This episode is from an earlier point in Swamiji's life. Challenging the owner of a water source.
From: SGS Life History Sadhana (Achievement) in the summer heat of the month of May, after such a haphazard journey, Satyam reached home at about 4pm and was extremely thirsty. He ran towards the water pot but found it to be empty. "It is time for the water to start coming from the public tap, we should be there to collect the water now," said the sleepy voice of the friend. As it was his need, Satyam took the pot and went next door to collect the water. The residents of that house were washing their clothes under the public tap. "I am very thirsty, please let me collect some water," pleaded Satyam. "Is the public tap your personal property?" was the attitude of the neighbour. Anantapur town is well known for its scarcity of water. It is very hard to get water by digging wells. One has to dig nearly 40 feet before finding the water. Even that water in the wells would be sparse in summer. How can on expect constant supply of water from the public taps? That is why the municipality have set times in running the water through the taps. That is why the house owners with the public taps act as the Lords over their neighbours. Because of the exhaustion from the journey, there was a trace of annoyance in Satyam's reply. "At least if you can give "Dana" of drinking water in this birth, in the next birth ------. Before he could finish the sentence, "Shut up" was the reply from the neighbour. An argument ensued. "Look here, because all these people come here for water, you are looking down upon them. OK, By early morning, I promise that you will witness what happiness is by having drinking water. You will see at least 10 people drinking water here," saying so, Satyam dropped his pot and walked off. It is not clear what the neighbour understood, but within two hours Satyam returned with about eight students, each with a total for digging the well. Realising why they had come, the neighbour gave a scarcastic smile. Amongst those students who came for digging were the "Ampapuram brothers" too. "Look here kids, what is this stupidity? It is not an easy task to dig a well, especially in Anantapur. First of all you should confirm that there is a flow of water underneath. We have some ancient methods to find out and we also have some scientific methods. Once it is confirmed that there is a water following underneath, you start digging. As you go deeper, it becomes very hard to dig. Physically strong men take about ten days to dig about twenty-five feet. In this site we need to dig at least forty feet. It is an impossible task. Do not try to do things beyond your physical capacity." The neighbours tried to make the kids understand the reality. "Never mind sir, just come and see at about midnight," said Satyam to few and to few others he said, "Come with pots in the morning and collect the water." Satyam encouraged the digging by singing songs, prayers and bhajans and by cracking jokes. Do not know what spell he had on those boys, they carried on digging. They said, "We will not touch any food till we get water." They carried on without complaining of tiredness and drinking water whenever needed to quench their thirst. It was about 4am. They had dug for about twenty-five feet. They came across a hard white rock. The sight of it drained the energy from all of them. It was a sure sign of failure to get water. One had no option but to close the well that was dug. The lads did not have any strength to blame themselves or b lame Satyam. They just collapsed on to the floor and sat down exhausted. Satyam walked up to the house and came back with a cocoanut. He got down to the base and hit the cocoanut on to the rock. Begging few to join him, shouting "Amma", Satyam hit the stone hard with the spade. The others followed suit. Suddenly a gush of water burst forth from the rock. Within half an hour the group managed to shatter the rock to pieces. "Sweet Water" everyone agreed on having a taste of it. "Even in such hot summer if there is the flow, it means that the well will not go dry", was the opinion of the experts. To get the water at the depth of twenty-five feet is a wonder was the comment from few others. "Please get me some water to drink" Satya happily begged his friends. "True, he had made a "Bhishma Pratijna(24)" to drink the water from the well dug personally by us. He has won. Give him the water," saying so, the friends poured water on to his cupped hands. When the work was completed, "My hands are stiff," said one friend, "I am aching all over," said the second one, "I do not know how we agreed to dig in the first instance," said the third one. "Even if we agreed how could we dig so deep? In the hands of the inexperienced like us, digging such a well is a miracle," said others. "Not a miracle," "It is Sadhana". "Firm vow, resolute firm determination and relentlessly working without any break", the combination of the three is "Sadhana". "What has happened today is the "True Sadhana" said Satyam to his friends. Explanations: 24. Unbreakable vow as made by Bhishma to his father. In Datta Seva Hanuman ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Dying to be thin? Anorexia. Narrated by Julianne Moore. http://us.click.yahoo.com/AQDrNC/sbOLAA/d1hLAA/0NYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
