An Indian Pilgrimage - A Remarkable Experience Part II

Continued from Part I which provides the background for this incredible journey, which is basically a testimony of personal faith, in which the six of us -three adults and three kids under six-decided to continue with a pilgrimage against all odds.

Read on...

So here we were dazed in a packed train sitting essentially in a third class (the lowest) compartment without reservation huddled like cattle with hordes of veteran train commuters, along with three little boys excited about the adventure, oblivious to the potential complications and hazards involved, while we, the adults, plotted and planned among themselves about how to proceed next. Meanwhile my brother was home telling our mother that his dear sister had as usual hit a home-run and mother was sitting resigned and characteristically quietly frantic, not having the courage to tell her quick-tempered husband that his US-returned only daughter had boarded an Indian train with her young son without tickets or money. Dad would have hit the roof and there would have been serious drama with the police being involved and all that good stuff. Remember these were the pre-cell-phone days so all six of us on our trip were truly incommunicado!

That we somehow managed not to get thrown off the train at one of the little small-town desolate stations that the train was stopping intermittently during the night is no small miracle. Ashok, my friend Malini's husband, our man of the hour in his quiet and dignified manner had explained our predicament to the ticket collector who I guess could see from our anxiety-ridden faces and our pathetic yet respectable persona with three young kids who could look deceptively angelic when the need arose, that we were not the usual miscreants telling tall tales, rather we looked like clueless misfits who should not have been in that compartment in the first place. So wonder of wonders - he let us remain on the train, convinced that we really were on journey of faith.

I am not going to go into details about the actual train trip, but thanks to the little food packets and snacks we had packed, we managed to calm the kids, but using the unsanitary train bathroom was just too horrific an experience, however the kindness of the fellow passengers, simple small town and village Indians, towards us was also amazing especially when they came to know our story. Shirdi is really sacred and camaraderie based on spiritualism is very real in India!

Anyway we reached, Manmad the station nearest to Shirdi towards evening or so- I cannot recall specifically. By now our bravado was tempered by a large dose of sanity, so Ashok used most of his money to buy new tickets for going back home to Delhi by the next available train which was coming through in a few hours. Obviously, we had no money for an overnight hotel stay as was the original plan.
However, so determined were we to still make it to Shirdi to offer worship that we came up with a game plan. We had three hours before the train to Delhi was to arrive and we had just enough money to hire a cab to go and come back from Shirdi. I don't remember all the details because it has been years, but I do remember that we targeted one hour for going to Shirdi, an hour for coming back and an hour to face the worshipping throngs, get in lines, offer prayers to Sai Baba and then grab the kids, do a quick turnaround and take the same taxi back to the small station where our train was expected to arrive. And incredibly we achieved it all!


The above is a six minute long video which includes prayers in Hindi being offered to the saint at the the temple. We were not able to take pictures ourselves so this should give a very good idea of the Shirdi shrine.

What is incredible is the amazing inexplicable cooperation we got at every level. We really believe it was Sai Baba helping us in His inscrutable manner. With every major challenge, things kept on working our way. After a hair-raising cab-ride on poorly lit and uneven rural highway roads,we reached Shirdi in time for the main evening prayer. There were huge crowds, but somehow, we were able to perform worship, have all the kids blessed by the priest even though we could not really make our way to the front due to the human wall of the devotees ahead of us. Somehow, all of us were able to get a viewing or Darshan (hindi term for viewing of God) of the saint's deity and receive Prasad which is normally something edible offered to the deity, thus made sacred, and then distributed to the worshippers.

Both Prasad and Darshan are the two critical components of a pilgrimage, an intrinsic part of the Hindu culture. And no pilgrimage is really complete without viewing of the deity. Additionally, I had brought with me my favorite food that I had given up all these years during difficult times vowing that I would not eat it till I had it consecrated at Shirdi. Well that was done too. Actually within extreme time constraints, remarkably we completed all that we had planned to do and hurried back outside the temple to catch our cab-driver whom we had entrusted with our luggage- a safe and empathetic individual. So by the same cab, we rushed back to the station and caught the train reaching Delhi next day at dawn, exhausted, starving, cold and yet safe, supremely content and in complete awe of Baba's blessings which were clearly evident in each event that had occurred.




Along with the video showing Shirdi temple, I would like post some pictures of Sai Baba temple in Delhi during prayers. The priest near the deity takes the offerings from the devotees has them consecrated to be distributed back to the followers. Shirdi devotees are not only in India but all over the world including US...

This second Shirdi trip was an incredible life experience and reaffirmed even more our lifelong faith in the Saint who we believe embodies the Higher Force. I have personally had incredible events happen in my own life that are hard to explain but have repeatedly proved to me, a very analytical person by instinct and training, that having faith in a Higher Force, however embodied is critical to a meaningful life. So strong was our faith in Sai Baba that we accepted all the challenges that came our way as tests and continued with the unswerving belief that they would all be resolved by Him and they were at every step. This accepting challenges in ones stride on such a journey is not unique to us, but almost every Hindu as the pilgrimage tradition is very deeply embedded in the Hindu psyche and there are many pilgrim sites all over the sub-continent.
My closest friend over the years, Malini, who went me on both my trips to Shirdi. Here she is with her older son on the right and mine on her left, after our trip. She is currently visiting the US from Delhi as a Fulbright teacher on a High School teacher exchange program and our catching up has prompted all this reminscing...

A Hindu sacred site is called Tirth and the journey is termed as Tirth-yatra. Millions of Hindus of all ages including many aged family members regularly endure tremendous hardships of terrain and climate considering it worth it all to finally get a darshan of not only their deities but also the sites themselves considered sacred due to their association as the dwelling places of the gods or other such associations. Also, it is important to note that India being a secular nation, along with Hindu shrines, has religious sites of all religions including Sikhism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.

At this point, I would be remiss if I did not point out that despite the diversity of gods and goddesses in Hinduism, Hindus believe in the One God who they believe is also the God of all other religions or God Supreme who is formless. It is important to reinforce that essentially Hinduism is a monotheistic religion and different deities are manifestations of the Supreme Existence known as Brahman. The Hindu scriptures make it abundantly clear that there is only One Supreme God. The deities essentially represent different aspects of that Supreme energy which is believed to be beyond human comprehension which is where the role of deities comes in... This is too complex a concept to discuss here but I do plan to address it in context as I continue to write about different socio-religious aspects of my faith, Hinduism...

Om Sai!