All good things begin with Ganesha. This is probably why, the bilwa patra (leaf), which assumes great significance during maha shiva ratri, is also offered to Lord Ganesha, (lambodharaya namaha, Bilva patram pooja yaami!). The Bilwa patra has great healing powers as a purifying agent. It is this very purity and devotion which were resplendent in abundance during the Maha Sivaratri celebrations at the New England Shirdi Sai Temple located in Chelmsford, MA on March 10th.

New England Shirdi Sai Temple run by NESSP, is a community of enthusiastic professionals, who show the same amount of professionalism and commitment towards spreading the will and love of Baba. All major festivals are celebrated with great pomp and splendor, and the Maha Sivaratri was no exception to this. The day started off with Kakad Aarti and Baba Abhishekam. Baba’s moorti and mandap were devoutfully decked with tigerskin, trishul and dhamaruk. Towards midday, the chants of shivasahasranamam (thousand names of sankara), filled the prayer halls, while another set of devotees were busy dishing out maha prasadam in the adjacent dining hall. The morning’s events concluded with Madhyahna Aarti followed by Bhandara or maha prasad, again a fully voluntary offering of time, effort, materials and more importantly, love and devotion by people like you and me.

The afternoon’s event, Nrithyanjali, was a visual treat to say the very least. Under the diligent eye of Ms. Ranjani Saigal, many angelic little shivas and parvatis performed immaculately choreographed classical renditions of parmeswara’s lores. Event started with “Natyarangam” by the disciples of Jeyanthi Ghataraju. Most of the prominent dance teachers and their disciples from New England area participated in the 4 hours classical retreat. To name the few are “Triveni School of Dance”, “Amudhshri Dance School”, “chidambaram Nritya kala Academy”, “Sarasalaya School of Dance” etc. Watched by a devotee count running into hundreds, prominent among the spellbound audience were Nataraja himself, the lord of all dance forms, and Baba aptly draped in tigerskin garbs. The resounding applause after every program was itself an equivalent of the “Har Har Mahadev” Chant.

Ekadasa Maha rudrabhishekam was performed in the evening, with each and every devotee getting the privilege of performing the abhishekam by themselves. The bhajans and chants went piercing past midnight, to appease Lord Neelakanth, and mitigate the maladies of the ‘hala-hal’. He swallowed poison, so the world may taste nectar. We are forever grateful.
Om Namah Shivaya.


NESSP was founded in 2006 with a group of few  families devoted to Shri Sai Baba (Spiritual Saint from Shirdi in Western India) with the idea to spread his universal message of Shraddha (Faith) and Saburi (Patience) in New England area. NESSP is a grass roots down-to-earth volunteer driven organization. Shri Sai temple is operated completely by volunteer families and has experienced strong growth in last 5 years of its operations. We are planning to acquire land this year for constructing a permanent Sai temple. Please visit NESSP at www.nessp.org for more information about it’s activities and mission.

Upcoming Events :

Mar 27, 2013                  Holi Celebration!   
Mar 30, 2013                 Samoohik Satyanarayana Pooja
Apr 11, 2013 - Apr 20, 2013           Chaitra Navratri Celebration!   

May Baba blessings be showered on all the readers of this article.

Jai Sai Ram

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