Shri Sai Satcharita Chapter XXXVIII

 Shri Sai Satcharita Chapter XXXVIII

Baba’s Handi - Disrespect of Shrine - Kala or Hodge Podge - Cup of

Buttermilk

In the last chapter, we described Baba’s Chavadi procession. In this one, we take
up Baba’s handi (cooking pot) and some other subjects.

Preliminary

Oh blessed satguru Sai, we bow to You, who have given happiness to the whole
world, provided for the welfare of the devotees, and removed the afflictions of those who
have resorted to Your holy feet. As the protector and savior of bhaktas who surrender
themselves to You, You have incarnated in this world to bless people and help them. The
liquid essence of Pure Self was poured into the mold of Brahman and out of this has come
the crest jewel of saints - Sai. Sai is Atmaram Himself. He is the abode of perfect divine
bliss. Having attained mastery of this life, and being detached and without desire, Sai
makes His devotees free and desireless.

Baba’s Handi

Different sadhanas (means of accomplishments) are prescribed in the 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 the same way 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, “Food is Brahma; from food all creatures are born, and having been
born, by food they live, then 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 anyone who comes to the door at noon be served forthwith. If lame, crippled, blind or
diseased paupers come, they should be fed first, and then the able bodied persons and
relations afterwards. The merit of feeding the former is much greater than that of feeding
the latter. Other kinds of charity are imperfect, but anna-dana (giving of food) is most
meritorious.

Now let us see how Baba prepared food and distributed it.

It has been stated in previous chapters that Baba required very little food for
Himself, and that which He needed, was obtained by begging from a few houses.
However, when Baba decided to distribute food to every one, He made all the preparations
from beginning to end Himself. He depended on no one and troubled none in this matter.

First, He would go to the bazar and buy all the ingredients needed for cooking, (e.g.
corn, flour, spices etc.) for cash. Then, in the open courtyard of the masjid, He would build
a big hearth and, after lighting a fire underneath, He would place a handi over it containing
the proper measure of water. (There were two handis. The small one could hold enough
food to provide for 50 people, and the large handi could provide enough food for 100
people.) Sometimes Baba cooked ‘mitthe chaval’ (sweet rice) and at other times ‘pulava’
with meat. Frequently, while boiling varan (soup), He added small balls of thick or flat
breads of wheat flour. (He did all the grinding Himself.) Baba would also pound spices on
a stone slab and put the thin pulverized spices into the cooking pot. He took great pains to
make the dishes very palatable. He prepared ‘ambil’ by boiling jawari flour in water and
mixing it with buttermilk. He would then distribute this ambil along with the other food to
everyone.

Baba had his own unusual method of checking to see if the food was properly
cooked or not. He would roll up the sleeve of His kafni and put His bare arm directly into
the boiling cauldron without the least fear and churn the whole mass from side to side and
up and down. There was never any burn mark resulting from this method, nor did Baba
ever show any fear or pain. When the cooking was over, Baba brought pots from the
masjid and had them duly consecrated by the moulvi.

First, Baba sent part of the food as prasad to Mhalasapati and Tatya Patil, then He
served the remaining contents with His own hand to all the poor and helpless people,
allowing them to have
their fill.

Blessed and fortunate indeed are those people who received food prepared by
Baba and who were served by Him as well.

Someone may raise a doubt here and ask, “Did Baba distribute vegetable and
animal food as prasad alike to all His devotees?” The answer is simple. Those who were
accustomed to eat animal food were given food from the handi as prasad, and those who
were not so accustomed, were not allowed to touch it. Baba never created in them any
wish or desire to indulge in this food. There is a principle well established that when a guru
gives anything as prasad, the disciple who thinks and doubts whether it is acceptable or
otherwise, goes to perdition. In order to see how any disciple has absorbed this principle,
Baba at times proposed tests. For instance, on an Ekadashi day, Baba gave some rupees
to Dada Kelkar and asked him to go in person to Koralha to buy some mutton. 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 satguru was not enough because implicit obedience to
and prompt compliance with His order was the real dakshina that pleased Him most.
In view of this, Dada Kelkar dressed himself and started out for Koralha to get the mutton.
As he started to leave, Baba called him back and said, “Don’t go yourself, but send
someone.” Dada then sent his servant Pandu for the purpose. Then, seeing Dada’s
servant starting to leave, Baba asked Dada to call him back and cancelled the request.

On another occasion, Baba asked Dada Kelkar to see if the salty ‘pulava’ (mutton
dish) was done. Dada replied casually that it was alright. Baba then said to him, “Neither
have you seen it with your eyes, nor tasted it with your tongue, so how can you say it was
good? Take the lid off the pot and have a look.” Saying this, Baba caught Dada’s arm and
thrust it into the pot and added, “Take out your arm and use a ladle and put some of the
pulava in the dish without caring for your orthodoxy and without blustering.” Thus, Baba’s
ways were inscrutable, for in reality, He would never force His orthodox disciple to eat
forbidden food and defile himself thereby.

The handi cooking went on for some time until 1910, at which time it stopped
thereafter. As stated previously, Das Ganu, through his kirtans, spread the fame of Baba
far and wide in the Bombay region and people from that part of the country began to flock
to Shirdi. Thus, Shirdi became a holy place of pilgrimage. The devotees brought with
them various articles for presentation
and offered various dishes of food as naivedya. There was such an abundance of
naivedya offered by them that fakirs and paupers could eat their fill and there would still be
some surplus left.

Before stating how naivedya was distributed, we shall refer to Nanasaheb
Chandorkar’s story describing Baba’s regard and respect for local shrines and deities.

Nanasaheb’s Disrespect of a Shrine

People could only draw inferences or guess as to whether Sai Baba was a Brahmin
or a Moslem. He actually belonged to no caste. No one knew definitely when He was
born, what community He was from, or who His parents were. The question became,
could He be a Moslem or a Brahmin? If He were a Moslem, why did He keep a dhuni fire
ever burning in the masjid? Why was there a tulsi vrindavan? Why did He allow the
blowing of conches and ringing of bells and the playing of musical instruments? Thus, if
He were a Moslem, how could He have allowed all the different forms of Hindu worship?
Furthermore, how could He have pierced ears and how could He have spent money from
His pocket for repairing Hindu temples? Moreover, Baba never tolerated the slightest
disrespect to Hindu shrines and deities.

Once Nanasaheb Chandorkar came to Shirdi with his ‘sadu’ (the husband of his
sister-in-law), Mr. Biniwalle. They went to the masjid, sat before Baba, and while they were
conversing, Baba suddenly became angry with Nanasaheb and said, “You have been with
me for such a long time. How could you behave like this?” At first, Nanasaheb did not
understand what Baba meant and so he humbly requested Him to explain. Baba then
asked him what he did when he arrived in Kopergaon and afterward, how did he travel to
Shirdi. Nanasaheb at once realized his mistake. Nana’s brother-in-law, Mr. Biniwalle, a
Datta bhakta, usually worshiped the shrine of Datta on the banks of the Godavari at
Kopergaon on his way to Shirdi, but this time Nana dissuaded his relation from going to the
shrine so as to avoid delay, thus allowing them to continue directly on to Shirdi. Nana
confessed all this to Baba and then went on to tell Him that while bathing in the Godavari, a
big thorn went into his foot and gave him quite a bit of trouble. Baba pointed out to Nana
that the thorn was the slight punishment he met for his disregard of the Datta shrine and
warned him to be more careful in the future.

Now to revert to the description of the distribution of naivedya.

Kala (hodge-podge)

After the arati was over and Baba had sent all the people away with udi and
blessings, He went inside the masjid and sat with His back to the nimbar for meals. A row
of bhaktas sat on each side of Baba. The bhaktas who brought naivedya thrust their
dishes containing a variety of food such as puri, mande, polis, basundi, sanza, fine rice etc.
inside the masjid where Baba had sat down to partake of His meal. They hoped they
would receive prasad from Baba that had been consecrated by His touch.

All the dishes of food received were mixed in a hodge podge and placed before
Baba. He offered it all to God and consecrated it. Portions of this were then given to the
people (bhaktas) who were waiting outside and the rest was served to the inner two rows of
bhaktas, where Baba was seated at their center. Everyone ate as much as they wanted of
the blessed food.

Every day Baba would ask Shama and Nanasaheb Nimonkar to serve the
consecrated food to all the people sitting inside the masjid and to look after their individual
needs and comforts. This task they did very carefully and willingly, and so every morsel of
the food partaken provided nutrition and
satisfaction. Such sweet and consecrated food it was - ever auspicious and ever holy.

Cup of Buttermilk

Once when Hemadpant had just eaten his fill in the masjid, Baba offered him a cup
of buttermilk. Its white appearance pleased him, but he was afraid there would be no
space inside his stomach for it. He did, however, take a sip which proved very tasty.
Seeing his faltering attitude, Baba said, “Drink it all. You won’t get another such
opportunity hereafter.” Hemadpant drank the entire cup of buttermilk and later found
Baba’s words were prophetic, as He passed away soon after.

Ed. Note: Now readers, we certainly have Hemadpant to thank because he not only
drank the cup of buttermilk, but he has supplied us with an abundance 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