"Highly merciful is this masjid ayi. Once a person climbs into her lap, all their troubles are over."
--Sri Sai Baba Arriving at the mosque for the first time, you may be rather surprised. Was this simple, unadorned structure really the home of "God on earth"? Was this really the centre from which so many miraculous events sprang? Could such a modest building have been the scene of the highest spiritual instruction that flowed forth in almost as many different forms as the number of visitors seeking it?
With its corrugated iron roof and rough stone walls, the mosque could never be described as grand. Yet, in spite of this - or rather, because of this - it seems to have suited Baba very well. Describing himself as a simple fakir, Baba was a model of dispassion and non-attachment. His personal possessions amounted to little more than a few pieces of cloth, some chillim pipes, a stick, a begging bowl, and a change of kafni - and not always even that. Whenever his devotees wanted to refurbish the mosque, Baba resisted, saying that it was not necessary, although basic repair work was gradually carried out.
To the devotees of Sai Baba, Dwarkamai is one of the treasures of Shirdi. The spirit of tolerance, acceptance and welcome for all is very much alive. Baba has said that merely going inside the mosque will confer blessings, and the experiences of devotees confirm this. Sai Baba respected all religions and creeds, and all had free access to the mosque. It is typically unique of Sai Baba that he regarded a place of worship - the mosque - as a mother. He once told a visitor, "Dwarka-mai is this very mosque. She makes those who ascend her steps fearless. This masjid ayi is very kind. Those who come here reach their goal!" As Sri Babuji has observed, "The Islamic concept of the masjid as the solemn court of the sovereign Creator has been transformed by Sri Sai Baba in his own unique and inimitable way, into the loving lap of a doting mother, the masjid ayi."
On entering the mosque, one is struck by its powerful atmosphere and the intensity and absorption with which visitors are going about their worship. Another point we notice is the great diversity of devotional expression. Some people will be kneeling before Baba's picture or making offerings, others will be praying before the dhuni (perpetually burning sacred fire), some may be doing japa or reading from sacred texts, and others will be sitting in contemplation.
If we spend some time here we may become aware of a mysterious phenomenon. The "ayi" aspect of the masjid reveals itself in a number of ways and we feel we are sitting in Baba's drawing room. See that child over there happily crawling around with a toffee in its mouth, or her sister colouring a comic book? And what about that old man complaining to Baba about his aches and pains, or that woman sitting with her son on her lap telling him a story? Opposite is a large family group. The grandmother has a tiffin tin, and having offered some to Baba, she walks around giving a handful of payasam (sweet rice) to everyone in the mosque. We almost feel we are receiving prasad from Baba himself, and perhaps we are then reminded of some of the stories in Baba's life in which devotees brought offerings, or when he affectionately distributed fruit or sweets with his own hands. The atmosphere is so homely in this abode of Sai-mavuli! But what is perhaps more remarkable, is that this homeliness co-exists with a powerful experience of the sacred and transcendent. The spirit is profoundly moved by "something" - something indefinable, something great, something mysterious, something magnetically attractive.
As we explore Sai Baba's Shirdi, this aspect of Baba - at once the concerned mother and the Almighty - is shown again and again. Many devotees relate to Baba as a mother, and many as a God supreme. That these two are so perfectly synthesized in Baba - see his care for both the smallest domestic detail as well as the ultimate spiritual attainment - is perhaps the most beautiful and unique aspect of Shirdi Sai.
When Sai Baba moved into this mosque it was an abandoned and dilapidated mud structure, much smaller than the one we see today. In fact, it extended only as far as the steps and wrought iron dividers enclosing the upper section, with the rest of the area an outside courtyard. There were no iron bars around the mosque or the dhuni as there are today, and according to Hemadpant, there were "knee-deep holes and pits in the ground"! Part of the roof had collapsed and the rest was in imminent danger of following, so it was a rather hazardous place to live! Once when Baba was sitting in the mosque, eating with a few devotees, there was a loud crack overhead. Baba immediately raised his hand and said, "Sabar, sabar," ("Wait, wait"). The noise stopped and the group carried on with their meal, but when they got up and went out, a large piece of the roof came crashing down onto the exact spot where they had been sitting!
Baba's devotees sometimes pestered him to allow them to renovate the mosque but his initial response was always to refuse. For him there was no need for any alterations. Once, in the mid-1890s, a devotee had some building materials delivered to the mosque with the intention that they should be used for repair work, but Baba had them redirected to a couple of local temples that were in need of restoration.
Later, Nana Chandorkar and Nana Nimonkar were determined that some reconstruction should go ahead, while Baba appeared to be equally adamant that it should not, although he eventually gave permission for it through the intervention of Mhalsapati. At first, whatever work was done, Baba would undo. It seems not an uncommon occurrence with Baba that whenever a new proposal was put forward, particularly with regard to renovation, he would first oppose it, often vehemently, even violently, before eventually acquiescing and allowing the work to go ahead. Eventually the construction team resorted to working at night, and then only on those alternate nights when Baba slept in the Chavadi.
By about 1912 the renovation work was complete and all that remained to be done was the metal roofing for the courtyard. For this, one of Baba's most intimate devotees, Tatya Kote Patil, and some others, arranged for materials to be brought from Bombay. They then set about the work, including digging a trench for the erection of some iron poles, without asking Baba's permission.
When Baba returned from the Chavadi to the mosque and saw what was happening he appeared to be furious, demanding, "What is going on? Who has done this?" He promptly ripped out the poles with his own two hands (though it had taken several people to carry them), and threw stones at the labourers to drive them away. Then he grabbed Tatya by the scruff of his neck until he was unable to speak and almost choking, and violently berated him.
Most of the labourers fled in terror and Tatya was left with Baba. Despite his precarious predicament and Baba's vehement objection to the project, Tatya insisted that the work should be done. Baba threw him to the ground, snatched off the turban that Tatya always wore, flung it into the trench and set fire to it. Still Tatya insisted on the need to make repairs and vowed that he would never wear a turban again until the work was complete. Baba finally relented and by evening had cooled down sufficiently to call Tatya and tell him to again put on a turban. Tatya, however, refused. Eventually, in his loving concern, Baba gave money to someone to bring new cloth and himself tied a new turban on his steadfast devotee.
Some time after this event, Kakasaheb Dixit replaced the original mud floor with tiles and the work was complete.
When Sri Sai Baba moved into the mosque permanently, he had already been in Shirdi for a number of years, staying mostly under the neem tree, with an occasional night at the mosque or in the near vicinity. It could be said that Baba's settling in the mosque marked a turning point in his life, or rather, in that of the village itself, as the shift brought him into closer contact with the local people.
Although Baba had been healing people since his early days in Shirdi and was sometimes called "Hakim" (Doctor), it was a specific and dramatic event which brought him to the attention of the local populace, and it took place in the mosque. Throughout his life Baba displayed a fondness for lights and lamps and would regularly light panatis (small earthenware pots with cotton wicks and oil) in the mosque and certain local temples, in accordance with the Hindu and Muslim view that places of worship should be illuminated at night. For this he depended on the generosity of a few local shopkeepers from whom he used to beg oil. One day, however, his suppliers brusquely refused to give him any oil, claiming that they were out of stock. Baba took this calmly and returned to the mosque empty-handed. The shopkeepers followed him in the gathering gloom, curious to see what he would do. What they witnessed brought them to their knees in awe and wonder. Baba took some water from the pot kept in the mosque, and put it in the jar he used for collecting oil. Shaking it up he drank the oily water, then took another jar of water and filled the four lamps with it. Next he lit the lamps, and - to the shopkeepers' astonishment - they not only burned, but remained alight all night. Afraid of being cursed by a man of such powers, the shopkeepers begged Baba's forgiveness. This was freely given, but Baba pointed out the importance of speaking the truth - if they did not want to give, they should simply say so directly and not lie about it.
The wondrous nature of this event, which is said to have taken place in 1892, and the many such leelas which followed, precipitated an influx of visitors to the Shirdi mosque that has never stopped growing. To this day, lamps are burnt continually in Dwarkamai, providing us with an unbroken link to Baba and the lamps that he himself started and lovingly kept alight.
During Baba's time Dwarkamai was always referred to simply as "the masjid" or mosque. The name "Dwarkamai" came into popular vogue only after Baba passed away but was first coined when a devotee once expressed a wish to make a pilgrimage to Dwarka, a town in Gujarat sacred to Krishna. Baba replied that there was no need to go as that very mosque was Dwarka. "Dwarka" also means "many-gated", and "mai" means mother, hence "the many-gated mother" (and Baba did often call it the "masjid ayi"). The author of the English adaptation of Sri Sai Satcharitra, N. V. Gunaji, identifies another definition of Dwarka as given in the Skanda Purana - a place open to all four castes of people (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras) for the realization of the four corresponding aims of human existence (i.e. moksha or liberation, dharma or righteousness, artha or wealth, and kama or sensual pleasure). In fact, Baba's mosque was open not only to all castes, but also to untouchables and those without caste. All these interpretations of the name are appropriate for Sai Baba's mosque, but the association that is dearest to the heart of a sentimental Sai devotee is that pointed out by Sri Babuji - dwar-ka-mai: the mother (mai) waiting at the door (dwark) to nourish her child. Just as a loving mother will allow her child to continue playing happily until he or she gets weary or hungry, and will then offer whatever her child needs, so our motherly Sai Baba is waiting to receive us.
Appropriately, Dwarkamai remains open all night (the lower level, that is) so we may go there at any time. During festivals and weekends the mosque may be deluged by devotees, but at other times, especially late at night, it will be less crowded. Three days a year, during the festivals of Ramnavami, Gurupoornima and Vijayadasami, the upper level is also kept open for twenty-four hours continuously.
