Sri Sathya Sai Young Adults of Region 4

Sadhana Matheswaran (Female YA Rep)

Sadhana was born in St. Louis Missouri and has been a part of the Greater St. Louis Sai Center.  Swami has been the most important part of her life ever since she was born. Sadhana has been actively involved in various regional and national YA activities – YA Region 4 representative for the 2021 National Women’s Mini-Retreat, national GoGreen team for the multi-regional retreat, Bharatanatyam dance offering in the Sai95 YA play, represented region 4 YAs at the 2020 Retreat as a panelist for the workshop SaiFi Network, along with co-leading several projects at her center.  She is a rising second-year honors student at George Washington University, majoring in public health on the pre-medicine track. The principles of human values have guided her passions in social justice, advocacy, and human rights. In the past, she has served as a youth ambassador for the United Nations and has been/currently involved in various initiatives related to women’s empowerment, working against racial injustices in healthcare and education, and combatting local and global human rights issues such as human trafficking, period poverty, and climate change. Sadhana is also a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, and loves to dance in her spare time!

Favorite teaching: “Self-confidence is Faith in God. While Faith is confidence in the God that exists outside of you, Self-confidence is Faith in the God that exists within you. This teaching of Swami has helped me realize that my self-confidence should never be contingent upon praise or external sources of recognition but rather reliant on my own innate Divinity and Faith that Swami is the doer and that He is taking me on the path that is right for me.” 

Anshul Raman (Male YA Rep)

Anshul Raman is currently in medical school, the 4th year in the UMKC 6 year BA/MD program which is the equivalent of a 2nd year standard American medical student. He was born into a Sai family with his mother and grandparents being long-time devotees. He started SSE at an early age going through Group 1 through 3 at the center in St. Louis, Missouri, and additionally participated in Group 4 online. Prior to moving away for the university, he taught the Group 1 children at the Greater St. Louis Sai Center for about 2 years. As a young adult, his main connection to Swami has been through music. He is an avid singer and harmonium, guitar, and tabla player at the center for a long time. Pre-COVID, he wrote and organized musical pieces for the Young Adult programs in the regional retreats. During COVID, he was a part of the audio and video editing team for the region’s online devotional programs. He has also been a part of the Ocean of Music Young Adult subcommittee since 2019. Especially during COVID times, the entire team has put in a lot of work organizing and executing the online YA musical programs since Guru Purnima 2020.

Favorite quote: “Do not speak bad of others in their absence, for that is the greatest sin one can commit.”