In plain words
One day the ESSLC examination began. In those days we were not allowed to take even paper or pen with us. A teacher would stand at a door and look at all our hands. Some would have written on their hands. They would have written on their legs. They checked everything and then sent us in. You had to go in with empty hands. You had to go in with heavy heads and come out with an empty head. The boys were very worried. The boys who sat beside Me. In the class tests I used to help them, both of them. But how was I to help them in these exams? My number was one thing, their numbers another. They would be sitting somewhere far apart. I gave them a fine plan. Swami was as dear to them as their own life. That was their good fortune at that young age. Whenever you saw them, it was Rāju, Rāju, Rāju. When pakoḍas were made in their homes, they would bring Me two, wrapped in a packet, bless them. That must have been some saṃskāra of theirs from past lives. Because of that kind of attachment, that attachment, I had to help them. For those who say, ‘I know none but You,’ I will do anything. I told them; I played a trick. “Do it this way, and you will all get through,” I said. We sat in the examination hall. I was given the question paper. The teachers there were walking about, keeping watch. They give two hours' time; I wrote Mine in half an hour. In another half hour I Myself wrote My friend's paper, in his handwriting. I put his number on it. In another half hour I wrote the other boy's paper, in his handwriting. I wrote his number and his name. On Mine I wrote My own number and My own name. I sat waiting for the bell; I still had to wait another half hour, after all. They too were writing away as though they were writing something. That was all; they did nothing more. The bell rang. Then all the teachers came round saying, “Papers, papers.” In the commotion I took these three and handed them in Myself. I handed in these three papers Myself. The results came. It was after fifteen days. All three of us got a first class. But how could anyone say they had copied? Each had a different number, each sat in a different place: how could they have copied? Well then, had someone written it for them? Each paper was in its own owner's handwriting.