Shri Nathji and Priya Nath had to stay on at Nagpur to pursue the court cases that Priya Nath had filed as well as his complaints to the authorities. The summer months took a toll of their health. Both became very thin and weak. Their diet consisted of tea and toast and occasional paneer that Priya Nath made.
It was then that Raju Tanksale, the son of Shri M.V. Tanksale, took upon himself the job of cooking for Shri Nathji and Priya Nath. Shri Nathji would love the ‘chappaatis’ that he made which Shri Nathji called ‘phulkaas’.
Shri Nathji would childishly compare them with the ‘phulkaas’ his own grandmother used to make: “Khoob phulaa ke phulkaa deti thheen! She really made the phulkaas puff!”
In later days, Shri Nathji would always recount in his sermons, the manner in which Raju Tanksale cooked for him. There was a time when Priya Nath said to Shri Nathji in front of Raju: “Give Raju a car as a reward for his services!”
And Raju said: “I do not wish for a car! There is always the chance of an accident in a car! All I want is to serve you!”
It was a consequence of the seva that he did for Shri Nathji that Raju obtained a good bank job, when all avenues seemed to be closed and he was over-age. He rose rapidly in life, and, in later days, even bought a house. However those days of serving Shri Nathji with his own hand remained with him as the greatest moments of his life.
As he wrote in one of his letters to Shri Nathji,
“Meri kismat ke taale kab khulenge! When will the locks of my destiny open again! When will I ever get the chance to serve you again with my own hands!”
Those ‘phulkaas’ that Raju made for Shri Nathji remained ever fresh in the mind of Shri Nathji and became historical, as Shri Nathji referred to them in his sermons. Not everyone in the world could have the good fortune of being able to feed the Creator of the world.
Shri Nathji used to say:
Whenever I take a morsel of food it goes to all corners of the Universe!
It was like the grain of rice that Lord Krishna had eaten from the kitchen of Draupadi, and which had satiated the hunger of the world.
Shri Nathji would pace back and forth in the large hall of their residence, which was on the first floor. Neither he nor Priya Nath went out anywhere except on rare occasions.
There was the time when Priya Nath went to the courts and Shri Nathji accompanied him in the car. While there, they met Shri P.G. Khare, the son of the eminent lawyer, Shri G.N.Khare, who said to Shri Nathji:
“Maharaj! I was thinking of you very ardently today! You came here just to give me your darshan! Your presence here will purify the courts!”