news of the whereabouts of Maharaj, a guarded secret. When people used to ask Sai Baba about the sudden disappearance of Maharaj, Sai Baba told them that Dr. Pillay had concealed him.

At Shindi, Dr. Ganapatrao brought a civil surgeon to operate on Maharaj for a simple surgery he needed and Maharaj submitted himself to this operation, on the condition that he would not take chloroform. Although Maharaj had not taken an anesthetic, he remained quiet and still throughout the operation; showing how he was utterly unaffected by bodily pains. After a short stay at Shindi, Maharaj went to Kharagpur, in October 1915*, on the invitation of Dr. Ganapatrao's brother, (Chinnaswami), who, however, was warned not to disclose to anyone the past history of Maharaj. For some time Maharaj used to prepare his own food; later, he preferred to beg for it at a few houses, collect it in broken pieces of an earthen pot, and wash the pot after partaking of food.

Maharaj was completely indifferent to bodily comforts or cleanliness. He did not wear any clothes and used to lie in any place. The very pieces of earthen pot, which he used for holding and throwing out his own stools, were, after washing, used by him to keep his food and to eat it. Chinnaswami had kept the story of the previous penance of Maharaj and other saintly associations a guarded secret; but people of all castes and denominations were irresistibly drawn by his magnetism and took him to be a great Saint and Avaliya, of their own accord. Maharaj used to tell interesting and instructive stories to a ten-year-old Maratha girl named Mira, who developed such strong devotion for Maharaj that after some years, when she was seriously ill, she required her husband to take her to Sakori (which later became the chief seat of the residence and activities of Maharaj) and preferred to die at Sakori.

Maharaj had become Purna Parabrahma (God Absolute) and therefore had no regard for the distinctions of the world. Being one with all life he felt at home even at the houses of those who are regarded as the lowest strata of the cast-ridden society. He soon gave up the residence of Chinnaswami and shifted to the house of Namdev Mahar, who like his wife Bhagubai, was very devoted to God and Maharaj. But in spite of the close association with the depressed classes and the shifting of his seat to their locality, the devotees of Maharaj stuck to him and went even there to have his darshana and offer their prayers.

Ladies and gentlemen of higher castes and positions surrendered their pride of distinction. and owing to the respect which they had for Maharaj,

*It must be 1914, because he was at Shirdi in 1915 when Baba came there. Lord Meher has it as 1914, (though it says 1915 in the original Meher Baba Journal article, that this article was copied from. - Webmster JK 2014