Ramabhadra Raju Balagopala, 41, and his younger brother, Bhaskara Raju, 35, had learned about Meher Baba when Bhaskara Raju was hired to teach bharatanatyam (an ancient form of dance) to Dhanapathy's daughters. Ramabhadra had composed the words and melody of the line, "Namo Meher Baba, Avatar, Namo Dev Deva" during the November 1952 gathering at Meherabad. When Bhaskara sang it at this time before Baba, Baba interrupted and inquired as to who had written it. After the song was over, Baba instructed Dhanapathy and the Hamirpur lovers to write down and memorize the prayer-song. This line was sung all over Andhra during these programs, and is still sung to this day.
Gadekar then performed arti, after which Baba abruptly got up and walked out of the house. He walked about 50 yards and then sat down on the plinth of a doorway to a small house. Smiling at the dwellers there, Baba continued sitting — to the occupants' great surprise. His car drove up and Baba sat inside it, but again got out and conveyed his love to the owners of the tiny house. Baba then returned to the dak bungalow.
It was later learned that the house belonged to a low-caste Harijan who bred pigs for a living. Because of his caste, he dared not come for Baba's darshan. (In Andhra at the time, Harijans were prevented from mingling with higher-caste Hindus.) The man had been miserable over this, thinking: "How unfortunate I am, that when God is so near, I am unable to take his darshan. Not only do people despise us — even God despises us! He is giving darshan to thousands, but I am not fortunate enough even to have a glimpse of him. I am really unlucky, most unlucky — so unlucky that even God has forsaken me and has no mercy on us!"
He was thinking such thoughts when the God-Man himself approached his hut. In Baba's eyes, he was not a low-caste outcast, but a soul whose inner voice was crying out to him. Baba could not ignore it; he came to him, and he alone knows what happened in the man's heart.
In the dak bungalow a qawaali program was held from 2:00 to 5:00 P.M., which Baba greatly enjoyed.
Don had accompanied Baba to Andhra, and because he was the author of The Wayfarers , he was considered an important personage. This was a source of amusement to him, and before anyone could offer him obeisance (as they invariably tried to do when introduced), he would salute them first.
One night, Baba got up at 3 A.M. and wanted to take a bath. Eruch had nothing with which to heat the water, but just then he saw Bapiraju Bandela coming carrying a bucket of hot water. Bapiraju, 46, was staying next to the dak bungalow and explained that he had somehow awakened and had the thought that Baba might want to take a bath. Six years later in 1959, when the deed for the Avatar Meher Baba Trust was being drafted, Baba himself remembered this incident and added Bapiraju's name as one of the beneficiaries.
