To an eight year old boy who did not like rice, there was only one recourse: moan about it to my mother during parents' visiting hours. What my distraught mother was going to do about it, I had no idea.
One day during Darshan, Swami came up to us and started His usual chat with us children. These sessions regularly involved questions such as: What did you have for breakfast? How many idlis? What is your name? Where are you from? Which class are you studying in, etc.
During one such session of His usual banter with us, He called me out and told Warden Aunty: "His mother in Gujarat is worried about his diet as he doesn't like rice. So give him more chapattis instead." Swami then patted me on the cheek and continued with the rest of the Darshan.
My mother, of course, had never physically gone up to Swami and complained. She had only silently prayed to Him. The irony of this is that now I absolutely love eating rice and consume unhealthily copious amounts of it!
~ Akhilesh Patel
(Source: SSSMC)
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