Embracing presence of Shirdi Sai Baba
I visited Shirdi in 2008 for the first time and since then I have had some remarkable visits there with dear evidences of Shirdi Sai Baba’s incredibly alive presence and care there. Since I haven’t been to Shirdi for two years now I would like to recall some of these memories to remind also myself of the beauty and authenticity of the place that may be interesting for who have not been there yet.
Our teacher, master Pal Pandian, encourages us, his students, to spend some time in there. I got my first impressions about Baba at Pal Pandian’s dear clinic where he served the sick with Siddha medicine and shared about the different arts of Siddha tradition. The place was also called Dwarkamayi, like the mosque where Sai Baba lived in Shirdi; and there were also quite a few touching paintings depicting Shirdi Sai Baba’s incredible life at the clinic.
Shirdi is one of the most visited pilgrimage places of India. On an avarage day around 25.000 devotees (according to wikipedia) are arriving there for showing their gratitude towards their beloved Baba by listening to the aratis performed in front of his samadhi place, and visiting all the places connected to him - for example Dwarkamayi and Gurusthan, the neem tree under which his guru is buried.
These are the places I also eagerly visited every day during my short stays in Shirdi, to meet Baba’s subtle presence and guidance abiding there. I love to be around Gurusthan: to walk around it with the people and to sit nearby it to meditate when there is less crowd. I used to be very excited about finding some neem leaves under this magnificent tree and keep those as dried reminders of the vivid atmosphere. I guess most of the devotees circling Gurusthan have this maybe childish desire to collect some fallen leaves, and thanks God the tree doesn’t listen to every sigh, if it listened and fulfilled every devotees’ wish, it would be probably bald soon. However, it happened several times that when I opened my eyes under Gurusthan some people came to me and handed over one or two of these prescious leaves telling that I had come from far away to be with Baba; therefore they felt like giving these leaves they had just found to me since they can come more often to Shirdi than me obviously. Yes, Hungary is quite far from India, so I was deeply touched by the unconditional kindness of Baba’s devotees. I felt it is the manifestation of Baba’s grace.
There is a small dhuni close to Gurusthan where the devotees are allowed to feed the sacred fire on special days of the week. They like to light incenses there and pray for their loved ones so that they recover from their diseases. One day I also approached this fireplace with a big bunch of incense and an overwhelming enthusiasm to burn them for the well-being of my family, friends and patients. But unfortunately it was not the day when it is allowed to light any incense, the fire in the dhuni was not burning. I got quite disappointed since the following day I had to leave Shirdi, so it was not possible for me during that trip to light any incense at all at this special, dedicated spot. Of course despite of my disappointment I was sure Baba knows about my intention anyway, so my prayer for those people are already heard even if the incenses were not burnt. I started to move around and since it was my last day I decided to visit all the places nearby related to Baba: his garden area, called Lendi, the dhuni in Dwarkamayi, the spot where it is possible to peek inside the samadhi hall from a place attached Dwarkamayi and have Mukh darshan, the Chavadi and revisited again the museum filled with objects related to Baba. Finally I went to Khandoba temple, the place that Baba visited first when he arrived at Shirdi ,and when coming out I decided to enter the small shrine in front of this temple where a saint called Chote Baba used to stay. The small shrine is situated near the noisy main road, but its atmosphere is very peaceful. As soon as I stepped into the shrine a priest greeted me with a big smile and handed a huge bunch of incense sticks over to me and asked to light them in the dhuni burning there and going around the shrine with them. Of course I happily did what he asked and I was sure- and I am still sure - that this happened to me on that day because Baba didn’t want me to leave Shirdi without fulfilling my wish regarding the incense sticks. I feel so much joy and gratitude when I recall this event as an evidence that my soul and intentions are being seen by such wonderful saint as Shirdi Sai Baba.
There have been quite a few incidents like this happening to me in Shirdi and I know, to experience such things there itself or anywhere, is quite common for the devotees of Baba. We can read about these in the Sai Sat Charita as well, the most well-known book on Baba’s life written by Hemadpant, a Shirdi Sai Baba’s devotee who spent many years near to Baba while he was in his body. I don’t want to conclude that every wish of the Baba devotees is being fulfilled; just it happens often and it feels very sweet. Sai Baba explains about answering the prayers of the devotees like this:
„I give people what they want in the hope that they will begin to want what I want to give them.“
OM SAI RAM