In plain words
‘It is many years since we drank sweet water. Today we are drinking pure water again. We are very happy, Swami!’ So they say.
Not only that. In the city of Madras too we gave water to everyone. There is no distinction of poor and rich. After we gave them water, the people of Madras came to Puttaparthi in fifty buses. ‘Swami! How are we to thank You!’ they said. ‘You need not thank Me. I have given to My own,’ I said. Since you are here, you may not know of it. Only the day before yesterday they put it in the papers. They supplied water from Poondi to Madras. Only yesterday the water reached Madras, right on time.
People from the Mahabubnagar and Medak districts came. ‘What do you want?’ I asked. ‘We have no drinking water, Swami!’ they said. I had water supplied to them from the river Krishna. In this way we are serving every country, every region, every village. We must serve everyone. This is precisely what I teach all our children! If you see that someone is in distress, even if he is not your friend, you must serve him. If need be, take leave from college that day, and serve him.
I should not speak of our children Myself, but they are working far more than I have said. They give up their own self-interest and help others. We are shaping children who have such a spirit of sacrifice and devotion to service. They are progressing day by day in every field.
In the primary school there are twelve hundred little children. Children who could not bear to be away from their parents come and join here. Within two days they forget their parents and reach a state where they cannot bear to be away from us. The parents come here, see them and rejoice: ‘Ah! What a fine change has come over our children!’ We show the children more Prema than their parents do.
There is no end to what could be said about our children. Do not think of them as ordinary. They are very great. They are the ones who are to be leaders of the nation. The children must become ideals. Only then am I happy.