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One day, as the boys are walking to School, they decide to have a splash in the river.

BOY: Come Raju, let’s all swim.

SATHYA: Please no, I don’t want to.

BOY: You are always like this!

BOY 2: In that case, You look after our books while we go swimming.

Sathya watches, while others enter the water and start having fun. Meanwhile, another gang of boys come there. These boys are jealous of Sathya and do not like Him.

ONE BOY IN THE GANG: [to Sathya] Raju, all those boys are swimming. Come let’s join them.

SATHYA: I’m not interested.

ANOTHER BOY: [irritated] He is always like that, different from us. Spoilsport.

BOY: [to Sathya] Today also we could not answer the Teacher’s questions. Why did You have to answer when we could not?

ANOTHER BOY: Was it to get us scolded by the Teacher?

SATHYA: I knew the answer and I gave it. What’s wrong with that? You couldn’t answer and that’s why the Master scolded you.

BOY: The Teacher called us ‘Ignorant fools!’

ANOTHER BOY: Listen, in future if the Teacher asks a question, You should say that You don’t know the answer.

THIRD BOY: If You dare to answer, see what I’ll do to You!

SATHYA: What will you do?

BOY: What will I do? I’ll push You in the sand and drag You!

SATHYA: Is that all?

Annoyed, the boys try to push Sathya down.

ANOTHER BOY: What should we do now?

THIRD BOY: We’ll pelt Him with thorny nuts.

YET ANOTHER BOY: Come! Let’s go and collect the nuts.

The rowdy gang start flinging thorny nuts at Sathya. Meanwhile, Sathya’s friends who are in the water, see what is going on.

BOY: Hey! They are throwing nuts at Raju!

SATHYA: [to the attackers] By throwing these at My head, only your arms will ache! I don’t feel any pain. The nuts are very soft like sponge.

One of the attacking boys touches a nut to see if it is soft; it is not!

BOY: Ouch! The thorns hurt!

ANOTHER BOY: Yes, it hurts!

THIRD BOY: This is strange! The nuts hurt us but Raju finds them soft like a cushion! ……Yes, it is true it hurts!

BOY: Hey! What do you think? Raju is not just another student like us. There is Divine Power in Him.

ONE OF THE ATTACKERS: Raju, I did something wrong. Forgive me please! I’ll never again do such a thing.

SATHYA: You were not the one who did wrong; rather, it was the bad qualities of anger and jealousy in you that did it. If you want to get rid of those bad qualities, you must cultivate Love, Forbearance, and the spirit of Sacrifice. Since I’m one of you, I love every one of you. Not only that – I’ll never get angry with any of you. To err may be a human tendency but real humanness consists in correcting oneself. That is the essence of the Love Principle. Try and understand it!

The boys cheer and lift Sathya on their shoulders.

(To be continued)

- Heart2Heart Team