In plain words
So you must stay in the place where you were born,” she asked. I gave her my word that it would be so.
Those were the days when the summer classes were going on in Bangalore. Easwaramma too had come with me then. One morning she had her tiffin; she drank her coffee; all of a sudden she called out, ‘Swami, Swami, Swami.’ From upstairs I said, ‘What is it?’ ‘Come, come, come,’ she said. At once I came down. She took my hand, placed it on her head and gave up her life. Then I sent her body to Puttaparthi by car. I sent Rāmabrahmam with it. I said that all that had to be done should be done. All who were there: “Swami! You too must go with that body,” they said. ‘I will not go,’ I said. The summer classes were going on. Students had come from every country. When they came to know that she had passed away, all the children thought that Swami too had gone to Puttaparthi and that there would be no classes that day. But the classes went on as usual. I went to the second class. ‘How has Swami come? He should have gone with Easwaramma's body, surely!’ they thought. Why should I go with her body! The body that came goes just as it came. I did not come with the body. I came on my own. So, without going with it myself, I sent only her body and had her laid to rest in Puttaparthi. In Puttaparthi too many thought, “What is this, Swami did not come with the body!” Yes. The body came alone, and it went alone. Each one is born alone, and each one goes alone. When the summer classes were over, I went to Puttaparthi a month later. In Puttaparthi I told everyone, “Being born, growing and passing away are natural to the body. ‘The body is made of the five elements; the body must fall, sooner or later…’ Everyone's body is like this! So no one should be infatuated with the body.”
When I am in Puttaparthi, I take only rāgi saṅkaṭi. I take rāgi saṅkaṭi with groundnut chutney, or else dal with amaranth greens. Other than that, I do not touch kurmas and ‘burmas’. Easwaramma too was very glad that I had made this my habit, and said, “Swami, you must proclaim these practices to the world.”