SSIO members of the Midwest Region participated in the Festival of Nations held in St. Louis, Missouri on August 25th and 26th. Sai Center members displayed a booth at the “Beliefs of the World” Tent,  alongside other communities of faith. The event provided each faith-based group an opportunity to share an overview of their respective spiritual beliefs, thus, promoting unity and greater understanding among the various faiths.  At the Sathya Sai booth, SSIO members shared the teachings of Sathya Sai Baba and presented the underlying tenets of the Sathya Sai Organization including the Unity of Faiths, the Five Universal Human Values and the importance of Selfless Service.

A student, who was assigned to visit the tent by her Religions of the World teacher, shared that Sathya Sai’s messages of ‘Love All and Serve All’ and ‘Help Ever and Hurt Never’ had moved and had the greatest impact on her. She exclaimed: “I am so touched, because in today’s world there is so much chaos. Everyone is so self-centered and there is so much hatred.  This message of love and service is so simple and yet very powerful and meaningful for all of humanity. It is wonderful that your Spiritual Teacher stresses what we need today.” The mother of the student was also very impressed that the Sai organization had a program called Sai Spiritual Education which focuses on teaching children about the five universal human values of truth, right conduct, peace, love and non-violence. Both mother and daughter expressed how wonderful it was to see Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings presented in a very simple and comprehensible way that was easy to connect with.

Many present expressed how much they were deeply moved by the feeling of unity, love and support that existed among the different faith communities. SSIO members stated that the multi-faith event truly exemplified Sathya Sai Baba’s message of the Unity of Faiths, and reinforced His teaching that there was only One Religion: Religion of Love.