Afterward he would visit Upasni and care for him.
Dr. Pillay had a friend named Dr. Ganpat Rao who lived in Sindi, a town near Nagpur in Central India. Upasni had told Dr. Pillay that he wanted to leave the temple and Pillay suggested he stay at Ganpat's home. Upasni agreed but cautioned that no one should find out about their plans. At midnight on 25 July 1914, Upasni and Dr. Pillay took a train to Sindi. This was the first time in three years that Upasni had left Shirdi, and the villagers were saddened to discover Upasni had abandoned the temple. When some went to Sai Baba and asked him what had happened to Upasni, he replied, "Dr. Pillay has hidden him," though he had not been told of the plan.
Upasni had warned Dr. Pillay to keep his whereabouts in Sindi a secret, and thus Sai Baba's comment was taken as a joke. One woman, Durgabai Karmarkar, a high-caste Brahmin widow, was especially saddened by Upasni's disappearance. A disciple of Sai Baba, she had been bringing Upasni his meals at the temple daily and he would refer to her as his "spiritual mother." To her great joy, Upasni sent Dr. Pillay back to Shirdi to bring Durgabai to him in Sindi, where she stayed with him to cook his food.
Upasni had undergone terrible physical suffering in the Khandoba Temple, and his digestive system was particularly affected. He had also developed a severe case of hemorrhoids for which he needed an operation. Although he refused any anesthetic during the surgery, he went through it serenely, without grimacing in pain. After this operation Upasni gave up ordinary clothes and began wrapping a gunny sack around his waist. He wore this humble attire throughout the rest of his life.
From Sindi, Upasni traveled to Nagpur and stayed at Dr. Pillay's house there. Many would come for his darshan and Upasni would discourse to them in a sweet yet profound, manner. While in Nagpur, he refused to eat in Dr. Pillay's home; he wandered out daily into the streets of the city begging for his food and visited many houses.1
Dr. Pillay's brother, Chinna Swamy, took Upasni to Kharagpur on 2 October 1914.2 Although none there was told about Upasni Maharaj's divine status, people started coming for his darshan, attracted by the radiance of his unique personality. During this period, Upasni's external appearance was most austere and he was quite negligent of his bodily cleanliness and comfort.
Footnotes
- 1.It is not known whether Upasni Maharaj had any contact with Tajuddin Baba, who was living in Nagpur at that time.
- 2.Kharagpur is located in the Munger District of Bihar.