Maharaj is out in Pir Sahib’s area again today, supervising the ongoing rice harvest. We are sitting with him in the dirt road from the dera to Pir Sahib’s dargah, in what little shade the new poplar trees provide. The ones planted around Pir Sahib’s dargah three or four years ago are big trees already, providing deep shade there.
People quietly come to see him. Two men from nearby Hastinapur have come seeking work. A family from Delhi has a domestic problem. Maharaj asks them if they read Jaap Sahib. “Sometimes.” He sends them to Giani Ji for hukam, invites them to eat langar, and tells them they will be blessed.
Here comes the bus along the brick road that Maharaj built along the canal to the Ganga. The bus service is new. It serves the local people in a large area, traveling between the guesthouse at the end of Shiv Sadan and the city of Meerut five times a day, picking up and dropping off people all along the way. Before Maharaj, there was no hard-surfaced road and no bus service in this area, which was written off in all government maps as “Wasteland.” Recently the authorities tried to stop the new bus service, but Maharaj sent a sevadar in the police service to plead for the transportation needs of the poor here. Service was restored. Yesterday the four drivers and helpers came to give Maharaj the schedule. “The people are so thankless,” Gurdev remarks. “Maharaj does so much for them.” Maharaj just keeps serving the people, never looking for thanks, and he teaches us to do the same.
Schoolchildren just got off the bus. Some are reasonably well-dressed; some are barefooted, with bookbags made of plastic seed bags. They come to bow before Maharaj. The bus has made it possible for them to attend schools, which are far from here.

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1:45 p.m. – Under a fresh breeze but hot sun, the sevadars finish harvesting this part of the field and leave the field for lunch. Especially tasty ahlu kofta has been prepared in the langar and sent to their work site; under Maharaj’s merciful gaze, they eat it by the side of the road.
All morning a very old man has been carrying a heavy kettle of drinking water to the rice harvesters again and again, slowly picking his way through the mud and stubble to where they are working. Maharaj always remembers everyone’s needs, whether he is physically present with them or not. And he gives seva to people of all ages, young and old. All are given something useful to do in his mission, and they carry out their duties faithfully, with his blessings. \

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After lunch, some men come to talk to Maharaj about a farmer’s union they want to start. He speaks to them about poverty and the potential power of farmers, and the need for leadership. He says that people are not united because they observe distinctions of religion and caste. However, “Religion is so necessary for love and kindness. There are conflicts because we do not understand each other. . . .With working, you and your family become happy. You must set a goal.”
At the end, he points out that he does not consider himself a guru. “I am a farmer and the son of a farmer.”