His-Story - 2

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deviate from the path of truth in your daily life, under any circumstances.

Never speak untruth to cover up your faults, fearing punishment from your

parents. It does not matter, even if they scold you or beat you; you always

speak the truth. The power of truth is far superior to that of even an atom

bomb. There is no greater and powerful missile than the truth. Truth alone will

protect you. Then, the question arises in what manner truth must be spoken. It

is said Anudwegakaram Vakyam Sathyam Priya Hitham Cha Yath. “The truth you

speak should not display any emotion. If you want to speak the truth it should

not be said loudly and emotionally. Truth must be spoken softly, lovingly and

pleasantly. The evil qualities like anger, hatred, and jealousy must be given

up.” Normally, when children come across an article of their liking, they feel

like grabbing it. Hence, I used to teach them “you should not covet others’

property. Supposing you need

a pen or a book, you take it from your classmates after obtaining their

permission. Never take it without their knowledge”. There used to be a

sizeable number of Muslims also in Puttaparthi. They used to celebrate the

festival of Muslim Peers, in which the Hindus also used to participate. In that

context, I used to teach the children “It is not the religion that is important.

In fact, morality shall be the life-breath of a person. Hence, cast off all your

differences of religion, and caste and be friendly with everyone. You also

participate in the festival of Peers”. While I was teaching thus, one boy got

up and told me “Raju! My parents will not agree for my participation in a

Muslim festival. We are Brahmins.” Then I explained “My dear! First and

foremost, you are a

human being. Your religion is love and your caste is the caste of humanity.

Therefore, you always keep that principle of unity as your goal.” The parents

of these children were, however, not happy with My teaching. They thought that

I was spoiling our children, teaching that there should not be differences on

account of caste and religion.” But, I was very firm and used to argue with

them that there is no religion greater than love in this world. I was not

afraid of any one. Why should I fear when I am speaking truth? We can achieve

anything in this world, with truth as our weapon. One day, all the children

gathered and discussed among themselves “Raju is teaching us so many good

things; but, are we able to implement even one among them?” Then, they

introspected among

themselves as to what extent each one them had been able to put into practice My

teachings. One boy stated “I am trying to speak truth under any circumstances.”

Another explained “I love God always. God is my mother, father and very

life-breath.” His name was Kesanna. His mother was Buggapalle Acchamma. Poor

woman, she used to earn her living by running a small pan shop selling

cigarettes and beedies. Another boy agreed “it is not possible to implement all

the good things taught by Raju. Nevertheless, I feel very happy to hear Raju

explaining those things. In fact, his very words make everyone happy.” Yet

another boy stated “How can we be indifferent when Raju is teaching so sweetly

and lovingly! I love Raju very much.” In the end, all the children declared in

one voice “Not only you, all of us love Raju very much.” Thus, all the children

around Me used to yearn for My love. I used to gather the children and teach

them a number of priniciples relating to spiritual sadhana. I used to teach

them “Dear children! you must take only sathwic food. You should not eat meat

of fish.” In those days, several people in the village used to catch fish from

the village tank and sell them for consumption by the villagers. That was their

profession. I used to tell them that it is not proper to kill so many living

beings for the sake of their livelihood and it is a sin to cause harm to all

the living beings. I also told them that they should desist from bad habits

like smoking and drinking. It was customary in those days to organize bullock

cart races. The villagers used to decorate their bullock carts tastefully and

yoke the bullocks to them. Ten to fifteen bulky

people with large sized tummies used to sit in those carts and make the bullocks

run faster and faster in the sand, by whipping them mercilessly. Unable to

witness the great torture to which these dumb animals were put, I used to call

the children one by one and tell them “Look! This particular cart belongs to

your family. You tell your father not to beat those poor bullocks. You see to

it that this does not happen again.” Thus, I brought about a transformation in

the elders through their own children. Not only the bullockcart races, but

competitions in cockfighting were also being held in those days in the

villages. Knives were being held to the legs of the cocks and they were

encouraged to fight with each other. It was a fight to finish each other. I

used to counsel

with them “This is a most cruel and evil practice. Instead of arranging a

competition in killing the dumb birds, why don’t you organize a competition

among yourselves to become a better person than the other?” Gradually, this

matter has reached the father of this body, Venkamma Raju. He called Me and

chided Me “What! you are just a small kid. Why do you interfere in the affairs

of the elders in the village? These are all unnecessary matters for you”. I

told him “I am not interfering in the affairs of the elders in the village?

They are torturing mute animals and birds, just for the sake of fun. I do not

at all agree for this.” He realized that it is futile to argue with Me. He then

instructed Griham Ammayi (Easwaramma) “at least, you tell him not interfere in

such matters.” While serving food to Me, she tried to convince Me saying

“Sathya! Why do you interfere in the matters pertaining to the elders? Your

father does not like this. More over, you will get a bad name.” However, I

firmly replied her, “I consider what I am doing as a good work. When I am thus

engaged in good work, how can My name be ever tarnished?” The grandfather of

this body Kondama Raju then called the villagers and explained to them “Look!

Our Sathyam is not doing anything bad. He is doing all good work only. You

should not hurt any living being. You should not organize these bullock cart

races and cockfights. They will, in the end, cause enmity between one another.

Ultimately, peace and tranquility in the village gets disturbed.” Thus, I could

successfully prevent the bullockcart races and cockfights from being organized

in Puttaparthi. Every individual shall help his fellow human beings, to the

extent possible. You must span out into the villages and slums in the towns and

cities and help maintain clean and healthy environment. You must help the

children by providing free food, clothing and education. If you do this

service, it will be of great help to the society. Not only now, even from My

childhood, I am engaged in various service activities. I used to help others.

Whenever a beggar stands in front of the house and ask for alms, the people in

the house used to turn them away saying “go, go, not now.” But, I used to bring

food from the house without their knowledge and feed those beggars. If somebody

wanted clothes, I used to give away My old clothes. I am telling you the truth.

I used to have only one shirt and knicker per year in those days. I used to wear

them at the time of going to the school and after coming home, I used to

wash them daily, wrapping a towel around My body. After they are dried, I used

to iron them with a brass jug-like vessel, putting live embers in it. The

Griham Abbayi (Pedda Venkama Raju) never used to scold Me or beat Me. He used

to jocularly say “My dear! you are a great Thyagi (renunciant). How can we rise

to your level of detachment?” He used to call Me “Vedanthi” (The Philosopher).

So also the Griham Ammayi (Easwaramma). She also used to treat Me with great

love and care. --- From the book “His Story: As told by Himself” (A

Compilation from the divine discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba) To be

continued... .