The annual Palkhi festival organized by the New England Shirdi Sai Parivaar occurs every summer. It is an opportunity for devotees to welcome their beloved Shirdi Sai Baba home. This year's Palkhi Utsav (festival) started on Saturday, 13th May 2017 and was followed by procession to Groton temple site along with 100’s of devotees and then to Palkhi registered devotee homes. Sri Sainath Maharaj arrives at each home to bless it and the host family among music and celebrations. Each family prepares to welcome Him with devotion, by preparing for the worship (Puja), food offering (Naivedyam), and Prasad to serve the devotees. Some families choose to devotedly host lavish breakfast, lunch or dinner Prasad to the devotees. The volunteers meanwhile perform devotional music (Bhajans) accompanied by musical instruments.  Some of the knowledgeable volunteers are assigned to function as priests to perform rituals during the home worships. 

The Palkhi festival cannot succeed without the dedicated service of the temple volunteers. This year about 150 families have registered to welcome Sai Baba's Palkhi to their homes. On average, volunteers cover 10-15 homes per weekend day. Over the past several years, the temple has sent the Palkhi across several New England states as far as New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island, in addition of course to Massachusetts. The temple has evolved clear and systematic procedures to make the festival smooth and efficient. Detailed plans are developed well in advance in coordination with each of the host families' requirements. Other logistics such as optimization of travel routes, host family convenience, and volunteer assignments/slots are used to draw up detailed schedules.  The goal is to maintain minimization of delays between home visits. NESSP does not charge any fee for these Palkhi visits from participating families. All donations are voluntary.

Upcoming events: Guru Poornima, Satsang, Ramayan Sessions

To learn more about temple events and also to join in this divine procession, Please follow the link: http://nessp.org/events

NESSP is building a SAI temple at Groton-MA on the principles of Faith and Patience. With SAI blessings it happens to be the largest Sai temple of North America with the abode of Hindu Deities. To learn about temple project construction and support the project, please follow the below links:

http://nessp.org/page/menu_0/19090.html

http://nessp.org/donate#!/TempleConstructionFund/c/20174143/offset=0&sort=normal

NESSP is an independent local organization that has been serving the devotee needs for last nine years. In addition to temple related activities, NESSP also believes in helping the community that its part of. The organization has an active Charitable and Philanthropy charter. The different charitable activities NESSP has undertaken in the past are: Disaster Relief, Annadaan (food donation) to the homeless, Winter Clothes drive – Collection and distribution of warm winter clothes to the needy. Red Cross Blood donation drives, Lowell General hospital cancer center walks. NESSP Conducts Free health camp and Dental camps, Meditation and Yoga sessions. For kids, NESSP Conducts chess classes, Annual Academic competitions. NESSP is run by a dedicated team of volunteers.

Sri Satchidananda Sadguru Sainath Maharaj Ki Jai!

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