Temples

OM SRI SAI NATHAYA NAMAH

The residents of Sri  Venkateswara Colony , Gorantla Village, Guntur Rural Mandal,
Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, India  under the colony members association have decided to built SRI SHIRDI SAI temple in the colony. The foundation work commenced during the year 1998, in an open site meant for public utility in the colony. But due to unexpected reasons,  the work could not be continued. During the year,  2001 an un known saintly  person approached Dr.  O.V.RAMANA and presented him a gift of SAI idol made up of PANCHALOHA ,blessed him and disappeared.  Then the Doctor,  a staunch devotee of SAIBABA since his childhood,  decided to start construction of SAI Temple and approached the members of Sri Venkateswara Colony Association through his brother, who is one of the leading active persons  in the association and also a resident of colony . Then the members of the colony decided to restart the construction work of the temple and a society in the name of SRI SHIRDI SAI SPIRITUAL AND SERVICE SOCIETY has been formed to take up construction work. The society has approached the Gorantla Gram Panchayat and obtained official permission during the year 2001. With the blessings of Sri Samardha Sadguru Sainath and with the patronage of Sai Devotees, all the idols were brought from Jaipur.  The construction completed and the temple was opened for devotees on 07-02-2002.

Few incidents need worth mentioned here which clearly shows SAI ANUGRAHA for the construction of the temple.

1. When some members went for  purchasing the marble idols at JAIPUR ,the sculptor quoted very high amount than what they  were having on hand at that time. The Sculptor was not willing to reduce the price at all.  While they were waiting in the lodge , thinking what to do, most  surprisingly .,the sculptor himself came to lodge in search of these persons and offered the idols for the same amount which they were intend to pay. The blessings of the SAI was such that, while the Sculptor was sleeping after lunch, SAI instructed the sculptor to go and accept the amount proposed. This is how Sai came to the rescue of his devotees as told by him “NOT IN VAIN IS MY PROMISE THAT I SHALL EVER LIGHTEN YOUR BURDEN”.

2. Another incident shows how SAI showers his blessing on the activity taken by devotees. During the construction, the mason has laid  the SAMADHI wrongly as 5’6″ in stead of 6′.  During the previous night SAI came to the dreams of Doctor and questioned  him “Shall I sleepSamadhi folding my legs”. Next day morning,  Doctor came to the construction site, came to understand the mistake committed by the mason and instructed the mason to correct the size of SAMADHI to 6′.   That is SAI’s grace on the Devotees, as uttered by him “TO HIM WHO SURRENDERS UNTO ME TOTALLY I SHALL BE EVER INDEBTED”.

3. An incident showing SADGURU’S continuous krupa on the activities taken up SAI devotees, As he said “KNOCK, AND THE DOOR SHALL OPEN, ASK AND YE SHALL BE GRANTED”. Some of the members  were moving to JAIPUR for collection and transportation of  idols to the construction site 3 Days  before GURUPOORNIMA. And thought of travelling by GT Express from Vijaywada to New Delhi. Suddenly, there  was a heavy cyclone in the coastal area during that time and  the railway track between Ongole and Nellore  has been  washed away due to floods.  While they were in dilemma as to what to do and how to bring the idols before Gurupoornima and  was praying Sai, most surprisingly the track was restored temporarily  and  only GT Express was allowed to pass as a  trial run on the track, leaving behind all the trains waiting for hours together  and afterwards all other trains were restored  only after 2 days. Due to the blessing of  Sai only, the idols could be brought safely well before the scheduled time.

4. The next such occasion, we experienced SAI’s GRACE was during the construction of the temple. The idols were kept in the vacant place adjacent to the construction site and devotees, mason and other construction workers, who were visiting the temple used to offer Coconuts  daily.  After a few days,  it was observed that astonishingly SAI BABA’S IMAGE was formed on the adjacent side of the stone where coconuts were being broken, which is still kept in the temple as a monument. This is a striking example of SAI himself  watching  the progress of the construction, as uttered by Guru Maharaj “IN WHATEVER FAITH MEN WORSHIP ME, EVEN SO DO I RENDER TO THEM”.

During the year 2004 the society has thought of constructing the SRI GNANA SARASWATHI (the Goddess of knowledge and education) temple considering the importance of  Guntur town as a well educational centre with number of technical and professional educational institutions and  to provide a facility for the student community to pray the deity. One more idea behind the thought was, there is no major GNANA SARASWATHI temples in and around Guntur and  for the sake of Aksharabhyasam, the  Parents, who can afford,  are moving to  SARASWATHI TEMPLE, BASARA spending a lot of amount and the poor  are not having the facility at all.  With these views, the site was acquired adjacent to Shri Shirdi Sai Dhyana Mandir with donations from Society members as well as Sai devotees and the construction of the temple was completed during 2005.  The  Temple Priest has been   sent to Basara Saraswathi Temple for training for 4 weeks to acquaint with the procedures being followed for different Sevas and Poojas. The Same poojas and other sevas as performed in Basara are being followed here.  The devotees from different parts of Guntur town and other parts of Andhra Pradesh are visiting the temples for Saraswathi Pooja and Aksharabhyasam on all important and  auspicious days.