A new student joined the Bal Vikas class. His name was Anthony. He was 13 years old. He probably came to Swami just in time. Anthony was coming from the wrong side of society. It was the same story: the father had left the family, the mother did not have much resources and he also had other small brothers. It was not easy to be poor and disadvantaged in a welfare nation. So Anthony found a way to survive: telling lies. He was saying that his mother owned a good flower shop and that his father was a fireman. These were small lies, they were his dreams. He wanted to be a fireman when he had grown up. He wanted very badly to be respected, loved, to enjoy all the big gifts that life is giving when you walk in Dharma. As no one taught Anthony how to get these gifts, he imagined he had them. One day there was a fire in the classroom. Some kid set fire to the rubbish. The teacher called him: "Anthony, as you know everything about the fire brigade, how does the fire extinguisher work?" Now, everybody was looking at that small boy wearing dresses not very clean. Anthony felt inside a big determination. With a punch he broke the glass case, took out the extinguisher and in two seconds he extinguished the fire. That little success helped Anthony to change his life. He got a little more confidence in himself, so the other kids loved him more. One of his friends was Francis. One day Francis took Anthony to the Bal Vikas class and you can imagine what happened. Anthony asked: "Who is that man dressed in orange, with all that hair?" Francis: "He is Sathya Sai!" "What does it mean?" Anthony asked. Francis answered: "Truth." The two boys looked at each other in their eyes. One minute of silence followed and then Anthony said: "I don't want to lie anymore, I will not lie anymore, no more." When Anthony found the love of our beloved Master then he found himself. |
