In plain words
He carried himself with great dignity. “Swami, Swami, the dog is coming, crying out,” he said. I came outside. It came close and cried loudly. It came and fell at My feet. It gave up its life. Just three days later, jill too gave up its life. The grave of those two is the Bṛndāvanam behind the old mandir. Jack and Jill brothers. They were Ramesh and Mahesh. They were the ones who sat on this side and that of Swami at the desk. Theirs was an exceedingly noble feeling. One day the drill master came. He came and said we must become scouts. How was one to buy a scout's kit? One had to put on the uniform, didn't one? The situation then: I am telling you what was. I did not have a single pie. That was how things stood then. I had no courage to ask at home. Then they too did not have much money. To have ten rupees was a great thing in those days. If you had a hundred rupees, you were a crorepati. He told us we must get khaki shorts, a khaki shirt, a belt, a whistle and boots, all of these. Where was I to get all these? I was in Kamalapuram then. I did not have them. Ramesh told his father: “Father, I like a khaki shirt very much.” He was just My size. I was short, you see. He had two sets of clothes stitched. He packed up shorts, a shirt and a belt, all of it, and wrote: ‘Rāju! If you do not accept this, I will take my life. You are as dear to us as life. So you simply must accept it. This is how our friendship must be nurtured.’ Then I took that top paper and wrote another and gave it. If friendship is to grow, there must be no giving and taking. What is given must be Prema, what is taken must be Prema. It must not be things. So if you take things, Prema moves away. “So I will not accept this,” I said. I wrote it and put it there. He was deeply hurt. It has turned out like this! In those days I used to write fine poetry. In My talks I am toning down the language, thinking tradition would become difficult, but I used to use fine language. There was a man there called Kotte Subbanna. Businessman. A new medicine had come. Its name was Bālabhāskara. He had all its virtues explained to Me: “I will have Rāju write a song on it, give papers to ten children and send them round all the streets.