Shirdi by Chance
(Travel)
Visit to Holy Shirdi and Sai Baba Temple
If you want to feel the presence of a greater power in our life, just think about how our life has largely been constructed by happenings and events occurring by 'chance'. Life is seldom logical and plans rarely work. This is why those who are peaceful are humble: humble in front of the Power that guides us through unguided lanes and moments
Recently I happened to reach a relative's place 'by chance', and two hours later we left for Shirdi. This was my first visit to the shrine though I had wished for the same many times in the past.
It's about six hour's from Mumbai by bus. We reached the temple town at around five, very early in the morning. The atmosphere was divine. Divine, despite the over enthusiast guides chasing and competing every opportunity to help the tourists find suitable places to stay and take a bath before visiting the temple. We made a round of the area and then chose to stay at a guest house very near to the temple gates.
The darshan was very nice and peaceful. We even touched his tomb (Samadhi) to seek blessings. The world famous idol was in all its glory ' shining in gold and silver, while Saibaba's eyes showered peace and love on us The temple complex has many temples and sections like Samadhi Mandir (containing his sacred tomb and idol), Dwarkamai (a mosque; it is said that Sai Baba regarded this mosque as a mother (mai means mother), and it also represents the fact that Baba respected all religions. Every one has free access to this mosque), Chavadi (meaning 'village office'; Baba used to stay here alternate nights. I could also touch one stone, on which Baba used to sit.), Shani Temple (has temple of Lord Shani, in between a Shiva temple and a Ganesha temple), Hanuman Temple (This temple is South-facing, found rarely in Hinduism.) To know more about the temple and location, visit the website of Shri Sai Baba Sansthan http://www.shrisaibabasansthan.org/
The area in and around the temple has a host of shops selling pictures and mementos with images of Sai Baba. And then there are also poor children selling picture postcards and idols. One such girl got into argument with my friend. He had just purchased a bottle of packaged water as we were returning to the hotel and there she caught him and tried to sell a Sai Baba idol. A little bargain and she reduced the price from Rs 90 to Rs 30. But he was insisting for Rs 25. The girl got furious and asked, "You are bargaining for Rs 5?" When she got "Why not" as the answer, she said something which floored us: "At a place where you get water for free, you are spending 12 rupees to purchase a bottle, and then you are not willing to give me Rs 5 as a margin?" He purchased one for Rs 30. Five minutes later, he called her again and purchased two more idols
In our life, we get most good things for free, but we run to spend so much to get the same, packaged and priced and then we go visit temples seeking peace?
Nothing in this world happens by chance
(Rahul)
well said about Shiridi
i have visitd once,now the same sai i worship in mylapore,chennai
i have never had the fortune to go to Shirdi. god bless YOu
very very nice blog…(refe…saibaba blog)
so simple but yet so difficult to understand…
“whereever you visit, you will experience my presence, it’’s me, who is present everywhere!”….thats some knowledge……let everything be free, we have got used to pay a price in our lives, that we live
This article is really mind blowing.
i think that every thing is fixed in our life , good post.
i am also planning to go to Shirdi.( agar baba bulate hai)
Nothing in this world happens by chance… really ???????
good post
sweet! looks like you enjoyed the trip! i did too thro” your style of writing :)
Nice to read about shirdi…. I have too visited many a times, on my way to my native…. even though i enjoyed reading this article, you know why?, its becuase the style of your writing……..ofcourse dear.
hi,..i thought of visiting Shirdi many times, while I was in mumbai… but somehow, it never got materialised… but the place is still very much in my to do list.. and hopefully, i”ll go there soon. Nice description :)
yes… now i get the drift rahul…. apart from appreciating your blog another thing i”d really like to tell you is u take so much time and effort to answer any query by your friends. thats really touching and heart warming… hats off to you pal…. (now proceeding to post a gb for you… )
Thanks Rahul, Happy to see your writings after a long time. Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.
great post…i will not start writing about shirdi or baba as i know i will not stop….the tenor of your post is really very good…the way you co-related the spiritual with the everday world…great piece of writing!
OM SAI RAM. I REALLY LIKE YOUR NICE POST.
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i have read some where that WHO LOOKS OUTSIDE DREAMS AND WHO LOOKS INSIDE AWAKENS… Wow! Rahul,.. you have very well correlated the incident to life and people around us(in ur below comment)… I totally agree with u that we take it for granted or say don”t give a damn to what ever we have attained freely.. to this i would add even the values that our parents teach us or we read them in our spiritual books that are truly meant for us to be happy and at peace(as u said), which we may or may not attain (when we need them the most) even after paying the price… Nice blog :)
Nice to read your article and I appreciate your talent in drafting. You can take your reader along with you. After reading, I feel that I too have visited the temple.
Sometimes, though we are intelligent we behave as of fools and realization comes through urchins who have not seen school.
My only wish in my life is to visit shirdi once.. before i die :)… hope my wish comes true soon,…. You have nicely explained about that small gal..she tried to make understand wat exactly we need to think…most of the time in our life we need to learn a lot from such incidents..
… I hope you are seeing the message in right perspective. It is not only about our habit of bargaining, or the material things we buy or get free; it is about all. Just for example, we get our parents and natural family for free. But we don”t get our friends for free; we have to acquire them (by investing, or think about social exchange theory of human interactions). Now if we ignore our parents, spouse or family members, (which our life had given us for free), but run after friends or business (which we had to acquire) then it is wrong. So many things and relations in our life are ‘packaged’ and ‘priced’, and we run after them. And then so many come to us for free. These were meant for us to be happy and at peace with… (Rahul)
@r v, even that didn”t happen by chance :) The article started by saying how the events happening by chance affects our life more than what we plan. That was the backdrop for me making it to visit Shirdi all of a sudden, though I had wished to visit it many times in the past. Then the description is about the visit and the temple like a travelogue. The incident mentioned in the end about the girl, tells about the lesson that I got from the visit: something that we get to get ‘by chance’ again. The end line that nothing in the world happens by chance, connects the thread from the beginning of the article, and tells that the author feels that the girl who passed such an important message to him would not have come by chance… So the author is humble for the lesson he learnt on the visit… (contd..)
@S Ghi: We can log out of our blogs and then post comments on our own blogs exactly in the way others do… Filling our ID and password in the comment page rather than commenting while in the logged-in state… (Rahul)
Venkataramana, you are very right. There is a trend of showing off our devotion by donating huge sums and then making the donations public. Ever wondered how many people get their names on the walls and items of temples after they had donated them? True donation and charity doesn”t crave for name and fame. Anything done with the intention of self-glorification is not true work of charity… As you said, following His teachings matter more than we being ”certified” or ”famous” devotees… (Rahul)
i usually enjoy ur ending paragraphs a lot rahul.. but this time around… i feel that there is a mis-match between the last two paras and the blog content. or am i missing something here? but then not taking any credit away, ur blog was good. Sai baba and Siddhi Vinayak - two strong spiritual pillars for Mumbaikars.