Later, Baba sent for Bhau's family to come to Poona, and they stayed in a local hotel for a few days. Baba sent his car for them each day, to bring them to Guruprasad.
He asked Sheela, "What does Mehernath do all day long?"
"He composes songs and sings them," she said.
"What sort of songs?"
Mehernath sang this one (in Hindi): "Every house is on fire with suffering! One lies ill here, another there; there is sickness everywhere!"
Baba smiled and asked, "Oh, you make everyone sick? Is there some meaning behind it?"
"There is," he declared. "Mother was lying ill here and Mamaji [his maternal uncle] there at his place."
"But who is ill everywhere?" asked Baba.
"Everyone here is sick, some have a cold, some a cough. It is all sickness and sickness!"
Baba laughed, remarking, "You are a poet of present conditions! Have you composed any other songs?"
"Yes, I have," he said proudly and sang, "In memory of Shankar, the drum is beaten tananana, tananana, tananana !"
Baba was amused and asked, "What does it mean?"
"You are Shankar [God] and in your remembrance the drum goes tananana !"
"I like your song very much," Baba remarked to him. "You compose songs and also explain their meaning! You are only seven years old, but already a poet."
Baba then embraced him.
Baba asked Rama if she knew a song. She said she had composed a song about Lord Ram years ago.
Baba remarked, "Sing it. It was for me, but you had not met me yet."
In response, Rama sang: "Small is my boat, magical are your feet! How can I seat you in my boat; I am afraid something will happen!"1
Hearing Rama's song, Baba related this incident:
Once, I was crossing a river in a small boat with Pendu. It overturned in the middle of the river. Pendu was about to drown, but I caught hold of him by the throat and brought him safely to the bank. He was bald even then, so I had to hold him by the throat. If I had not done so, he would surely have gone under.
Jim Mistry of Bombay was allowed to stay at Guruprasad for some days that year. During his stay, Baba ordered him not to smoke more than ten cigarettes per day. Jim tried but found it very difficult. To circumvent Baba's orders, he would break the cigarettes in two, and thus have 20 smokes a day. But his cleverness bothered him, as he knew his act was compromising Baba's order. One day Baba asked about it, and Jim admitted his weakness. Baba told him to try his best to obey. If Jim happened to smoke more than ten times in a day, he should not worry.
Footnotes
- 1.Mention of Ram's feet is in reference to the story of how Ram one day stepped on a stone and it turned into the woman Ahilya, who (Baba explained) had become a stone after having fallen from the fourth plane ages before. Ram had redeemed her.