Sai Satcharitra
Sai Satchritra - 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 Annadana
(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-inlaw,
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