Feeding Thousands from Two Small Kettles of Dal at Kainchi

One evening in the early summer of 1968 at Kainchi Dham, dinner bhandara had concluded and the ashram storerooms had been locked for the night. The cooks were exhausted and only two small metal pots (degchis) of yellow dal and a modest basket of rotis remained, meant solely for the remaining ashram staff. Suddenly, three large buses carrying more than two hundred tired, hungry pilgrims from Rajasthan and Delhi broke down on the mountain highway and pulled up directly at the gates of Kainchi Dham. The pilgrims had traveled all day without food and were praying for prasad. The ashram manager panicked. To cook fresh dal and rice for two hundred people at 9:30 PM in the mountains was impossible. He ran to Maharaj Ji’s kutiya in despair: "Baba Ji! A huge crowd has arrived at the gate, but we only have dal for six or seven people left!" Maharaj Ji rebuked him playfully: "Foolish man! Why do you measure God’s grace with spoons? Go, take my woolen blanket and cover the two pots of dal completely. Do not remove the blanket. Stick your serving ladle underneath the cloth, scoop out dal, and serve every single person who has come. And remember—do not look inside!" Trembling with wonder, the servers placed Maharaj Ji’s blanket over the pots. They began ladling hot, steaming dal onto leaf plates alongside puris. Pilgrim after pilgrim took prasad. Fifty people were served, then a hundred, then two hundred, and then the bus drivers and conductors. The dal flowed like an inexhaustible spring! After every single guest had eaten until completely full, the manager lifted the blanket. To their utter bewilderment, the two pots were still filled to the exact same brim as when they had started! The remaining prasad fed the entire ashram staff the following morning.