In plain words
“We will not give Swami the least trouble. We will try to take Swami there without making Him walk. We will take You to our village without the least strain to You, even if we have to carry You on our shoulders,” they said. That is how full of joy the villagers are.
Service to man is itself service to Mādhava
Today, on the sacred festival of Ugādi, we are beginning a programme of service that seeks the progress of the villages. In every village we must make every house clean. We must take fitting steps so that they are clean inside and out. We must make their children, too, clean. We hope to go from village to village and give service of this kind. This will cost some crores. We are not afraid of that. Money comes and goes. But the help we have given never goes. So we must strive in many ways for the progress of the villages. We are laying the foundation for it on this very day of the Ugādi festival. Children, elders, the poor and the wealthy: all must work together. To bring everyone together, service is what matters most. We must develop unity and see that villages and towns are both as one. We will soon make it so. We are beginning the work this very day. Our hope is to shape every village in that way by next year's Ugādi festival. All of you, the children too, must join this programme of service. You must regard it as nothing less than service to God. Service to man is service to God.
Today we are living at the level of the individual. We must foster unity. The whole country must become one. At the public meeting held in Madras, Union ministers, Chief Ministers, Governors and many I.A.S. officers besides took part. People beyond number gathered there. In this way everyone must unite and take part in service. If all come together, this whole world can be changed for the good in a single moment.