Shirdi Sai comes to Regents Park Sydney

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By Manju Mittal

The newly constructed Shirdi Sai Temple inaugurated the new Sai temple on the auspicious day of Ram Navmi at Regents Park, Sydney and conducted various pooja events for 3 consecutive days April 15-17, 2016. Approximately six thousand devotees attended this grand opening ceremony during the three day event. It is indeed Sai Baba’s grace that Sydney devotees have this Shirdi Sai Baba abode right here, it being Baba’s third temple.

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The beautiful marble idol of Sai baba was proudly ensconced in the shrine in an atmosphere of bhajans, chants, hymns and dances. It looks at you with all its karuna and loving gaze when one bows in front of it with reverence. The idol was sculpted by Rajiv Talim whose grandfather late B.V Talim carved the original Baba idol in Shirdi, India.

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shirdi 5Being a Sai Baba devotee myself and a regular visitor of Shirdi Sai temple in India, the moment I entered Regents Park Sai temple I felt I am in Shirdi as it overwhelmed me with emotions. Surely it did also with all those thousands of devotees who came for Baba’s darshan. Sydney’s Baba’s murti is so similar to the one in Shirdi and so divine as if Sai Baba is really looking at you.

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shirdi 9The traditional ceremony of lighting of lamps, Sai Baba Palki and dance on dholak was also held to mark the inauguration of the temple on this auspicious occasion. Everyone participated with a lot of devotion and religious fervour. Thousand of devotees chanted Baba’s name during the abhishek and immersed themselves in his glory. It was a historic day for Sydney and blessing of Shirdi Sai Baba is there now for us all for years to come . Delicious Sai bhandara prasad was served to all the devotees after the inauguration.

Jody McKay, MP Member for Strathfield; Craig Laundy, MP and Federal Member for Reid and many other dignitaries were present on the occasion. The highlight of the opening ceremony was the Jugalbandi live painting by Navneet Agnihotri at Sai temple on 16th April, it was organised by v3 events and Entertainment and Avoyasa Entertainments in association with Sai temple Sydney, Australia. Bhajans were performed in the evenings by well known singer Vijay Jogia and his team.

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shirdi 7Few years ago, Baba devotees Jack Tolani and Dr. Hemchander Rao took this ambitious initiative and formed Trust of Shirdi Sai temple Sydney with a plan to build Shirdi Sai Baba temple.

“With Sai baba’s infinite blessings and the support of Sydney devotees, we have finally been able to build this temple for Shirdi Baba and welcome Him. Our aim was to construct a Shirdi Sai temple in the Auburn area which is a centre for social and spiritual activities promoting Sai Baba’s message of Shraddha (Faith) and Saburi (Patience).  Our vision is to spread the message of love, kindness, unity and make a meaningful contribution to the welfare of the mankind without any distinction of religion or personal belief,” Jack Tolani said.

Do visit Sai Temple and get blessings of Sai Baba, and experience Baba’s presence and His kind gaze and be blessed.

For temple timings and general information please visit the temple website at www.shirdisai.org.au, for further details.

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