Sai Baba the Master

[Guest guest]

One of the houses to which Sai Baba went very often to beg was that of

Tatya Baba Kote. He used to go there precisely when Tatya took his meal.

Tatya Baba Kote was then a pupil in the village school and Madhavrao

Deshpande (‘Shama’) was his teacher. The school was conducted in the

Maruthi temple. Often Tatya and other lads assembled near the entrance of

the mosque after or before the school hours to annoy Sai Baba by throwing

stones at him. When Sai Baba abused them, the boys used to laugh. When Baba

pretended to chase them, they would run away.

 

Tatya’s mother, Bayajibai, had great regard for Sai Baba. So she

invariably offered him a seat. Tatya, then a boy, would run to him and

climb up his back playfully. His mother used to scold the boy and ask him

not to be so rude and unruly to the holy visitor; but Baba himself kept

quiet. Bayajibai always requested Baba to eat the rotis she gave him there

itself. Occasionally he acceded to her request. She then used to give him

milk or buttermilk, onions, pappad and pickles which he accepted. The year

after his arrival at Shirdi, there was a severe famine in that area. At

that time Baba did not beg anywhere except at the rich Nandaram’s house and

at Tatya’s and he received only half a roti from each house.

 

Sometimes Baba begged food as often as fifteen times in a day at Tatya’s,

as though to put the lady’s faith to test. But Bayajibai never sent him

away without giving him something or the other.

 

Source: http://www.saibharadwaja.org