In plain words
Many students finish their studies, do many courses, M.B.A., M.Tech., M.Sc., M.A., B.Ed. and so on, and stay on right here. They will not leave Puttaparthi and go. What is the reason for this? Sathya Sai Baba is a big magnet; the greatest magnet of all is God alone. God is the one who draws everything. So God draws the heart in every way. No one can find that out and tell it. The power of this magnet will be told in the days to come.
The man who built the mandir at the place in Uravakonda where I first sat on a rock and taught mankind (pointing to Sri V. Anjanayya), M.Sc. he passed, and took a doctorate degree. He resigned his job and from that day has stayed on in Swami's service. At present he serves as President of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations of the state of Andhra Pradesh. (Pointing to Anjanayya) This is his father-in-law. He too lived there. For Swami's sake he took up a hundred acres of land, grew all kinds of fruit trees and used to send all that fruit to Puttaparthi. He has now completed a hundred years. I must tell you one important matter here. Those in Prasanthi Nilayam, every one of them, do not go until they have completed a hundred years. Kasturi came here. He lived a hundred years. Pujari Kishtappa came. He too fully completed a hundred. You know Kāmāvadhāni. He used to recite the Veda. He came and did not go back for thirty years. He stayed right here. One day, after performing Rāma's wedding, he said on his way to his room, ‘I shall bathe and come back, Swami!’ ‘You need not come back at all. Bathe, eat and lie down comfortably,’ I told him. He went and bathed. Not to go against Swami's command, he ate and lay down. He passed away just like that. He always kept in mind only the one Name, the Name of Sai. He never had any illness. Never did he have even a fever. Suraiah. He was a lifelong brahmacārī; he needed nothing. He used to be with the Raja of Venkatagiri. One day he said to the Raja, ‘I am going to Puttaparthi.’ The Raja made every arrangement for him and sent him here. He came here, served for thirty years, and at a hundred years, just as he lay down, so he went.
You know Gopala Rao. He is completing a hundred years. Wishing to serve others, he would go to the canteen and pour water. When he was Chairman of Andhra Bank, there was a strike in the bank. They put very big people in jail. During that strike Indira Gandhi sent a telegram to him. That day I went to their house for a meal. ‘Gopala Rao! Do not get into this politics. The path you follow is the path of Satya. Keep to Satya without letting go,’ I told him. From then on he stood firm on my word. No one could do anything to him. He is spending his days happily in our Prasanthi Nilayam, keeping up the remembrance of the Name. Seshagiri Rao, father of the dental doctor Padmanabhan, retired and came to live here. He came in the year '63. He completed a hundred years and passed away peacefully. None of these people took any service at all from others. In that way many devotees have stood as long-lived ones. Whatever be the case, bodies must go some day. But one must go without becoming dependent on others.