BABA'S GOPIS GAVE ALL THEIR BUTTER TO HIM

 
"The buffalo was enormous," Mehera recalled. "It resembled a small elephant. She gave 18 seers of milk a day, so we had fresh milk but we never dared milk her." Walu, the Arangaon village woman, was with the women, and fortunately, she knew how to milk cows....

Mani too remembered the animal: "I used to do my homework sitting on top of it. The others said, 'Why do you want to sit on the buffalo? When you come down, you smell like a buffalo!' I'll always remember that it was Mehera who said, 'If Mani wants to sit on a buffalo, let her sit on a buffalo.' In things like that, Mehera was so considerate." Mehera knew how Mani felt since she too had enjoyed riding a buffalo at her Grandmother's house....

Even with all this fresh milk available, the women never ate butter in Nasik, although Baba had never said not to eat it. Baba's gopis gave all their butter to him. Mehera explained: "Because we didn't have it at Meherabad, we thought we must stick to that regime. We were young and very naïve in those days. At home, I loved to eat butter, I preferred it to cream. I never cared for cream, though my mother would give it to us on porridge.

"In Nasik, we had to boil so much milk and cream, and the cream was so thick. We gathered it, but we never ate it. I took the buttermilk and churned the dahi (yogurt) into butter. The butter was meant for Baba, so I never even tasted it, though my mouth was watering to see all that lovely fresh butter. Baba wouldn't have minded me eating some of it, but in those days, we felt guilty to use something meant for Baba. We did make ghee out of the butter and cooked our food and Baba's food in it, so we never had to send for oil from the bazaar."