This is magical. Before coming here I heard devotees in hundreds from five continents visit daily to rest in lap of Sai Baba and leave behind their sorrows, pain and ego in his sacred feet. I see these foreign devotees in traditional Hindustani dress in sari and kurta-pajama offering coconut, flowers, vermilion and incense sticks to Lord Ganesha. I see this today with my eyes. The simplest Ashram ever seen which does not perform any kind of rituals but just morning and evening bhajan (prayers) with Samadhi darshan.
I am sitting squatted in the prayer hall and ask a young Indian tonsured gentleman in 40’s sitting beside me “Is this the place where Babaji sat? He did not reply but after prayer he whispered in my ear ” Baba has not gone anywhere- He is here only. If you are blessed you will experience him”. Honestly after about a month now back home I still sense the freshness which I took back from here just sitting in prayer hall for few minutes. Even today drops fall from my eyes when I remember that place. I believe now that SOME MYSTERIES ARE THERE IN THIS WORLD and that is a sacred BELIEF we should have in some ONE.
Similarly I meet a lady from Norway with her 2 kids and staying in this resort. She said she survived a deadly disease just due to blessings of Sai Baba. Since then every year she comes for 3-4 days and goes back. Not sure how many such stories will be flowering but one thing I learn here is nothing is greater than belief and trust. Religion itself just a belief and trust- nothing beyond this.
It is a sudden trip (January, 23, 2020) on wish of my 72 years old loving friend (Dr. Bipin Bihari) and relative who is a doctor. I am so happy that he with his family and all crew members enjoyed travel to this religious place.
Photography is not allowed inside the Sai Baba Ashram so unable to publish ashram pictures here.
How to reach – Puttaparthy is a town in Anantapur district of state of Andhra, India. SSPN is the railway station code of Puttaparthy. Lot of trains stop here. Plenty of buses and taxies. Nearest airport is Bengaluru (155 KM). Seeing the inconvenience of travelling in train due to age we planned journey by train. Connectivity by train from Bangalore is such that we have to stay for a night to visit the place.
Where to stay – Ashram has plenty of beds. I tried to book online but it showed all booked for 2 months. But if you reach directly to Ashram at you will surely get the dormitory beds. The counter opens 5 AM- 9 PM. I suggest to stay in Ashram or slightly away about 2 KM from Ashram as the place will be very calm and scenic. I booked Satyam Resorts online. Decent staff, very less speaking. There is a good restaurant also they run.
How long to stay – Since the prayer timings are from morning 4.30 AM to 6.30 AM and from 5.30 PM to 7.30 PM, I think it is more convenient to stay one night otherwise you can not see 2 museums and planetarium. Since we all are in late 60’s, I booked for a hotel online for 2 nights. Foreigners stay here for months.
Day 1
We reach SSPN (Puttaparthy) at 6.30 PM and check in. We just take rest. After sunset we have pleasant walk on solitude roads and in beautiful surrounding. At 8 PM we again walked to main temple ashram to visit the temple. Since prayers were already over we take coupons of Rs.10 and enjoy this free hospitality of Sai Baba Ashram.
This day though we did not do any thing, still it is an evening worth remembering in whole life with relatives.
Day 2
Next day we take Masala Dosa and Upama in hotel and call an auto for going to temple at 8.30 AM.
The ashram is 2.5 KM and auto charges very reasonable Rs.50 for 5 passengers. He drops us at “Birth place of Sai Baba”. This is the place where Sai Baba was born.
Then again we catch an auto to go to “Anjainyya Temple” though it is just a KM from birth place.
Again take auto for Chaitanya Jyothi Museum which is just 300 meters from the main temple. The museum opens only twice a day 11.30 AM and 3 PM. It takes about an hour to see the museum.
After this visit we come back to our hotel as it is only 3.30 noon. We take rest and move to temple by 5.30 PM to visit the Samadhi of parents of Sri Sai Baba which is just 200 meters from the temple.
By 6 PM we enter the temple prayer hall to attend the prayers. This prayer is open for all religions.
After prayer we have dinner in hotel on Rs.10 coupon and come back to hotel.
Day 3
Today is our last full day in Puttaparthy as the train is at 6.30 PM. So we plan to visit Sri Sai planetarium and Heritage Museum.
By 3 pm we finish and come back to hotel. At 6.30 pm we took train to Bengaluru.
Epilogue
Prasanthi Nilayan is open for all religions. It has turned out to be a global attraction center of peace and for spread of Hindu Philosophy. I have never seen anywhere in entire India such number of foreign devotees clad in Hindustani dress and offering prayers. Daily no less than 3000 devotees take here free food and every arrangement right from prayer to end of day is systematic.
Visits: 378