Shri Sai Satcharitra-Chapter 38-Part II

Add as a preferred source on Google

Continued From The First Part

It has been stated before that Shirdi Saibaba required very little food for Himself and what little He wanted, was obtained by begging from a few houses.

Sai Ram. Baba being a great yogi had vast powers and did not need to beg for food but did so to take the karma of the giver along with the food and burn it in the digestive fire and fire of renunciation and jnana. Sai Ram.

But when He took it into His mind to distribute food to all, He made all preparations from beginning to end, Himself. He depended on nobody and troubled none in this matter. First He went to the bazar and bought all the things, corn, flour, spices etc., for cash.

Sai Ram. It is interesting to note that He did not beg for those materials. He was thus indicating how a dhaana (charity) should be performed by a householder. One has to work, earn money, feed oneself and family etc. and also set aside some amount for charity. Baba was getting dakshina and used to give it all away but when He decided to feed others, used a part of that dakshina to buy the food items needed, indirectly helping those who gave the dakshina. Sai Ram.

He did also the grinding. In the open courtyard of the Masjid, He arranged a big hearth and after lighting a fire underneath kept a Handi over it with a proper measure of water. There were two kinds of Handi, one small and the other big. The former provided food for 50 persons, the later for 100. Sometimes He cooked 'Mitthe Chaval' (sweet rice), and at other times 'pulava' with meat. At times in the boiling varan (soup), He let in small balls of thick or flat breads of wheat flour. He pounded the spices on a stone-slab, and put the thin pulverized spices into the cooking-pot. He took all the pains to make the dishes very palatable.

Baba prepared 'Ambil' by boiling jawari-flour in water and mixing it with butter-milk. With the food He distributed this Ambil to all alike. To see whether the food was properly cooked or not, Baba rolled up the sleeve of His Kafni and put His bare arm in the boiling cauldron without the least fear, and churned (moved) the whole mass from side to side and up and down. There was no mark of burn on His arm, nor fear on His face.

Sai Ram. Yet one more example of Baba's yogic powers and indicating that when He put His hand in the fire to save a child and allowed His hand to get burnt, He did that to help the leper devotee Bhagoji Shinde by allowing him to dress the wound. Pl. see Sai Satcharitra Chapter 7 to recollect the wonderful story. Sai Ram.

When the cooking was over, Baba got the pots in the Majid, and had them duly consecrated by the moulvi. First He sent part of the food as prasad to Mhalasapati and Tatya Patil and then He served the remaining contents with His own hand to all the poor and helpless people to their hearts' content. Really blessed and fortunate must be those people who got food prepared by Baba and served by Him.

Sai Ram. Sai followed all dharma and practiced what He preached. For example, though He was one with the food, God and all, He arranged for the cooked food to be offered to God first and then gave the prasad to all devotees. Please recall His light hearted admonition and advice to Shri Hemadpant in Chapter 24 (chanak leela). Yes, indeed it is fortunate for any one to receive any article touched by Sai whether it is udhi or food as prasad. Since Sai is all pervading and is ever present, invoking His name before giving or taking the udhi or prasad is effective even now. This has been personally experienced by many devotees including this servant of Sai. Sai Ram.

To be continued

About the author

S.V. Swamy

Swarna.Venkateswara Swamy, (also known as Venkateswara Swamy Swarna, S.V.Swamy or simply Swamy) is a physicist and a metallurgist by education. He considers Sai Baba of Shirdi as his Sadguru but respects all Gurus. He is an avid reader, a book reviewer and an editor. He has an abiding interest in holistic health systems..