Dwarkamai
The ruined mosque he lived in and made a shelter for anyone who needed one — the sick, the poor and the traveller alike.
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AboutSai Baba & this temple
A saint of Shirdi who asked only for faith and patience, and a temple in Cedar Park built by the families who carried his name to Texas.
Shirdi
Who Sai Baba was
He arrived in the village of Shirdi, in what is now Maharashtra, as a young faqir — a wandering mendicant — and stayed there for the rest of his life.
Nobody in Shirdi knew where he had come from, and he never told them. He was given the name Sai by a villager who greeted him at the gate, and Baba — father — by the people who came to depend on him. He owned almost nothing: a robe, a cloth cap, a begging bowl, a clay pipe and a staff. He begged his food from a handful of houses in the village and shared most of it with whoever was sitting with him, including the animals.
He made his home in a ruined mosque on the edge of the village, which he called Dwarkamai — a name that belongs to Krishna's city, given to a mosque, and one of the plainest statements he ever made about who he was. In it he kept a fire, the dhuni, burning continuously. From its ashes he gave udi to those who came to him, as prasad and as medicine, telling them the ash was the reminder that everything in the world eventually burns away.
Hindus said he was a Hindu saint. Muslims said he was a Muslim saint. Baba refused the argument entirely. He kept a sacred fire and had the Quran read aloud; he blessed with udi and said Allah Malik — God is the master. Sabka Malik Ek, one God governs all, is the sentence he is best remembered for, and it is the motto of this temple.
His life in Shirdi
Four things devotees remember
Baba left no writings, no formal order and no appointed successor. What he left was a way of living, and a few simple things that are still kept in every temple that carries his name — including this one.
The dhuni
The fire he lit in Dwarkamai and never let go out. It still burns at Shirdi, tended without a break for more than a century.
Udi
Ash from the dhuni, given as prasad. Devotees carry it home as a blessing and a reminder that nothing material lasts.
The shared meal
Baba cooked in a great pot at Dwarkamai and fed the village by hand. Every Annadanam we serve descends from that habit.
“If you look to me, I look to you.”Sai Baba of Shirdi
What he asked for
Shraddha and Saburi
People came to Baba with every kind of request — health, money, children, court cases, peace of mind. He rarely asked anything of them in return except two things, and he named them in the same breath.
श्रद्धा
Shraddha — Faith
Not agreement with a doctrine, but the trust that you are held and that what is happening to you is not happening at random. Baba never asked anyone to leave their own religion in order to have it.
सबूरी
Saburi — Patience
The willingness to wait without bitterness while the answer takes its time. Faith without patience, Baba said, is a lamp without oil — it may be lit, but it will not last the night.
सबका मालिक एक
Sabka Malik Ek — one God governs all. Baba said it to Hindus and Muslims alike, and it is why this temple's doors are open to anyone, of any faith or none.
A life, as far as it is known
Baba in Shirdi
Very little of Baba's life can be dated with confidence, and he discouraged the asking. What follows are the anchors that his devotees and the earliest records agree on — with the gaps left as gaps.
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Unknown
Before Shirdi. Baba's birth year, birthplace, family and given name are genuinely unknown. He did not speak of them, and no reliable record exists. Several traditions offer answers; none can be verified, and this temple does not choose between them.
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c. 1858
He settles in Shirdi. By tradition a youth had appeared under a neem tree in the village some years earlier and then left. Around 1858 he returned with a wedding party and, this time, stayed — for the remaining sixty years of his life.
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The Dwarkamai years
The ruined mosque becomes his home. He lit the dhuni, begged his food from a few houses, slept on a torn sackcloth, and made the place a shelter for anyone who needed one. The village slowly stopped seeing a beggar and started seeing a saint.
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Later years
Shirdi becomes a place of pilgrimage. Devotees arrived from Bombay, Poona and further, and the daily rhythm that temples still follow took shape: the four aaratis, the alternate nights spent at the Chavadi, and the palanquin procession that carried Baba between the two.
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1918
Mahasamadhi. Baba left his body on Vijayadashami, 15 October 1918, in Shirdi. He had told those close to him that he would not be gone — a promise his devotees still hold to.
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After 1918
The story is written down. The Shri Sai Satcharita, compiled in Marathi by Govind Raghunath Dabholkar — whom Baba called Hemadpant — became the principal account of his life and is read in temples and homes to this day. Shirdi itself grew into one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in India.
In Cedar Park
The Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple of Austin
A temple founded and run by the Indian community of the Austin area, so that Baba's name would be sung and his hospitality practised here in Central Texas.
The temple stands at 2509 West New Hope Drive in Cedar Park, north-west of Austin. The same campus is also home to the Sri Venkateswara Temple, so a single visit can carry you from Baba's sanctum to Lord Balaji's, and the kitchen, community hall and volunteers are shared between them.
The temple is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It has no endowment and charges nothing for darshan. Everything here — the daily aaratis, the free meals, the classes, the festivals — is carried by the donations and the hours that devotees give.
- Address
- 2509 West New Hope Drive
Cedar Park, TX 78613 - Also on campus
- Sri Venkateswara Temple
- Status
- Registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit
- info@saiaustin.org
Our mission
Worship, food, learning, service
Baba fed people, taught people and asked for nothing. The temple's work is organised around the same four things, in that order of priority.
Worship
The four daily aaratis are kept every day of the year, in the same order observed at Shirdi. Priests on staff perform abhishekams, archanas and homams at the temple and in devotees' homes, and Thursday — Baba's day — brings the fullest gathering of the week.
Annadanam
The gift of food, served free to everyone present — devotee, visitor or passer-by, without question and without a donation expected. It is offered on Thursdays and at every festival, cooked in the temple kitchen by volunteers and paid for by sponsors.
Education
A temple is also a school. Bala Vikas gives children a grounding in values and stories; Sanskrit, Bhagavad Gita study and yoga are offered to children and adults alike. The teachers are volunteers from the Austin community, and classes are free or offered at cost.
Charity
The temple's charitable work reaches beyond its own walls, principally by preparing and distributing food to people who are poor or without homes in the surrounding counties. Devotees cook, pack and serve; the temple covers the cost from donations given for that purpose.
Founders' vision
Why the temple was built
It began the way most temples in this country begin — with a small group of families who did not want to lose what they had grown up with.
They met in living rooms and rented halls, sang the aaratis from memory, cooked for each other and kept Thursdays. What they wanted was not a building for its own sake but a permanent place: somewhere their children could learn the prayers properly, somewhere a new family arriving in Austin could walk in and immediately know people, and somewhere anyone at all could be given a meal.
That is still the measure the temple holds itself to. The founders asked that it stay open to everyone regardless of language, region or faith; that no one be turned away hungry; and that the temple be run by the community rather than for it. Those three commitments have not changed.
- Open to all — no membership, no fee and no requirement of belief to enter or receive darshan.
- No one leaves hungry — prasadam at every aarati, a full meal at every Annadanam.
- Built by the community — the temple exists because of what devotees give, in money and in hours.
Governance
How the temple is run
Deliberately plainly, and mostly by people who are not paid to be here.
Who runs the temple day to day?
Volunteers. Devotees from the Austin area cook, clean, set up for festivals, teach the classes, lead bhajans, staff the front desk and manage the calendar. Almost everything you see on a Thursday evening was done by someone who came in after work.
Is there a board?
Yes. As a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the temple is governed by a board of directors together with a body of trustees, who are responsible for finances, facilities and long-term decisions. They serve without compensation, and their work is guided by the temple's bylaws.
Are the priests on staff?
Yes. The temple employs trained priests who perform the daily aaratis and temple rituals, and who are available for personal poojas both at the temple and at devotees' homes. Requests are arranged through the temple office.
Where does the money go?
Donations pay for the daily worship, the priests, the Annadanam kitchen, the upkeep of the buildings and grounds, and the temple's charitable feeding programmes. All donations are tax-deductible and a receipt is issued for every contribution.
Can I volunteer?
Please do — it is the most direct way to be part of this place. Help is always needed in the kitchen, at festivals, with the classes and with setup and cleanup. Write to info@saiaustin.org or speak to anyone at the front desk when you visit.
I'm not Hindu. Am I welcome?
Yes, without qualification. Baba was claimed by Hindus and Muslims both and refused the distinction, and Sabka Malik Ek is written above our door for a reason. Come in, remove your shoes at the entrance, sit where you like, and someone will gladly explain the rest.