History
With the direct blessings and inspiration of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, PRASHANTHI BALAMANDIRA TRUST was established with the objective of serving the cause of children and youth of the country, on April 02, 1981 by Mr B N Narasimha Murthy - Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli, Mr K R Sastry - Chintamani, Late Mr K V Narayanappa - Kanjjenahally and Late Mr Aswathanarayana Reddy - Bagepalli, who were ardent devotees and servants of Baba. The Trustees had the good fortune of meeting Sri Sathya Sai Baba at Puttaparthi in March 1981 and getting the Trust Deed blessed by Him.
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The first premises of Prashanthi Balamandira Trust were located on the sacred site hallowed by the penance of a holy saint Sri Yogeshwara Swami in Chikkaballapur Town in the State of Karnataka. The Grandsire of the fraternity of Sri Sathya Sai devotees and the blessed biographer of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Late Mr N Kasturi played an important role in procuring the premises of Sri Yogeshwara Mutt to the Trust, completely free of cost, from the disciples of Sri Yogeshwara Swami.
A few days before his physical exit from the world, Sri Yogeshwara Swami had prophesied thus: “I am only a namesake Yogeshwara; but the real Yogeshwara will grace this place in future! Then this place will become an inspiring centre for spiritual and service activities.” True to his prophecy, with the grace and blessings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, a school based on the Sri Sathya Sai Educational Philosophy was started in the premises in 1982 to impart completely free of cost values-based education to children. New buildings, centred around a beautiful prayer hall, came up within a few years and the school started gaining reputation for spirituality-based education in the town.
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For more than thirty years, this was the only institution run by Prashanthi Balamandira Trust. With the entry of Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai, who is today being recognised by the world as the worthy spiritual successor to Sri Sathya Sai Baba; the educational, spiritual and social service activities of the Trust started to grow by leaps and bounds ever since the year 2015. The Trust is currently running 21 educational Campuses, along with another 6 Campuses of its allied Trusts at 19 Districts in Karnataka, 1 districts in Telangana and 1 district in Tamil Nadu, which includes the Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence, where residential higher education is imparted completely free of cost to all the students. In fact, free education is gifted to boys and girls in all the institutions of the Trust. Prashanthi Balamandira Trust also plays a significant role towards contributing for the healthcare needs of villagers, women and children through the establishment of the Sri Sathya Sai Sarla Memorial Hospital at Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli in the year 2018.
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The seed sown by virtuous people with few resources, but a great vision has today grown into a huge tree, blessed to perennially spread the good and selfless work to all corners of the country and beyond. The foliage of this tree has already unfurled its virescence to most parts of the country through the humanitarian projects of education, healthcare, nutrition, and community service – all provided absolutely free of cost.
Sri Madiyal Narayan Bhat
Sri Madiyal Narayan Bhat was born at the town of Alike in the land of Dakshina Kannada which is nestled by the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. He was the catalyst behind the establishment of Sathya Sai Grama at Muddenahalli. Kindled by Gandhian philosophy and patriotism on the one side and lofty philosophical sensitivity on the other, he was an epitome of spirituality in thought, word and deed. The purity and sincerity of his spirit for serving his countrymen attracted similar youth in large numbers to walk the noble path of service to humanity. With his band of ardent commandos of service, ‘Loka Seva Vrinda’ was formed in the year 1960 under his direct guidance.
His spiritual hunger and his zeal to serve the country further deepened and shone forth upon his encounter with Sri Sathya Sai Baba in the year 1962. He started the Sathya Sai Vihar School at Alike in the year 1963, which further expanded to form Sathya Sai Vihar Campus, Sharada Vihar Campus, Vani Vihar Campus and Sri Sathya Sai Mandira. In the year 1973, Sri Sathya Sai Baba named the campus at Muddenahalli as ‘Sathya Sai Grama’ and later a high school for boys was established at Sathya Sai Grama.
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On January 6, 1976, with a desire to build a missionary organisation, Sri Narayan Bhat along with some of his loyal servitors submitted to Baba the desire to offer Loka Seva Vrinda along with its group of educational Institutions to Him. Baba lovingly accepted the Institution. Later, in the year 1978, upon the untimely demise of Sri Madiyal Narayan Bhat, Baba formally took over the schools under the newly-formed Sri Sathya Sai Loka Seva Trust.
The educational revolution that then; rooted in human values and spirituality coupled with academic knowledge and practical life skills; has today gained strength to produce a massive transformation to the philosophy of education and true knowledge; and provides canopied shelter to many children for learning, growing, and exploring their real purpose in life.
