Shirdi Saibaba Temple of NZ Inc celebrated Guru Poornima with four Baba aarthis, on Saturday, July 9, at Mahatma Gandhi centre, Eden Terrace, Auckland.
The day’s programme started with Kakad aarthi at 7am followed by pran pratishta by Pandit Chandru (of Papakura Ganesh temple) for 2.5 feet Baba’s new marble statue from Shirdi.
This statue was purchased in the holy land of Shirdi, taken into Baba’s Samadhi mandir, then panditji performed small pooja and was kept at Baba’s feet, before arriving to Auckland.
Pandit Chandru made 30 familes to perform Satyanarayana pooja. Pattabhishek was done for Baba murthi, first time in New Zealand and was attended by hall full of devotees, with devotion and bhakthi.
The feature event of the day was Baba’s new statue from Shirdi and Rathotsav, initially by kids and then by other devotees, flowed by Madhyan aarthi and maha prasad.
The evening programme started with Dhoop aarthi. Chavdi was well decorated along with Dhuni and Baba under Neem family tree (neem tree is not available in New Zealand).
Paalki seva procession was taken to Radha Krishna Mandir. Saibaba temple singer’s team sang melodious bhajans followed by Shej aarthi and maha prasad.
Around 1000 devotees attend the whole day event. Baba made the devotees to donate approximately $12,000. The photographs of Guru Poornima will be made available shortly in temple website www.saibabatemple.org.nz
For more details about temple activities and events, contact Ravi on 09 845-3239 or secretary@saibabatemple.org.nz