with the element water – wishing to focus on the five elements in our efforts. We offered self-made garlands of flowers and small handmade artwork of leaves to the river Schwartau.

Then we asked the head of the local environmental services department and the local forester what we could do for the river Schwartau. We invited the head of the environmental department to take part in a study circle. He told us about the river, the context of the European Water Framework Directive, and possibilities for selfless service.

So, we started building dams, planting trees along the river, cleaning the river as “garbage pirates” while kayaking, placing stones in the river to create a vortex in the water, digging inlets at the riverbed – all to help the river to meander (flow in curves and not just rush through) and by that to help create habitat for different animals.

We also held a small river-festival, where we danced (with self-made water bowls), sang, and engaged in selfless service afterward.

The Sai Youth of Germany help

As part of a national project about the five elements in 2004/5, we continued together with the region to care for the river. During Easter 2008, the national Sai Youth of Germany came to Rohlsdorf to reflect on service for the environment, including the connection with the “ceiling on desires” program, and to plant trees, prune willows, and dig overflow outlets to connect water pools near the riverbank with the river.

We created small pieces of art to accompany the planted trees as tokens of our love for God in the vesture of nature.

God has many names

Next we considered the element fire: As part of the national project, “God has many names”, we chose “the sun as a symbol of God” as the focus of our group activities.

The prema-garden (love garden)

The idea of the prema-garden is to do selfless service all along the way, from preparing the field to serving at the kitchen table. Fueled by study circles, the prema-garden and the distribution of its fruits lead us to new forms and new audiences for service.

Together with the Sathya Sai Group of Kaltenkirchen, we developed a prema-garden, connecting us with the earth by growing potatoes, carrots, beet roots, and flowers for needy people. That way, we could give them fresh and organic food. In the course of this gardening and looking for where and to whom to hand out the products, we hosted a meal for all parties in the house where our group meets. Cookies were made from potatoes and carrots and handed out to needy people in small bags with a little sarva dharma symbol on them; meals were cooked for homeless people, and the fresh fruits of the field were handed out. We also went to a home for elderly people, delivering bunches of flowers and singing for them.

Invitations to help!

The municipality of Ratekau has both an active and creative environmental department and several committed voluntary groups. And the local environmental department asked us to help plant a “medicine forest” and do various other necessary work!

This year, Ratekau was first-prize winner in the competition to earn the title, “Federal Capital of Biodiversity”, by the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (German Environmental Aid Association) – under the auspices of the Federal Minister for the Environment – in the category of municipalities with inhabitants 10,000–30,000. And it was second in the overall evaluation, behind Hannover.

Because we helped on many projects, our Sai Group was invited by the municipality to take part in the prize-awarding ceremony at the old Townhall in Cologne.

Continuing the work

In cooperation with Ratekau municipality, we took part in new activities. In a regional activity, we planted more than 200 trees on Good Friday of 2011 (two days before Sai Baba left His physical body) on the leveled sides of ditches. We also watered the medicinal forest on a continual basis and trimmed an orchard in an extensive grassland-orchard system.

In the context of the tree-planting project on Good Friday, it is interesting to note that in northern Germany some churches crosses have wooden leaves (and blossoms) as part of the cross (the so called “triumph-cross” design), most of which were created in the 13^th century. Such a cross can be understood as a “tree of life”, as a symbol of Christ overcoming death. Or one may say that by crossing out the ego, a new and godly life will emerge. Thus, the planting of trees on Good Friday can be seen in a new context.

Our spiritual transformation

The activities in and with nature have been prepared for and reflected on during study circles. In these we connected the activities with the five elements and with our own spiritual transformation. We asked questions such as: What happens with the water inside our body when we pray? What lessons of humility does the water teach us?

Sathya Sai Baba mentions nature in many of His discourses. For example, He says, “Nature is but the vesture of God” (8 July 1968); “You must see Nature as filled with God, shaped by God, as God” (3 March 1967); and “Nature is a vast mirror. You regard as real the varied objects you see in Nature. But they are all different forms of the Divine” (2 Oct 1988).

As we performed our service projects, we tried to focus on what Sai Baba says of nature and to see God in everything. This was helped by doing our best to connect our service activities with other spiritual practices during the projects, such as by devotional singing, namasmarana, (repetition of the God’s name), and controlling our thoughts.

Additional Info

Feel free to contact the Luebeck Centre at luebeck@sathya-sai.de should you want information on starting similar projects on serving nature.

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