Daily, Eruch and Bhau had to leave Rosewood for Judge's Bungalow early, at 5:00 A.M. to attend to Baba's personal work. Therefore, Baba ordered Krishnaji to bring tea from Rosewood each day at 6:30 A.M. for Eruch, Bhau, Kaikobad, Sidhu, Ali Shah and Nilkanthwala. He did as ordered, but brought tea for everyone except Bhau, for whom he felt disdain. Baba was very particular about this. When the tea arrived, Bhau was tidying up Baba's room, and Baba asked him to go have tea. So Bhau went to Krishnaji, who said, "I have not brought tea for you!"
Bhau quietly returned to his work in Baba's room, but Baba asked, "Have you had your tea?"
"Krishnaji did not bring it for me," he replied.
Baba asked Krishnaji the reason, and he promised to bring it from the following day.
But Baba persisted, "Why didn't you bring it today?"
"I forgot!" Of course, this was a lie.
Baba warned him not to be disobedient. From the next day, Krishnaji started bringing tea for Bhau, but he found the duty intolerable. Until this point, Bhau had been like his servant; now the tables were turned. It was humiliating! At first, he was respected; now he was given common work. His beard and long hair had also disappeared, and he took it all badly. No one with an inflated ego could stay with Baba. Only those who surrendered to and lost themselves in him could endure. For Krishnaji, it was impossible, because he was adept at posing as a saint. He wanted to be treated as a guru.
One day he told Baba, "I want to leave for a few days."
Baba at once gestured, "Yes, go! Go now!"
Krishnaji was made to leave within the hour, and thereafter, Baba never kept him with the mandali again. He came twice or thrice to visit, but Baba would not allow him to stay with him or the mandali.1
Baba continued to work in seclusion with the two masts, Ali Shah and Nilkanthwala, in Judge's Bungalow until 19 March 1956, and that evening he returned to Grafton. Both masts were sent back to their abodes the next day, Ali Shah to Meherabad and Nilkanthwala to Hardwar.
Footnotes
- 1.After this period in Satara, Krishnaji set himself up as a swami in Delhi, and became known as the "liberator of prostitutes." He imitated Baba by using an alphabet board to communicate with people. In his deluded state, Krishnaji claimed to be spiritually advanced. Baba's followers were warned to stay away from him. Years later he settled in California for some time, where he gathered a group of followers around him.