In the last chapter we described Baba's Chavadi
procession. In this we take up Baba's Handi (cooking
pot) and some other subjects.
Preliminary
Oh, blessed Sad-guru Sai, we bow to You, Who have given
happiness to the whole world, accomplished the welfare
of the devotees and have removed the affliction of those
who have resorted to Your Feet. Being very liberal and
being the protector and saviour of the Bhaktas who
surrender themselves to You, You incarnate yourself in
this world to oblige the people and do them good. The
liquid essence of Pure Self was poured into the mould of
Brahma and out of this has come out the crest-jewel of
the saints-Sai. This Sai is Atmarama Himself. He is the
abode of perfect divine bliss. Having Himself attained
all objects of life, He made His devotees desirelss and
free.
Baba's Handi
Different sadhanas (means of accomplishments) are
prescribed in our scriptures for different ages. Tapa
(Penance) is recommended for Krita age, Jnana
(Knowledge) for Treta age, Yajna (Sacrifice) for Dwapara
age and Dana (Charity) for Kali (present) age. Of all
the charities, giving food is the best one. We are much
perturbed when we get no food at noon. Other beings feel
similarly under similar circumstances. Knowing this, he
who gives food to the poor and hungry, is the best donor
or charitable person. The Taittiriya Upanishad says that
"Food is Brahma; from food all the creatures are born
and having been born, by food they live, and having
departed, into food again they enter." When an Atithi
(uninvited guest) comes to our door at noon, it is our
bounden duty to welcome him by giving him food. Other
kinds of charities, viz., giving away wealth, property
and clothes etc., require some discrimination, but in
the matter of food, no such consideration is necessary.
Let anybody come to our door at noon, he should be
served forthwith; and if lame, crippled, blind and
diseased paupers come, they should be fed first and the
able-bodied persons and our relations afterwards. The
merit of feeding the former is much greater than that of
feeding the latter. Other kinds of charities are
imperfect without this Anna-dana (giving of food) as
stars are without the moon, a necklace without its
central medal, a crown without pinnacle, a tank without
a lotus, bhajan without love, a married lady without the
kumkum-mark, singing without a sweet voice or
butter-milk without salt. Just as varan (Pulse-soup)
excels all other dishes, Anna-dana is the best of all
merits. Now let us see how Baba prepared food and
distributed it.
It has been stated before that Baba required very little
food for Himself and what little He wanted, was obtained
by begging from a few houses. But when He took it into
His mind to distribute food to all, He made all
preparations from beginning to end, Himself. He depended
on nobody and troubled none in this matter. First He
went to the bazar and bought all the things, corn,
flour, spices etc., for cash. He did also the grinding.
In the open courtyard of the Masjid, He arranged a big
hearth and after lighting a fire underneath kept a Handi
over it with a proper measure of water. There were two
kinds of Handi, one small and the other big. The former
provided food for 50 persons, the later for 100.
Sometimes He cooked 'Mitthe Chaval' (sweet rice), and at
other times 'pulava' with meat. At times in the boiling
varan (soup), He let in small balls of thick or flat
breads of wheat flour. He pounded the spices on a
stone-slab, and put the thin pulverized spices into the
cooking-pot. He took all the pains to make the dishes
very palatable. He prepared 'Ambil' by boiling jawari-flour
in water and mixing it with butter-milk. With the food
He distributed this Ambil to all alike. To see whether
the food was properly cooked or not, Baba rolled up the
sleeve of His Kafni and put His bare arm in the boiling
cauldron without the least fear, and churned (moved) the
whole mass from side to side and up and down. There was
no mark of burn on His arm, nor fear on His face. When
the cooking was over, Baba got the pots in the Majid,
and had them duly consecrated by the moulvi. First He
sent part of the food as prasad to Mhalasapati and Tatya
Patil and then He served the remaining contents with His
own hand to all the poor and helpless people to their
hearts' content. Really blessed and fortunate must be
those people who got food prepared by Baba and served by
Him.
Somebody may raise a doubt here and ask - "Did Baba
distribute vegetable and animal food as prasad alike to
all His devotees?" The answer is plain and simple. Those
who were accustomed to (take) animal food were given
food from the Handi as prasad and those who were not so
accustomed, were not allowed to touch it. He never
created in them any wish or desire to indulge in this
food. There is a principle well established that when a
Guru himself gives anything as prasad, the disciple who
thinks and doubts whether it is acceptable or otherwise,
goes to peridition. In order to see how any disciple has
imbibed this principle, Baba at times proposed tests.
For instance, on an Ekadashi day He gave some rupees to
Dada Kelkar and asked him to go in person to Koralha to
get mutton from there. This Dada Kelkar was an orthodox
Brahmin and kept all orthodox manners in his life. He
knew that offering wealth, grain and clothes etc., to a
Sad-guru was not enough but that implicit obedience to
and prompt compliance with His order was the real
Dakshina that pleased Him most. So Dada Kelkar dressed
himself and started for the place. Then Baba called him
back and said, "Don't go yourself, but send somebody."
Then Dada sent servant Pandu for the purpose. Seeing him
starting, Baba asked Dada to call him back and cancelled
that programme. On another occation Baba asked Dada just
to see how the saltish `Pulava' (mutton dish) was done.
The latter said casually and formally that it was
alright. Then Baba said to him - "Neither you have seen
it with your eyes, nor tasted in with your tongue, then
how could you say that it was good? Just take out the
lid and see." Saying this Baba caught his arm and thrust
it into the pot and added, "Draw out your arm and taking
a ladle, put some quantity in the dish without caring
for your orthodoxy and without blustering." When a wave
of real love rises in a mother's mind, she pinches her
child with her hand and when it begins to cry and shout,
she hugs it close to her bosom. Similarly Baba, in a
true motherly way pinched Dada Kelkar in this fashion.
Really no saint or guru will ever force his orthodox
disciple to eat forbidden food and defile himself
thereby.
The Handi business went on for some time till 1910 and
was stopped thereafter. As stated before, Das Ganu
spread the fame of Baba by his kirtans far and wide in
the Bombay Presidency and people from that part of the
country began to flock to Shirdi, which became in a few
days a place of pilgrimage. The devotees brought with
them various articles for presentation and offered
various dishes of food as naivedya. The quantity of
naivedya offered by them was so much that the fakirs and
paupers could feed themselves to their hearts' content,
leaving some surplus behind. Before stating how naivedya
was distributed, we shall refer to Nanasaheb
Chandorkar's story showing Baba's regard and respect for
local Shrines and deities.
Nanasaheb's Disrespect of a Shrine
By drawing inferences or guessing in their own way some
people said that Sai was a Brahmin, and some that He was
a Moslem. Really He belonged to no caste. No one knew
definitely when He was born and in what community and
who were His parents. Then how could He be a Moslem or
Brahmin? If He were a Moslem, how could He keep Dhuni
fire ever burning in the Masjid, how could there be a
Tulsi Vrindavan there, how could He allow the blowing of
conches and ringing of bells and the playing of the
musical instruments, how could He allow all the
different forms of Hindu worship, there? Had He been a
Moslem, could He have pierced ears and could He have
been spent money from His pocket for repairing Hindu
temples? On the contrary He never tolerated the
slightest disrespect to Hindu Shrines and deities.
Once Nanasaheb Chandorkar came to Shirdi with his 'Sadu'
- husband of his sister-in-law, Mr.Biniwalle. When they
went to the Masjid and sat before Baba talking, the
latter suddenly got angry with Nanasaheb and said - "You
are so long in My company and how do you behave like
this?" Nanasaheb then at first did not understand
anything and humbly requested Baba to explain. Baba
asked him when he came to Kopergaon and how he came to
Shirdi from thence. Nanasaheb then at once realized his
mistake. He usually worshipped the Shrine of Datta, on
the banks of the Godavari at Kopergaon on his way to
Shirdi, but this time he dissuaded his relation who was
a Datta Bhakta from going to that Shrine, to avoid delay
and drove straight. He confessed all this to Baba and
told Him that while bathing in the Godavari, a big thorn
went into his foot and gave him much trouble. Baba said
that, that was the slight punishment be met and warned
him to be more careful in future.
Kala (hodge-podge)
To revert to the distribution of the naivedya. - After
the arati was over and after Baba sent away all the
people with Udi and blessings, He went inside and sat
with his back to the Nimbar for meals, with two rows of
the Bhaktas, one on each side. The Bhaktas who brought
naivedya thrust inside their dishes containing a variety
of food such as Puris, Mande, Polis, Basundi, Sanza,
fine rice etc., and kept waiting outside for prasad
consecrated by Baba. All the foods were mixed in a
hotch-potch and placed before Baba. He offered it all to
God and consecrated it. Then portions of the same were
given to the persons waiting outside and the rest was
served to the inner party with Baba at the centre. The
Bhaktas sitting in two rows then dined to their hearts'
content. Baba asked Shama and Nanasaheb Nimonkar daily
to serve the consecrated food to all the persons sitting
inside and look to their individual needs and comforts.
This they did very carefully and willingly. Every morsel
of the food thus partaken gave them nutrition and
satisfaction. Such sweet, lovely and consecrated food it
was! Ever auspicious and every holy!
Cup of Butter-Milk
Once Hemadpant had eaten his full in this company, when
Baba offered him a cup of butter-milk. Its white
appearance pleased him, but he was afraid that there was
no space inside for it. He, however, took a sip which
proved very tasty. Seeing his faltering attitude, Baba
said - "Drink it all, you won't get any such opportunity
hereafter." He drank it off then, but found that Baba's
words were prophetic, for He passed away soon.
Now, readers, we have certainly to thank Hemadpant. He
drank the cup of butter-milk, but has supplied us with
sufficient quantity of nectar in the form of Baba's
Leelas. Let us drink cups and cups of this nectar and be
satisfied and happy.
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