DWARKAMAI
Dwarkamai
is the mosque where Baba lived during his sixty years of stay at
Shirdi. This is the place where He lived His divine advent
and performed Leelas (Divine play). The feeling of His physical
presence persists even today most overwhelmingly. In Dwarkamai
only Shri Sai assembled His 'darbar' the royal court
where He fulfilled their material needs, extended solace to His
devotees and conferred spiritual benefit on them.
The sacred fire 'dhuni'
lighted by Shri Sai, is burning perpetually for more than a hundred
years now. It is maintained by the Trust by regularly putting
wooden logs as fuel into it with full sanctity. The sacred ash 'Udi'
is collected twice a day from this perpetual
fire, to be distributed to the devotees as a token of his blessings.
There is a life size of portrait
placed at the very spot where Baba used to sit untiringly surrounded
by his devotees. Shri Jayakar of Mumbai did this portrait
in oil when Baba was living in physical body. The picture
assumes almost a three dimensional reality with his dynamic presence
in it. The eyes have a lustrous brightness penetrating deep
into the soul of the devotee and the smile is so gentle and vivid,
that it is not a painted smile. This portrait is placed on
wooden throne like seat. On the
west wall there is a niche 'nimbar'
towards which muslims turn for prayers.
On one corner of the masjid the grinding
stone used by him is kept covered with an iron grill.
The other items are an earthen pot,
kolamba(an earthenware in which
Baba used to put all the food he would receive in alms), bath-stone,
a bold square black stone which was presented to Baba by a devotee
to sit on it while taking bath (which he never used), a few brass
lamps and bells.
In the foreyard of the masjid is the same blessed
stone on which Baba used to often sit. There is another
portrait hanging over it featuring the same pose in which Baba used
to sit on it. This stone is flanked by the statues of a tiger
and a horse, as living momento of the compassion of the Master.
The palanquin and chariot used in his royal procession are housed
in an adjoining enclosure of the masjid, which are used on Thursday
and all important occasions.
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