In plain words
What I mean is this: people from each place must find their joy right where they are. By bringing in people who come from somewhere else, this is turning into a field of business. That is not good. The people of each village must spend their lives in that village itself. They must bring joy to that village. In the past some devotees, “Swāmī! Come to Mysore; we will give You a ‘palace’ there,” they prayed to me in many ways. But I do not want these palaces. It is in this small village that I must stay. I have not left the place where I was born. It is in a place like this that great things must be achieved. In those days Puttaparthi was a very small hamlet. To come here, one had to hire a bullock cart from Penukonda. But now even an aeroplane comes, lands and leaves. In those days, to go to a hospital one had to go to Anantapur. Now a super speciality hospital has come up right here. In this way, whatever there is in the towns is all coming here.
For the country, the villages are what matters most. Service to the village is service to the Paramātma. There is no joy at all in service in the towns. Town dwellers pay no heed even when thieves break into the house next door. But village people are not such selfish creatures. In a village, if anyone meets with any trouble, everyone gathers there. Such unity is found only in the villages. Only when there is ‘unity’ does ‘divinity’ come. Only when there is ‘divinity’ is Ānanda gained. So develop ‘unity’. Let the people of each village work hard for the progress of their own village. Do not bring in this one and that one, everyone, and make it into something like politics. This does not make me very happy. Wherever you go, sing bhajans together in unity. Feelings of difference must not arise in you. Everyone must stay united. In the past this country was full of peace. What fate has befallen such a country today? In the villages people used to greet one another with great Prema. Now that very Prema is gone. Needless quarrels are starting up. Above all, since independence came, so many kinds of riots have broken out!