other for men on His right. Prasad was put on either side of Baba and the darshan program began. At first, people were permitted to come and bow to Baba and garland Him, but this had to be soon stopped for fear of a stampede. The queues became awfully long and Baba’s speed of giving prasad increased. With His right hand He gave prasad to men and with His left to women. People came with reverence and devotion for His prasad.

Baba's two hands began to gain momentum. Bamboo gangways had been made to prevent the crowd coming near Baba. Police, homeguards and volunteers had a tough time keeping the crowd away. By 3 p.m., people waiting outside the awning were becoming impatient to get near Baba. A regular human stream flowed along the gang-ways. In a split second, Baba noticed the difficulty we were having in controlling the crowd. His hands moved ever so fast. In one minute He gave prasad to 40 men and 40 women! No one was allowed to bow or touch Him. All they got was a touch from Him while taking prasad. It was fascinating to watch Baba give prasad, though one has such a sadly limited glimpse of His inner working. The seed of His blessing would surely bear fruit some day. Watching these children of God receiving God's compassionate touch and blessing of Love, one could only do so through misty eyes. The atmosphere was surcharged with love and devotion. The crowd within the awning had swelled to several thousands and a continuous stream of men, women and children flowed towards the awning from the main roads. Yet, there was no undue rush or confusion around Baba.

Till now, not a single Parsee had come on the scene of the darshan as there was picketing done by the gang of young Parsee lads down the road preventing Parsees from coming to Baba. Then the gang of boys led by a burly man came to the awning. Each volunteer pricked up his ears and got ready to face any emergency. The gang got into the bamboo gangway and began inching their way towards Baba. When they were about thirty feet away from Him, Baba paused in giving prasad and looked up at them. Volunteers crowded around Baba expecting some trouble from the boys. When the burly leader came to Baba, He looked at Baba and walked past without taking prasad. His gang followed. Each of them took prasad. When the whole gang had filed past Baba, we heaved a sigh of relief; but, we were ignorant of what was to follow. They gathered outside the awning and were seen discussing another move.

Baba began giving handfuls of prasad and our estimate of the quantity of prasad that would be needed fell very short of the actual amount consumed. Two volunteers pushed off in a car and brought several bags of prasad – sweet candy, cashew nuts and currants. Time fled as some more thousands took prasad from Baba. It was unbelievable how Baba managed to give prasad in such a short time to thousands. The number swelled and continued to swell in spite of Baba's speed of giving darshan. Pointing to the huge crowd of people Baba gestured, "Nobody has an idea of what I give through this prasad, and this is the only thing through which I give what I want to during such programs."

Baba had agreed to give darshan from 2:30 to 5:00 p.m. only. Baba gestured, "What is the time?" I said, "4:55, Baba." He turned to Mr. Lapsiwala, our group head, and asked him to run and see what was happening behind the dais. Lapsiwala went behind the dais and was aghast at what he saw. The gang of Parsee lads had brought kerosene oil and had sprinkled it on the awning behind Baba and were about to light a match to it! Seeing Lapsiwala, they fled. Beloved Baba saved us from a lot of trouble.

At exactly 5, Baba suddenly stood up on the dais and briskly walked to the car that waited for Him nearby. Before the huge crowd could realize what was happening, Baba was in the car. The driver sprang to action immediately but, the thousands who had not yet had prasad from Baba left the awning and surrounded Baba's car. With