Trip to Sai Dhaam Shirdi. Review on Shirdi

Baba is indeed a karuna-avtaar, always taking that extra step to bless HIS children. As a kind benefactor, HE bestowed upon me many chances to have HIS darshan and feel HIS divine bliss in Sai Dhaam Shirdi.

Of lately, it just occurred to me that I should share brief account about my Shirdi trip with my bigger Sai family so that people(especially those who haven’t yet visited Sai Dhaam) can also enjoy the panorama thereof. I’m reserving the full description of Sai Dhaam Shirdi for some other occasion. And with a prostration to HIS lotus feet, I humbly try to make an attempt to weave the magic of the place called Shirdi in my simple words.

Extracts from First Part of Trip Report

Stepping out of the train at Kopargaon has always been a special feeling with lots of enthusiasm and heartfelt anticipation about the next 16-17 hours. Looking at the faces of the people at station belonging to different cast, creed and race at but having only two sets of expressions, is always gratifying, re-affirming my faith in HIS divine grace. The people de-boarding at the station are exuberant with the thought of seeing their lord in just few hours, the eagerness and innocence on their faces reflect how excited they are about their arrival at Sai Dhaam Shirdi to catch HIS glimpse. On the other hand, the ones boarding the train from the station are filled with contentment of having blessed with HIS darshan mixed with the reluctance of leaving & going away from the place. While the eyes of the former glow with the hope of having divine ecstasy amidst so many emotions running within; the eyes of the later stay composed with the picture of Baba duly captured within.

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The guy sitting in front of me was largely silent just like me before suddenly asking me, “Is this your first visit to Baba’s place?” “No, I try to come in every month & Baba has been kind enough(so far) that HE makes my trials possible till now”, I replied.

The conversation blossomed slowly and the guy shared some of his experiences(three actually) about Baba with me. It’s always such a soothing feeling to the ears to hear the story of Baba blessing HIS children through one way or the other.

FIRST EXPERIENCE

His first visit to Shirdi was few years back when he was graduated from the college and was in look for some job. Despite his best of the attempts, he was not able to get any decent job anywhere which was causing al lot of discomfort to him. Adding to his woes was constant inquiries / jibes from the people around him, pushing his morale and confidence at all time low. To have a peace of mind and thought, he planned a visit to Shirdi & prayed to Baba to bless him with a stable job. Within a month of his visit, he got a stable job in some good company and all the negativity in his life ended. Needless to say, his belief in Baba got firmed.

SECOND EXPERIENCE

During one of his planned visit, he thought of taking his parents along-with so that they also can have the pleasure of Baba’s darshan. On the day of departure, his mother slipped and got hurt in her stomach which caused her unbearable pain. Such was the pain that the family once decided to cancel the visit. But his mother insisted to continue with the trip, as planned and the whole family arrived in Shirdi and took darshan of Baba’s Samadhi. The darshan were good but the pain still persisted. While returning back, one of their fellow passengers asked about the pain and inquired whether they have Baba’s udi with them. When the family answered in affirmation, he retorted, “You all are firm believer of Sai and even then you are not giving her Baba’s udi. Aren’t you aware of the magical impact of HIS udi?” What followed next was indeed ‘magical’; the moment Baba’s udi was given to his mother, the pain started to subside and the acuteness & frequency of the same diminished.

I have actually read many of the miracles of Baba’s udi during HIS life time as mentioned in Shri Sai Satcharitra and also post his life in various texts. But this was for first time that I actually had the privilege of hearing the live experience of someone.

Suddenly Baba's words came alive in my mind, "I shall be ever active and vigorous even after leaving this earthly body."

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Visit the following link to read the first part of report of the trip to Sai Dhaam Shirdi.

https://musingsofawanderingheart.blogspot.in/2013/09/muse-6-trip-to-sai-dhaam-shirdi-part-i.html

Extracts from Second Part of Trip Report

Once the aarti got over, I rushed back into the room to get ready for Baba’s darshan in the temple. As always, before proceeding to Samadhi Mandir, I first paid a visit to Khandoba Temple which is on the way and then proceeded towards Baba’s holy shrine. Khandoba is the local deity of the village who is said to be a reincarnation of Lord Shiva & it is said that Baba got HIS name ‘Sai’ from here only when the priest of this temple(Mhalsapati, who also happened to be an ardent devotee of the Baba) welcomed a young nameless fakir as'Aao Sai'(Welcome Sai!). This was during Baba's arrival after many years to Shirdi, after this incident the nameless fakir got the name'Sai' and the small village called Shirdi got its'Saviour'.

After prostrating to Lord Khandoba & other deities, I proceeded towards darshan queue for Samadhi Mandir. It’s so heartening to see devotees all around the places standing together in the queue leaving aside their cast, creed, race and financial status; the whole darshan hall was filled with the slogans and chants about Baba. After about a little over an hour in the darshan queue, I entered the main temple, the whole environ was truly amazing with all the devotees chanting Baba’s name with faith and passion. Few minutes later, I found myself in front of Baba & was blessed with a blissful darshan, simply looking at HIS idol in the temple gives such an immense peace that everything else appears futile.

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It was so strange that despite the fact that aarti lyrics are predominantly in Marathi and most of devotees(including me) were not acquainted with the language as such, each one of them enjoyed the aarti immensely, reciting the lines / words as they came out of their mouth. I’m not sure how many of them really understood the literal meaning of the aarti but they surely understood the soul that embodied the whole piece together, and that assumed pivotal importance at that moment. Truly said that love and devotion are beyond the barriers of cast, creed and language, you just need a heart full of love and devotion & rest is taken care of.

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Visit the following link to read the second part of report of the trip to Sai Dhaam Shirdi.

https://musingsofawanderingheart.blogspot.in/2013/09/muse-8-trip-to-sai-dhaam-shirdi-part-ii.html