Ashtalakshmi of ancient Shirdi

Sairam friends,

I like everything old, ancient and antique for it tells us the story and belief system which were prevalent hundreds of years back.  One of my favorite place in Shirdi is the Mahalakshmi temple 5 minutes walk from the Sai Baba temple complex and Dwarakamai. This time when I was there, I offered her a beautiful Saree in blue shade. In the evening, I again went to the Mahalakshmi temple with my friends.

I always feel scared and reluctant to take photos of Gods inside the temple because in some temples, they might have rules. Some people casually take photos without bothering much. One of my friend, Nupur took photos of this beautiful, Ashtalakshmi. I requested her to send to feature in StarSai.

This is the same Ashtalakshmi which is mentioned in Chapter 13 of Sri Sai Satcharitra. It would have been a very small mandir with the statue of Ashtalakshmi made of stone during Baba’s time.

“Feed the black dog in front of Lakshmi temple” – saibaba

A devotee of Baba by name Bala Ganapat Shimpi, suffered much from a malignant type of Malaria. he tried all sorts of medicines and decoctions, but in vain. The fever did not abate a jot and so he ran to Shirdi and fell on Baba’s Feet. Sai Baba gave him a strange recipe, in this case as follows:-

“Give a black dog some morsels of rice mixed with curds in front of the Laxmi temple”. Bala Shimpi did not know, how to execute this recipe; but no sooner he went home, then he found rice and curds. After mixing them together, he brought the mixture near the Laxmi temple,to his surprise ,he found the a black dog waving its tail infront of Lakshmi temple. He placed the curds and rice before the dog. The dog ate it and, strange to say, Bala got rid of his Malaria.

I always wondered what relationship a Black Dog has in curing a disease? If we think hard the answer is firstly the power of babas words. Secondly the reason behind the words. Baba has said no one goes to anyone without connection in previous birth.So may be this Black Dog waving tail has to be done a favour by Bala ganpat and there by clear his debt of past birth.

( I wrote this years back in an article few years back – Mahalakshmi Temple in shirdi )

Read about the experiences I had in Shirdi in the article titled – Peaceful Sai Baba darshan in Shirdi

A personal note:

I am nobody and wish to remain as last in the list of good Sai devotees

Some devotees wrote me that they are upset that I did not meet them during my trip to Mumbai. Let me clarify this. Most of my Sai friends are not permanent for lifetime. They remain in touch with me for a particular period. Once their life changes, they get busy and even don’t bother to say a word to me and I also don’t mind it. I am also an ordinary person and there’s nothing in me to say personally than what I write in StarSai. What if I did not meet or call? You are always meeting Sai Baba himself the moment you remember him.

When it comes to devotion too, I am yet to learn a lot. People think I am too religious and serving Baba. Honestly, You are serving Sai Baba more than me because you are doing it silently. I am simply writing that I do this and that for Baba…ha ha… So consider me as your invisible friend. My writings are not for current generation. It’s for people who wish to connect with Sai for hundreds of years to come. The only thing that I leave behind is the words of humanity, Inspiration and love which I try to spread.

Since it was official trip, I met few who lived close to where I stay. Secondly, since I could not travel far, some of them came to a locality or temple near where I felt comfortable to reach.

Sai chooses whom we meet

If you know Sai Baba well, he alone chooses whom we should come across in life. There were devotees who come to Coimbatore from far off places in India and used to say that they wanted to meet me. People who come for some other function or office work had never met me. May be, Sai wants them to spend their time totally in their environment. Only those who come Coimbatore especially to meet me had met me. This could be because they plan in advance.

I don’t even like being on cloud messaging platform like Whatsapp because I am telling my problems to my friends which according to me doesn’t sound good. I am bothering them a lot. I wish to stay away from all this if Sai wants me to do so.

I am a bit depressed these days due to what’s happening in my life. My Father too is not well and I am taking him to Doctor today.

Please focus on Sai directly.

Invite him to your home and he will no doubt come to you.

Here are some more articles on Lakshmi devi

Ashta Lakshmi in dream

Kolhapur Mahalakshmi

Om Sai Ram

Venkat