SHIRDI SAI BABA`S TIMETABLE - PART 3 OF 8

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THE TIME TABLE OF BABA’S DAILY ROUTINE - 3

At about 8 a.m., Baba would start on his rounds for alms. He went to the houses of Ganapati Tatya Patil (Bayajabai), Appaji Patil, Sakharam Shelke, Waman Gondkar and Nanduram Marwadi. To them fell the good fortune of giving sustenance to the One who was the sustainer of life in all the worlds. Baba had a different way of calling for alms at each of the houses at which he begged. He would say, "Abaad-e-abaad, Allah bhala karega," and bless the housewives. He would say, "Bayaja maa! Jevan de! Roti lao (give food, get the roti)!" at the house of Bayajabai. He would stand in front of the houses of Appaji Patil and Waman Gondkar and calling them by name would say, "Bhakri de (give roti)." He would stand in front of Sakharam’s house and call for his wife, "Itlayi Bai! Roti

lao." He would go last to the house of Nanduram Marwadi and say either, "Nanduram bhakri de," or call his wife Radhabai, "Bopidi Bai bhakri de.Bopidi" means "to stutter" in Marathi, and as Radhabai had a slight stammer, Baba sometimes called her by that name. He would shout at her, "Why so much delay?" if she were late in bringing the food for Baba. Sometimes, even when no special occasion such as a festival warranted it, he would say, "Bopidi Bai, mitha lao" (get the sweetmeats). She would leave all her work and make puran polies for Baba whenever he asked for sweetmeats. He would put a piece in his mouth and distribute the rest to the devotees present there. Baba went only to these houses for alms and he would always go to them in the same order, but there was no saying how many times a day he would go. There were sometimes occasions when he went seven or eight times a day. "Baba went eight times a day for alms in the first

three years," says Sri Bayyaji Appakote Patil, "He then went four times a day for the next three years, and twice a day for the next twelve years, and in the last days he would go only once a day." When Baba went to Bayajabai’s house for alms, she would plead with him to sit a while in the house and eat his food there. Baba never entered any house as a rule, however, he could not refuse the loving supplication of the motherly Bayajabai and so he would sometimes sit on the platform abutting the forecourt of her house. The devoted Bayajabai never sent Baba away empty-handed no matter how many times he went for alms. She would eagerly come running out of the house and put at least some pickles or papadam in Baba’s alms-bag. Baba called her his sister; she was indeed blessed. She had seen the greatness and the glory of Baba when the whole world was unaware of him, and had resolved, even in those early days, not to eat till she had fed him. Her life in the previous birth must indeed have been

meritorious for her to have such discernment.