In Early Days

Shri Madhav Hegde, whom Bhagavan fondly addressed as “Engineer Hegde,” recalled Bhagavan as a young boy often seen on the platform of Mangalore Railway Station, typically wearing a half-shirt. Despite his youth, several members of the GSB community, who had become his devotees, would gather to listen to him. Although many of them were older, they held Bhagavan in deep reverence.

For a brief period, Bhagavan was seen wearing a kafni (a simple robe often worn by ascetics). It was during this time that someone took him to a studio, capturing a photograph of him in the kafni. Another photograph from this period shows Bhagavan holding Mrs. Krishnabai’s son on his lap. I had the chance to meet Krishnabai’s son when he was much older. He was Mr. Mangalore, residing at Talmikiwadi, Girgaon, Mumbai.

In the 1940s, just before India’s Independence, Bhagavan once asked my father to take him to a tailor and have a three-piece suit made for him. Following Bhagavan’s command, my father complied, and when the suit was ready, he handed it to Bhagavan. Bhagavan wore the suit and took my father for a walk around South Mumbai. After a few hours, he removed the suit, discarded it, and returned to his preferred attire: a simple loincloth with a blanket draped over his shoulder. In those days, such attire did not attract much attention.

Bhagavan and my father, Raghunath Shenoy, often travelled across Mumbai and its outskirts, venturing as far as Kalyan by train. Other devotees must have also had the honour of accompanying him on these journeys throughout the city.

By large, a loincloth and a thick blanket was His common dress. He kept only langoti till His last. During His Samadhi, everything was arranged except for His Langoti. It was Ratnakar Shenoy who could offer this important Seva, which became His last Langoti. Ratnakar used to make offerings of Langoti whenever he visited Him. This time too He had carried one pair! That became the last pair, with which He was placed in Samadhi!