Journey from genesis – The Story of the Sansthan
Building a Temple of Baba in Auckland was a DREAM of numerous devotees over the years. Not anymore, as 12 years of committed work by several Committees and devotees culminated in to a MEMORABLE MANDIR for our beloved Satguru Shirdi Saibaba in AUCKLAND. In this relay race the baton was passed on from team to team over these 12 years. Few members started the Sansthan, some consolidated, some accelerated the financial growth and every one endeavoured to reach the final goal. Difficult to understand the LEELAS of SATGURU SHIRDI SAIBABA, as he had different people, at different times, to perform different duties to achieve the FINAL GOAL – HIS ABODE IN AUCKLAND.
Genesis of Shirdi Saibaba Movement in Auckland
• Till 2001, Satsangs on Thursdays were conducted by Shirdi Sai devotees in small groups, in different suburbs, not knowing each other much. Thanks to the Founder President Mr Laxman Sunkari, all the groups met on 2nd February 2002, when he organised Madhyan aarthi in Bharatiya Mandir, Balmoral, Auckland after good publicity. This was the time all the groups met and developed acquaintance with each other. Late Swaminathan, Past President and Bhaskara Reddy Duvvuru met Laxman later with some other devotees and mooted the idea of bringing in all devotees under one umbrella.
• The Sansthan then approached Bharatiya Mandir and the trustees gave permission to conduct Dhoop Aarthi every Thursday in the temple. First Satsangh was conducted on 28/02/2002 by about 30 devotees and all the devotees present on that day still cherish that moment.
• Constitution of the Sansthan was drafted by Swaminathan, a Chartered Account and Shri Shirdi Saibaba Sansthan of New Zealand Inc was registered on 04/06/2002 as a religious non profit organisation with the main objective of propagating the philosophy of Baba and to build a Temple for our beloved SADGURU.
• Subsequently the Sansthan was registered with Charities Commission which entitles 33 % refund on all donations made to the Sansthan by the New Zealand Tax Residents.
• Sansthan then moved the Thursday Bhajan venue to Mt Roskill War Memorial, May Road, Mt Roskill, Auckland in April 2004 and conducted bhajans till 10/10/13. Sansthan also performed aaratis at devotee’s place every Saturday on prior booking and the same is being continued till date.
• Journey has started in 2002 to achieve the main objective of building the Temple of Shirdi Saibaba during the President ship of Laxman Sunkari. “Donate a Brick”, “ Automatic Payment Schemes “ were introduced in the very first year, which brought in substantial donations in to the Sansthan coffers. Several devotees, committees struggled over years, actively involving in Community based programmes to bring visibility to the Sansthan in the Community, besides several religious and fund raising programmes to build the temple.
• Over the last 12 years, the Sansthan has regularly conducted 4 Major functions, one in each quarter viz. New Year Day Celebrations, Sree Ramanavami, Gurupurnima and Niryan day. SAI SUMIRAN, the quarterly magazine of the Sansthan was released on each occasion. Sansthan has actively conducted half yearly Blood Donation camps with NZ Blood Services for the last 12 years, participated in Tree Planting with Auckland City Council to keep up the CLEAN n GREEN image of Auckland, donated food items to Auckland City Mission on several occasions to support the needy. Several Fund Raising Programmes like Mata Chowki, Food Stall at Diwali Mela by Auckland City Council, Rhythm & Rhapsody the Dance & Music programme by the youth of the Sansthan and Chak de Dandiya brought in substantial amounts to support the Temple Project. Each and every Committee over these 12 years had put in it’s Heart & Soul, for meticulous implementation all the programmes & projects.
• Sansthan got a big boost in the later part of 2002, when a European lady walked in and donated over $ 100,000.
• Foundation for any organisation is having good systems in place, especially in the formative years. The Sansthan was stabilised during the President ship of Late Swaminathan (2004-06) with the introduction of right accounting systems and good practices. Thanks to Sam, Sansthan never spent a dollar on accounting and audit services till date.
• Consolidation of Systems and Finances, which are resultant of stabilised systems is an important feature of a growing organisation. Sansthan was consolidated during the President ship of Amar Alluri ( 2006-08 ) through meticulous follow up of established systems. After 6 years of hard and committed work, a piece of land was purchased in Henderson, the Western suburb of Auckland in Feb 2008 with the available resources to build the Temple
• Acceleration of Stabilised systems is next phase in the growth process of any organisation. Active fund raising programmes were taken up during the President ship of Hari Gangisetty (2009-11). The Sai Asthothara Donor Scheme ( Major Donor ) was a successful Fund Raising Programme that was launched on 01/01/11. About $ 800 k was raised during this term of 28 months. As the financial position has improved and considering the proximity to several devotees, Sansthan has purchased a high roof warehouse admeasuring 1960 sq mts, on 2975 sq mts land in Central Auckland at 12-18 Princes St, Onehunga, Auckland on 24/03/11 for $ 2.565 million, with a loan of $ 2 Million.
• A perfect building in line with the plans of the Sansthan. Sansthan always had plans to build a Temple with Community Hall and provision for accommodation for the priest. Manoj Dutta of Mak Associates was the Architect whose services were utilised to get Resource Consent.
• Bhaskara Reddy Duvvuru became the President in April 2011 and lead the team for 15 months. Thanks to Dr Raghunatha Reddy Pamuru, fondly called as DR RR helped the Sansthan in getting all Murty’s in the temple from India in September 2011 after getting the puja done in Shirdi. Manoj, the architect assisted getting the Building Permit, who was also the Technical advisor later at the time of Temple Construction. Shakthi Construction was given an opportunity to build the temple after an elaborate short listing process of about 9 companies.
• Sansthan performed Bhumi Puja Ceremony on 4th & 5th February 2012. Bhaskar Reddy & Rajiv Keth had an opportunity to meet Guruji Chandrabhanu Satpathyji in New Delhi on 27/11/11, who blessed them and gave 4 Silver Coins. These coins were embedded in the ceremonial pit along with 9 sacred bricks representing 9 forms of Devotion as per the advice of Guruji. An innovative fund raising scheme “ Lay a Brick “, was launched during Bhumi Puja which raised over $ 100 k in 2 days. The Total Surplus for the event was $ 239 k including new commitments, a record for any function
• New schemes like Sai Kalpataru and Sai Sahasranama Donor were launched. Major Donor scheme was used as a Spring Board to accelerate fund raising and an amount of over
$ 1.1 million was raised which is a record till date. An amount of $ 1.90 million was paid back through fund raising, sale of Henderson property and GST refunds.
• Hari came back as President in July 2012 as he was very passionate about supervising the temple construction process. He has put in phenomenal amount of time in coordinating the project, acting as an active link between Sansthan and Architect/Builder. The EC had several meetings during this term to discuss and facilitate construction process. “Sai Punyavachan”, scheme was launched which was quite successful.
• The Community Hall was opened in November 2013 with Bhagavath Katha by Swami Nalinanandji and most of the Temple work was completed . Congratulations to Hari and the team for the successful completion of the Temple / Community Hall with in the stipulated budget of about $ 3.00 million
• Bhaskara Reddy was back as the President in November 2014 with an active, experienced team with proven track record. The team tied up most of the loose ends to finish off few unfinished works with the support of all devotees. Here the Sansthan is today, getting the Pranapratista done by Guruji Chandra Bhanu Satpathyji on the Waitangi Weekend from 6th to 9th February 2014. Whatever Sansthan has achieved is because of the support of all the devotees over 12 years.
• But this is the beginning of another JOURNEY, as stabilising and running the temple is a big task. With the Grace of Baba, blessings of Guruji Satpathyji and the support of all devotees, the team can accomplish this and make the Sansthan debt free as soon as possible
SANSTHAN THANKS EVERY BODY FOR THE SUPPORT & SERVICE RENDERED TILL DATE AND LOOKS FORWARD FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT
Disclaimer: The views expressed are of the Sai Sansthan and not endorsed by the Indian Weekender.
Building a Temple of Baba in Auckland was a DREAM of numerous devotees over the years. Not anymore, as 12 years of committed work by several Committees and devotees culminated in to a MEMORABLE MANDIR for our beloved Satguru Shirdi Saibaba in AUCKLAND. In this relay race the baton was passed on...
Building a Temple of Baba in Auckland was a DREAM of numerous devotees over the years. Not anymore, as 12 years of committed work by several Committees and devotees culminated in to a MEMORABLE MANDIR for our beloved Satguru Shirdi Saibaba in AUCKLAND. In this relay race the baton was passed on from team to team over these 12 years. Few members started the Sansthan, some consolidated, some accelerated the financial growth and every one endeavoured to reach the final goal. Difficult to understand the LEELAS of SATGURU SHIRDI SAIBABA, as he had different people, at different times, to perform different duties to achieve the FINAL GOAL – HIS ABODE IN AUCKLAND.
Genesis of Shirdi Saibaba Movement in Auckland
• Till 2001, Satsangs on Thursdays were conducted by Shirdi Sai devotees in small groups, in different suburbs, not knowing each other much. Thanks to the Founder President Mr Laxman Sunkari, all the groups met on 2nd February 2002, when he organised Madhyan aarthi in Bharatiya Mandir, Balmoral, Auckland after good publicity. This was the time all the groups met and developed acquaintance with each other. Late Swaminathan, Past President and Bhaskara Reddy Duvvuru met Laxman later with some other devotees and mooted the idea of bringing in all devotees under one umbrella.
• The Sansthan then approached Bharatiya Mandir and the trustees gave permission to conduct Dhoop Aarthi every Thursday in the temple. First Satsangh was conducted on 28/02/2002 by about 30 devotees and all the devotees present on that day still cherish that moment.
• Constitution of the Sansthan was drafted by Swaminathan, a Chartered Account and Shri Shirdi Saibaba Sansthan of New Zealand Inc was registered on 04/06/2002 as a religious non profit organisation with the main objective of propagating the philosophy of Baba and to build a Temple for our beloved SADGURU.
• Subsequently the Sansthan was registered with Charities Commission which entitles 33 % refund on all donations made to the Sansthan by the New Zealand Tax Residents.
• Sansthan then moved the Thursday Bhajan venue to Mt Roskill War Memorial, May Road, Mt Roskill, Auckland in April 2004 and conducted bhajans till 10/10/13. Sansthan also performed aaratis at devotee’s place every Saturday on prior booking and the same is being continued till date.
• Journey has started in 2002 to achieve the main objective of building the Temple of Shirdi Saibaba during the President ship of Laxman Sunkari. “Donate a Brick”, “ Automatic Payment Schemes “ were introduced in the very first year, which brought in substantial donations in to the Sansthan coffers. Several devotees, committees struggled over years, actively involving in Community based programmes to bring visibility to the Sansthan in the Community, besides several religious and fund raising programmes to build the temple.
• Over the last 12 years, the Sansthan has regularly conducted 4 Major functions, one in each quarter viz. New Year Day Celebrations, Sree Ramanavami, Gurupurnima and Niryan day. SAI SUMIRAN, the quarterly magazine of the Sansthan was released on each occasion. Sansthan has actively conducted half yearly Blood Donation camps with NZ Blood Services for the last 12 years, participated in Tree Planting with Auckland City Council to keep up the CLEAN n GREEN image of Auckland, donated food items to Auckland City Mission on several occasions to support the needy. Several Fund Raising Programmes like Mata Chowki, Food Stall at Diwali Mela by Auckland City Council, Rhythm & Rhapsody the Dance & Music programme by the youth of the Sansthan and Chak de Dandiya brought in substantial amounts to support the Temple Project. Each and every Committee over these 12 years had put in it’s Heart & Soul, for meticulous implementation all the programmes & projects.
• Sansthan got a big boost in the later part of 2002, when a European lady walked in and donated over $ 100,000.
• Foundation for any organisation is having good systems in place, especially in the formative years. The Sansthan was stabilised during the President ship of Late Swaminathan (2004-06) with the introduction of right accounting systems and good practices. Thanks to Sam, Sansthan never spent a dollar on accounting and audit services till date.
• Consolidation of Systems and Finances, which are resultant of stabilised systems is an important feature of a growing organisation. Sansthan was consolidated during the President ship of Amar Alluri ( 2006-08 ) through meticulous follow up of established systems. After 6 years of hard and committed work, a piece of land was purchased in Henderson, the Western suburb of Auckland in Feb 2008 with the available resources to build the Temple
• Acceleration of Stabilised systems is next phase in the growth process of any organisation. Active fund raising programmes were taken up during the President ship of Hari Gangisetty (2009-11). The Sai Asthothara Donor Scheme ( Major Donor ) was a successful Fund Raising Programme that was launched on 01/01/11. About $ 800 k was raised during this term of 28 months. As the financial position has improved and considering the proximity to several devotees, Sansthan has purchased a high roof warehouse admeasuring 1960 sq mts, on 2975 sq mts land in Central Auckland at 12-18 Princes St, Onehunga, Auckland on 24/03/11 for $ 2.565 million, with a loan of $ 2 Million.
• A perfect building in line with the plans of the Sansthan. Sansthan always had plans to build a Temple with Community Hall and provision for accommodation for the priest. Manoj Dutta of Mak Associates was the Architect whose services were utilised to get Resource Consent.
• Bhaskara Reddy Duvvuru became the President in April 2011 and lead the team for 15 months. Thanks to Dr Raghunatha Reddy Pamuru, fondly called as DR RR helped the Sansthan in getting all Murty’s in the temple from India in September 2011 after getting the puja done in Shirdi. Manoj, the architect assisted getting the Building Permit, who was also the Technical advisor later at the time of Temple Construction. Shakthi Construction was given an opportunity to build the temple after an elaborate short listing process of about 9 companies.
• Sansthan performed Bhumi Puja Ceremony on 4th & 5th February 2012. Bhaskar Reddy & Rajiv Keth had an opportunity to meet Guruji Chandrabhanu Satpathyji in New Delhi on 27/11/11, who blessed them and gave 4 Silver Coins. These coins were embedded in the ceremonial pit along with 9 sacred bricks representing 9 forms of Devotion as per the advice of Guruji. An innovative fund raising scheme “ Lay a Brick “, was launched during Bhumi Puja which raised over $ 100 k in 2 days. The Total Surplus for the event was $ 239 k including new commitments, a record for any function
• New schemes like Sai Kalpataru and Sai Sahasranama Donor were launched. Major Donor scheme was used as a Spring Board to accelerate fund raising and an amount of over
$ 1.1 million was raised which is a record till date. An amount of $ 1.90 million was paid back through fund raising, sale of Henderson property and GST refunds.
• Hari came back as President in July 2012 as he was very passionate about supervising the temple construction process. He has put in phenomenal amount of time in coordinating the project, acting as an active link between Sansthan and Architect/Builder. The EC had several meetings during this term to discuss and facilitate construction process. “Sai Punyavachan”, scheme was launched which was quite successful.
• The Community Hall was opened in November 2013 with Bhagavath Katha by Swami Nalinanandji and most of the Temple work was completed . Congratulations to Hari and the team for the successful completion of the Temple / Community Hall with in the stipulated budget of about $ 3.00 million
• Bhaskara Reddy was back as the President in November 2014 with an active, experienced team with proven track record. The team tied up most of the loose ends to finish off few unfinished works with the support of all devotees. Here the Sansthan is today, getting the Pranapratista done by Guruji Chandra Bhanu Satpathyji on the Waitangi Weekend from 6th to 9th February 2014. Whatever Sansthan has achieved is because of the support of all the devotees over 12 years.
• But this is the beginning of another JOURNEY, as stabilising and running the temple is a big task. With the Grace of Baba, blessings of Guruji Satpathyji and the support of all devotees, the team can accomplish this and make the Sansthan debt free as soon as possible
SANSTHAN THANKS EVERY BODY FOR THE SUPPORT & SERVICE RENDERED TILL DATE AND LOOKS FORWARD FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT
Disclaimer: The views expressed are of the Sai Sansthan and not endorsed by the Indian Weekender.
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