Page 67 - Kailaspati: Paramhans Hansdevji Avadhoot

Third Taranga
This is the first time we had a peep in the kitchen at the Kailash. i have never heard of anyone having constructed a two-roomed hut with an attached kitchen at a very low cost. The walls were made of huge pieces of stone and the kitchen had a shed atop it, made of branches, bamboo and straw. a wall, made of stone, divided the two rooms. While the cooking was done in one room, the other room was used by his attendant-disciple. his was a beautiful bed; some straw and a blanket were on a scaffold. Beneath it was the stock of food grains. There were two or three earthen bowls for wheat and rice, sugar and chilli. That was enough. however small was the kitchen, whatever was cooked there tasted delicious. it seemed that the palace of a king could ill afford such food-stuff. Once we were offered Prasad—khichdi. Ordinary spices were used. But food, when cooked in our homes, did not turn out the same.
i remember another day when i had the grace of our Baba. That it was a raita, made of gourd or Kaddu. Baba took only one vegetable. in any case, little did we have the fortune of having tasted Kaddu earlier. and that Kaddu was grown in the garden of our Baba. i’m sure, it will make one laugh to know about the size of his garden, twelve feet in length and six in breadth. Brinjal and chilli plants were there in that garden, with the gourd (or Kaddu) plant, adjacent to them, having covered the top of the small cottage.
On having had the dish, made of gourd, we asked, “how could your cook prepare this in such a tasty way?” Baba then admitted, “he has learnt it from me.” We asked, “how could you learn it?”
Replied he, “Once one renounces life and takes refuge under the protection of a Guru, one has to learn three things—first cooking, then cleaning and then reading.”
We asked about his life before he took to sannyas. instead of recounting it, he told us a tale:
a King, in company with his minister, set out for a forest with a view to hunting. all of a sudden, he saw a man, atop a tree,
Second Volume: Third TiTanT 45