Bhagavan recalls earlier incidents

[Guest guest]

Day by Day with Bhagavan________5-6-45 Afternoon (continued)Boy: Why are you here, all alone, like this?Bhagavan: I had some trouble at home and so have comeaway like this.Boy: Then how about your food?Bhagavan: I eat if anybody gives me anything to eat.Boy: I have a good master. I shall take you to him. First,you may have to volunteer your services free. If he approvesof your work, he will give you three pies a day and graduallyhe will increase it to six pies, and so on.Bhagavan: Yes, please do so.Bhagavan added, "There was no doubt that the boy wasvery much concerned over what he considered my sad plightand that he was moved by great and genuine pity."Bhagavan also recalled the incident in which an oldHarijan woman, one day about noon time, accosted Bhagavanon one of his rambles on the rough jungle path down the hilland remarked, (non-english script). ("A curse on you! Whycan't you stay quiet in a place?")Bhagavan said, "Yes, this is very good advice," and alsoslapped his own cheeks, as if in punishment for not havingknown what the woman taught then.Relating the above incident, Bhagavan said that, whenfirst the old woman began abusing him, he could notunderstand how he deserved it and was dumbfounded as towhat offence he could have given to the woman.This made Mr. T.S. Rajagopal recall an article by oneMiss Souris in a Telugu journal called Bharati. For the benefitof Harindranath Chattopadhyaya and some others who werenew to it, Bhagavan again related the incident to the merrimentof all of us.Bhagavan said, "One day the Mauni brought the tapals(post) as usual. I left the papers and magazines on the couchand was looking at the letters. After showing the tapals tome, Mauni left the hall and took the Bharati number withhim, saying he would read it and bring it back. After a littletime he came back, left the magazine on my couch and wasgoing out. While near the door, he suddenly said, `What athief is Bhagavan!' and before I could ask why he said so, hehad gone. I was wondering what I could have done to havemade the Mauni reproach me like that. It sort of rankled inmy mind. And only after I read the article in the Bharati andcame to the very last sentence in it, which was `Oh, what athief is Bhagavan!' I could understand the joke."