Thousands participate in Flushing Sai Baba  Temple’s Week-Long Guru Purnima Celebrations

Shri Shirdi Saibaba Temple in Flushing, NY celebrated Guru Purnima with week-long programs and a ‘palaki’ yatra for the ‘Baba’. More than a thousand participants danced around the ‘palaki’ which was carried by devotees who danced and swung it from side to side to give ‘Baba’ a  ‘zula’, and later went around the neighborhood from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm on the Guru Purnima Day, Saturday, July 20, 2024.

The ‘palace’ procession, called Ek Yatra drew a large number of visitors and local residents of Flushing, NY, and also representatives of different religions in a special segment of the procession. Much in the fashion of Sai Baba’s village’s Chavdi Utsav, a dancing Indian group from the State of Maharashtra, wearing ethnic attire, from Shirdi where Sai baba recided.

Another attraction of the procession was a float of the replica of Dwarakamai, an abandoned run-down mosque in Shirdi where Sai baba lived. A devotee walked beside the float dressed as Sai baba in white dhoti and a scarf tied over his head. Also walking with him were devotees dressed as important friends and followers of Sai baba.

The entire evening’s program was managed by the volunteers who also managed other programs and food throughout the week, said Nandakumar Thirunarayan, a trustee, to Desi Talk. All preparations at the Sai baba temple for Guru Purnima were carried out by volunteers who decorated the temple’s main hall with lighted gardlands and ‘torans’, Thirunarayan said. Everything in the hall was cleaned to shining perfection. A beautiful ‘alpana’ or ‘rangoli’ was created in the entrance.

Thirunarayan informed the week long program also included a discourse on Shri Shirdi Sai by Dilip Pawar, known as Pawar Kaka ji on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Pawar is a Sai devotee and scholar with 30 years of published research on Sai baba, author of ‘Bhavarth Shri Sai Satcharita’, and writer of the Indian television series ‘Mere Sai’. Other programs during the week included devotional singing, dance recitals, music and tabla performances.

The Flushing temple began in a small house with few devotees, developing into an artfully constructed large temple in 2010 on Robinson Street. Built in the bungalow style, the porch of the temple has been an inviting place to all, with a big verandah with green plants. And, once you open the main doors, you are immediately face to face with an image of Sai baba inviting you in. The temple also has a kitchen and dining hall in the basement, and a conference and prayer hall on the second floor. The original image from the old temple in the house adorns a whole wall of the prayer hall. The temple has recently purchased a dwelling for the priest. A young priest, Yuvraj Gautam, conducts the many rituals of the temples. A graduate of the Gurukul, he spent three months in Baba’s seva at Shirdi, he told Desi Talk. He spoke of ‘Baba’ whom he experiences every day with great devotion and adoration. “Doing anything for him is a gift,” he said. He sometimes likes to make the bhog by his own hands.

Following the footsteps of Sai baba, the temple offers 3 free meals as prasad to any and all who come, breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a tea and snack break in the evening. Roshan Bhattarai, another trustee told Desi Talk the food distribution is not planned with any financial obligations, and that somehow it has continued by the grace of ‘Baba’. More than a thousand meal boxes are distributed free in a week by the temple which also distributes meal boxes every week in the Northern Boulevard area of Queens. The  temple’s meal services were also available during the pandemic. The temple has become a valuable meal provider to many needy in Queens of any religion. Volunteers and people wanting to donate for Annadaan can get more information at the temple’s website https://dwarakamaishirdi.org/ .

The evening aarati at the temple has become an attraction for many who feel the rhythm and the soft music and Marathi lyrics all contribute to creating a very devotional atmosphere. The temple regularly organizes many programs and celebrations of festivals. Weekly discourses and chanting classes are held in the prayer room upstairs.