Shirdi Sai Baba Temple

1. Shirdi Sai Baba Temple The last century has seen the emergence of many spiritual gurus, who have enlightened the common people with their teachings. But there is hardly anyone who can match the popularity of Sai Baba of Shirdi. Due to his connection with Shirdi, he is often called Shirdi wale Sai Baba. Shirdi Sai Baba Temple: Shirdi Sai Baba temple is located in Shirdi, a small city in Ahmednagar District in Maharashtra, India. The city is known as the home of the 19th-century saint Shri Sai Baba. This association is so strong that people refer to Shirdi as Sainagar. Endowed with unprecedented powers, Shri Sai Baba is worshipped as God incarnate. SAI meaning Sakshaat Ishwar –‘The absolute God’ The temple is spread in an area of about 200 sqm in the heart of Shirdi village. Shri Sai baba’s Samadhi Temple and all others temples on the premises are governed & administered by Shri Sai Baba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi. The trust also is devoted to the development of Shirdi village. On average, 25,000 devotees visit Shirdi village for Darshan daily. During the festival season, this number swells to over 100,000 devotees per day. People gather in ever-increasing numbers to pay homage to the Divine and to experience the truth of Baba’s promise that he would be

2. active in answering devotees’ prayers even from his tomb. Thursday is believed to be the day to worship Sadguru. So, on this day a large number of devotees visit the temple. The history of the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple: The story of the construction of this temple is very interesting. The temple has been built by a millionaire from Nagpur, Gopal Rao Booty, who was a great follower of Sai Baba. The initial idea was to construct a wadaa. The intention was to have a place as a restroom as well as a temple for Krishna. As the story goes, once Gopal Rao and his friend Shaama (a fellow Sai devotee) were sleeping. Gopal Rao had a dream, where Sai Baba appeared and said, “Let there be a wadaa with a temple so that I can satisfy the desires of all.” Booty woke up and shared his dream with Shaama, who was in tears because he also had the same dream. They both were touched by this miracle. They made rough sketches and shared them with Kakasaheb Dixit. Then, they all went to Sai Baba to take his permission to construct the temple. Baba approved the project and gave his blessings to it. The work began around 1915. Since it is built in stone, it was known as Dagadi Wada. Shaama personally supervised the construction process. While passing through the site Baba also used to give suggestions sometimes. The Temple premise was renovated in the year 1998-99 and is equipped with all the necessary support facilities. The Sai Baba Statue The statue of Sai Baba was installed on the day of Dussehra (7 October 1954), which was 36 years after Sai Baba took Maha-samadhi. There is a very interesting story attached to the statue, which reaffirms the faith in Sai Baba. Once a shipment arrived on Mumbai docks, which contained high-quality Italian marble, but no one came to claim it. So after some time, the stone was auctioned. A buyer bought it and donated it to the temple of Sai Baba. Website: https://myfayth.com/hindusim/shirdi-sai-baba-temple/