In its spacious compound, a huge pandal was erected opposite the house, and that night Pendu had a dais constructed so that Baba could be easily seen by all in the crowd. The Poona lovers had worked day and night in making the arrangements, and they had stayed up until dawn decorating both the dais and pandal.
From early morning on Saturday, 14 January 1956, a large crowd of several thousand gathered and waited for the darshan to begin. Many lovers from far distances such as Nagpur, Andhra, Hamirpur, Dehra Dun and Bombay had also come. Baba reached the place at 8:00 A.M., amid wild cheers of his Jai. Separate rows of men and women formed, and Baba immediately began distributing the prasad. The program was originally scheduled to last only that morning, but it continued until six o'clock in the evening, as the long line of those wishing darshan did not end until then. Baba did allow a 30-minute interval, during which time he met privately in a separate room with those lovers who were from out of town. The entire day, Baba had only a glass of soda water or a soft-drink.
Bhajan and qawaali music went on throughout the day, and a renowned classical singer from Poona named Master Krishna, and also his daughter, entertained the Divine Beloved. Master Krishna had been in Baba's contact for nearly 30 years, since the time he had first sung in front of Baba at Meherabad during Baba's birthday program in 1929. Four years after this, he performed in Nasik at Baba's brother Beheram's wedding, and again in Nasik during the massive birthday celebration of 1937. After nearly 20 years, he was again given the opportunity of performing before the Lord, and Baba was very pleased with him.
Ramjoo's son, Dadu, who had become a professional photographer, came from Nasik to take pictures. Many officials had also come, including the chief of police and mayor of Poona.
January 14 was an auspicious day for the Hindus — Sankrant — and the Poona lovers were joyous.1 Baba gave neither a message nor a discourse during the program, but went on giving prasad of til-gul (a sesame seed sweet) with both hands, and that was his real gift. He would pat some, touch the cheeks of a few, or sometimes put his hand on someone's head. His smile pervaded the atmosphere, and the rays of his glance sparked a sweet fire of longing in the hearts of all the participants.
At 6:00 P.M. Baba stopped, climbed down from the dais and went and sat in the car.
Footnotes
- 1.Makar Sankrant is a day when sweets are distributed among friends.