Our trip to Shegaon for “Jai Gajanana” and Nandura for “Bhaiya duj”

 

2^nd to 6^th September 2024

Short story with strange explanation: Fed up with sweet tea, coffee or milk for four days at Anand Vihar in Shegaon, I requested the official at HQ of the temple to give an option of non-sugary beverages. He politely agreed to consider the request, while his colleague interjected to explain that sugary beverages are meant to beat the heat [day temp rises to more than 45 oC during summer] in this region. I am floored with this justification, although it was pleasant time during our time.

I am raised in Nandura, listening to the stories of Saint Shri Gajanan Maharaj who lived in the nearby town, Shegaon during late 19^th century and took Samadhi in Sep 1910. This saint who miraculously cured his devotees of diseases advocated karma [work], bhakti [spirituality] and gyan [knowledge]. Seen in minimal clothing with cheelam [smoking pipe] smoking, Gajanana is revered by most as reincarnation of God not only in Vidarbha region, but also elsewhere. Devotees come from all over the country to have his darshan [prayer of his idol] where he took Samadhi [highest form of mental concentration without food culminating in non-living state], and celebrate his prakat [appearance] day with gusto on 23^rd Feb. Thursday is considered holy day for visit and hence is crowded. Over the years, Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan [organization] has spread its wings, providing devotees in many  pilgrimage centres with boarding facilities, offering opportunities of higher education like in engineering to the aspiring youths of the region and undertaking  projects of social importance for upliftment of people. This Sansthan has a vast area developed as Anand Sagar to showcase idols of India’s saints to revive spiritual growth in the country, and Anand Vihar and Anand Visava for stay of devotees since early 2000s. I heard of these facilities but never stayed there for more than a day. Combining pilgrimage with vacation has led to steady stream of devotees as well as non-devotees.

We got this opportunity to visit this pilgrimage centre at Shegaon and my home town, Nandura this month and made most of it staying for four days in Shegaon.

On the Samruddhi expressway towards Shegaon

We left Mumbai early morning on the 2^nd Sep by car on the old Mumbai-Nashik road and reached Igatpuri, a picturesque town at the hill top in the western ghat mountains by 7.30 am to join the Samrudhhi expressway [Hindu hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackarey Maharashtra Samruddhi mahamarg]. We reached Mehkar interchange by 12.30 pm with short breaks on the way and then reached Khamgaon by 2.30 pm to briefly visit my sister and later went to Shegaon. We lived for four days at Anand vihar, an abode for devotees with courtesy of our relative [SN}, an ardent devotee, who had donated for construction of rooms to the Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan many years ago.

At Anand Vihar, Shegaon

Arti by sister at Bhaiya duj

Family gathering after Bhaiya Duj

3^rd September-We visited Nandura, about 40 km from Shegaon via Khamgaon for Bhaiya Duj [Bhau beej] where my sister, Sumanbai Goje performed arti for us, two brothers for our long happy life as it was 2^nd day after Diwali. This is a day to celebrate love and affection amongst siblings. After sumptuous lunch, we left for Shegaon. Nalini and Indubahen visited the temple of Shri Ganajan maharaj in the evening. On the way, we visited briefly a statue of Hanuman, about 105 ft in height in Nandura.

Jai Hanuman idol in the background at Nandura

4^th September-We visited a nearby town, Shri Kshetra Nagazari, about 8 km from Anand Vihar, famous for late saint Gomaji maharaj. There is little known of this saint. He is revered too and is known to have done penance at pond, called Ramkund which is connected through streamlets leading to the nearby river. It is said that he used to visit Nashik on the bank of Purna river offering prayers to God, but due to old age, he could not do so. So he was blessed with holy water of purna in this Ramkund. It is said that whenever the river Purna gets flooded, there is concurrent increase in flow of water at Ramkund. In olden time, visiting and praying at his Samadhi was arduous task as it was underground and hardly one could enter at a time. Now, the underground Samadhi has well laid out entrance and exit, and is a pleasant experience to have quick darshan [reverence or auspicious sight of diety].

5^th September-We visited temple. I took nearly one hr to have darshan of Samadhi of Gajanan Maharaj while Nalini did parayan [reading] of holy book in praise of Shri Gajanan Maharaj authored by his disciple, Das Ganu. The waiting hall will reverberate with loud screams of Jai Gajanan Maharaj as devotees wait for their turn to get glimpse of diety. Excitment and happiness on the faces of all are the sights to be seen and enjoyed. We visited office to make offering and receive prasad in return. Later we visited official of the Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan for guidance towards contribution to their upcoming or futuristic residential buildings. At the moment, there are no plans to add new buildings for stay of devotees. My sister and her daughter joined us at Shegaon. We again visited temple as my sister wished to have darshan [holy sight] to pray at the temple.

At Saint Gomaji Maharaj temple with palki 

6^th September-We left Shegaon at about 5.20 am via Balapur, had tea and coffee at the roadside restaurant on the way to Mehkar, hit Mehkar interchange to enter the Samruddhi expressway and had breakfast at 9.30-10 am at petrol and rest station near Chatrapati Sambhajinagar, and then after leaving Samrudhhi expressingway at Igatpuri interchange at noon, had a short break at 1 pm to reach Mumbai by 2.45 pm after traffic jams on the way.

Inside temple complex

Gajanan Maharaj photo

We clocked about 1200 km,  averaged about 15.5 km/litre efficiency and more than 70 km/hr driving speed on our car dashboard, and spent Rs 10,200 on petrol and Rs 1460 for toll. Nalini did a great driving job as well as navigation when I was in driver's seat. Hope, that Samruddhi expressway will be complete by the year-end so that we might be able to save about one hr more in travel.

Om Shri Gajanana…Om Namo Gajanana…lingering in my ears as time passes.

PS: Shegaon trip is incomplete without savouring famous TR Sharma's kachori [price Rs 10 each]. We ate and packed for our relatives. These tasted very good but had less filling in comparison to the past. Besides landscape showed farmers preference for pigeon pea in place of cotton. Tractors carrying large tanks for spraying pigeon pea in pod stage were seen. Soybean remains favourite despite low yields and dampening price, probably due to short duration and assured yields with less input costs.