On such auspicious occasions as his birthday in Nasik that year, Meher Baba would open the doors of his Tavern and distribute divine love, and each person's share was according to the intensity of their longing. Such thirsty souls from Bombay, Poona, Ahmednagar, Nagpur, Karachi and other distant places throughout India flocked to Nasik, and the city blossomed with the fragrance of their devotion. Pappa Jessawala arrived from Nagpur with his family; from Bombay the Dadachanji family arrived with Nariman. Memo arrived from Poona on 16 February, and it was a day of especially great joy for her to see the thousands who had gathered from the East and the West to offer homage at the feet of her son. Sheriarji's brother Khodadad Kaka also attended.1
Needless to say, it was no small or easy task to arrange accommodations for the thousands who attended the two-day program, but Baba's nazar made it possible. Besides managing housing for the guests, cooking for so many thousands of people was a tremendous undertaking.
On Wednesday morning, 17 February 1937, the sun appeared over the horizon and was the first to take the Master's darshan. Its light bathed the sea of humanity milling under the pavilion waiting to receive the Lord's prasad. The first day was to be a day of public darshan. Baba wished to distribute the bundles of cloth and grain, along with laddoos (a sweet) to the poor and destitute. Near Baba's seat under the canopy the bundles were stacked in huge piles.
Baba walked over from the main house at eight o'clock. As the doors of the Wineshop were thrown open, tumultuous cheers of "SADGURU MEHER BABA MAHARAJ KI JAI!" rent the air with his every stride! The angels cursed their bliss and envied the joy experienced by Baba's lovers. Age was overwhelmed by the sight of Baba's beauty amidst such thunderous worship. "Had the God-Man ever received such homage in his lifetime in any previous advent?" it wondered.
Baba took his seat on the raised platform and the distribution of prasad began. The crowd of thousands teemed with excitement as the poor persons who had been brought were formed into rows and were led to Baba one by one. Handing them a bundle of prasad with one hand, Baba would bow and touch their feet with his other hand and then touch his own forehead, thus saluting the God in them!
Footnotes
- 1.Khodadad Kaka died in Iran, circa July 1949, in his late nineties.