Contributors' Gathering at Shirdi (March 1983)

The ninth annual gathering of the contributors to Shri Sai Leela magazine was convened at Shirdi on the 30th and 31st of January 1983 under the presidentship of Dr, Rajaram Sitaram Kapdi, M.'B. BS. from Kolhapur.

Shri Sadanand .Chendwankar, the executive editor of the Marathi edition of Shri Sai Leela, is a very resourceful person. He is an author of more than fifty books written in Marathi and he is in addition a journalist having a versatile style After he took over the work of editing the Sai Leela magazine late in 1973, he thought of holding a gathering of the contributors to Shri Sai Leela magazine on,the lines of such gatherings that were held by some English periodicals. He therefore discussed this issue withth the tbe Court Receiver Shri K. S. Pathak, who liked the idea and an announcement of holding the gathering at Shirdi appeared on page 12 of the issue of Shri Sai Leela (English) for the month of January 1975.

The above announcement exhilarated all the contributors of Shri Sai Leela (English and Marathi editions) and the first gathering was held at Shirdi on the 18th and 19th January 1975. Shri N. P. Awasthi, from Pune, presided over this first gathering. As during the past nine years a gathering is being held every year, it will not be out of place to give a comprehensive history of all these gatherings with a birds eye view with a view to reviewing the work done during these years.

Year	Venue	Dates	President
1975	Hall over Samadhi Mandir	18^th and 19^th January 1975	Shri N.P.Awasthi
1976	-do	15^th and 16^th February 1976	Dr.K.B.Gawankar
1977	-do	30^th and 31^st January 1977	Shri A.J.Chitambar
1978	-do	12^th and 13^th March 1978	Shri J.G.Chitambar
1979	-do-	28^th and 29^th January 1979	G.G.Dabholkar
1980	Special Mandap in Lendi Baug	8^th and 9^th February 1980	Shrimant Anubai
1981	-do	3^rd and 4^th February 1981	Sou Sarojini Mulye
1982	Old Bhojangriha	31^st January and 1^st February 1982	Shri Nanasaheb Rasane
1983	Hall on the gorund floor of Shanti Niwas	30^th and 31^st January 1983	Dr.R.S.Kapadi

Originally it was contemplated to hold the gathering of the contributors, subscribers, readers and even the -well-wishers of Sai Leela magazine as the idea was to improve the get up and the standard of Sai Leela and also to boost its circulation. Hence with a view to including all concerned with the magazine in the gathering, the first announcement issued in the Sai Leela for the month of January 1975, invited all these persons and they were simply requested to inform the Court Receiver about their intention to attend the gathering and they could come to Shirdi and take part in the gathering. Some persons were found taking; undue advantage of this facility and from the experience of the first gathering it was decided to call only the contributors to .the magazine to attend the gathering. Thus though the objects of the gathering remained the same, the person who were invited for the subsequent gatherings included only 'Contributors' who contributed their articles to Shri Sai Leela magazine. The procedure of informing the Court Receiver of their intention to come to Shirdi continued as before and only after informing the Court Receiver that a person was contributing articles to Shri Sai Leela and that he intended to attend the gathering, a person could attend the gathering. Though it was expected that a contributor should at the most bring with him only a person or two, still some contributors brought with them even four or five persons and all of them were allowed to attend the gathering.'

Some contributors however did not like this approach of some contributors. The venue of the gathering viz. the hall over the Samadhi Mandir, was also found to be insufficient for the persons, who collected at Shirdi for the gathering. It was also noticed that the persons primarily concerned with the improvement of the quality of Sai Leela magazine were very few in the gathering and the discussions also therefore often times went beside the point and were consequently fruitless. In order to streamline the whole procedure, it was necessary to revise the procedure and treat only the contributors to the magazine as the delegates. It was also necessary to define as to who was the contributor who could attend the gathering as a delegate. A person who casually contributed an article to Shri Sai Leela could not be invited to the gathering or could not be allowed to participate in the gathering as there' were many such contributors and it was feared that it may not be possible to make the arrangements for all such contributors at Shirdi. In order to overcome all these difficulties a form was first introduced in 1980, whereby it was made incumbent upon a contributor to show that he has contributed a certain number of articles in the past few years and that he is therefore eligible to attend the gathering as a bonafide delegate. A restriction was also put on the number of persons who could accompany the delegate attending the gathering. After receipt of the form by the Court Receiver, the statements made by the contributor are verified by Shirdi Office and the contributor is invited to attend the gathering as a delegate. This procedure is found to be convenient and is being followed to date. As the office at Shirdi gets a clear picture of the number of delegates and the other persons assembling for the gathering, it becomes easy for them to make the arrangements and reserve the accommodation. In spite of all this procedure some delegates bring more people with them and upset the arrangements made by the staff of the Shirdi Sansthan; but this will go on so long as we as a' nation do not subject us to certain discipline in public and private life. From the experience for the last four years it is noticed that the present arrangement for calling the delegates and making their arrangement at- Shirdi is found to be working properly and may therefore continue in future.

In order to get certain first hand information about Shri Sai Baba it is necessary to meet certain old persons who had seen Shri Baba in flesh and blood. There are still a few old people at Shirdi, who had the good fortune to see Shri Sai Baba during His life-time and even get udi and prasad from His hands; but when devotees or contributors go to Shirdi they have hardly any time to meet these people as their whereabouts are not commonly known. With a view to getting some personal information about Shri Sai Baba, it has so far been* a policy to elect the president of .the gathering a person who had close contact with Shri Sai Baba in some way or the other. Though the delegates have been so far lucky to get such a president for all the nine gatherings, which were held so far, it is doubtful how far we will be able to continue to get such a president in future. The president of the first gathering Shri Awasthikaka from Pune was a member of the darbar of Shri Sai Baba and he was lucky to get udi and prasad from Shri Baba. Dr, Gavankar was the president of the second gathering. He had the good fortune to have the blessings of Shri Sai Baba when the former was just a boy. Chitambar brothers were the presidents of the third and fourth gatherings. Their father was a teacher in the primary school at Shirdi and both these brothers were brought up at Shirdi when they were mere children. They had the good fortune to adore the lap of Shri Sai Baba and eat burfi and sugarcandy which were given to them as prasad by Shri Sai Baba. Dr. Dabholkar was the president of the fifth gathering. He is the son of Shri Annasaheb DabholkBr, the author of Sai Satcharit. He also had the good fortune to have the blessings of Shri Sai Baba as a boy. Shrimant Anutai Wahinisaheb Ghorpade was also a devotee of Shri Baba from her childhood and she often came to Shirdi for the darshan of Shri Sai Baba during His life-time. She was the president of the sixth gathering at Shirdi. Sou. Sarojinibai Mulye was the president of the seventh gathering. She is the daughter of Shri Laxrnan Ganesh Mahajani, who was a very close devotee of Shri Sai Baba and whose mention is done in Sai Satcharit as Kaka Mahajani. Sou. Mulye was blessed by Shri Sai Baba when she was just a child. Shri Nanasaheb Rasane, the president of the eighth gathering, was born due to Shri Sai Baba's prasad given to Shri Damuanna Kasar, the father of Sbri Kasane, The president of the last gathering was Dr. R. S. Kapadi from Kolhapur. He is now 87 years old and as a student he had gone for the darshan of Shri Sai Baba in 1918 when he was blessed by Shri Baba and directed to prosecute his studies for the medical course. Thus during all these gatherings the delegates have been lucky to get the blessings of so many veteran devotees of Shri Sai Baba, who were very fortunate to get the blessings of Shri Sai Baba when He was blessing His devotees in Dwarkamai. Let us hope to get such presidents at least for a few more future gatherings. Sai devotion is spreading very fast. Contributors, readers and subscribers of Shri Sai Leela are therefore multiplying like anything. Sixteen more pages were added to Shri Sai Leela from April 1980. Because of these added pages it has become possible to accommodate some more contributors to our magazine.

With the increase in contributors, the delegates to the annual gatherings have also increased steadily. Thus the original venue of the gathering viz. the hall over the Samadhi Mandir, where the first five gatherings were held, was found to be insufficient. Therefore for successive years thereafter i. e. in the years 1980 and 1981 a special mandap was put up in Lendibaug wherein the annual gatherings of those years were held. With the commissioning of the new bhojangriha, the old bhojangriha fell vacant and as it was a secluded and independent place, it was selected as a venue of the gathering in 1982. As that -place is now in use for some other purpose, the hall on the ground floor of Shanti Niwas was used this year for holding the gathering. This hall is quite spacious and only a part of it was used this year though there were more than 300 people this year, including the delegates, who came to Shirdi for the annual gathering. In this year's gathering one of _tthe executive editors said that very soon the whole of the ground floor will be required to accommodate the future delegates of the annual gathering.

After receipt of the forms forwarded by the delegates to Shirdi Office, the work of the staff of the Shirdi Office begins. It goes on increasing from day to day upto the end of the gathering when they breathe a sigh of relief. As the Court Receiver is the editor of the Sai Leela magazine, all the staff of the Shirdi Sansthan attends to the delegates diligently and they all are on their toes to see that no inconvenience is caused to any delegate. All the delegates are therefore very happy during the days of the gathering.

Sai devotion had attracted delegates to the last annual gathering held in January 1983, from all quarters of India. From far off places like Madras, Calcutta, Chandigad and Himachal Pradesh delegates poured into Shirdi in large numbers. With the all round increase in fares, apart from the time consumed, lot of expenses are required to be incurred for coming to Shirdi and going back. All contributors to Shri Sai Leela magazine are basically Sai devotees and they have a desire to visit Shirdi once or twice in a year. They therefore serve a dual purpose through this gathering. The suggestions that are made at these gatherings from year to year are noted down by the executive editors and they are thrashed out by them with the Court Receiver. Some of the suggestions are such that they can be implemented immediately and hence the Court Receiver accepts them. Every year some delegates express their satisfaction that their suggestion has been given effect to. The nine gatherings held so far have been helpful to the editor and the executive editors in understanding the view point of the contributors and they therefore have tried' to improve the get up and the material of the magazine. The editor and the executive editors are not complacent. They are aware that though some improvement might have been done in the Sai Leela, still there is much scope for further improvement. With the words of praise that are uttered by some delegates, the editor and executive editors are not at all elated. They will always be watchful about the suggestions of the delegates and will try to implement them. So long as Shri Sai Baba wants the improvements to be done in His own magazine, who can come in their way ?

Character

Families which, though deficient in wealth, are rich in character, are counted as noble and earn great fame. Therefore, character should always be carefully guarded; for wealth is not really deficient, but he who has lost his character is as good as dead.

— Saipadanand Late Shri Radhakrishna Swamiji