Pleader, Brahmin, aged 63, Nasik
Nasik, 16th October, 1936 & Shirdi, 28th October, 1936
As for my pooja, I may mention that I had first the photos of Baba and later the coloured or painted portraits of Baba for worship. I carried these pictures wherever I went. When I was tossing between Dewar and Nasik several times, first my cook at Dewar and later my nephew at Nasik wanted them or some of them to be left behind. Each time I cast lots before Baba to ascertain his wish and each time came the answer that I should carry them with me. The middle portrait which I constrained Radhakrishna Ayi to part with I specially like. In it, Baba is standing in a pensive or meditative mood. It reminds me of that important occasion when he made the disclosure "Bhav, I had no sleep all night due to thinking and thinking of you". I was passing by the side of the Masjid with that picture in my hands from Ayi's residence. Baba called me and I went into the Masjid. Pointing to the portrait, he asked.
Baba : What is this?
I : You are here.
Baba : Give it to me.
I gave it to him. He kept it a while, gazed at its front side and back side and returned it to me, saying "keep it". This was the very thing my heart was desiring, to get Baba's portrait touched by him and given to me for purposes of worship. This was a personal gift by Baba to me and I regard it with great veneration.
Baba gave me other articles to be kept safe and sacred. On the first occasion he took Rs.2 from me as a dakshina and returned it saying i.e., "Preserve this carefully. Do not part with it to any one nor spend it". With the same direction, he gave me again Rs.2 on another occasion, Rs.20, Rs. 15 and Rs.30 on other occasions -making a sum of Rs.69 which I preserve very carefully, not merely as mementos of Baba's loving care for me but as charmed coins that carry luck with them. Each of these gifts was characteristic of Baba. When I and G.Buty were present, Baba asked the latter for Rs.20 dakshina and when he gave it, Baba transferred it to me. On other occasions he gave me sums totalling Rs.30. On another occasion he asked for and got Rs.30 from Buty and sharing it between his palms suddenly divided it into two parts and held each in one hand. He gave the contents of one hand to But! and one to me. We went to our quarters and counted our sums. To our surprise, we found each got exactly Rs.15. The true lover gives and receives and Baba's love took moneys from me. I gave them gladly. These dakshinas are often found to convey an allegorical esoteric meaning which the circumstances or accompanying remarks throw light upon.
Baba has at times reduced his devotees on their visit to an absolutely penniless condition, by taking away all the cash with them, on the possession of which they had been relying. He has frequently reduced me also to this condition. I have, however, entertained neither regret at parting with the last pie nor fear. For it is he who gives and he who takes back what he has given. It is up to him to provide us with ways and means when he denudes us of every bit of cash. And he has never failed to provide. As instances, besides the eighty rupees incident of 1918 that I mentioned above, I can cite others. It will, however, suffice to give two more instances. Some time prior to the above incident when I went to him, he by repeated requests for dakshina took away all I had. Then again he asked me "Bhav, give me Rs.7". I explained that I had nothing left with me. He then told me to get it from some one. This was valuable lesson to me in humility. I must not consider myself too high to beg or borrow. In fact, this lesson was so forcibly brought home to me when I visited Shirdi, after he attained Mahasamadhi, that I went round to beg for bread in the places where Baba used to beg for his bread. By such means, his grace has kept down my pride and egoism which otherwise would soar so high as to avoid contact with the so-called "lower strata" of society.