Shirdi Sai Baba- The Lord Of Happiness

While strife in the name of religion torments the world, millions of ardent devotees flock to Shirdi to sing praises of a saint-fakir who preached oneness and attained samadhi a century ago

- Anirudha Karindalam/Shirdi  

A sudden gust greeted us as we arrived in Shirdi, the perennially busy pilgrim town in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district. The streets leading to the shrine of Sai Baba were teeming with devotees, some of them chanting a simple mantra—Om Sai Namo Nama, Jai Jai Sai Namo Nama—with every breath they inhaled. At rows of shops along the road, people stood absorbed in selecting photographs and statuettes of the saint-fakir who attained samadhi in 1918. In the scrum of the street, someone roughly tapped me on the back, saying “Bajula vha [side please]” in Marathi. The rustic in a hurry was leading a camel carrying two foreign tourists on its back. Hopping onto the pavement, I nearly collided with three stray dogs that were drinking milk from pots kept by an old woman who sat begging alms in front of a large photograph of Sai Baba. The dogs peered at me calmly.

Up a narrow path to the Sai Baba temple called Samadhi Mandir, a girl was singing a devotional song on a massive stage erected for the centenary of the samadhi. The centenary programmes, inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind a year ago, will conclude on October 19. Passing the stage, we joined the tail of a long queue that snaked towards one of the six gates of the temple, the line moving and stopping in time with the chime of puja bells emanating from the temple.