Namaste
I am not a Shirdi Baba devotee, but I did notice that one of the many sister's of my wife has his picture on her personal puja shrine in her home. I know that Shirdi Baba is very popular in India, and here in California about 30 miles from my home is one of his temples. I visited that temple once bringing a Jain with me, but oddly it went bad when the Jain accidently took some water from the offering on the shrine area not knowing they don't allow that and drank the water to show respect. Turned out no big deal, but well...
I remember also going into a side adjunct into a room where some of his devotees were meditating before a murti of the master, but the room was so full of incense smoke (I love incense but literally this was the most smoke a room I have ever seen, literally a thick haze and yellow and obscuring vision) that I started to not have breath and had to leave.
This also didn't help matters, so we basically left the temple after only perhaps 10 minutes. Nothing against the temple however, and the temple is an example of how popular this master is even in California. The crowd in the main shrine area of the temple was a good gathering of probably 20 to 30, mostly Indians but some Westerners.
I might ask the relative about her shrine, since my wife doesn't have any such devotion, her Ishta Lord is Ganesha.
By the way, I heard mention of "drinking soma". I want to know what slecifically was being drunk, since today I suspect the real soma is a mystery and I am wondering.
Om Namah Sivaya
