One day a few squirrels came on to Bhagavan's sofa for their share of cashew nuts. The nuts in the tin, which used to be near Bhagavan, had been exhausted. Therefore, Bhagavan instead gave peanuts, but the squirrels would not eat them. They refused to eat and began to express their discontent in all possible ways. Bhagavan cajoled them. "We don't have cashew nuts my dears. What to do?" he said, but they could not be appeased. The squirrels showed their displeasure by crawling over the legs and hands of Bhagavan continuously.

Seeing their plight, Bhagavan asked his attendant Krishnaswami to go and find out if there was any stock of cashew nuts in the store room. Krishnaswami went to the kitchen and returned with a few cashew nuts. "Is that all?" asked Bhagavan looking at the cashew nuts.

Krishnaswami said, "Tonight, cooks are preparing payasam and they said that they can spare only this much."

Bhagavan was annoyed and said, "I see, payasam will not be less tasty if the cashew are a little less in quantity than usual. What a pity! These squirrels do not like anything else, and they are worrying me. The store keepers have declined to give cashew nuts saying that they will have to put them in the payasam. Who will be worried if there are no cashew nuts in the payasam? See how these children are worrying themselves for want of cashew nuts!" With that, the cashew nuts which should have gone to payasam went into the stomachs of the squirrels and also into the tin by the side for future feeding of the squirrels.

The same evening Dr. Ananthanarayana Rao, a devotee of Bhagavan brought from Madras 2 viss (about 2.7 kg) of cashew nuts, saying he had brought them for the squirrels. With a smile, Bhagavan said to Krishnaswami, the attendant, "Look at this! They are earning whatever they want. There is no need to beg anybody. These cashew nuts are squirrel's property. Keep them carefully. Note that they should not be given to the store room"