SWEET MEMORIES OF TATYA - DIVINE FEAST

[Guest guest]

SWEET MEMORIES OF TATYA - Divine Feast

Sometimes Baba would buy groceries and other ingredients from the market and

cook a meal himself. He would normally prepare either mutton pulao or sweet

porridge or rice boiled with lentils. He would never use a ladle while cooking.

He would put his hand into the boiling cauldron to mix the food while it was

cooking. His hand would not be burned by this feat. After the food was ready

Baba would have it offered to God by the Muslim cleric and then send some to

the houses of Mahalsapati and Tatya. The remaining food was given to the

devotees who assembled there. Once some devotees gave two cows to Baba as a

present. Baba gave them away to Tatya and Sagun Meru Naik.

The number of devotees visiting Baba gradually started to increase from 1900.

Approximately 150 to 200 people could be fed daily on the food offerings made

to Baba by the devotees. Baba would, however, mix the alms he got with a little

of the food offerings, and have his lunch with ten to twelve devotees. Tatya and

some other devotees would eat in the mosque every day. The fakir of Malegaon,

Bade Baba, would sit on Baba’s right while Tatya Patil would sit on his left.

Baba and Bade Baba would eat from the same plate while Tatya, Ramachandra Patil

and Bayyaji Patil would together eat from another plate.

"Experiences of Tatya" in the Marathi magazine Sri Sai Leela Masik