Cooking Hearth in Dwarakamai, Shirdi

To the left of the courtyard area of the Dwarkamai is the small hearth where Baba sometimes used to cook. Like most things here, it is now enclosed in a wire cage but in Baba's time and until recently it was, of course, open.

Here Baba would occasionally prepare large quantities of sweet milk-rice, pulao and other food for distribution among visitors. He would supervise the whole process himself, including shopping, grinding spices, and chopping the ingredients. The food was cooked in huge copper pots - enough for 50-200 people.

An outstanding aspect of Baba's cooking style was that rather than use a ladle or a spoon, he would stir the scalding food with his bare hand, without causing himself any injury. The Shri Sai Satcharitra describes tenderly and in great detail how and what Baba would cook, "then with his own hands, serve very lovingly to all, with great respect. And those desirous of eating would happily partake of the food till quite full, even as Baba pressed them to have more, saying affectionately, 'Take, take some more!' Oh, how great must have been the merit of those who partook of this most satisfying meal! Blessed, blessed were those to whom Baba served himself." The author adds that once the number of visitors became very large and the quantity of food offerings also increased, Baba cooked less often. Baba never gave up the custom of begging for his food throughout his long life.

Beside the stove is a three-foot tall wooden post, which Baba would lean against while cooking. Though it is unremarkable looking, it is thought to be invested with healing properties since Baba once advised a close devotee (Sai Sharananand, then Vaman Patel) suffering from a severe pain in his knee to touch the post with his knee and then do pradakshina around it. The devotee did this and the pain disappeared. To this day, people with bodily aches and pains also like to lean against the post as a means of receiving Baba's blessing for their healing.

History behind The Baba's Photograph And The Stone At Dwarkamai

On the eastern wall of Dwarkamai , opposite the steps leading up to the Dhuni, hangs a large framed Swarup of Baba which is the most famous image of Baba. It is a painting of an original photograph of Baba SAI.

Baba is seated on a large stone with his right leg crossed over the left thigh, his left hand resting on the crossed foot. He is wearing a torn Kafni, a Headscarf Knotted over his left shoulder, and he sits relaxed yet alert, leaning forward slightly. His expression is at once intense, all-knowing and compassionate, but above all, unfathomable. For Us (Sai devotees), this is the most familiar image of Baba. This posture was a common one of Baba's. This Swarup is treasured as one of only six or seven orginal photos that we have of Baba.

Until Baba sat on this stone, it was used by devotees for washing their clothes. One day Baba sat down on it and someone took the opportunity to photograph him. Once he had sat on it, the stone was considered sacred and no longer used for washing. It is that stone, set with a pair of Padukas, which is now under Baba's photo. The owner of the original painting of this photo, Shri D. D. Neroy from Bombay, gave the painting to his guru, (Kammu Baba), who later gave it to the Sansthan. It is likely that this was the swarup that the Sansthan gave as a model to the sculptor who carved Baba's statue for the Samadhi Mandir..

We (Devotees) meditate on and worship this Swarup of SAI. Baba has said that there is no difference between his physical self and his image and swarups. Indeed, he even proved this on a number of occasions. When Balabua Sutar came to see Baba SAi for the first time in 1917, Baba said that he had known him for four years. This puzzled Shri Sutar, but then he remembered that he had prostrated before a picture of Baba in Bombay four years previously, and it was that to which Baba was alluding. Even more dramatically, Baba once came to Shri Hemadpant Ji in a vision and told him he would be coming for lunch that full moon festival day. In an extraordinary chain of events, a picture of Baba was unexpectedly delivered to Hemadpant's house just as the midday meal was about to be served..

Om Sai Ram..

साई रंगरेज मेरे, बाबा रंगरेज मेरे

जाने कितने दिनों बाद आज साई, मैने खुदको सम्भाला  है, आपको कोई भी कष्ट न हो साई इस तरह से मैंने इसे संवारा है, इच्छा है मेरी यही प्रभु, तुम मुझको अब तो अपना लो बाबा मेरे, सब रंग तेरे साई और तुम रंगरेज मेरे, तुम सारे जग के मालिक हो, तुम तो घट घट के वासी हो, तुमको ये कहाँ पसंद, मेरे चेहरे चढ़ी उदासी हो, हे देव अगर संभव हो तो, इन आंखो को दर्शन दे दो, करलो अपने चरणों में अंकित मुझे, फिर चाहे जिस रंग में रंग दो, सदगुरु मेरे सब रंग तेरे, साई रंगरेज मेरे, बाबा  रंगरेज मेरे।।

ॐ सांई राम

First look of Lalbaug Cha Raja 2014..