After many months’ hard-work by the members of Shri Shirdi Saibaba Sansthan of New Zealand, the brand new Sai Baba Temple in Auckland was inaugurated on Thursday 6 February 2014.
The four-day long opening celebrations began with a Ganesh puja at 8.30am on 6 February, and continued till the evening of 9 February.
For devotees outside Auckland as well as for international devotees, the event organisers made the opening ceremony available as a live stream on the Shirdi Sai Baba Sansthan’s website.
The highlight of the opening ceremony was the Kumbha Abhishekam and Prana Pratishta of Shri Shirdi Saibaba and other deities, performed by Guruji Chandrabanu Satpathji on Sunday 9 February.
The temple consecration rituals began many days earlier, and Yantra Pratishta of all deities including Saibaba was performed on Thursday 6 February. As a part of this ritual Navaratnas offered by devotees were placed beneath the deities along with Yantras which will be there forever.
The brand new temple complex also has a community centre, and is open to visitors every day from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm and 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm.
The dream of building a Sai Baba temple in Auckland was born many years ago – in February 2002 – when a group of Sai Baba devotees came together to form a group to the aim of building a temple.
After many years of tireless efforts, the Sansthan acquired freehold land with a total area of 2975 sq m which contained a 1960 sq m warehouse at 12 – 18, Princes Street in Onehunga in central Auckland – the site where the new temple is built.
While the temple dream was taking shape, Santhan began conducting weekly prayer-meetings (satsangs) that included bhajans, Sai japam, pravachans and meditation every Thursday Mt Roskill War Memorial Hall, 13 May Road in Mt Roskill in Auckland.
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