Shirdi Sai Temple in Chelmsford, MA recently had 3 major events in the temple celebrating the auspicious occasions of Navraatri, Karwa Chauth and Diwali. Hundreds of devotees attended and immersed themselves in these festivities. The Shirdi Sai Temple in Chelmsford is being run by NESSP (New England Shirdi Sai Parivaar) – a non-profit organization which since its inception in 2006 has been celebrating all 3 festivals and other major spiritual and religious events in pomp and fervor. NESSP is a volunteer based organization and Shirdi Sai Temple is hence run completely by volunteers. This organization was formed based on beliefs of the great Indian saint Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi, Maharashtra. His teaching guides the volunteers along in all aspects of life. Navaraatri and Diwali were special events at Shirdi. It is said that Shri Sai Baba used to light lamps in His mosque during Diwali and if He did not get oil, He used water and lit the lamps. This was just one more miracle in the life of His Holiness showing that He is beyond the confines of nature.

Navraatri is a nine day festival celebrating and worshipping maata/goddess in all her nine forms. There is significance of each day and the variation in each day is the charm in this festival. The temple celebrated this event with different activities on these days starting Tuesday, October 16th until Wednesday, October 24th. The first day started off with Kalash Sthapana to maintain the auspiciousness and energy throughout the nine days followed by Navagraha puja. Maata Aarti and Lalitah Sahasranaam were performed every day during these nine days. Annapoorna devi, Gayathri Devi, Mahishasura Mardini, Maha Lakshmi and Sri Bala Tripurasundari devi poojas were performed on individual days. All devotees present in the temple were able to do the Pooja as a group and the priest walked them through the process of the Pooja. Devotees felt blessed participating in these Poojas themselves. On Friday October 19th, the temple organized a Garba dance where in groups of devotees came together to dance for the goddess/maata in front of Baba. A professional Garba DJ was called in and the event went late into the night with some people doing the dance non-stop from 8 PM to midnight. On Saturday October 20th, Smt. Usha Kamal Ji was gracious enough to come and do her Jagraata that day. She came along with her whole group and sang the praises of maata. Devotees were enthralled by her melodious singing. On Sunday October 21st, Baba’s Abhishek followed by Palkhi procession was performed in the morning. The same day evening we had a Carnatic vocal music program in the temple by students of Smt. Sandhya Shridhar, Smt. Padma Valli Amaravadi and SriHarsha Sista. The highlight was an enthralling Carnatic vocal performance of almost 2 hours by Mrs. Janani Ganesh accompanied by Ms. Rasika Murali and Mr. Karthik Gopalaratnam. The event concluded on Wednesday October 24th which was Vijaya Dashami as well and happens to be Baba’s Mahasamadhi day when He attained Samadhi. Saatvik food was offered free on most of these event days by the temple. Devotees felt spiritually enlightened and recharged with these 9 full days of religious events in the temple.

Karwa Chauth was celebrated in the temple on Friday, November 2nd. The fast of Karwa Chauth is of particular importance to all Hindu married women in India. They believe that the festival ensures prosperity, longevity and well-being of their husbands. Married women do not eat anything the whole day until they see the moon and pray in the evening. Smt. Ranjani Saigal was kind enough to come and conduct this Pooja for about 75 to 100 women who came to the temple to perform the rituals along with their husbands. The event concluded with Bhandara – Saatvik food for all present.

Diwali is a festival of lights. It is celebrated on a no-moon day by lighting lamps and fire crackers to signify the return of Lord Sri Rama to his kingdom after defeating evil and rescuing the goddess Sita from evil. Sai Baba in Shirdi used to celebrate Diwali every year by lighting the lamps all over his masjid on this day and people used to flock the masjid to witness that and His grace. Diwali in the temple was a major event and the entire temple was lit up with lights. Hundreds of devotees poured in to witness that. Goddess Lakshmi’s Pooja is performed as a tradition on this day and it was performed in the temple as well and all the devotees who came performed this Pooja with devotion and celebrated Diwali with Baba.

The temple is conducting Samoohik Shri SatyaNarayana Vrat Pooja on the full moon day of this Karthik month (Karthik Purnima) i.e., on Wednesday, November 28th and for people who cannot come on a weekend, another session will be conducted Saturday, December 1st. The temple is also conducting kids’ competitions like Chess, Geography Bee, Vocabulary Bee and such on December 15th as well.  On this day  NESSP is conducting a SEMINAR ON PREPARING FOR COLLEGE ADMISSIONS. The seminar is geared towards providing information on how to prepare for college admissions and better understand the whole process. Both parents and students in middle/high school will find this seminar very informative.

Speaker: Professor Anil Saigal, Tufts University

Anil Saigal is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University and founder of Lokvani.com. He has been organizing College Admissions seminars for the past 10 years and help answer questions related to the college admissions process.

More details are available at the temple website: www.nessp.org.

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