Hundreds of devotees participated in the grand opening ceremony of Shri Sai Chavadi, in the Canton area on May 24th. The grand opening ceremony festivities were planned during the Memorial Day weekend over 3 days. Based on Shri Sai devotees' request to have a temple close to the Canton/Walpole/Norwood area, Dwarkamai, Inc., Canton, has leased a space of about 6500 sq feet to serve the devotional needs of devotees in this area.

The grand opening ceremony started with Sai Baba’s pranaprathistha along with the pranaprathistha of Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva. This was followed by Mahakumbh Abhishekham with 108 Kalashas, and families had the opportunity to do Baba’s abhishekham. This was followed with a ribbon cutting ceremony by Mr. K.C. Pandy, Former trustee of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Sansthan who flew in from India to attend the special 3 day ceremony. The day’s events were followed by enthralling bhajans by Satya Sai Baba and Bhajan Tarangini groups.

The second day of festivities started with Baba’s Mangal Snan followed by Sai Rainbow, a cultural program with various spiritual dance and items items choreographed and sung by local dance groups. This was followed by melodious bhajans sung by Harimaya Khatiwada. The evening  program, Shri Laxmi Kalyanam featured the marriage ceremony  of bride Shri Laxmi who came from Shri Gurusthan Sai temple in Northboro and the groom Shri Balaji came from Shri Dwarkamai Vidyapetth in Billerica, Ma for their marriage ceremony at Shri Sai Chavadi in Canton. The wedding was celebrated with grandeur followed by a procession of the groom and bride with singing and dancing to the glory of the lord.

The grand opening festivities concluded on the third day with Shri Sai Chavadi Palkhi Utsav which included palkhi initiation ceremony where Sai Baba is carried into the Sai Palkhi followed by a palkhi procession accompanied by singing of hymns, chanting holy-name and spiritual merriment. The afternoon events featured performances from Rasarang School of Performing Arts and a mesmerizing Carnatic Vocal concert by Srivatsan Raghavan.

Dwarkamai Inc (www.dwarkamai.org) is a recognized religious non-profit, tax-exempt organization under IRS code section 501(c)(3). Dwarkamai is dedicated to organizing events and conducting activities directed towards personal spiritual development of the community. Dwarkamai has its own Sai temples at three locations: Shri Dwarkamai Vidyapeeth in Billerica, MA, Shri Gurusthan in Northborough, MA and Shri Sai Chavadi in Canton, MA.

Link to video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRSbP0kUfE

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