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SHIRDI SAI- RAMANAVAMI
CELEBRATIONS IN BAY AREA, CA
Shri Rama Navami celebration
is one of the three events conducted by Sai Parivaar every year since its inception. This
year’s Ram Navami celebrations were held at
the Sunnyvale
Hindu Temple
on April 20th 2008.
Sri
Ramanavami is also considered by many
devotees to be the birthday of Shirdi SaiNath. The historical perspective of Shri Rama Navami is as
follows. As documented in Sai Satcharitra, the celebration of a fair (Urus) was started at Shirdi
by Mr. Gopalrao Gund
in the year 1897 on Shri Rama Navami day, the birthday of Shri
Rama as per the Hindus. Mr. Gopalrao did not
have any children for a very long time. By Baba’s Grace, he had a son. Mr Gund started the Urus to commemorate the grace of Shri Sai Baba. In the
year 1912, Mr. Krishnarao Jogeshwar
Bheeshma proposed that Shri
Rama’s birth should be celebrated in the holy land of Shirdi on Shri Rama Navami day. He and other devotees requested Sai Baba’s permission to conduct the same. Sai Baba accepted and gave His blessings for the
occasion. Bheeshma thought that Shri Sai Baba wanted to
encourage the unification of Hindus and Muslims by celebrating Urus and Shri Rama Navami on the same day. The tradition has continued on a
grand scale in Shirdi since then.
The
celebrations went off as per the agenda starting with Omkaram. Abhishekam to
the Utsava Murthy was done with the
recitation of Sri Rama Ashtottara Namavali along with the simultaneous archana by one of the devotees to Shri Rama. The devotees participated with fervor
during the melodious rendition of Bhajans,
for the next hour and half. Notable among them were ‘Bhajo Sitaram Bhajo Radhey Shyam’, ‘Sugunabhi Rama Karunya Rama’, ‘Rama Naama Tarakam Sada Bhajore’.
Following
this, two devotees shared their experiences of Sai
Leelas. One was the experience of Smt. C.
Jaya Sastry narrated by another devotee, at
her request. Smt. Jaya Sastry was present at Sai Baba temple (Shirdi Sai Center) for the Madhyan Arati on April 13th.
As she was giving arati to Shri Sai Baba, she felt
Baba’s eyes moving from down to up and left to right giving His blessings
to all the devotees on Shri Rama Navami day.
The
other experience was narrated by Mr. Venkat Tadepalli. He recounted his personal experience
related to his brother. One day
Mr. Venkat had a vision (around 7.00 PM while
he was talking to a devotee), in which his brother was telling a lady
to decide between her family and him and saw his brother eating
something in a nasty way. Within an hour, Mr. Venkat
called his brother and found out that his brother was contemplating
suicide. It turned out that his brother was in love but it was not
fruitful. Due to caste differences the girl's parents were not in favor
of the alliance despite the girl's willingness and decided on another
alliance.
Mr.
Venkat advised his brother to read Sai Satcharitra. His
brother followed the advice and just after completion on the 4th day of
reading got his first miracle. The girl's parents received the message that
the selected groom's mother was not interested the alliance and hence cancelled
the proposal. Mr. Venkat's brother started
having faith in BABA and completed the remaining 3 days of reading
after which he visited Shirdi. However, it appeared that nothing was
working in his favor. Mr. Venkat's brother
was losing patience and his faith was being tested. Mr. Venkat
counseled "saburi" to his brother
and said Baba will make sure the girl will marry him.
Two
months passed before the girl’s parents managed to get the party of
broken alliance agree to the engagement between the girl and the
previously selected boy. The engagement ceremony for the 16th of
February, 2008. Mr. Venkat's brother was losing faith, because in Sai Satcharitra there
were no incidents related to inter-cast marriage. On 14th December 2007, 11.00 AM,
PST, Mr. Venkat again advised "saburi" to his brother, saying Baba will help.
His brother felt it would be against his 'dharma' to marry an already
engaged girl. However, Baba heard his brother's prayers. Miraculously,
just after 12 hours (11.00 PM PST), the girl's parents cancelled the
engagement and instead got his brother and the girl engaged on the same
date. Much to everyone's joy they got married on February 24th 2008.
The
launch of e-news letter by Sai Parivar and the acceptance of an offer for the new
temple premises were publicized.
The
evening concluded with Dhoop Aarti and Palki Utsav to Baba.
Dear
Shirdi Sai
Devotees,
We welcome all of you with family, to join us for Shirdi
Sai Ramanavami
celebrations in the Bay Area, CA on April 20th (Sunday) in
Sunnyvale between 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Please mark your calendars.
DATE & TIME: April 20th 2008 (Sunday) 4:00 p.m. to
6:30p.m.
VENUE:
420-450
Persian Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
(Auditorium at Sunnyvale Hindu
Temple)
AGENDA:
· Omkaram & Ganesh mantram
· Abishekam
· Ramnamavali
· Sai Mahima
· Hanuman Chalisa
· Shirdi Sai Bhajans
· Devotees
Experience
· Naivedyam
· Dhoop Arathi
· Palki Procession
· Distribution
of prasad
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO RSVP & GET
INFO BY MAIL
Request for Volunteers:
We
invite volunteers who would like to participate in the bhajans, prepare prasad,
and decorate the hall. Please contact us at Saibandhu@yahoo.com /
408-705-7904 for more information.
We humbly invite volunteers to
share their memorable experiences with Shirdi
Sai Baba. All those interested please contact
us before the event.
Please forward this information
to other Saibandhus who might be interested
in attending this event.
Please RSVP (this will help us in
the planning process).
BOW
TO SRI SAI AND PEACE BE TO ALL
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