In plain words
As Sacrifice Grows, Radiance Grows
From ancient times Bhārata has been renowned as a land of sacrifice, a land of yoga, a land of karma. Because you were born in such a sacred land, you must develop the spirit of sacrifice. The more you sacrifice, the more your radiance will grow. Let Me tell you one small thing. Divine radiance is always there around Me. But some people are expressing their wonder that for the past fifteen days My radiance has grown a great deal. What is the reason? The resolve to take up some programmes for the welfare of the village people has indeed been in My mind for some time. But because I was immersed in the education, medical and drinking-water projects, I did not give it much attention. Then, a month ago, as I sat in My chair, I saw a small paper there. When I picked it up and looked, there was a sad piece of news in it. A son came to his very poor mother and asked, ‘Mother! I am hungry, hungry.’ She had nothing to give him. At that time it was raining heavily, so she could not even go out to beg. There was no sign of the rain stopping.
In that situation she was deeply grieved, wondering what she could give her son. Unable to bear that pain, she mixed rat poison in water, made her son drink it, and drank it herself. The two of them died. It pained Me deeply: “In this sacred land of Bhārata, renowned as Annapūrṇā, has there come to be no food for the poor?” At once I set aside all other work and began service to the villages. I sent food, clothing and the like to village after village and filled those people with joy and enthusiasm. Our children are like gold; they worked ever so hard. From daybreak until night they went round the villages and served with enthusiasm. They went to every hamlet, they went to every home. That gave Me great joy. As sacrifice grows, radiance too grows. There is no change at all in the food I take. As soon as the morning bhajan is over, I take a little sankati, a little leaf chutney, a little greens. There is no change in this. The meal of those days is the meal of today too.