The houses of the Five blessed ones from whom Baba took bhiksha Part 1

The houses of the Five blessed ones from whom Baba took bhiksha

Right up to his last days, Baba used to beg for his food. He usually confined his bhiksha rounds to the same five houses which were all within a few metres of Dwarkamai, and went several times a day. On rare occasions when he was unable to go himself, Baba sent someone in his place. Baba would stand outside and call for bread, but he never went into the houses. Baba collected the food all together in a cloth bag and any liquids in a tin mug, then took it back to Dwarkamai. He would offer some at the dhuni and empty the rest into a pot (the kolamba) by the fire, where any creature could take from it. Only later would Baba eat a small amount himself.

 

Baba on His biksha rounds, c 1916

The first two houses Baba used to go to were those of Vaman Gondkar and Vaman Sakharam Shelke, beside the Chavadi. Both were wealthy landowners. These two substantial houses were demolished in 2001, though the small Narasimha Temple beside them, with its three little samadhis, still stands.

Vaman Gondkar's house appears in one of the leelas in the Sri Sai Satcharitra. Hemadpant narrates that one day at noon, Baba suddenly got up and went and stood near Radhakrishnayi's place and asked some men to bring a ladder and lean it against the wall of Gondkar's house. Baba then climbed up, walked over the roof and the adjacent one (which was Radhakrishnayi's), got them to move the ladder there, and then climbed down again. As Hemadpant says, "No one could understand this mystery." For one thing, "Baba could only walk if two people on either side of him supported him. When he himself was so feeble, from where did this strength come?" Secondly, for this small service, Baba paid the owner of the ladder the then princely sum of two rupees! When asked about this, Baba simply replied that we should never take anybody's labour for free. It so happened though, that the owner of the ladder later prospered and had two sons, having been childless until then. Villagers also wondered if Baba had done something for Radhakrishnayi's benefit, as she had been suffering from malaria at the time.