55th SRI SAI MAHASAMADHI ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION-1973
The above celebration is conducted with great enthusiasm in all Sri Sai Baba temples in general and Shirdi in particular. Among the numerous Sri Sai devotees who had the privilege of celebrating the occasion at Sri BHAGAWATI SAI SAMSTHAN at Kurla, Bombay 24 could feel the uniqueness of its celebration in all respects.
The celebration started on Thursday the 4th October 1973 and concluded after 4 days on Sunday the 7th October 1973. The morning Suprabhatam took place at 4.00 a.m. sharp followxds by Nagar-Sankirtan from 4.45 a.m. to 6.00 a.m. in which numerous devotees participated. It was a thrill to watch the enthusiasm of the glories of Baba and making arrangements for the celebration.
The morning programme included daily pooja abhishek and Aarati. On the first day after the evening pooja at 8.00 p.m. H. H. Swamy Karunananda delivered a discourse narrating in brief the life-history of Sri Sai Baba. He stressed that Baba is not the physical body but the omnipresent Atman. This was followed by the recitation of 'Sri Sai Mahima' by the devotees.
The Kalyan Bhajan Samaj' gave a nice performance of their bhajans based on the paddathi of Sri Bodhendra Swamigal on Priday the 5th October from 7.30 p.m. to 10.00 p.m.
On the dashami day i.e. Saturday the 6th October during the morning programme Maha-Abhishek for Baba's Murti was performed. The Maha-Abhishek which took place in the Samsthan was qiite unique as per the vedic formalities. The Abhishek included Baba's Mangal Snan with eleven different items e.g.-oil, utna powder, milk, curd, lemon juice, coconut water, honey, Ganges-cum-rose water, sandal paste, Panchamrut and vibhuti.. After Abhishek with each of the above item independently the Karpoor Aarati was performed.
One of the striking programme was 'Feeding and distribution, of clothes to poor from 11.30 a.m. to 2.00pm. It was a touching sight to see about a thousand poor people, the lame, the blind, the disabled and some without clothes forming big queue for ths ir turn to receive everything. The poor people were freely allowed inside the temple who very happily had Baba's darshan and then received food and clothes to their heart's content. Baba used to distribute food and clothes everyday for at least two hundred people-so this Samsthan has this programme (poor feeding and distribution of clothes) almost on all the occasions.
In the evening the mahila mandal of HARI MANDIR SABHA conducted bhajans from 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm. At 7.30 pm H. H. Swamy Karunananda released two more publications of the Samsthan i. e. (1) Sri Guru Narayan Stotra Mala and(2) Sir Sai Mahima in Sindhi followed by a discourse by Swamiji. At eight p.m. a resume of the Samsthan activities was narrated by H. H. Guru Narayan. After this all the devotees together recited Sri Sai Mahima.
The outstanding programme of the celebration in addition to the 'MAHA ABHISHEK' and' POOR FEEDING' was 'THE RATHOTSAV. A huge chariot which was fully illuminated and profusely decorated with garland festoons and flowers carried the life-size original photograph of Baba and His precious worn cloth. Before the chariot started H. H. Swamy Karunananda performed the aarati followed by Dr. Sri Gavankar (who lived with Baba in the year 1918) and other elderly devotees. Once again before the chariot finally started the sai sevak broke five coconuts and performed aarati. To the tune of the famous nada swaram players of matunga the chariot moved majestically. The illuminiation of the chariot was well maintained through-out the rathotsav by a generator attached to the chariot. It was thrilling to see numerous devotees rushing with their thalies offering neivedyam to Baba on the chariot. The different bhajan mandalies in general and the Sai bhajan mandali of panvel in particular thrilled the devotees by their devotional bhajans on Baba. A group of devotees exhibited nice fireworks throughout. Baba's chariot was taken around the colony with great enthusiasm by the devotees. The chariot could return to the Samsthan at 11.45 p.m. i.e. after three hours. Once again the aarati of the chariot was performed by H. H. Swamy Karunananda followed by the sai sevak. All the devotees together performed the Shej Aarati at 12.00 midnight, followed by priti-bhojan to all the devotees.
—B. Narayan. Kurla.
Topic: SRI BHAGAWAn SAI-SANSTHAN KURLA BOMBAY-24 (Read 4047 times)