Sai Pearls of Wisdom 44-A  “DETERMINATION, COMPASSION, STARVATION, VERY TRUTHFUL".    With Subtitles
Channel: Sai Pearls of Wisdom - Prof. Anil Kumar Kamaraju
Date: 2023-06-24

The kind of determination one should have and how one should overcome economic difficulty, one has to learn from Swami's biography. 
Of course there's also another fact. He admitted that it was a big mistake He has done in life under the special circumstances. That, we will come to know in due course! 
This had happened when He went to a fair as volunteer, what we call Pushpagiri Fair. Bhagavan wanted to participate on the second day also. 
On the second day while moving about normally, as Baba said, "I felt like going to the festival. I thought about it. The students had paid twelve annas, annas - small coins - each to the teacher. Ten annas were for the return charges of the bus and two annas for the expenses at the fair. Each one had to bear the cost of his food. I had no dress; moreover from where would I get money for the bus fare?" 
“All the same I decided to be ready. I had the school textbooks on all subjects. I, however, never opened any one of them. Even then I was quite certain that I would get through the examination that year. The books were as good as new - all of them! All these books would be unnecessary after the examinations were over. Therefore, I wanted to give them to a poor boy.  
I went to his house and gently explained to him. "You have passed the examination this year. Next year however, you will need these books. Will you take them?" 
He answered, "I shall certainly take them. But I am a poor boy.  I want them at half the price." 
I said, "Half the price works out to thirteen annas. I do not require even that. It is enough if I am paid five annas. I shall give you all my books." 
“The poor boy was very happy to get the books for five annas, which would have come, otherwise cost him over twenty.  
In those days there were no currency notes. We used to have very small change like what they call ‘dammidis’ - DAMMIDIS, ‘bottu’ - BOTTU, ‘annas’ -ANNAS, ‘bedas’ - BEDAS, ‘pavalas’ – PAVALAS and so on. The boy brought all the money in small coins. The problem was how to carry all these coins. I took a small piece of cloth from my old shirt, put all the coins into it and tied it firmly.  
The small packet of coins burst open and all the coins fell out. Hearing the clinking and clattering of coins, the lady of the house came out. She was greatly annoyed and she saw those scattered coins and began shouting that all her money had been stolen. Although I brought and showed her the boy who had given me the coins, she turned a deaf ear to My explanation. She accused us of being thieves.  
After giving us a sound thrashing, she sent us away without giving us food. What is to be done? If I stood outside the house, onlookers would get suspicious. They would ask why I was there. That was a family affair and should not be given publicity, lest the prestige of the family would suffer a loss! 
So I decided that without waiting further I would go to the fair. The fair was eleven kilometres away and I wished to proceed walking straightaway without any thought. 
Those were luminous nights and the round moon was already up in the sky giving bright light. Many people were walking all the way to the fair and I too set out along with them, walking the entire distance.  
We reached the fair that night. By the morning, the boys were all dressed up and were moving about, whistling here and there. I was tired having walked so much. Besides it was summer. I felt very thirsty. I could not find water anywhere. At length, I saw some water at a distance and went there to drink. This was the water with which cattle were washed. It was very dirty. As I was very thirsty, I drank that water.  
When I turned around I saw an ‘anna’ coin, ‘anna’ coin and a country made Indian cigarette packet lying on a stone. Someone must have forgotten them. I asked the people around whether the things belonged to them but no one claimed them. Then I tore apart that packet of cigarettes and buried in the sand. I took the one anna - small coin - had it converted into four ‘bottus’ - BOTTUS, still small change.  
I had to stay at the fair for eight more days. I thought to myself how should I get on with four ‘bottus?’ Then I made the only mistake of my life. It was a big mistake. People at the fair were playing a game called ‘Buda Buda Kate’ - ‘BUDA BUDA KATE’ which was a kind of gambling. I played the game and won twelve annas. My hands were now full of coins. I felt the money was enough for My stay there. Should any coins be left over, I could buy Prasadam and take it back home.  
In those days, a bottu fetched three big dosas. They were very cheap then. If one took three dosas in the morning and three in the evening one could manage with only two bottus a day. As I had planned, I took three dosas with a bottu on the first day. They also served very hot chilli powder and with the dosas that tasted like masala chillies.  

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