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| NESSP Concludes Sri Sai Palkhi Festival And Raises $1 Million |
Press Release
07/29/2013
(This article is sponsored by Masala Art)
Spiritually initiated on June 1, 2013, Shirdi Sai Temple in Chelmsford, MA successfully conducted the six weeks long Annual Sai Palkhi procession with an immense pomp and concluded the event on auspicious Guru Purnima.
Just like in the previous years, the tradition of Sai Palkhi procession continued with the same fervor and devotion. Palkhi initiation started off with cultural programs where many kids of different ages performed in both the Spiritual and classical genre. With greatest devotion and the real zeal, the volunteers came up with wonderful themes and decorated the Palkhi with flowers and many more ornamental items.
Each week, Palkhi was decorated with a different theme (Ganesha, Hanuman, Shiva, Shanku Chakra,Kalash and the Sai Divine tree). On the day of procession, Baba’s Raj Upachar Portrait draped in a colorful royal robe, along with Paduka (His Holy Feet), and The Sacred book of Sai Satcharitra and Chillum were placed in the PalkhiPalkhi with due sanctity and honor.
In the olden days of Shirdi, the Palkhi procession started off at Dwarakamai carried by bakthas on their shoulders singing, chanting hymns and bhajans reached Chawdi where worship was offered to baba. Likewise New England Shirdi Sai Parivar is considered Dwarakamai of USA where the Palkhi procession starts each year and the Devotee homes to be Chawdi where the family along with friends and relatives receive Lakshmi Kalash and Baba’s Palkhi into their homes and perform pooja with sincere devotion. After the pooja, padukas are then taken out of the Palkhi and are taken around the house holding them on the household’s head to purify the house with Baba’s Holy Feet. All the devotees visiting the Palkhi get blessings and udi.
Devotees felt fortunate and blessed for taking Baba’s BABA’s Palkhi in their vans (Van Seva) throughout the procession. Kids also enjoyed the Palkhi procession holding the Dwajha (flags), Chatri (Umbrella) for Baba.
A huge number of devotees followed the procession with all the paraphernalia’s to more than 150 houses travelling more than 1500 miles covering MA, NH, RI and ME, singing bhajans and dancing in delight to the mesmerizing spiritual tunes. NESSP is planning to extend Palkhi yatra to other NE states CT and VT next year. On July 21st Sunday evening, NESSP’s annual Palkhi event was concluded with Baba Abhishekam after reading the Holy Book of Shri Guru Charitra. The prayer hall was filled with fervor and devotion. On the conclusion day, NESSP was extremely delighted to announce the greatest news of reaching the very important milestone of raising 1M (One Million) dollars towards the land and construction of permanent Sai Temple in the town of GROTON, MA.
The cost of purchasing the land is 1.1 million and approximately 250k for various permits. NESSP initiated Fundraising Event “Sri Sai Divine Tree†on Ugadi/Gudi Padwa of this year. Sai “Divine Tree†is going to be permanently placed in the temple consisting of 1008 leaves with the names of the donors engraved. We believe the divine tree at our temple will bring lots of blessings from Baba to all of us. It is also a great way to honor your family members as their names will be our temple for generations. Like the Parijaat tree whose flowers never fade or lose fragrance, our loved ones will be forever in front of our eyes. Like the kalpavriksha which fulfills all wishes, it is our hope that all our devotees’ dreams come true.
With Shri Sai’s blessings NESSP is making good progress towards getting the town permits and is looking forward for the continued support and blessings for all the future endeavors. Please visit www.nessp.org for additional details
The devotees witnessed the blissful evening and truly enjoyed the festivities and Bhandara (Maha Prasad) cooked at the temple.
KUDOS to all the volunteers for their altruistic and tireless commitment in Planning diligently, Route Mapping, Organizing and coordinating from the start to the end, and making the annual Palkhi event a grand success ..Without their support this would not have been possible. Nevertheless to say, without Baba’s Blessings and guidance nothing would have been possible for normal human beings like us.
NESSP is a standalone nonprofit organization, 501C (3), Tax Exempt status from IRS (Tax ID-20-5288174) currently located in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
Please click on this link for Photos from NESSP Sai Palkhi Event.
Hail Shri Sai…Always rest in our hearts and minds and mentor us towards the right path.
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