The program in Lucknow was arranged with the help of Mr.
Jayaprakash of the Rama Tirtha Publication League. It was held in the Varma
Memorial Hall Library on the 23rd, and almost 250 people attended. There was some disturbance at the beginning, as the Brahmins insisted that separate cooking arrangements be made for them, as they did not wish to eat food cooked and served by non-Brahmins. They refused to take their meal with people of other castes. But the moment Baba arrived at the hall, they forgot their prejudices.
Age observed, "Baba's presence was like the rising sun, dispersing the darkness of their minds. His presence electrified the atmosphere, and his sweet smile conquered all differences of caste and creed — although here, too, Baba's true identity was not revealed!"
Everyone sat down quietly, and Baba, Deshmukh, Chanji, Eruch, Baidul, Adi Sr. and Babadas began serving the meal. God Himself, in the guise of a charitable Parsi from Bombay, was hosting a banquet for them. Those present had never been served food that way before. And during the meal, they continuously stared at Baba.
After the meal, Baba called each guest, one by one, into a separate room, and handed out clothing and one rupee to each. Some asked for the generous Parsi's address, but their requests were ignored.
Chanji recorded these thoughts about the event:
It was very difficult to arrange the feast in Lucknow, as many there knew Baba from his photos and articles about him in the newspapers. Luckily and wonderfully, however, the work was done quite to Baba's satisfaction. It is on the face of it inconceivable to ask people [to help] in a work like this, where they had to arrange for so many important details — to collect a certain number of the truly deserving (starving) people for feeding; only a certain number; to arrange for cooking food for these in a private place — and then to ask the same willing workers who helped in all this, to go out and leave the premises for Baba and the mandali to serve them all privately as Baba wanted!
All the time, Baba's identity was to be kept a guarded secret, and these mandali working for this had to tell the local workers that they [the mandali] were doing all this at Baba's express desire and instructions. Even the division of labor and duty was instructed by Baba personally. The local people were to arrange for the deserving to come to the feast and to cook food there, and the mandali to serve them, in strict privacy with maun [silence] to all except one.