During the distribution, devotional songs were being sung. Rustom Kaka sang a few, as did others. Crowds were milling everywhere, and there were so many present it was impossible to stop the distribution and proceed to the place where the poor were to be fed. In the early afternoon, Baba's right hand grew so tired, he started giving out the sweets with his left hand. One of the mandali asked him to rest.
"This is my rest!" Baba replied.
Meherwan Jessawala remembers, "The crowd was tremendous, awesome. Baba was working furiously at giving out the prasad. Even after ten minutes, one would get chest muscle cramps and pains doing what Baba was doing. It required tremendous exertion on his part. His coat was wet with sweat."
Baba continued to give prasad until three o'clock that afternoon, when Sarosh again requested that he take part in the feeding of the masses. Despite the crowd's rush, Baba made all sit on the ground in an orderly fashion, and then, with his hand on Gadge Maharaj's shoulder, he proceeded to another part of the park where the feeding would take place.
Amidst acclamations of Baba's Jai, almost 20,000 people were served food. Seated on the ground, Baba himself partook of the meal. Loud cries of his Jai again burst forth. Baba would quietly pass his food to Gadge Maharaj, and thus, almost all of Baba's lunch was eaten by the saint.
Within fifteen minutes, Baba was back on the platform and resumed the distribution. The sweet melody of "Satchitananda, Paramananda, Meher Baba Vidnyanand" echoed and re-echoed, and it seemed as if the drops were serenading the Ocean, pleading with It to allow them to merge once and for all.1
The crowd went on increasing, and the huge number of people was occasionally difficult to control. At such times, Baba would stand up and signal those waiting in line to have patience. When he would raise his hands, all would temporarily be quiet. Baba would then continue the distribution of prasad.
If any close lovers approached Baba to receive prasad, he would joke and chat with them for a few moments. Nana Kher's mother, Godubai, had come from Nagpur, and Baba asked her what she wished for. "Nothing except your love!" she said. In fact, she had come again with the firm resolve to ask Baba about Nana's marriage. She had been thinking about this the whole time while coming on the train, and again in the pandal as Baba was giving darshan. But when she stood in front of Baba, she forgot all about it — and only remembered on the train while returning. She now accepted that it was not Baba's wish that her son marry. This was true, and so Godubai would continually "forget" to bring up the subject with Baba. Thereafter, she never mentioned it to him — nor did Nana Kher ever marry.
Footnotes
- 1.Vidnyanand means the seventh plane or of the seventh plane — vidnyan bhumika.