H^'ArCJLA!.! £3
the whole matter. It is for Him to see that it is carried out
successfully/'
The hour had been proclaimed as eleven o'clock in the
morning. Nine o'clock struck. It was raining as heavily
as ever. Half pust nine, quarter to ten and the rains still
persisted. Now a strange thing happened. The clouds
slowly dispersed. The rain stopped and the sun shone out.
Within half an hour in the cloudless sky appeared the
bright sun as though he belonged to summer. Exactly at
eleven o'clock the food distribution commenced. Ramdas
was escorted to the spot to witness the function. The sight
of the vast crowd, inside and outside the compound and on
the road, tlirilled his heart. The feeding went on uninter-
rupted by noise or confusion. The almighty Lord ate
through thousands of mouths.
One of the friends counted the number of people fed
ar^I f onnd them to be nearly three thousand. Food intended
for a thousand sufficed for thrice the number. Having
eaten their nil many people had also carried the food to
their homes.
If there is one co;intry in the world, where beggary and
starvation hive taken hold of vast masses of the population,
it is India. The remedy lies in the eradication of ignorance
and selfishness from the minds and hearts of the exploiters,
within and without. The case of the exploiter is in fact
harder than that of the exploited. "For, he sows a karma
which will bring dire retribution on himself. An inner
realisation of equality, based upon a purified vision and
awakening of the spirit of sacrifice through love and
compassion, can alone bring peace, harmony and happiness
into the world.
All classes of the needy and poor were fed including
the so-called untouchables. By three o'clock the serving of
meals ended; all were satisfied to the last man. When the
compound was free from crowds, quite an army of crows
descended to the ground and cleared off the scattered