A large canopy had been raised opposite their bungalow, and the best of arrangements provided. Narasimha Rao and his family were devoted to Baba and performed arti, and a few local persons were introduced. The mandali and the rest of the group were accommodated at Mutta Manikyam's residence nearby.
The next morning, Wednesday, 3 March 1954, at 7:00 A.M., several people came to see Baba from Kakinada and elsewhere, since this was the last day of darshan of the Andhra tour. From Anakapalli, came M. Narasimha Rao, who had met Baba before.
Baba asked him, "Are you awake only now? Why didn't you attend the other programs?"
Narasimha Rao expressed his inability to attend due to illness, and Baba handed him prasad twice.
Baba then visited seventeen homes in Kakinada; his arti was sung in each one and prasad distributed. Sathiraju and V. V. Narayana Rao had had a pair of silver sandals made. Baba touched them and they were touched to his feet also. The chappals were to be kept in their homes for worship. M. Thirumala Rao, 53, presented a khadi shawl to Baba.1 U. Hanumant Rao's wife was ill, and, taking her by the hand, Baba inspected every room in her house and gave her prasad.
A teenage boy, named P. Narayana Swamy, had been with the group during the entire Andhra Tour, constantly taking Baba's photographs.
At the home of Dr. L. Subbarao, Baba teased him, "Out of the thousands of pictures you have taken, has even one come out all right?"
Narayana's father was to have been Baba's host at Navabpalem, but there was no time to go there.
At the home of H. Samba Murty, the Collector of the district, Baba was approached by his son with a book for Baba to autograph.
Baba remarked to the boy, "From the day I kept silence, I have stopped writing."
He did, though, draw a sketch of a duck in the boy's notebook.
At the Collector's residence, lawyers, doctors and other influential members of society were present. Baba gave them this message at ten o'clock that morning:
It has been possible through love for man to become God. And, when God becomes man, it is due to His love for His beings.
If people were to ask me, "Have you seen God?" I would reply, "What else is there to see?"
If they were to ask me, "Are you God?" I would reply, "What else could I be?"
Footnotes
- 1.Mosalikanti Thirumala Rao was a freedom fighter from Kakinada, who was imprisoned several times during the Indian independence struggle. He was elected member of parliament three times from Kakinada. He later served as the Deputy Minister for Food under Prime Minister Nehru and was also appointed the Lt. Governor of Vindhya Pradesh.