Once, Baba was playing a checkers-like game with the mandali when an important government official came to see him. Telling him to sit by his side, Baba continued the game. The official's mind began working.
Smiling, Baba remarked, "When I was Krishna, I played this game and in this form also I enjoy it. Though to you I seem to be absorbed in it, you know not what work I am now doing in the universe. My Universal work continues every moment — while I eat, drink, sleep, play — constantly."
The official received the answer to his question without asking it and was highly impressed. He watched Baba play for some time, and Baba would occasionally pat him on the back.
The man later related to Dadi, "Baba is omniscient and answers any question, not with words, but through his smile. His pats were the answers to all my questions. Sitting by him, God knows what questions arose in my mind. But when he would pat me on the back, all my questions vanished. This has been the most memorable experience of my life."
Whenever Baba was in Poona, he would always visit the Gadekars at their new home on 885/5 Bhandarkar Institute Road, Deccan Gymkhana. Baba would sometimes even go to Gadekar's office and give him darshan there.1 Baba had expressed a desire that he would like to have a spacious bungalow for his stay during the summer. Six years before, with the help of Sardar Raste, Gadekar had found Maharani Shantadevi's palatial Guruprasad bungalow in Poona for Baba's use. Gadekar again contacted the Maharani and was able to obtain the palace for Baba.
On Sunday, 28 April 1957, Baba moved from Ganeshkhind to Guruprasad, where he remained until the end of May. Rano and Naja were called to join the group at Guruprasad, where there was more room, and Sarosh brought them on the 30th. Soonamasi and Khorshed, who were living in Bombay, were allowed to come for five days. A few days later Goher's sister, Katie, also came.
On the 29th, the mandali brought a baby carriage for Baba to push so that he could practice walking without crutches. A stone was placed in it to give it some weight. Deshmukh had come to stay with Baba at Guruprasad, and once Baba ordered Deshmukh to sit in the stroller, which amused all.
One day when Baba returned to the women's side, he remarked to them, "I kid the mandali, joke with them, smile and appear gay in spite of the pain — but no one knows of the burden I carry."
Footnotes
- 1.Gadekar's office was the Directorate of Social Welfare at 3 Church Road, near the main post office.