It is a great honour for me to be a medium for devotees reaching out to their beloved Sai Baba. Your appreciation, love and dedication are all but blessings bestowed on me by the Almighty. When people ask me the reason for building the temple, I tell them it is ‘devotion’ that spurred my inner soul to build this edifice, which today attracts over 2 lakh devotees every year. It was Shri Sai who appeared in my dreams; it was he who incarnated as an old man and sold me this piece of land in Shirgaon.
The Shri Sai Baba Temple at Shirgaon is a tribute to the indelible mark the ‘faqir from Shirdi’ has left on my mind and soul. I simply followed his command and built a second home for him, and dedicate it to his unending devotees. I sincerely hope that a visit to this shrine will help you destress yourself and start life afresh with the hope that the “God is with me. Bow to Shri Sai – Peace be to all.
Shri Sai Baba, the revered faqir of Shirdi, has found a second home in Shirgaon. Prati-Shirdi, as devotees call it, was built in 2003 by Shri Prakash Deole, former legislative council member and founder trustee of the Shri Sai Baba Temple Trust, Shirgaon.
It was a miracle of sorts as Shri Deole, an active politician, turned to spiritualism and decided to build an inch by inch replica of the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple at this nondescript village of Shirgaon.
Rajwada (the Palace) – is an architectural marvel, where devotees have ‘Maha-Prasada’ every afternoon.
Even a glimpse from a distance enchants the visitor. And as you move closer the details and the artistic finesse leave you spell-bound! At first glance, anyone can mistake it for a well-maintained historic palace built by a king to exhibit his love of art and sculptures. A palace it is but a new one with a touch of the ancient and traditional combined with modern-day architectural refinements.
Gurusthan means ‘the place where the Guru resides’. Since the Gurusthan at Shirdi has a neem tree under which Sai Baba used to rest, it was but natural to expect one at its replica in Shirgaon. Luckily for Shri Deole, the patch of land selected as the temple’s site had six neem trees, and the one found to be the most suitable according to Vaastu Shastra was earmarked. And around it was built the Gurusthan.
What every pilgrim to Shirgaon fervently longs for is to rest their forehead at Baba’s sacred feet. The Baba’s benign, larger than life-size figure, carved by Shri Ramprasad Bharadwaj out of marble bought from Makrana, exudes grace and benevolence. The Baba sits relaxed in his customary cross-legged posture, imposing yet elegant, his eyes sparkling – a source of hope and succour for millions of his worshippers.
Dwarkamai, or the Masjidmayi as Sai Baba called it, is indeed a mosque. It is an embodiment of the spirit of tolerance and acceptance. Sai Baba once told a visitor, “Dwarkamai is this very mosque. She makes those who ascend her steps fearless. This masjidmayi is very kind. Those who come here reach their goal!” Baba’s settling in the mosque at Shirdi was a turning point in his life, or rather, in that of the village itself, as it brought him closer to the local people.
A large portrait of Baba adorns a wall inside the Chavdi. On the painting’s left side is a plain, wooden bed, which resembles the one kept at Shirdi. It was on this bed that Baba was given his last bath after he had left the earthly sphere in Dwarkamai. On each Thursday, the bed is taken out and is replaced with a palanquin. Next to the bed in the same corner is a wheelchair which was presented to Baba when he was suffering from asthma.
Before the Prati-Shirdi temple at Shirgaon, Mr Prakash Deole’s dream project was an Ashram Shala. Started with 25 students in 1996, the school has blossomed today as ‘a temple of education’ that serves the society’s most deprived sections: the tribals and the downtrodden.
