Memo lost and returned to Poona in total dismay.
After this quarrel, Memo suffered a breakdown and her health deteriorated. She would lie in bed weeping and was, most of the time, insensible. She refused to cook, and the children and home were attended to by servants. Bobo called a doctor, who was concerned about her mental and physical condition. Memo's mother Golandoon and Bobo did their best to nurse and comfort her, but she was disconsolate.
Weeks passed, there was no sign of recovery, and Bobo thought Memo might die. Once, while she was sleeping, Bobo, who was keeping watch over her, saw the door open and two figures approach her bed. One spirit resembled Merwan and the other, wearing a white turban and kafni, resembled Sai Baba. The two figures stayed a few minutes near Memo, gazing at her; then they vanished. Soon afterward, Memo awoke and, for the first time in weeks, spoke clearly and asked for water. Bobo poured water for her and, amazingly, Memo's condition rapidly improved. She then became well and normal, much to the relief of everyone in the family.
During this six-month stay at Sakori in 1921, Baba never once left Upasni Maharaj's ashram. He lived in a small room he had had built at the end of the chawl (residence block). His bedding consisted of two quilts and a khadi (handspun) sheet and his sole possession was a wooden box that contained some personal papers and letters. He wore the same tattered cotton shirt and pants continuously, with a pair of sandals Babajan had given him. Although he was coming down and regaining normal consciousness, he still never rested or slept this entire period — not even closing his eyelids for a few minutes. He also never once bathed or changed his clothes during these months; his thin body became ridden with lice, and dirt was caked to his skin.
Every night after participating in the arti and bhajans, he would sit with Upasni Maharaj in his hut until up to four in the morning. Yeshwant Rao would keep paan leaves prepared outside the hut and would bring them whenever called. Baily stayed for a time in Sakori and also did watch duty outside Maharaj's hut. It is said that Baba and Maharaj wept together and that strange sounds and cries would echo through the hut.1
Naturally the villagers and other devotees at Sakori respected Baba because of his close relationship with their guru.
Footnotes
- 1.Adi Sr. recalled once seeing Maharaj and Baba, seated close together with a cloth or blanket over their heads, talking back and forth to each other. No one could understand what they were saying.