He then asked them to slowly lower their hands. The command was obeyed. After this, Baba asked the volunteers to inspect their palms. They did, and only then did they realise what had happened. Thanks to hard manual labour, blisters had developed on the palms of everyone. But now, suddenly they were gone! They had not even thought about the blisters or prayed to Baba about them; yet, He knew that they wanted relief and of His own accord gave them that blessing without their even asking for it. God always knows what to give, when to give, and how much to give!

ADDITIONAL NOTES RELATED TO THE ABOVE

• It is a normal tendency to expect a reward or a return of some kind when one does work. Effort is invested and a return is expected.
• Though this expectation is natural, normal and not immoral, Krishna and Swami discourage such an attitude. Why, if expecting a reward for the work done is not a sin? A boy is studying hard for an exam and wants to be successful; what is wrong with that?