38. Bapu : "For you also Ba, am I a Mahatma?"

In Sevagram once Ba fell ill. Bapu would visit her hut every morning and evening. One evening, however, owing to pressure of work, he could not go to her. Ba took to heart, it appeared, this omission on his part. For, next morning when he asked Ba, "How are you feeling today?" she answered rather angrily, "But you do not seem to care for me at all. And, pray, why should you? Are you not a Mahatma And have you not to care for the whole world? Then why should you have any thought for poor me?"

In reply Bapu only caressed her head in love and laughed and said, "For you also am I a great man and a Mahatma?"

This disarmed Ba and her anger disappeared.