A Saibaba shrine on farmland

My wife and I first heard about this Saibaba shrine from her sister Baby, who, in turn had heard of it from her daughter Savitha's in-laws. Word-of-mouth is the only way you get to learn of this temple, located on a private farmland near Bididi, some three km off the Mysore Bangalore highway. After our car crash near Bididi on our way to airport earlier this year, my wife believes that our lives were saved through the grace of Saibaba.
She reckons it was not a coincidence that the accident and our miraculous escape occured on a spot not far from this Saibaba shrine. And she has been wanting to visit the place ever since the accident. This we did, along with Baby, Raghu and my mother, during our recent Bangalore trip.
Among the paintings on the walls of the main prayer hall was this imgage of Saibaba you don't get to see in other Sai temples. What struck me about the painting is its creator's perception of Saibaba. The message it conveys is that even a saint needs his afternoon rest. And the setting in which the Baba is cast is so absorbingly down-to-earth.
The Saibaba shrine is located on the farmland owned by a retired Air India pilot, Capt. V V Mahesh. It was his wife Samyuktha's idea to portray the Baba as a person, not a deified entity placed on a pedestal; as someone with whom the poor and the humble among his devotees can relate. She conveyed her thoughts to an artist who put them on canvas. Maybe Samyuktha was motivated by what she read, and, as her husband put it, she has read almost everything nearly everyone has written on Saibaba.

Shirdi Diary by G S Khaparde, they say, describes the life and times, and daily routine of Saibaba in his later years (1910-18). Though his birth and early life remain remains a mystery, Saibaba's death is recorded history - Oct.15, 1918. Wikipedia refers to his taking samadhi on the lap of a devotee, at 2.30 in the afternoon.

A Saibaba devotee since the age of 12, Samyuktha spoke of a dream that prompted her to build this temple. She consulted her husband, who agreed to do it on their own farm near Bangalore 'although he wasn't then a Saibaba devotee ike me,' said Samyuktha. Their three sons, one of whom is also a pilot, helped them with with funds to make their mother's dream a reality.
Capt.Mahesh says the shrine has been there for seven years now.The main prayer hall and a smaller one for meditation, apart from landscaping work has been completed. What remains is Nandadeep - a cluster of 108 brass lamps to be placed in enclosed space in the temple courtyard.

They have fixed a timeline for its completion - by January next - whether or not they raise funds through donation. "We are confident of meeting the requirement,'observed Capt.Mahesh, adding that the project is estimated to cost Rs.6 lakhs. The architect were taking measurements of the Nandadeep site when we were visiting the temple. Samyuktha was modest about whatever her family was doing. She referred to an anonymous devotee who has donated Rs.62 crores for infrastruture improvement to facilitate visitors to Shirdi. "What we are doing isn't much in comparison," says Samyuktha. The couple also run a special school for 40-odd mentally challenged children. They have a house Bangalore's Richmond Rd.,but they find it worthwhile spending much of the time in their farmhouse. "the city traffic being what it is,cummuting is hassle," says Capt. Mahesh.

We visited the temple shortly before the mid-day prayer. Capt. Mahesh persuaded us to stay till aarthi,followed by prasad, biscuits and a piece of laddu. Which gave us time to interact with the Mahesh couple. The setting was conducive to contemplation. A visitor to the prayer hall tends to sit in silence for a while. Capt.Mahesh has thoughfully placed plastic chairs in the hall for the benefit of the aged and the handicapped.
At the far end of the courtyard across the main prayer hall is a smaller hall where they keep an eternal fire going. The sanctity about it is that this was lit with the embers from a piece of firewood brought from dhuni in Shirdi. "We couldn't bring it by train; they wouldn't allow it on a plane," said Capt. Mahesh, adding that the sacred fire from Shirdi was brought by road in a hired van.

The dhuni is the perpetually burning fire that Baba had going in his abode. The fire is today much bigger and is enclosed in a wired cage. It is said that Baba, when asked why this fire, replied that it was for burning our sins, or karma. It is reported that Baba spent hours sitting in contemplation by the dhuni.