In plain words
"Bābā, You must eat. You have come in this form," he said. That photo cannot stand up. He set a tumbler there and stood the photo against the tumbler.
He brings tears to the eyes, He wipes tears away: this little Bābā, the embodiment of Consciousness.
He wipes away the tears shed for the world. He brings tears to the eyes for Himself. "Bābā, You must eat," he said. He closes his eyes and prays. One vaḍa on the plate is gone. She had served the rice all in a heap. It is scattered, and five fingers show in it. "Bābā has eaten!" and he eats up all that rice himself, as Bābā's prasāda. That is, for the conditions of those days, the actions of those days. The devotees were content. Once He had said He would come, He used to come in some form or other. When we say God is of every form, what is the root cause? He used to come as a dog and eat the meal. He used to come as the buffalo next door and eat what was on the leaf. He used to come as a cat and eat. At that time He used to take on that form.
Now it is not like that. If I say I will come to your house, I come in person. I eat a meal and go. I tell many people, "When I come to Bombay I will come to your house." Without fail I go, as I said. I eat the meal. What for? The power of the feeling of those days and the power of the feeling of today are different. In those days there was faith to the full. In those days one was immersed in Prema to the full. Today's faith goes only so far. When something is said there is joy for a while. Then come doubts: "Will He come or not? Did He say it for my satisfaction, who knows?" We must give no room to doubts. When you are in full faith, that word comes true without fail. That is the word of God; that is the nectar-voice. That is the divine voice. It never fails. But because of a flaw in your own faith it keeps failing. Make your faith firm. However many circumstances stand in your way, do not change your faith. Whatever hardships come and fall on you, you must not let go of your faith in God.
In the past history, at Shirdi, whether it was speaking words, or coming not in that form but in some other form, some who could not grasp the inner meaning: "Bābā, we sat waiting for You to come; why did You disappoint us so? Why did You trouble us so? What sin have we committed?" So they would grieve. Beṭā, I came to your house. You took a stick and chased Me away.