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Chapter
XXXVIII
Baba's
Handi - Disrespect of Shrine - Kala or Hodge-Podge - Cup
of Butter-Milk.
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.
Bow
to Shri Sai - Peace be to all
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