The Temple of Shrisachchidananda
On its second floor is the temple of Shrishankara. At the end of his life Mahadevarao expressed his wish that the temple of Shankara should be on the second floor and the bathing water of the god should flow on the Samadhi below it on the first floor. His wish is fulfilled.This is perhaps the only temple of Shankara which has the god on the second floor. The Nandi in the temple is also unique having Ganesha sitting between his two horns and caressing his hump with his trunk.
Its area is 1656 square feet. Each step of the circular staircase is made of marble. Even though the temple is built before 130 years, it is still intact as it was. It consists of 10 poles of 2 feet diameter and has wooden false ceiling and Mangalore tiles on the roof. Every pole is decorated with framed paintings of various Gods and Goddesses. The paintings are of 2' X 3' size. All these paintings are rare and three of them are printed on Letho press. These are the true copies of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings and their current value runs into thousands.
Similarly, the 4’ X 6’ large paintings of goddesses printed by ‘Manohar Chitrashala’ in the year 1966 are hanging on the walls. These are the paintings of Lord Shiva, Durga, Saraswati, Laxmi and Lord Datta. There are some rare Photo Frames of Ganga Avtaran and Lord Vishnu with Laxmi & Prithvi of Raja Ravi Varma's original copies of Litho Prints.
This being the temple of Lord Shiva, the religious festivals viz. Mahashivratri, Tripuri Paurnima and all the Mondays of the month of Shravana are celebrated in proper religious way with the recitation of “Laghu Rudra”, Aratis etc. and Kirtan. On Vijayadashami, Goddess Saraswati is worshipped in the presence of all the resident students. Since last sixty-five years, there has been the 24 hours’ continuous reading of Gurucharitra in the month of December for successive seven days, the eighth being Datta- Jayanti which is attended by Datta devotees all over Maharashtra.
Main Building:
Above the entrance of the main building is the office of the Institute, a reference library, a lecture hall and a meeting room. Outside, near the entrance are housed a homoeopathic dispensary and various other shops.
The building is of brick work and old ‘Burma wood’. All the furniture in the premises is of the same ‘Burma wood’ which lasts for centuries. It includes tables, racks, window shutters, an elegant couch etc. Today, it is extremely difficult to get such carving done. The hall adjacent to the office has marble flooring. Even though 130 years old there is not even a single scratch on it. On the wall are the portraits of Adv. Mahadevrao Apte and of the famous litterateur Mr. Hari Narayan Apte in four feet by six feet frames. The hall windows have panes of tinted Belgian and Italian glass which are still intact.
Inside, on the left is another three storeyed building which is students’ hostel. In earlier days one room was always reserved for the renunciates visiting Pune. Its ground floor has a kitchen and a separate dining hall for students.
Reference Library:
Adjacent to the Institute office is a 15 feet long and 12 feet wide. hall which has seven wooden cupboards of “Burma Wood”, which consist of the books written by the historian and social reformer Mr. Hari Narayan Apte and also rare books in English, Sanskrit and Marathi on Hindu religion- Jyotisha , Mimansa, Veda, Adhyatma, Yoga, Grammar, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Geeta etc. donated in last 130 years by various persons and organizations. The total number of books is 2600. The books are available for reading free of charge for any person interested.
