In plain words
Īśvaracandra Vidyāsāgar
Īśvaracandra Vidyāsāgar was a great scholar. He too was born into a very poor family. His mother bore much toil and brought him up. He studied hard, passed in higher studies and earned a good post. He held that making his mother happy was his chief duty. One day he fell at his mother's feet: ‘Mother! It is only by your blessing that I have come to so high a place. I wish to serve you, even a little, with what I earn,’ he said. What did that mother ask for then? Just as Easwaramma wished: ‘My son! In our village, when the children get a fever, there is no one to give them a little medicine. So build a small hospital,’ she asked. He had a hospital built and fulfilled his mother's wish. On those who keep doing good deeds, the grace of God rests full and abundant. After some time he got a ‘promotion’ in his post.
Another day Vidyāsāgar: ‘Mother! If you have any wishes, tell me,’ he said. ‘In our village there is no supply of drinking water, and all the old women like me are suffering. So have a well dug, my son,’ she asked. With the money he had, he had a well dug and made his mother happy. Some time after that: ‘Mother! Do you have any more wishes?’ he asked. ‘My son! If a small school too is built, the children will study and get on in life,’ she said. Vidyāsāgar at once had a school built. The mother embraced her son with great joy: ‘My son! What greater joy is there than this for a mother? With today all my wishes are fulfilled. One good son like you is enough. Through you our very line has been uplifted,’ she said.
Humility is the ornament of learning
Little by little Vidyāsāgar's name and fame kept growing. One day a lecture of his was arranged in a village. He was travelling to that village by train. Wanting to hear his lecture, an officer too set out on the same train.