This is the 5th Temple visited by me during my 9th Pilgrimage to Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temples at Chennai on Friday 14th Oct 2011.
My 9th Pilgrimage at Chennai Started with a Visit to:
To See Complete Set of 59 Snaps of this Temple Visit:
It was a rainy day & started my pilgrimage thinking that it is just a slight drizzle & that i could manage to visited the temple. After speaking to Sri. Ramanan the founder of this temple, i started towards Sri Ananda Sai temple at Poonthandalam in chennai suburb. It is quite far & it is around 9 kms from Kundrathur which is famous for Murugan Temple.
From City is at a distance of 30kms. It started to rain heavily by the time, i was half way towards this temple. Also the roads leading to this temple are quite empty & chances of missing the entry towards the temple is high.
It is adviced to speak to Sri Ramanan well in advance & take proper guidance towards visiting this temple. As the Public transport frequency is very less & Private transport is not available, going by own vehicle is the best way to reach this temple.
About Sri N V Ramanan - The Founder of this Temple.
Sri N V Ramanan & his family, the Founder members of this temple are Staunch Devotees of Sri Sai Baba. His mother had given him a photo of Sai Baba and advised him to offer his prayers to Baba. He is working for the Chennai Port Trust at Present.One day during 1997, he & his friends were interested to know about their future and they approached a palm reader to get their horoscope read.
The horoscope of Sri. Ramanan revealed that he would build a temple in the future. This was shocking to him as he never had any thoughts and wondered which deity’s blessing will shower on him to do this noble work.
In the year 1998, he visited ECR Road - Injambakkam Sai Maindir & had a glimpse of Sai. Baba in his dream told him that, he will come in a new form and construct a temple for him. After this vision Sri. Ramanan came out of Family Bonding & started to live celibate.
From 30th June 1998 onwards he stopped wearing slippers. He started to visualize Sai in his Atma. From then onwards he started to look for a suitable place to build a Sai Mandir.
It was rather a very difficult task and at last, he was able to select a small plot at Nanganallur which is famous for its temple but there were some litigation in buying the same & the idea dropped out of his mind.
During the same time one of his friends constructed a temple for Lord Ganesha and Sri Ramanan participated in the opening ceremony. During this event his friend introduced him to Sri. Leo Muthu the Chairman of Sai Ram Engineer College who himself is a Staunch devotee of Sai Baba & has also built a small temple for Sai Baba inside the College Campus.
Sri. Ramanan after coming to know about Sai Baba's temple requested Sri LeoMuthu to help him in solving the problems related to purchase of land as this land was to be used for building Sai Mandir.
Sri. Leo Muthu was pleased to hear this & agreed to donate 70 cents( Around 30000 Sq Ft) of land behind his Sai Ram Engineering College & requested Sri Ramanan to take the responsibility of managing the activities.
Highlights of Sri Ananda Sai mandir.
1. On 26th Jan 2004, Gurusthan was opened with Swarna Akarshana Bhairavar.
2. Here is the Miracle that happened towards procuring this 6.5 Fibre Statue of Sai Baba for the Gurusthan. Sai Devotees Mrs & Mr Surya were pulled by Sai Baba to join & put their contributions towards the building of this temple.
Mrs. Surya also has a dream in which Sai told her to make a Statue and he had said that the Statue should be entirely different from what is seen now in all Sai Baba Mandirs.
A different image should be created and installed in a village called “Poonthandalam”. Sai also asked her to find a person who had the same thought and she also had a vision of this village. She did not know how to fulfill this dream as she is Dubai. Where is this "Poonthandalam village"? Who makes Sai Statues? What is the new form? She had no clue for all these questions.
When she came to Chennai and started searching for this village, she met Sri Ramanan who started to construct a Small Sai temple in the Plot donated by Sri Leo Muthu & was so happy to see the village which she visualized in her dream. She also came to know that Sri Ramanan was searching for a Different Statue of Sri Sai Baba.
On her way back to Chennai she planned to visit Kanchipuram Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt & to take the blessings of Kanchi periyavar. After reaching the Mutt they saw a 2.5 ft. Statue of Kanchi Maha Periyava and felt that the Idol looks very Unique and got the idea of getting the same kind of Statue for our Sai.
On enquiring, they got to know about Sri. T.P.R. Ganesh and Sai worked the miracle on Ganesh’s hands and the outcome was a 6.5 ft Fibre Glass Statue of Sai Baba.
On the Gokulastami Day in 2006, the Completed Statue of Sai Baba was handed over to Sri Ramanan & was installed in the Dwarakamai.
3. On April 20th 2008, Dwarakamaye was opened to Sai Devotees.
4. Om Vijaya Dasami of 2009, Sai Baba's Dhuni, Chavadi, Lendi Baug & Annadana Hall was inaugurated. Annadanam is performed on all thurdays from 11:00am & around 300 Sai Devotees attend the event. On January 1st & 26th Jan of every year Annadanam is performed in a Grand way & around 2500 Sai Devotees attend the event
5. On Vijaya Dasami of 2010, Sai Baba's 3.5ft & 5.5ft Marble Statue were donated by Mrs. Lochani Raman from Singapore & has been installed in front of Chavadi.
6. A Big Dhyana Mantapam of Sri Sai Baba is under construction in the temple premises at a Estimated cost of around 1.5 Crores.
7. Sri Rama Navami, Guru Poornima, Sai Punyathithi, Temple anniversary on April 20th
(Planning to celebrate Citra Poornima in the future instead of April 20th as this is an auspicious day for Sai and Swarnakarshana Bhairavar too) are celebrated in a very Grand Way.
8. Sai came to the Gurusthan in Poonthandalam on January 26 & this is celebrated as Pradhishta Day.
9. Palki Utsav is performed on every thursday after the Dhoop Aarti in the village.
Significance of Fibre Glass Statue.
This is the 6.5ft Statue of Sai Baba made by Sri Ganesh. The 6.5ft Statue of Sai that is to be kept on "Sri Ananda Sai Dhyana Mandapam"is ever unique one.
This Statue is made of 'Fibre Glass' & the uniqueness of the statue is that you can see the nerves as that of human beings in the statue.
Sai's Miracle in Sri Ramanan's Life.
Lot of miracles have occured through out his journey to build this temple & he would like to state the following.
During the construction of the Dwarakamai, there was a problem. On The roof facing the north direction Sri. Ramanan wanted to install “OM” symbol and so they had left a small portion of the roof uncovered.
The person in charge for doing this job was delaying and this was causing lot of tension. In case if it rains the Sai Baba Statue inside the temple will get wet. So he was very upset and was requesting the Engineer to work out fast. Ramanan earnestly prayed to Baba, for not knowing what is causing this delay and how he can handle?
Baba’s way Baba only knows. Baba had his own design, Yes, Sai had appeared in Ramanan’s dream and said, “I need the peetam of mother to be installed here i.e. "THE LOTUS," and what a wonder the symbol was so perfectly done and the uncovered roof was closed without any further alteration.
Another incident which Ramanan shared was Since the temple is situated in a remote place there was shortage of cash flow for construction and Sri. Ramanan was asking Sai to help him to be out of this crisis.
Sai appeared in his dream and told him that this land is a bare land & can’t be used for agriculture to make it a fertile and u need to have flourishing land. “Swarnakarshna Bairavar" to be installed and the deity will bring prosperity to this land. Baba had also said that he will come in the form of “Swarna” gold to the new temple.
Few days later a tortoise came in front of the temple and reminded Ramanan about the “Kurma Avatar” and immediately he thought of having a turtle to be installed in the temple, as in Dwarakamayi.
The new mandir is designed in such a way that “Sai standing at the entrance of the temple facing north and south directions and inviting his devotees to have His darshan”.
Slide Show of Photo Album
To See Complete Set of 59 Snaps of this Temple Visit:
Temple Address
Sri Ananda Sai Baba Mandir.
No: 4 & 11, Saibaba Nagar,
Poonthandalam, Nandampakkam Post,
Kundrathur (Via), Chennai – 600069.
Tamilnadu. India.
Contact Number
Sri. N.V Ramanan - Temple Founder.
044 - 27178156.
044 - 65468816.
+91 98402 19388.
Directions
From Tambaram Via Kishkinta - 12 Kms.
From Ponds, Pallavaram Via Thiruneermalai & Pazhanthandalam - 12kms.
From Kundrathur Via Nandambakkam - 10kms.
From Sriperambadur - 12kms.
Land Mark
Behind Sri Sai Ram Engineering College
Bus Route
88 & 89 Series from Kundrathur & Tambaram.
Very Low Frequency.
Temple Timings
05:30 am - 12:30 pm
04:30 pm - 09:30 pm
Aarti Timings
Kakad Aarti - 05:00 am
Madhyana Aarti - 12:00 pm
Dhoop Aarti - sunset
Shej Aarti - 08:00 pm
Sri Ananda Sai Baba Mandir.
No: 4 & 11, Saibaba Nagar,
Poonthandalam, Nandampakkam Post,
Kundrathur (Via), Chennai – 600069.
Tamilnadu. India.
Contact Number
Sri. N.V Ramanan - Temple Founder.
044 - 27178156.
044 - 65468816.
+91 98402 19388.
Directions
From Tambaram Via Kishkinta - 12 Kms.
From Ponds, Pallavaram Via Thiruneermalai & Pazhanthandalam - 12kms.
From Kundrathur Via Nandambakkam - 10kms.
From Sriperambadur - 12kms.
Land Mark
Behind Sri Sai Ram Engineering College
Bus Route
88 & 89 Series from Kundrathur & Tambaram.
Very Low Frequency.
Temple Timings
05:30 am - 12:30 pm
04:30 pm - 09:30 pm
Aarti Timings
Kakad Aarti - 05:00 am
Madhyana Aarti - 12:00 pm
Dhoop Aarti - sunset
Shej Aarti - 08:00 pm
The 10th & 11th Pilgrimage were performed successfully at Vijayawada & Machilipatnam between 21st October & 23rd oct 2011 & a total of 16 Temples were Visited Successfully by me along with Mrs. Padma Karunakaram during this trip. More on this from the Coming Article on Pilgrimage Series.
Sai Devotees Interested in Inviting us to Visit Sai Baba Temples in their Village, Town, Cities are requested to mail us about the temple details to saiinc@ymail.com
Courtesy:
Article & Photo: Raghav N
Article & Photo: Raghav N
.jpg "Sai Dattatreya")
