I remember one evening in 1959 when He sent someone to bring me to His room at the mandir. Baba told me that the Editor of a daily newspaper published from Hyderabad had asked for my photograph, for he was announcing me in his paper, alongside a nice write-up as the Editor of the "Sanathana Sarathi". Baba had promised to send him my photograph and He asked me to prepare myself for being shot within minutes by Baba Himself, with a brand new camera He had specially selected for the purpose. Oh! My joy knew no bounds! I rose to the eighth heaven. I rushed down the eighteen steps to reach home for a quick face lift.
I returned to the Presence, within minutes, shaved and starched, with a big broad smile on the frontispiece. Baba held me by the shoulders and positioned me at an appropriate distance He peered through the lens and congratulated me on my photogenic face. I was elated that my picture would catch the eye of at least 30,000 readers all over Andra Pradesh!
My smile swelled into a toothful grin! Baba gestured and I swallowed the grin in one gulp. He cautioned me with a "Steady", followed immediately by a "Ready". He clicked .... and a black hairy blotch with a flashing tail bounced on my neck from inside the camera! With a shrill screech, I hopped into the corner of the room casting away the horrid hirsute - was it a rat? Was it dead?
No, it was a cotton mouse that was cunningly tucked inside the dummy camera, to be released when clicked. Baba had a hearty laugh at my panic. I too laughed to relieve the tension. He reprimanded me for swallowing the story He had invented to deflate my ego. He reminded me that my being the Editor was not the kind of "news" which the world was interested in. Lasting fame is to be sought not through newspapers which turn into wastepaper the very next morning, but through dedicated service to the God and the godly. I left His room, a leaner and wiser man.
(From: "Loving God" by Prof. N. Kasturi)
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