A HOUSE BECAME SHRINE

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A HOUSE BECAME A SHRINE

Srimathi Chandrabai Borkar is one among the few privileged devotees who had the

great good fortune of doing service to Baba during his lifetime. Her life is an

example to us of how Baba held her hand and led her forward at every step. Her

love for Baba was infinite. She was such a devotee that she transformed her own

house into a temple of Sai Baba. The temple is called Sri Ram Sai Niwas, on

Tilak Road in Ville–Parle, Mumbai.

Mrs. Mangala Borkar, Mrs. Chandrabai Borkar’s daughter-in-law, and learnt the

details of the close intimacy her mother-in-law had with Baba and the way their

house evolved into a temple. The following are her words on Srimathi Mangala

Borkar.

"My father-in-law, Sri Chandrarama Borkar, was working on the railways as a

mechanical engineer, and his job entailed frequent transfers so his wife was

left on her own. As she could not bear to stay alone at home, she used to spend

six months with her husband and six months in Shirdi in the presence of Sri Sai

Baba. This was eighty years ago when very few people had heard of Baba, and in

those days she used to stay in the hotel of Smt. Saradabai Chandorkar. Once

Yamubai, the young daughter of Smt. Saradabai, was unwell, so her mother

brought her to Baba and told him of her daughter’s sickness. Then Baba,

pointing to Chandrabai who was sitting beside him, told Smt. Saradabai, "Put

her into her lap". She did so, and Yamubai regained her health in no time. From

that day onwards my mother-in-law used to look after Yamubai.

Mrs. Bayijabai looked upon Baba with greater love and affection than a brother,

and vowed not to eat until after he had eaten. Her son, Tatya Kote Patil, was

childless for a long time. Once my mother-in-law importuned Baba to present

Tatya with at least one child. Baba said to her, "Yourself and ‘that fellow’

will get children at the same time! Now you get lost..." My mother-in-law was

amazed at Baba’s words because she was already 50 years old at the time and

couldn’t believe she could bear a child so late in life. But by the grace of

the benevolent Sri Sai Baba, my mother-in-law soon gave birth to a baby boy and

he is none other than my husband Sri Rajaram Ramachandra Borkar. Likewise, Tatya

also begot a son, who was called Baji Rao Kote Patil.

My mother-in-law was present in the mosque at the time of Baba’s death. She

poured some water into Baba’s mouth and later washed his feet. After Baba’s

mahasamadhi she became busy with her newborn baby son and decided to settle

down in Mumbai and so built a large house in Ville-Parle.

There is a big portrait of Sri Sai Baba at our Ville-Parle residence, painted by

Sri Jayakar. Even though Sri Jayakar didn’t have any formal training in the art

of painting he became an expert artist by the sheer grace of Baba. As his

family also lives in Ville-Parle our family-friendship is still thriving to

this day and the portrait he painted is still hanging in our house.

My mother-in-law used to celebrate Vijayadasami and Guru Poornima in grand

style. Banubai Duhkhande used to come to sing the devotional hymns and people

used to attend the celebrations from far and wide. Once, during a festival, a

devotee called Vasantrao Gorakshakar had a great experience of Baba’s power,

which he later told my mother-in-law. Immediately she had a divine impulse to

install and consecrate an idol of Baba there. She told us of her wish and we

gleefully took part in the efforts to install the statue. This was around 1954,

when the wonderful marble statue of Baba was installed in the Samadhi Mandir in

Shirdi. The famous sculptor Sri Thalim sculptured this amazing statue. A

replica of that statue was installed at ‘Sai Dham’ in Congress House Street.

We went and met the trustee of that temple, Sri Malpekar and he introduced the

famous sculptor, Sri Vasant Rao Govekar, to us. So when we consulted one of the

trustees of the Shirdi temple - Sri Malpekar - on the matter of making a similar

idol, the latter introduced Sri Vasantha Rao Gowekar to us. We commissioned him

to make a two-foot tall statue of Baba, and fixed a price for it. Later, when

we went to see the statue we were amazed to find that he had made it

life-sized. We were concerned that it would cost much more than we were able to

pay, but by the grace of Baba, Sri Govekar accepted the price we had negotiated

earlier. The statue of Baba, made from a mixture of powdered marble and white

cement, is so well- made that it is as if Baba is sitting there in the flesh

again.

Our financial position in those days was not so good, so we were not in a

position to build a temple. Therefore, we decided to install the statue in our

house and convert it into a temple, and thus our residence at Ville-Parle

became a temple of Sri Sai Baba. We brought the statue to the house with great

ceremony and an impressive procession, and the consecration ceremony went off

spectacularly under the guidance of Sri Paley Sastry. My mother-in-law’s joy

cannot be described. My brother Sudhakar built with his own hands the sanctum

where the statue of Baba sits. Unfortunately, a few days later, my

mother-in-law died.

I spend most of my time now in the service of Baba. Gradually, the face and form

of the temple has become more and more beautiful. We had initially told Sri

Govekar that we wanted to consecrate Baba’s statue in 1987. Later, on the day

of ‘Akshaya Thadiya’ (the third day after the new moon in the first month of

Spring) the ‘Prana Prathishta’ (ceremony of installing life into an idol) took

place. One may still see the statue, which had been there earlier, near the

staircase in the temple.

Until then only the festivals of Guru Poornima and Vijayadasami were celebrated

at the temple. However, after the consecration we started to celebrate that day

also, on the Tadiya day of Akshaya. On that day we distribute prasad such as

roti and curry, savory rice, sheera (a milk preparation) and ladu (sweetmeat)

to the devotees.

As I am unwell now, my daughter-in-law Ujwala is carrying on the service to Sri

Sai Baba. She does it even more zealously than I did. That such an unusual

activity took shape in the hands of an ordinary housewife like me is nothing

but the grace of Sri Sai Baba. He is my mother, my father and everything to

me."

Mrs Mangala Borker, Ville-Parle, MumbaiCourtesy of Sai Prasad Magazine, Deepawali Issue, 2000