Annadan Seva
Annadan Seva or alms giving has been recommended as a means of charity since ancient times. Shri Sainath (श्री साईनाथ) said, “Know for certain that he who feeds the hungry, really serves Me with food. Regard this as an axiom truth”. (Shri Sai Satcharita [1]). Keeping that tradition alive, Saibaba.org performs this service every Thursday at Chicago Temple and in India for the needy during the year. Saibaba.Org partners with Food Banks acorss USA for fight against hunger and
“By feeding the poor, taking them to be forms of God, without caring for the fruits of your actions you can gather the merit of feeding a thousand brahmins. Also, you can feed just one saint. A saint is one with the whole world. Hence feeding a saint means feeding the world.” (talks of Shri Upasani Maharaj of Sakori, the loftiest creation of Shri Sainath). Once the saint has left his or her body one can still feed the saint by feeding the assembled devotees at the saints’ ashram or temple.
What is Annadan Seva?
Annadan (Sanskrit: अन्नदान; IAST: annadāna) is giving of alms or of items of food and drink in charity. Seva (Sanskrit: सेवा; IAST:sevā) means service or serving the needy. Thus, Annadan Seva may entail donating groceries to a food pantry, serve cooked food to hungry or donate money towards this purpose.
What does Sai Baba say of Annadan?
To a visitor at Shridi, Sai Baba said , “Sitting in this Masjid (Dwarkamayee) I shall never speak untruth. Take pity on me like this: first give bread to the hungry and eat yourself. Note this well.” (Shri Sai Satcharita).
@book{kher1999,
title = "Shri Sai Satcharita",
author = "Indira Kher",
year = 1999,
publisher = "Sterling Publishers",
address = "New Delhi, India",
isbn = "978-81-207-2153-1",
url = "www.sterlingpublishers.com"
}