New England Shirdi Sai Parivaar (NESSP) recently commemorated the
88th Mahasamadhi anniversary event of Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi by organizing a Mahasamadhi Satsang at the Sadhu Vaswani Center in Dracut, MA. About 200 people attended this sacred event to pay respect to Baba and felt his presence with joy and bliss. On October 15th, 1918, at 2:30 pm the beloved Master attained Mahasamadhi. Sai Baba promised that his Mahasmadhi would speak and move with those who made him their refuge, even after his Mahasamadhi. He also promised he would appear the moment a devotee called upon him with absolute faith and love- and happily even today, these promises are being fulfilled. The Master manifests himself in different ways to different devotees. His voice is not hushed nor is his physical presence lost to his devotees.

The evening started with a melodious rendition of Ganesh Vandana by Mrs.
Vijaya Lakshmi. Mrs. Vijaya Lakshmi set the tone for the whole evening by
bringing the bhava of Bhakti in the devotees by her singing. While explaining the significance of Vishnu SahasraNaam, Mr. Krishnamurthy led the devotees into the chanting of the Vishnu SahasraNaam - thousand names of Lord Vishnu. Sai Baba often told his devotees to chant Vishnu SahasraNaam. In Chapter 27 of Sri SaiSatCharitra, Baba says to Shama, his disciple about Vishnu SahasraNaam - "Oh Shama, this book is very valuable and efficacious, so I present it to you, you read it. Once, I suffered intensely and my heart began to palpitate and my life was in danger. At that critical time, I hugged this book to my heart and then, Shama, what a relief it gave me! I thought that Allah Himself came down and saved me. So I give this to you, read it slowly, little by little, read daily one name at least and it will do you good."

After the chanting of Vishnu SahasraNaam, the devotees performed archana with Sai Ashtottara Naamavali (108 names of Sai baba). Each family was handed a framed photo of Sai Baba on which they performed archana using a mixture of akshata and flowers. Akhilesh Pandey of NESSP then led a group of kids into chanting of Sai Baba bhajans. Dhoop aarti was performed simultaneously with a video presentation of the actual Dhoop aarti from the Sai Baba Temple in Shirdi. The aarti was followed by Mahaprasadam (dinner) prepared by NESSP volunteers and devotes. Interested devotees continued to sing Sai Baba Bhajans long after the aarti was concluded.

NESSP has been formed to bring all devotees of Shirdi Sai Baba from the New England area together to spread the message of Baba. The parivar’s 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, region, race, sector personal belief. Our mission is also to construct a Shirdi Sai Temple in the area which will be a centre for social and spiritual activities promoting Sai Baba’s message of Shraddha (Faith) and Saburi (Patience). For more information please visit our website at www.nessp.org.

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