In plain words
So do not worry about it at all. We must be content with what we have,’ I would tell her, very calmly. She too brought me up with great love.
In the old mandir at Puttaparthi I used to live in a thatched shed I had put up. One day some rowdies, people who did not like me, set fire to it. The thatched shed was burning. I was right inside. Karaṇam Subbamma and Easwaramma came running: ‘Swami! Swami!’ they called. ‘I am fine; do not be alarmed at all,’ I said. In a moment a torrential rain poured down. Where? There was rain nowhere else, except on that small hut. After I came out they asked, ‘Swami, when the whole shed was burning, how were You there inside?’ ‘That is the very place where I must be. I must be right in the midst of hardships; happiness —
Hardship and happiness, the two, are bound together; to part them is in no one's power.
In this world bad keeps standing in the way of good. So do not be distressed at all,’ I told them.
The promise Swami made to the mother
In those very days, as great people came one after another and fell at Swami's feet, Gṛham Ammāyi would be alarmed that they might take Swami away somewhere. “What is this, Swami, the whole world comes and falls at Your feet! But You must not leave Puttaparthi and go anywhere,” she would keep saying. Once the Maharaja and the Rani of Mysore came in cars. They stopped the cars near Karnatanagepalli and came to Puttaparthi. Gṛham Ammāyi: ‘Swami! Some great people have come in cars. Who knows whether they will take You away! Do not go anywhere,’ she said. “Mother! They have cars. We have legs. Cars may break down, but legs do not. They may live in mansions. For us it is enough to have shade to stand in. I will not go with them. Do not worry about it at all,” I said, and set her mind at rest. Then she: ‘Swami! You must give me your word on one thing.