Satsang When and where the First Ever Saibaba Mandir was constructed?

The first Saibaba temple was constructed at Bhivpuri in 1916
when Sri Saibaba was still in his physical body. Bhivpuri Road
is a small railway station which comes before Karjat on the
train route from Mumbai to Pune. If one gets out at this station
and looks right towards the fields, a temple spire is clearly
visible. This is the Sai temple at Bhivpuri. It is a short walk
across the fields to the temple.
This temple was constructed by late Sri Keshav Ramachandra
Pradhan. Please go through the article published in Saipatham
magazine January 2001 to find out the story behind the temple
construction.

Sri Saibaba has become a part of the mainstream of Indian
spiritual and temporal life within a short period of attaining
mahasamadhi. We can now see Sai temples not only in the big
cities but also in small towns and villages of India, and more
and more temples are being built. In this and subsequent issues
we will investigate the details and stories behind these temples,
built not only in this country but also abroad. The Sai temple
built at Bhivpuri 1916, when Sri Saibaba was still in his physical
body.

Bhivpuri Road is a small railway station which comes before Karjat
on the train route from Mumbai to Pune. If one gets out at this
station and looks right towards the fields, a temple spire is clearly
visible. This is the Sai temple at Bhivpuri. It is a short walk across
the fields to the temple.

This temple has a very interesting history. The story behind its
construction reveals the astonishing manner in which Baba pulls
his devotees to him. It is unbelievable but nevertheless true that
the founder of the temple, the late Sri Keshav Ramachandra
Pradhan, was initially an atheist.

Sri Pradhan was working for a Parsee gentleman of Mumbai as a
pedhi (a collector of debts owed to his employer). He lived in
Bhivpuri and would commute to Mumbai to work. In the course
of his job he would frequently go to Manmad, Nasik and Kopergaon.
Pradhan had a close friend who was a devotee of Saibaba. He would
often go to Shirdi and return after having darshan of (seeing)
Sri Saibaba. Once, Pradhan visited his friend when he was about to
leave for Shirdi. He asked Pradhan to accompany him and to have
Baba’s darshan. Pradhan, who had no belief in God or Godmen,
initially refused to go with him. Finally, however, he gave in to his
friend’s persuasion and agreed to go, but not to set foot inside the
mosque where Baba lived. His friend accepted the compromise and
they set out for Shirdi together.
(to be contd...)
(Source Saipatham Magazine)