Guru Purnima is celebrated in Shirdi in the month of Ashadh which falls between June-July. The tradition of celebrating started around 1910 and the credit of starting Guru Puja goes to Sri Noolkar and Sri Dada Kelkar. In a letter from Noolkar to Sri Nana Saheb Chandorkar, he mentioned how Baba permitted him to do Guru Puja (Sai Leela Magazine May-Aug,1991).
Shri Shirdi Saibaba Sansthan of NZ Inc recently celebrated Guru Purnima. For the first time in the history of the Sansthan more than 1500 devotees attended the auspicious celebrations through out the day to pay respects to our Sadguru Shirdi Saibaba. It was their good fortune that they were able to celebrate it on the actual Guru Purnima day!
The morning began with Kakad Aarthi followed by Abhishekam amidst chanting of Vishnu Sahasranamam. 200 devotees took part in this. Pt Upenderbhai Joshi conducted the Sai Satya Vrat and 52 families availed this opportunity to perform the communal Sai Satya Vrat.
Sai Sumiran was released by devotee Rajesh Kumar. A skit was enacted by devotees, depicting a few wonderful chapters from Sai Satcharita and the strange way Baba had for imparting knowledge to devotees. This was followed by Madyaan aarthi and mahaprasad. More than 800 devotees were present for this.
Bhajan groups from Art of Living, ISCKON, Vaishnav Parivar and Pushpanjali enthralled the devotees with their melodious bhajans from 2.00 pm to 5.00 pm. A dhuni was lit and devotees present had the opportunity to participate in this – again this is the first time time that this has been done.
This was followed by the much awaited Palki Seva with the Palki decorated beautifully with Baba’s murthy and padukas in it. All devotees present had the opportunity of carrying the Palki. The hall reverberated with devotees chanting Vishnu Sahasranamam, as the procession began from the main hall to Radhakrishna temple and back amidst fireworks.
Dhoop aarthi was held at 6.00 pm. Melodious bhajans were sung to the accompaniment of tabla, played by Dr Pragna / Mr Varun Sharma and harmonium by Mr Bharat Parikh. The programme concluded with Shej Aarthi followed by Mahaprasad. More than 500 devotees partook of the prasad.
President Hari Gangisetty thanked the sponsors, devotees and volunteers for their efforts and support. Raffle was drawn for the picture of Saibaba donated by Mr Rajesh Kumar and it went to Harika. The winner wanted someone else to have the opportunity, so another draw was held and Dr Sanjay Namburi's name was drawn. He was delighted and considered it a miracle as his father had passed away on the Guru Purnima day.
A lot of planning, organisation that went into it is commendable and specially mention must be made of the following:
- Decoration Committee with Sai Krishna, Sainath, Ravi Vemula and other volunteers for errecting the mandap and decoration from 3.30 in the morning
- Puja Committee with Laxman making arrangement for Guru Puja / Sai Satyavrat Katha /Skit
-Palki seva- Rajiv Keth for his effort in decorating and making of the beautiful Palki for BABA.
- Food Committee with Shivani Arora / Arun Kangokar and all volunteers who helped in the Kitchen for the delicious prasad that was served through out the day.
Donations and more info about the Sansthan can be had by contacting Hari Gangisetty President on 021 629 993 or Bhaskar Reddy Duvvuru on 0212923807 or Shivan Arora on 021860012. You can also visit the Sansthan website www.shirdisaibaba.org.nz