In plain words
What madness? Sai Baba makes people mad for Sai Baba. He takes away the madness for the world. This is the work Sai Baba does. What comes of this? Not only do they hold out a kind of ideal to all, they also grow somewhat spiritually, morally and in Dharma. So God's nature is always this: to do it Himself, to have it done, and to show it. So it is not possible for everyone to understand the principle of God. But if you want to grasp this meaning well, go and see the two villages of Muddenahalli and Alike, and you will understand clearly how things are going on there. The teachers, too, have not taken in the least to a life of show. I went to Muddenahalli and Alike. There I went round looking at all the teachers' rooms. Do you know what kind of rooms the teachers live in? In a 4' x 6' room there is a mat. What mat? They spread a cane mat. On that alone they sleep. They know nothing at all of comfort. They do not even hope for comfort. I said, ‘Surely there should at least be a pillow under your head.’ ‘Swami! You have given me an arm, haven't You! I'll use it as a pillow and sleep,’ he said. Using this very arm as a pillow and taking that very mat as a bed, they sleep well and happily. There is so much Ānanda in this sacrifice. For one who stands in enjoyment without sacrifice, sleep does not come, though he lies on a dunlop bed, uses a dunlop pillow and has air condition. Enjoyment gives comforts, but it does not give Ānanda. What belongs to the material world gives only medicines; it does not give health. So to think we will be happy through worldly wealth is great folly. Money does not make man happy in the least. Money plunges him deeper into sorrow. Man today craves money, stretching out his neck for it, crying, ‘Money, money!’ So such a man finds Śānti nowhere at all. But go there and see: the life of the teachers there is full of sacrifice. I told them, ‘This is the very meaning of sacrifice.’ What is sacrifice? Is it sacrifice just because you take the name? No. Tyāgarāja too said the same thing. ‘Is wealth the greater happiness, or the presence of Īśvara? Tell me truly, O mind!’ he said.