THE TIME TABLE OF BABA'S DAILY ROUTINE - 7

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THE TIME TABLE OF BABA’S DAILY ROUTINE - 7

Sometimes Baba would cook food himself and feed his devotees. He had two vessels

which were big enough to cook for fifty to a hundred people. On the day that he

decided to cook for the devotees Baba would go to the market and get all the

condiments and groceries himself. He would do all the work such as lighting the

fire, grinding the herbs and condiments and the cooking all by himself. (We can

see the fireplace used by Baba to cook food at the mosque to this day). He

would cook sweet rice pudding or milk rice pudding or mutton pilau. He would

insert his bare hand instead of a ladle in to the boiling cauldron and stir and

mix the food while it was cooking. Astoundingly, his hands were never burned.

Sometimes he would cook gravy and add rotis to it. Other times he would cook

gruel and serve it to the devotees together with buttermilk, or he would grind

wheat and cook large rotis on the fire of the dhuni. Those rotis would be large

and have many

layers and one roti would satiate even the hungriest.

He would never let the vegetarians draw near when he was cooking with meat. Once

the food was ready he would have the maulvi offer it to god and later send a

little to the houses of Mahalsapati and Tatya. Later the remainder would be

distributed to all the devotees. After 1910, the number of devotees increased

and the offerings also grew, so Baba stopped cooking food. The food offerings

given as naivedya to Baba would feed 150-200 devotees daily at the mosque.

Once all had finished their meal, Sagun Meru Naik would clean up the place. As

Baba sat in his place, he would offer him betel leaf and nut along with a glass

of water and two rupees as dakshina.

No one would be allowed to stay at the mosque after the noon meal. Baba would

send everyone away and stay alone at the mosque between 1.00 and 2.30 pm. Baba

always had a brick with him which he used to look after very carefully. He

would say that the brick was a prasad from his guru. He would keep the brick

under his head when he slept. Whenever he sat down he kept the brick to his

right and rest his right hand on it. Baba never slept during the day and never

rested his back on the wall when sitting. He would sit alone unobserved by all

and take out an old cloth bag. There would be some old worn out coins in it.

They were of various denominations such as four annas, two annas half a rupee,

one paisa and so on. (A rupee had sixteen annas in the currency of that time.)

He would take out these coins and rub them vigorously saying, "This is Nana’s;

this is Kaka’s, this Somya’s and this Damya’s". If he heard anyone’s footsteps

nearing

him, he would at once hide the coins in the bag. What those coins indicated or

why Baba rubbed them thus was an unfathomable mystery. Baba never told anyone

about those coins. It was also during this time of solitude that he would

repair the holes in his old and worn out kafni

Baba would again go at 2.30 pm to Lendi garden and return. He held court once

again at the mosque after he returned from the Lendi garden. After this, in the

evening, Sri Sai would walk about the forecourt of the mosque. He would stand

next to the boundary wall of the mosque and talk to the passers-by. Sometimes

he would talk in some coded words that only he could understand. He used to say

things like, "Ten snakes have left, and many more will come". "Vani (the

merchants) and Teli (the oil sellers) have troubled me too much. I am not going

to stay in this mosque any longer. I am going away from here." Sometimes he

would really start to go away from the mosque and Shirdi. This would be

conveyed to Tatya who would come running to Baba and pacify him saying, "I will

punish those who have troubled you. I will not let you leave Shirdi and go away.

In any case do not go today. We will see about your departure tomorrow." Only

Baba knows why he threatened to

leave Shirdi. After allowing him to be cajoled into staying by Tatya, Baba would

sit as usual in the mosque and talk to the devotees as if nothing was amiss. One

can see small padukas, which have been placed where Baba used to stand at the

boundary wall of the Mosque to talk to the passers-by. Padukas have been placed

on the wall where he had rested his hand. It is said that Baba used to stand

there sometimes and watch the sunset.

_Suchitra Devi in Sai Padham

 

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