Shri Sai Baba loved Bakul flowers
Bakul flower’s scientific name is Mimusops elengi. Ancient Indian sages regarded these trees as gifts from God. Bakul trees are considered male and are planted on the right side of temple. These flowers drop to the ground in the mornings and retain their fragrance for hours after they drop. They are offered to deities for worship in temples. Lord Krishna used to play flute under Bakul tree in Vrindavan. Shri Sai Baba loved Bakul Flowers and these two Leelas of Shri Sai Baba are an indication that he loved Bakul flowers.
Savitri Bai Tendulkar who wrote the book ‘Sainath Bhajan Mala’ whose reference is given in Chapter 2 and 29 of Shri Sai Satcharitra lived in Bandra, Mumbai. In her house, there used to be a huge Bakul tree, Savitri Bai used to collect these Bakul flowers and used to make a garland and also made a bed of these flowers and placed the photo of Shri Sai Baba on these flowers. On one of her visits to Shirdi, Baba was sitting with a large group of people, when He pointed to her and said, “I was not in Shirdi for the last three months. I was in mother’s home. She smothered me with Bakul flowers. I am intoxicated by their smell”.
Das Ganu Maharaj who was an ardent devotee of Sai Baba and wrote many books on Sai Baba chief among them are (1) Sainath Stavana Manajari (2) Bhakta Lilamrita Ch.31 and Ch 32 and 33 (1906) (3) Santakatamrita Ch 57. Ch 31 of were published in Baba’s lifetime which contains accounts of Shri Sai Baba. Many references are made in Shri Satcharitra about Das Ganu Maharaj. Sai Baba took Mahasamadhi on 15th October and Baba appeared to Das Ganu on 16th of October 1918 at Pandharpur in his dream and said to him “The Masjid collapsed, all the oilmen and grocers of Shirdi teased Me a lot, so I left the place. I therefore came to inform you here, please go there quickly and cover Me with ‘Bakul flowers’. Das Ganu got the information also from Shirdi letters. So, he reached Shirdi along with his disciples and started bhajan kirtan and sang God’s name, all through the day before Baba’s samadhi. He weaved a beautiful garland of bakul flowers studded with Lord Hari’s name he placed it on Baba’s samadhi and gave a mass-feeding in Baba’s name. (Chapter 42)
Source: Sainath Bhajan Mala, Shri Sai Satcharita
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