Sai Satcharitra-Let us all read it together, a little everyday

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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."Gurur Brahma Gurur VishnuGurur Devoh Maheshwar;Gurur

Shakshat ParambramhaTashmai Shri Gurur Veh Namah"May the Merciful Sri Sai Baba

always shower His grace on us and our

families and remove our problems and anxieties by giving us all - strength ,

goodluck, success and happiness with peace of mind.Sai bhakt,Deepa

Hdebu7366

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