Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala: The God Of Big Things

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THE GOD OF BIG THINGS BACK TO HOME

 

The God Of Big Things

By M. Raghu Ram

http://www.lifepositive.com/spirit/world-religions/hinduism/tirupati.asp

 

The unique idol of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala, the most popular and bounteous

pilgrimage center in the country, is believed to be the first image of any god

or goddess that manifested spontaneously and is the source of Archa or idol

worship so common in India today

 

The rich imagination of Brahmanical literature describes him as the Lord of

numerous universes: the root of the phenomena of Creation, Life, Living, Events,

Change et al as the Preserver of the Hindu Trinity. Sri Venkateswara Swami, or

Tirupati Balaji, is the presiding deity of the famous and bounteous Tirumala

temple.

 

Over the millennia, the Tirumala temple, near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, has

continued to draw countless devotees who contribute billions of rupees to its

kitty. Its mind boggling reserves of pure gold, if unloaded, can crush the world

bullion market. Even the Vatican and Mecca cannot match the temple's popularity

nor can the new pilgrimage destinations of India, such as Sabarimalai, Vaishno

Devi and Shirdi.

 

Pilgrims come for fleeting glimpses of the fascinating life-size idol of Balaji,

after inching in long queues for hours and days. Many undertake the pilgrimage

asking for favors to mark various transitions in life or simply to offer their

hair, tiny silver or gold bits or images of the deity. The shrine is an integral

part of life and culture especially in the three southern Indian states of

Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

 

The devotees, however, cut across all barriers of region or religion. For the

Dutch Peter who recently converted to Vedic Hinduism through the TM

(transmeditation) route, the deity represents pure consciousness. The miracle of

survival amidst recurring destitution and godsent jobs to the family of Fathima,

a Muslim devotee, is a moving story. Dr Loy Camoens, a devout Latin Catholic and

a physician in New Citi Hopsital, Secunderabad, India, requests for the laddu

prasad or offerings, from Tirupati and accepts it reverentially. A Jain woman in

New Delhi, India, pines for this deity. They are all moved by a spontaneous

feeling and urge.

Some leftists, known staunch atheists, have also been drawn to Balaji. The

moving force for Sri Sri, an acclaimed Indian poet and Telugu revolutionary, was

the maddening jealousy of his fellow litterateurs. Communist leader late C.

Rajeswara Rao's red salute to the deity some years ago had also sparked a

controversy.

 

UNUSUAL ICON

Venkateswara is not a name but a title. Vem-kata means one who cuts or washes

away one's sins.

The unique idol in Tirumala is a riddle to unravel. Everything begins and ends

or is reduced to sunyam (nothingness) before him, while the infinite world pens

to the sincere seeker with an infinitesimal offering. This is because spiritual

wealth through devotion is the basis of life and action in theism.

 

There are millions of gods in Hinduism but there is ultimately only one God. All

God's attributes are to be found in Vishnu, in yoganidra (yogic sleep) or Sri

Ranganathaswami (Lord of the creation) who chose to descend on the earth as Yoga

Murti (idol), Balaji. Thus, Balaji is not an avatar of Vishnu but Vishnu

himself.

 

The deity also represents the God of Justice, according to V.G. Pragasam,

Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India. He is blindfolded by the Namam or

forehead mark; the scales of justice are his two wives on either side of his

chest with the sword of justice hanging in between. With his slim and black

figure, the deity is said to represent Shani (Saturn). He subjects one to the

trying period of Shanidasa and metes out the package of rewards and punishments

in the material and spiritual spheres.

 

Interestingly, the image in the temple is most unlike the portrait in the

ubiquitous pictures, admits M. Srinivasa Bhattacharyulu, an adviser to the

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the affairs of the temple. In

the portraits, the deity's chubbiness, facial appearance and sword visibly

dangling below his chest are all misleading. The Dhruva Beram (the standing idol

of the deity) has a Srivatsa mark in the middle of the chest instead of the left

breast which encloses a half-inch Lakshmi (Goddess of wealth and divine consort

of Lord Vishnu) sculpture.

 

When installed and consecrated in a temple, any form of Vishnu is said to create

peace, nourishment and happiness for devotees. Balaji is one of the eight Swayam

Vyakta Sthalas (spontaneous image locations) in India and Nepal, Bhattacharyulu

elaborates.

You don't need to go to Tirumala to fathom the Lord's mystique or greatness.

Mere listening to the wondrous compositions of his noblest and humblest

devotees, like Annamacharya or Tyagaraja, Alvars Pasurama and Purandara Dasa,

suffices. They combine the quintessence of the Vedas and the Upanishads.

 

There is a controversy about the deity representing Shakti ( divine consort of

Lord Shiva as well as Goddess representing female power) and Shiva as some

rituals and traditions signify. The first three Alvars describe him as a

combination of Vishnu and Shiva. Dr Medasani Mohan, director, Bhagavatha

Project, TTD, attests to the idol having jatas (locks of hair) of Shiva and

chiselled out bosom of Shakti when observed from close quarters during the

prolonged Abhishekam Seva (holy bath) when the idol is undressed.

 

But Bhattacharyulu contradicts this theory. Normally the lions atop the Vimanam

(roof) are taken as proof of its being a Shakti temple. But he says they are

mere guards as in Badrinath and other Vaishnavite shrines.

 

A DAY IN THE DEITY'S LIFE

His day begins with the Melu Kolupu Paata (awakening song) sung by the

descendants of Annamacharya, followed by Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatam.

A traditional cowherd or Yadava is given the first darsan or holy sight of the

idol, of the day. The recitation of the deity's 1,008 names is begun in the name

of Hathiram Bavaji, a 15th century seeker from North India. The Muthyala

(pearls) Harathi at night and Pavalimpu Seva (putting the deity to sleep) is

done in the name of Tarikonda Venku Mamba, a rebel, writer and staunch woman

devotee.

 

The Lord is said to go down the hills to neighbouring Tiruchanur to see his

consort, Sri Padmavathy, by using the large shoes made as an offering by a

Madiga "untouchable" and returns early for the morning sevas or services.

Sri Ramanujacharya, the 12th century reformer and Vaisnavite saint, laid down a

comprehensive system of organization, management and worship, which survives to

this day in Tirumala. The daily worship was institutionalized by 1200 AD. It

represents a notable exception to the casteist and dominant Brahmanism even in

the early part of the millennium, mainly due to Ramanuja's towering stature.

 

AN ENDURING PHENOMENON

The geography of the central hill ranges of the Eastern Ghats of India, is

compared by the puranas or ancient texts, to a huge recumbent cobra or Adisesha.

The Jyotirlinga of Sri Mallikarjuna Swami in Srisailam temple is located on its

tail, Sri Narasimha Swami Temple in Ahobilam on its back, Sri Venkateswara

temple atop its hood like the dancing Krishna (though the temple is noted for

its location in the low of the last hill rather than the peak) and Sri Kalahasti

temple of Shiva at the opening of its mouth.

Surprisingly, despite the hill's topography suiting military operations, which

were frequent in the region, the Balaji temple remained miraculously untouched,

even by the infamous iconoclast Aurangzeb's (the last of the Great Mughal

Emperors) plundering and pillaging army.

Ancient references to the deity and the purifying hill even before the advent of

the deity are many. They go back to the Rig-Veda. Some described only the

purifying hill, others mentioned the Lord who absolves sins and presides over

the hill, but not any temple. The puranas refer to the Tirumala hill as

Venkatadri or Venkatachala.

 

According to the Hindu epic Ramayana, Lord Rama, one of Lord Vishnu's

incarnations, and his Vanara (monkeys) army marching to Lanka for war with

Ravana halted here on the request of Anjana Devi, the mother of Hanuman. The

Mahabharata, the longest epic in the world, describes the transformation of the

departed spirit of Sri Krishna, after it entered the solar disc, into a lifeless

four-armed image, which was to descend to Earth. An ethereal voice told the

assembled devas or gods that it was to be worshipped in Kaliyuga, the present

era of darkness and ignorance, as an easy means for seeking personal salvation.

This is believed to be the Tirupati deity. The eighth century Tamil classic

Silappadikaram quotes a pilgrim's description of the deity.

 

 

WHY IDOL WORSHIP

Idol worship is not animism practised by the so-called primitive peoples and

cultures, as colonialist anthropology would have us believe. Faith in it opens

up many gates of spirituality. A recent book on the first encounter of medieval

Arabian Muslims with idol worship in India reveals their curiosity and respect

for this path to God-realization instead of intolerant iconoclasm they became

infamous for.

 

Esoteric Brahmanism which evolved a complex system of Archa or image worship is

rooted in Balaji's idol. The deity is the first image of any god or goddess that

manifested spontaneously.

Bhakti (devotion) path has nothing to do with sandhya, vandana, japa and other

rituals, which are all means of worship and are all right, but worship of divine

images is accorded primacy in bhakti or devotion. Attachment to the deity's

image detaches the devotee from samsara, this world, and enables him to realize

the supreme being as Narayana.

It is worth noting that Balaji's right hand is pointing downward towards his

feet just above the knee, indicating that worshipping him will liberate one from

kneedeep illusions of worldly existence.

 

Thus, not only is the main idol in Tirumala believed to be of divine origin, it

is also connected with divine sanction for Archa worship. The earlier yugas or

eras, offered a tough yogic path of penance, mental concentration and

meditation. Archa is to enable all in Kaliyuga, the present era of darkness, to

achieve God realization through less tedious means of intense love and devotion.

Lord Venkateswara is also known as Pratyaksha Daivam (manifest divinity) who

helps his devotees in distress even if they do not or cannot help themselves,

thus contradicting a simplistic adage. This is, of course, linked to one's yogam

or spiritual entitlement.

 

TTD AND DESPIRITUALIZATION

TTD, the multi-billion rupees endowment, represents the best temple management

system in any shrine in India. But it has also fallen victim to the general

trend of increasing commercialization and despiritualization of pilgrim centers.

Black money constitutes only a small fraction of the annual collection at the

temple, contrary to popular belief. The income from darsan and seva tickets

itself constitutes half the revenue and donations to the free meal scheme add up

another 33 crore (330 million) rupees.

 

The culture of crass commercialism and exploitation that dogs you in Tirumala

has been institutionalised by TTD itself. It has made minor services needlessly

free even as it milks people who prefer to pay to jump the queue for darsan or

sevas. With its eye on revenue and populist policies, TTD has been tinkering

with the deity's sleeping time, religious duties and timings, rather than work

around the Lord as every temple should.

An exceptional stampede in the temple many years back was attributed by the then

Paramacharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham to the improper or non-observance of the

rituals prescribed by the Agama Sastras. The violation of the proscription on

men entering the temple wearing upper garments is prompted by the TTD. This is

in sharp contrast to the custom at major temples in Kerala, India.

 

M.V. Soundar Rajan, secretary, Dharma Rakshana Samiti, Hyderabad, is highly

critical of the violation of the Agama Sastras by the TTD and its treating the

deity as a mere stone. The famed, delicious laddu prasad, he says, is not even

offered to the deity but has been turned into an industry despite strictures by

the Justice Kondiah Committee report 12 years ago.

He further points out that the deity has to suffer the unnecessary and heavy

diamond crown besides the heat of focused electric lights. All sevas are

compacted to be completed by dawn to facilitate darsan by pilgrims while

ignoring the importance of Ushas Kalam (the period starting at 4.30 a.m).

 

TTD is trying to please all, especially the state government of Andhra Pradesh,

except the presiding deity it thrives on and claims to serve.

"The devotion and pilgrimage by millions increase the power of the deity while

violation of the Agama Sastras will deplete its power and wealth," Soundar Rajan

points out. One result of rabid commercialism and brazen doubling of displayed

rates of eatables and beverages is frequent scuffles between indignant devotees

and vendors in the massive Vaikuntam Queue Complex.

 

While its administrative and educational institutions could have been managed

better, the TTD's medical institutions, such as the one for the handicapped, are

doing yeoman's service.

Its flaws apart, TTD continues to cater to the needs of millions of devotees who

throng the temple every year to seek help for their mundane worries and

problems, propagating further the legend of this God of Kaliyug.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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