Chapter – 2 Spiritual Centre (Sansthan) Profile
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Chapter – 2 Spiritual Centre (Sansthan) Profile 1 2.1 Shree Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan, Shegaon. 2.1.1 Sansthan Profile Name of the Spiritual Shree Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan, Shegaon. Centre Name of the Spiritual Shree Gajanan Maharaj. Guru Established on 12 / 09 / 1908 Registration No. Address Shegaon Bk., Tal: Shegaon, Dist: Buldhana, Maharashtra. How to Reach By Train: Shegaon is A- Class Central Railway station located on Mumbai-Nagpur track. There are trains to Shegaon from Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkatta, Bangalore, and Aurangabad. Barring the very few superfast trains, all other trains have a halt at Shegaon Station. 120 k. m. from Bhusawal Approx. 3 hour journey. By Road: Shegaon is at a distance of 16 k. m. from khamgaon on the NH- 6. The distance to Shegaon from the nearby major cities in k. m. and (in hours) is – from Aurangabad 225 k. m. (4 hours), from Bhusawal 120 k. m. (3 hours), and from Nagpur it is 300 k. m. (6 hours). By Air: The nearby Airports are Aurangabad and Nagpur at a distance of 5 hours. The air route is from Delhi – Mumbai – Aurangabad, from Bangalore - Mumbai – Aurangabad. The other route is from Delhi – Nagpur, from Chennai – Nagpur, and from Kolkatta – Nagpur. Table No 2.1.1 1 www: gajananmaharaj.org 31 2.1.2 Geographical Location Geographical Location on the map of Maharashtra Shree Gajanan Maharaj, Shegaon 32 2.1.3 Brief History of the Spiritual Guru Shree Gajanan Maharaj of Shegaon, Buldhana District, Maharashtra, was a very well-known and much worshipped Saint from all over India and around the globe. The Spiritual Centre in the name of "Sant Shri Gajanan Maharaj" is the largest and most famous Spiritual Centre in the Vidarbha region of the state of Maharashtra. The Appearance: The exact date of birth and the earlier life history of “Shri Gajanan Maharaj” is unknown. But his first known appearance in Shegaon was on 23rd February 1878 when he was approximately in his 20s. The Disciples: Das Ganu Maharaj, a famous disciple of Sant Shri Gajanan Maharaj has written a biography, of Gajanan Maharaj in Marathi named as "Shri Gajanan Vijay." Dasganu Maharaj has mentioned in his book "Shree Gajanan Vijay" that Gajanan Maharaj often called some people as his brothers such as Shree Narasingji, Shree Vasudevanand Saraswati (Tembhe Swami Maharaj), Sai Baba and the great saints in that period. All this clearly indicates that Gajanan Maharaj was pure incarnation of the supreme power. The devotees of Shree Gajanan Maharaj believe him as an incarnation of Lord Dattatreya. According to the devotees, the appearing of Shri Gajanan Maharaj in human avatar was mere a Leela of Shri Gajanan Maharaj, as he was simply the Brahmadnyani. The Divine Powers: Lot of similarities has also been observed in between Shree Swami Samarth and Shree Gajanan Maharaj. Both were AjanBahu, Paramahans Sanyasi and many others. Many devotees and followers say that during the lifetime Shri Gajanan maharaj did many miracles like giving a fresh lease on life to Janrao Deshmukh, without fire lighting the clay-pipe, filling water in to the dry well, twisting the sugar canes with his hands and taking the juice out of the same, curing a man 33 from leprosy, curing himself of the many bites of honey bees and so on. It is believed that the reason behind such acts by Shri Gajanan Maharaj was only because he knew the Yoga Shastra. The Samadhi: On 8 September 1910 Shree Gajanan Maharaj's soul left for the heavenly abode. The earthly remains of Shree Gajanan Maharaj were buried and the temple was built on the Samadhi of Shree Gajanan Maharaj at Shegaon. Shree Gajanan Maharaj had predicted his time on the earth was about to come to an end. The devotees had already started building the temple in his honor much before the Samadhi-din of Shree Gajanan Maharaj. The dhooni which was started by Shri Gajanan Maharaj is still burning and is placed near the Samadhi mandir. The Board of Trustees of the Spiritual Centre (Shree Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan, Shegaon) Sr. No. Name of the Trustees Position held 1 DR. Rameshchandra Champalalji Dangra. President 2 Shri. Shivshankar Sukdeo Ganesh Patil Managing Trustee 3 Shri. Chandulalji Kisanlalji Agrawal. Trustee 4 Shri. Mahadeo Pundalik Ganesh Patil. Trustee 5 Shri. Kishor Trikamdas Taak. Trustee 6 Shri. Govind Sukhdeorao Kalore. Trustee 7 Shri. Nilkanth Shivshankar Ganesh Patil. Trustee 8 Shri. Ashok Tryambakrao Deshmukh. Trustee 9 Shri. Naravanrao Yadavrao Patil. Trustee 10 Shri. Shrikant Shivshankar Ganesh Patil. Trustee 11 Shri. Vishveshwar Shaligram Trikal. Trustee 34 12 Shri. Pankaj Gajanan Shitut. Trustee 2.1.4 The Activities of the Sansthan Shree Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan, Shegaon is the one of the biggest Temple Trust in the state of Maharashtra. Due to the Divine powers and Supernatural qualities of Shri. Gajanan Maharaj the Spiritual Center (Sansthan) has really become the Power Center for the Visitors and Devotees scattered not only all over the country, but also all over the world. The Sansthan is situated at a ten minutes walk able distance from the Shegaon Railway Station (B- class station on the Mumbai – Nagpur route of Central Rail) in the Buldhana District of Maharashtra. The Bus stand is also just on the way of the Sansthan, which is connected by Gujarath and Madhya- Pradesh States. The most interesting fact about the Sansthan is that, it has been registered in the holy presence of the Spiritual Guru Shri. Gajanan Maharaj in the year 1908, in a meeting called by the Devotees, local community, the local Merchants held on 12/09/1908. The most inspiring thing for the Devotees was the words of Shri Gajanan Maharaj --- “YA JAAGI RAHEEL” having the meaning of “WILL STAY HERE”. Hence the Sansthan was formed with the due respect to the Will and Words of Shri Gajanan Maharaj giving the idea and indication of His presence will be here and He will stay here only. Currently the Sansthan is operating its activities and functions through the various Departments, like 1 Abhishak and Pooja 19 Pathology 2 Donations 20 Physiotherapy 3 Prasad Distribution 21 Mahaprasad 4 Prasadalaya (Dining Hall) 22 Sewadhari 5 Security 23 Aadivasi Vikas 6 Money order 24 Warkari Shikshan 35 7 Postage 25 Engineering College 8 Construction 26 Mobile Hospital 9 Water supply 27 Medical Help 10 Cleaning and Maintenance 28 Rural Health Service Scheme 11 Footwear service 29 English Medium school 12 Parking service 30 Temple Bhakta Niwas 13 Vehicle 31 General Bhakta Niwas 14 Ayurvedic 32 Anand Vihar Bhakta Niwas 15 Homoeopathic 33 Anandsagar Visawa Niwas 16 Allopathic 34 Gifts 17 Handicapped Rehabilitation 35 First Aid Centre 18 Optometry Eye camp 36 Band and Music Prasadalaya The food in the form of “Prasad” is distributed to the Visitors and Devotees on a very large volume that to on a regular basis. Daily more than 20,000 Visitors and Devotees enjoys the Prasad in a special hall called as the “Prasadalaya” having the seating capacity of approximately 5,000 Devotees at a time. The most important thing is that the Prasad is distributed absolutely free of cost to the Visitors and Devotees. The Prasad usually consists of “Roti - Vegetables, Rice, and Sweets” etc. The Sansthan has many such Prasadalaya, wherein the Prasad is distributed to more than 45,000 Visitors and Devotees on a daily basis. Generally, the volume of the Visitors and Devotees during the “Special Events”, „‟Festive Seasons”, and on weekends typically ranges in between 1, 50,000 to 1, 75,000 per day. For the preparation of the Prasad on such a huge volume requires the huge amount food grains of more than 48, 000 quintals of Wheat, Rice, and Sugar and Vegetables. The food preparation is done with the help of “Roti Making 36 Machine” by the Volunteers with a great level of interest and service motive, and more importantly very calmly, quietly in less than 12 hours. Accommodation Thousands of the Visitors and Devotees daily visit the Sansthan for the worshipment of the Spiritual Guru from all over the country. So as to serve the basic need of the Visitors and Devotees, the Sansthan has the arrangement and Facility of the Accommodation on a very large scale. This facility is generally called as the “Bhakta Niwas”. In total there are 6 Bhakta Niwas made available by the Sansthan exclusively for the convenience of the Visitors and Devotees totaling to 1, 813 Rooms and 96 Dormitory Halls. In addition to this the Sansthan has the emergency arrangement of 2, 500 Beds as per the requirement especially during the Special Evements, Festive Seasons and Weekends. The overall break-up of the total rooms in the various Bhakta Niwas of the Sansthan can be summarized as below:- Total Accommodation facility at Shree Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan Name of the Bhakta Niwas Total Rooms Dormitory Halls Mandir Parisar BhaktaNiwas No.1 and 161 Nil 2 Bhakta Niwas No. 3, 4, 5 and 6 417 Nil Anand Vihar Bhakta Niwas 677 24 Anand Sagar Visawa 558 72 Total Accommodation 1, 813 96 Table No. 2.1.4 37 Services The great Faith of the “Devotees” in the Spiritual Guru especially at the Sansthan, brings out the Service Motive of the Devotees to serve with a greater degree of Loyalty. Taking into account the huge crowd daily at the Sansthan, has initiated the Sansthan to start and run the “Devotee Service Department” exclusively for serving the large number of the Visitors and Devotees daily visiting the Sansthan. The calm and quiet, the most disciplined and obedient Volunteers is the remarkable feature of the Sansthan. The Volunteers are mentally and most importantly wholeheartedly involved in the services of the Visitors and Devotees at the Sansthan.