In 1970, Swami was speaking to all of us during an interview & there was
this lady who kept speaking up every time Swami paused, and she would say
"Swami you must come to our town. We are doing a lot of seva, (service) in our
town."
1st time she said that Swami ignored her; 2nd time, ignored her; 3rd
time, I was beginning to get a little nervous … when Swami was still speaking
about something, she said it again: "Swami, you must come to our town."
So Swami looked at her and said: "But I have! I have come to your city!"
"No Swami, You have not come to our city."
Swami changed the topic, and suddenly looked at her and said: "How is the
service going on in your town?
So the lady said: "Swami, when we started off there were 10 families who
were putting aside the rice. Now we have a 100 people and we have about 25
kilos of rice that we collect. And we are feeding a lot of people. Swami, the
seva is going wonderfully well!"
Swami said: "Oh! Very happy! (In Telugu)
And then suddenly out of the blue, Swami said: "What kind of rice do you
use for cooking?"
She said: "Swami, very good rice! 'We' use very good rice!"
Swami said: "No, I am not asking about the other people, I am asking
about you! What kind of rice do you keep aside for the seva activity?"
She said: "Good rice." Swami said: "Oh really! Good rice?" She said: "Yes
Swami, very good rice!" and in the middle, she kept saying: "But Swami, you
must come to our city to see the seva!"
Swami said: "Very good! Very good! Ah! I know 5 rupees rice for the
family & 2 rupees rice for the service, for poor feeding!!!"
The lady said, "No, no Swami!"
Swami said: "Yes, Yes! You don't believe me? Obviously the 5 rupees rice
quality is better, the 2 rupees rice is not properly cleaned; not a good
quality…
She said: "No Swami, good rice Swami."
And then Swami's whole smiling face changed!!!
He said: "You don't believe me? Wait! I will show you. Did you not give
the beggar who came to your house & said: 'Mother give me rice?' a whole sack
full of rice that you had bundled in a red cloth that you had kept aside for
Narayana seva? Did you not give it to that beggar two years ago? You don't
believe me? Wait!"
And He walks into the inner room and comes out holding the red sack which
was given to the beggar two years back filled with the two rupees rice! "Did
you not give this to me? I have been to your city!!!"
The silence was so stunning, so shocking in that room and imagine the
embarrassment of that lady!!! She had tears in her eyes. It was such a moving
experience for all of us.
"The safest way to wipe out all past Karma and to avoid accumulating
fresh Karma is to see Swami in all. I'm everywhere. That way you would be good
to everyone!" - SWAMI
- Taken from the Talk given by Mrs. Geeta Mohanram during a Sai Retreat
at Stourbridge, UK. She is the daughter of Dr. Padmanabhan, who runs Sathya Sai
Sevakshetra, Bangalore.
OUR LIFE IS HIS MESSAGE
Sai Ram
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