Journey of over 4 years with Chicago Kali Bari

I still remember the Mother’s Day of 2018 (coincidence of visiting temple of Kali Maa), when a few Gajanan Maharaj devotees visited Chicago Kali Bari to explore if photos of “Gajanan Maharaj” and “Sai Baba” could be placed in the temple for worship. The vision was that all Gajanan Maharaj and Sai Baba devotees from Chicago area could get a common place to gather and worship. Our association with Chicago Kali Bari started on a very positive note and we were able to do a photo sthapana in June 2019.

Prior to June 2019 we used to conduct monthly Naam Japa at various devotees’ homes once every month. From June 2018 onwards, we devotees got a common place for worship. We are fortunate to get a place for our ‘Datta Sampradaya Gurus - Gajanan Maharaj, Sai Baba and Swami Samartha’ in Chicago Kali Bari which also underlies the importance of ‘Guru Parampara’ by having Swami Vivekanand with his Guru Ramkrishna Paramhansa and Sharada Mata residing together. We are blessed to worship Kali Maa who gives us all the strength needed to live a quality life and guides us through the life’s ups and downs.

Over the period of past four years, we were able to do murti sthapana of Gajanan Maharaj, Sai Baba and Swami Samartha alongside of the photos. We celebrated all the auspicious days of these deities and happily participated in the Kali Maa Durga Pooja as well. It is a unique experience of having Gajanan Maharaj from Shegaon, Sai Baba from Shirdi and Swami Samartha from Akkalkot to have selected this divine place of Kali Maa for their stay.

As a part of this journey, we volunteered for many social, cultural, religious, education promoting and health promoting events. These included float of CKB on 75th Indian Independence Day, lighting 1000+ lights on special occasion like Vijayadashami. CKB has provided an awesome platform for our kids to showcase their talent. At CKB we conducted summer camps for kids with a vision of making the young generation aware of technology. Summer camp also included various other areas like Vedic Mathematics, reading club, baking & chess classes and so on for kids.

Participating and leading food preparation and donation drive was a fulfilling experience which was based on the principles of ‘Anna He Purna Brahma’ and ‘All devotees visiting CKB will have a wholesome Prasad’. During COVID times we could volunteer for activities like food donation and health camps.

In September 2021 CKB hosted a unique and first of its kind Midwest Gajanan Maharaj Bhakta Sammelan where we had devotees visiting from various states within US like Washington, Florida, Missouri, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio and so on. Volunteering for this unique event spread over 3 days, we could test ourselves to envision, plan and execute an event at a mass scale. Participating as a volunteer in these activities builds confidence of working together and offers constant learning opportunities.

There is a positive and radiant atmosphere in the temple which attracts all of us to temple regularly, we all feel that CKB is our second home in such a way that we celebrate each festival seeking blessings from Kali Maa and all Gurumaulis for each new beginning, for each new journey. We started telling all our successes and failures to Maharaj. It gives immense internal satisfaction and provides strength when we visit the temple. Narmadeshwar Mahadev, Namada Maiya & Kali Maa and Maharaj inspired us to do walkathon from our homes to CKB temple and we felt that our devotion is also on the growth path and its surpassing previous achievements and attending next levels as time passes by. When I look back there is a total personality transformation for many of us probably because there is an assurance that Guru Maulis and Kali Maa are there to care of us in CKB.

We attended spiritual lectures on Kundalini Yoga, Chakra Meditation, Dynaneshwari (Marathi version of Bhagwad Geeta) explanation and feel that all these opportunities are purifying us internally. It is our journey on the spiritual path where we re-discovered ourselves, became more tolerant, came together as a community and continue to do good for the community we live in. We are very fortunate to have been associated with CKB for over 4 years and wish many more anniversaries of CKB temple for our next generations to come so their lives will be enriched like ours.

Kavita Saraf
Naperville, IL