They kept quiet.
Baba then exhorted them, "You have made me your Master. In turn, I've promised you I will never let you sink."
Upasni Maharaj's birthday was observed by Baba at Happy Valley on Thursday, 3 May 1923. The mandali fasted for 24 hours, according to Baba's instructions, and cooked food for the poor of a nearby village, which Baba served until late in the evening. Afterwards, the men, along with the villagers, sang Upasni Maharaj's arti.
A few of Baba's mandali had been sent to Sakori for the celebration. Upasni Maharaj, seated in his bamboo cage, told Gulmai to perform his arti that day. During the puja ceremony, Maharaj put his legs out of the cage so devotees could touch his feet for darshan. When the crowd became large, Maharaj, for the first time in over a year, came out of the cage and sat on a drum underneath the pandal.1 People coming for his darshan presented gifts to him, which Gulmai and Naja (Khodu's wife) collected and set aside. After some time, the crowd became unmanageable and the police had to be called to keep order and regulate the lines of people waiting for darshan. A palanquin procession in Maharaj's honor circled the ashram in the evening and bhajans were sung late into the night.
The next day many poor people were bathed, fed and clothed. Since the beggars were to be bathed, Maharaj's relatives and kanyas (close women disciples) wished to bathe him also. He refused, telling them, "I do not want a bath; bathe only the poor today." They insisted on bathing him first, but he pointed to a destitute man standing nearby and said, "If you want to bathe me, then bathe that leper! That will be tantamount to bathing me!"
Immediately his women disciples held the leprous man and, making him stand on a stool, began to bathe him with the water that had been kept for the Master. Maharaj's own sister was helping, and when she embraced the leper, she began to weep. She saw her brother (Maharaj) in his face and bowed down to him! The leper was taken aback by her action and said, "Mother, your God is there in the pinjra, do not prostrate before me." After he was dressed, a cap adorned the leper's head and puja was performed to him. Afterward Maharaj reconfirmed, "I was in that leper. It was I who was bathed."
Footnotes
- 1.The drum mentioned may have been a kerosene or cooking oil cylindrical drum, rather than a musical instrument.