The New England Shirdi Sai Parivaar of Chelmsford, Massachusetts has been bringing Baba’s Palkhi to devotee’s houses for 9 years now. The NESSP family has followed in the footsteps of the devotees that started the Chavadi Procession for Baba in Shirdi by doing a Palkhi Procession in the New England area. This year Palkhi visited the homes of 160 families in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine. The procession lasted 6 weeks starting with the initiation held on May 24th, 2014 and closing with the Guru Poornima celebrations on July 12th. Each week volunteers came to the temple to decorate the Baba’s Palkhi with flowers has a theme (Padukas, Krishna, Kalash, Venkateshwara, and the goddesses {Lakshmi, Saraswati, Parvati}).

At each house which Baba visits, many devotees follow. About 50 families of dedicated volunteers travel with Baba’s Palkhi as it goes around the New England area. At each house, the priest performs Lakshmi Pooja and Baba Pooja followed by Laghu Aarti. The family takes Baba’s Padukas around their house showing Him their beloved abode, while a volunteer reads aloud a paragraph of the Sri Sai Satcharitra. Devotees and volunteers sing Bhajans about deities throughout the pooja. Fruits, flowers, and udi along with Baba’s blessings are given to every devotee after they take darshan. The Palkhi leaves the house just as it enters, with music. People also voluntarily sign up to take turns to drive Baba’s Palkhi for procession for the day. Baba’s Palkhi moves on to graciously bless the next household.

NESSP’s Palkhi Procession not only increases spiritual faith in Baba but brings the NESSP family closer every year. Kids play outside, everyone sings bhajans, and gets to know each other a little more each weekend. So not only is the bhaktas devotion to Baba a blessing but the NESSP family’s love for each other.

The point of this Sai Baba Palkhi Utsav is to bring Baba to the homes of devotees so that they can experience bliss and peace of mind as well as receive the blessing of having Baba’s Holy Feet taken around their humble homes. NESSP strives everyday to promote the philosophy of Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi and to accordingly support religious, spiritual, cultural, and charitable activities. May this family of devotees be ever blessed for delivering Baba’s love to everyone in events such as the Annual Sai Baba Palkhi Utsav.

Since the site plan has been approved, the entire team is working aggressively to raise funds for the land and construction of the permanent Temple. As announced earlier, we have donors who have pledged to match every dollar donated towrds the Temple land and building fund up to $500K. This fundraising drive started in October of 2013 with a target to raise $500K before Guru Poornima day this year. With Baba’s blessings and generous support from devotees, NESSP raised another $0.5 M (including matching fund) by July 12th, Guru Poornima day, which also happened to be the 2014 Palkhi conclusion day.  The Temple also raised another $60K towards the design and purchase of all Kitchen equipments for the proposed new Temple.

The inception of NESSP’s vision has been to have a Permanent Temple for our beloved Sai and a home for the New England Shirdi Sai Parivaar. We have been making steady progress towards our vision. We are looking forward to your continued support as we work together towards this divine project.

Please visit the below link of captured moments during Palkhi and Guru Poornima celebrations-2014.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108818823152960621467/PalkhiUtsav2014

https://picasaweb.google.com/108818823152960621467/GuruPoornima2014

Sri Satchidananda Sadguru Sainath Maharaj Ki Jai

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