Harrow West Sai Centre – Brief History
By Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s grace, blessings and divine will, Sri Sathya Sai of Harrow West was inaugurated on Sunday November 25th, 2001 at the Harrow West Labour Centre, 132-134 Blenheim Road, Harrow, HA2 7AA. This Centre was an offering made to Swami on his 76th birthday. The vision for the new Sai Centre was to focus more on children through their active participation and engagement, and to enable their spiritual and character development. The new Centre gave a choice to devotees who were unable to attend Sunday morning Bhajan / Balvikas as there were no Sai centres in the region that functioned on Sunday afternoons in Harrow, Brent, Hillingdon and Ealing Boroughs. From inception, the Devotional, Education and Service wings were established and they functioned within the Centre according to the Sri Sathya Sai Service Organisation UK guidelines. Moreover, the Sai Spiritual Education (SSE) programme was implemented from day one and children were encouraged and put forward to sing bhajans.
As the Centre started to grow, the primary aim then was to increase participation from members and inspire their inner spiritual growth. This resulted in more members leading group devotional singing (bhajans) and everyone being encouraged to get involved in all aspects of the centre. In addition, to create awareness of Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings, the spiritual discussion groups or study circles were started, which greatly facilitated the memebrs inner transformation. Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s Love and Light continued to blossom in the SSE children, who grew in confidence and awareness. The vision for the centre being run by the SSE children and youth was becoming a reality.
The Centre was filled with immense gratitude and love for all of Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s inner guidance and support from the members, regional and national teams. Yes, there was more to do, and one profound realisation was everything happens according to his ‘timeframe’ – not even a blade of grass moves without His grace.
November 2009 – For Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s birthday that year, the group 3 & 4 children and youth sang ‘We Are The World’; their first performance at a centre event. A ‘Memory Lane’ video was created by the youth and played to all the members at the last centre bhajans for 2009, with Harrow West’s journey highlights up until that point.
March 2010 – Sri Rudram chanting began using Prashanthi Mandir online tutorials as a guide.
August 2010 – the SSE and youth were blessed to be part of choir in his Divine presence when they visited Prashanthi Nilyam with the UK group. Inspired by the chanting of devotees from all around the world in Prashanthi, members of the Centre offered the full Rudram to Sri Sathya Sai Baba for his 85th Birthday Celebration in November 2010. In view of the timeframe of 2 months, this offering was a great achievement.
November 2010 – Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s Birthday that year was a huge celebration, as He was entering His 85th year and the Centre was entering its 10th year since inauguration. All children participated in the programme, and the youth organised and performed their very first Youth Choir. A DVD of the event was created by the youth and gifted to the congregation during the Christmas celebrations. This marked a memorable year for the centre, especially as it was Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s last in his physical form.
June 2011 – Our beloved Bhagavan has blessed us with a wonderful school hall and facilities at Oxhey Wood Primary School. Together, we have celebrated special programmes such as His birthdays, Guru Poornima, Maha Shivarathri, Easwaramma Day and Maha Samadhi day in unique ways, both as a centre and jointly with the region. The centre also had the opportunity to join hands with the Sri Sathya Sai Centre of Pinner in 2013 to celebrate His birthday together in harmony and unity.