Mumbai: Shirdi is the second largest pilgrimage center in the country after Tirupati Balaji, where lakhs of devotees from India and abroad visit every month to have Sai Baba’s darshan. This time, during the summer vacations from 25th April to 15th June, 26 lakh Sai devotees visited Baba’s Samadhi and donated Rs 47 crore to Baba.
Out of 47 crores, 26 crores were received at the donation counter, 10 crores in donation boxes and 11 crores through credit card, debit card and online transactions. For 3 days the work of counting the money, gold and silver donated to Baba went on. After the counting was completed, an amount of 47 crores was deposited.
More than 21 lakh devotees had free darshan
P Shiva Shankar, CEO of Sai Sansthan said that apart from receiving Rs 47 crore as donation during summer vacations from April 25 to June 15, 2 kg gold and 52 kg silver have also been received as donations. Similarly, 4 lakh 23 thousand devotees paid darshan and 70,578 devotees paid aarti, the temple trust has received a donation of 11 crores during the summer holidays. Along with this, 21 lakh 9 thousand devotees took advantage of free darshan.
More than 22 lakh devotees ate prasad
Thousands of people come daily to seek Sai Baba’s blessings. Apart from the summer holidays, Diwali holidays and Ram Navami as well as Guru Poornima day, lakhs of devotees come to pay obeisance. During the summer holidays, 22 lakh 21 thousand devotees relished food at the Prasadalaya run by the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple Trust. The crowd of devotees is increasing after the start of air service in Shirdi.
Vinod Jagdale reports from Mumbai.
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