In plain words
“Wicked boy! Are you telling lies for the sake of a bellyful of food?” she said, and struck him twice on the cheek. Then Gandhi, full of remorse, begged, “Forgive my fault.” Then the mother: ‘It is not possible to forgive you. For speaking untruth you must undergo the punishment,’ she said, rebuffing him. From that day itself Gandhi vowed that to the end of his life he would not speak untruth. In this way, from ancient times, all the great people in Bhārata grew up into noble persons through the influence of their mothers' virtues and of their training. What is the reason that untruth has grown so strong in Bhārata today? The country has come to such a sorry state only because untruth has entered the games the sons play, the songs they sing and the words they speak. The training given by the parents is the root cause of the good and bad of the country. So only when the parents enter the path of Satya will the children too walk on the path of Satya.
For women in Bhārata to perform the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata on every full-moon day is a practice that has come down as tradition from ancient times. In the same way Easwaramba too, the mother of this body, would do the Satyanārāyaṇa pūjā every full moon and, joining Subbamma next door, would listen to the story of the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata. Then one day Subbamma said: “Easwaramma! Since you take part in the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata, name the son born to you Satyanārāyaṇa,” she said. One day, though it was already one o'clock in the afternoon, Easwaramma had not eaten. Everyone in the house grew annoyed: so many rules for the sake of this Satyanārāyaṇa pūjā? Her husband Venkamaraju too found fault with her insistence. Then Easwaramma insisted, “If you are hungry, eat; I am not hungry: only after taking the Satyanārāyaṇa prasāda will I eat.” Though Easwaramma had not herself performed the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata that day, Karaṇam Subbamma next door performed it, brought the prasāda and gave it to Easwaramma. She ate that prasāda and spent her time happily. After she had eaten the prasāda of the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata in this way, she conceived. “Yad bhāvaṃ tad bhavati.” All a person's states and circumstances rest on the power of their own resolves alone.
Some accept this. Some ignore it. But this lady did not ignore this standard in the least. Holding firm, she would eat that prasāda and then take up her work. She had not learnt even a single letter. She had no schooling at all. Even so she had unwavering Bhakti and faith in God. After she had eaten the prasāda of the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata that Subbamma gave, within the seventh month she came to her house and said, ‘This time I have conceived.’ So she promised, ‘I shall name the son to be born Satyanārāyaṇa.’ Then Venkamaraju's mother too (she too was a woman, after all!) agreed to it. In this way, out of deep faith, everyone in the house decided to give the son to be born the name ‘Satyanārāyaṇa’. Before this birth an event took place. This Puttaparthi was a very small village in those days. Among four houses, Easwaramma's included, there was a draw-well. Easwaramma was drawing water at that draw-well and carrying it away.