Spiritual Holidays with Family

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We have been waiting for a family outing for over three years. All of my family members couldn’t commit on any one date together. All were busy with their professional commitments. The day at last came after three long years. Coincidentally we all had a long weekend holiday together. We asked our mother to decide a place for the outing. As she is a very spiritual person she opted to visit Shirdi with all of us. We were not surprised with this decision as we knew she prefers visiting holy places.
The dates were decided and we booked our hotel rooms. The hotel where we decided to lodge ourselves was Hotel Sai Sahavas. We booked the room online after reviewing it on various travel sites. The reviews were very good. It said that the Shirdi shrine was just five minutes walking distance from the Hotel Sai Sahavas. We confirmed the booking and we drove all the way to Shirdi. It took us around 4 hours to reach Shirdi. As we were on our way to our hotel we could see the huge line of people waiting for Shri Sai Baba’s darshan. We could spot our hotel from the temple itself. It is hardly two minutes walking from the temple. I got a feeling of inner peace the moment when I saw the temple. We checked in the hotel & were guided to our room by the room assistant. He placed our bags and left us wishing us a good day. After four hours of continuous driving I was very tired. I decided to take a quick nap before taking evening darshan at the shrine.
When I woke up I found there was no one in the room. I was amazed and called up my brother. He said they were on the third floor of the hotel. I remembered seeing the travel review, someone had mentioned about Shri Sai Baba’s statue in third floor. I went up there and was purely stunned by viewing the shrine. I was feeling as if I was in some kind of trance. My whole body felt so strong and was relieved of every negative thought. It was the pure divine thing that happened to me in a long time. I thought the small statue was so beautiful how the original big one will be. After meditating there for some time we went for the darshan in the temple. We got all our pooja things and entered the temple. There was a huge trail of people following a line. It took us around 1 hour to get inside the shrine. We were not at all tired in spite of standing for long one hour. I guess that’s what divinity does to one.
The moment I saw Sai Baba’s Shrine I felt something in me was changing. Even I started chanting the shloks (prayers) without my knowledge. I realized it later. The volunteers tried their best not to allow any people to stay there for long. I was feeling very happy after the darshan. We went back to Sai Sahavas after our darshan. We had a good meal in there. It was like everyone was so humble there, might be because of the Sai Baba’s presence. It was one of the best outings I ever had with my family members. Hope to visit next time and will check in Hotel Sai Sahavas as I can view the shrine in peace after the darshan.

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