Tirupati: The Kaliyuga Vaikuntham

[suchandra 1]

August 12, 2008

 

 

Tirupati: The Kaliyuga Vaikuntham

By T. Suryanarayana Rao

 

Revered as the most holy shrine by Hindus from all over the country as also devotees of other nations, it has the history of unbroken worship for more than 2000 years.

 

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The hundi collections (offerings to the Lord by the devtees) average to more than Rs.750 crore per annum in cash, apart from offerings in kind, gold, diamonds and so on. He is the only deity who enjoys nitya kalyaana (daily marriage celebration) and devotees who witness this divine ritual are said to be liberated from all sins.

The famous temple of Lord Venkateswara is situated on top of a vast hill range, popularly known as Tirumala, meaning ‘holy hill’. The deity is also known as Srinivasa, Venkata Ramana and Balaji. At the foot of the hill range is the Tirupati town. The temple town is situated in Andhra Pradesh and is about 350 Km from Hyderabad, 200 Km from Bangalore and 150 Km from Chennai. The hill range is covered by dense forest all around and has not only fragrant plants and creepers and flower bearing trees, but also several herbal plants. There are seven peaks on this hill range and hence, Tirumala is also known as Edu kondalu (seven hills). The temple proper is located at a height of 3500 feet and is salubrious with beautiful gardens and trees making the place green and picturesque. The view from atop the hill all around is enchanting and breath taking and the drive from Alipiri, the foot of the hill to Tirumala town where the temple is located is thrilling and gives a divine feeling and unique experience of exceptional spiritual bliss.

 

Tirumala is believed to be the Kaliyuga Vaikuntham where Sri Maha Vishnu has manifested as Lord Venkateswara and gives His blessings to the devotees that have His darsan. Devotees visit the temple in about 30,000 on the average per day, to have the darsan of this most merciful God. They have the faith that the Lord answers their prayers and looks after them always and gives them relief from difficulties, worries and problems and blesses them with good health and happiness. Because of heavy surge of pilgrims, more so on festive days and the annual Brahmotsav, it takes several hours to have the darsan of the Lord that could be for a few seconds only and even then, the devotees experience immense bliss and they long to have darsan again and again. That bliss can only be experienced and cannot be described in words.

 

Revered as the most holy shrine by Hindus from all over the country as also devotees of other nations, it has the history of unbroken worship for more than 2000 years. According to Vaamana Purana (Chapter 43), Lord Maha Vishnu first manifested on this hill in the twenty eighth yuga preceding Kaliyuga answering the prayers of Lord Brahma and other Gods and saints. According to Brahmaanda purana, Lord Brahma entreated Lord Venkateswara to continue his stay on this hill to bless the people in Kaliyuga with His darsan as in Kaliyuga people would be of feeble faith and would be wanting in the capacity and strong will to engage in severe austerities and that mere darsan of His would redeem them. Since then, the most merciful Lord has been staying on this hill only to bless the devotees that visit the temple and have His darsan.

 

Aadi Sankara Bhagavad paada is said to have performed worship of Lord Venkateswara and installed a yantra and aakarshaka chakra, which is said to be the reason for devotees thronging in several thousands everyday at this temple and their experiencing indescribable bliss and offering highly valuable presents to the Lord.

 

The Lord was originally worshipped as Siva with saivite rituals like abhishekam and worship with bilva leaves. The deity had sankha and charka in the palms and his arms were adorned with naagaabharanams. Later King Tondamaan, his ardent devotee requested the Lord to spare His sankha and charka to fight against his enemy and the Lord obliged him. Divested of these two, the Lord was worshipped as Lord Subrahmanya. Much later, guru Raamaanujaachaarya desired to worship him in Vaishnava system and invested the Lord with golden sankha and charka in His palms and he continued to worship Him as Lord Venkateswara in that system. It is believed that the Lord gives darsan to His ardent devotees in the form they desire. People of all hues, sects, faiths visit this shrine for the darsan of this all merciful Lord.

 

The hundi collections (offerings to the Lord by the devtees) average to more than Rs.750 crores per annum in cash, apart from offerings in kind, gold, diamonds and so on. He is the only deity who enjoys nitya kalyaana (daily marriage celebration) and devotees who witness this divine ritual are said to be liberated from all sins. There is great demand for this and a few thousands witness it everyday. Abhishekam is one other ritual to witness which, people have to wait for years. There are several other sevas to the Lord during the whole day and there is a seva rate for each. There is, however, free darsan too for which no ticket is prescribed and innumerable devotees have this darsan for having which they remain in queue for hours together and yet, they get immense bliss with a few seconds darsan of the Lord. All the rituals are performed strictly in accordance of the vaikhaanasa system.

 

Guest houses, cottages, dormitories are available for the stay of devotees in hundreds of numbers and still there is great demand or rather, scarcity and shortfall on important days when there is heavy rush. Stay in dormitories is free. There is a nitya anna daana scheme and thousands of devotees use this facility, treating the food served to be the Lord’s prasaadam.

 

There is a Tirumala-Tiruparti devasthhanam (T.T.D.) board headed by a non-official Chairman to oversee all the arrangements and services to the devotees and a very senior I.A.S. officer is the Chief Executive of T.T.D. and he administers all activities in a thoroughly professional manner including performance of all rituals and sevas as per prescribed system.

 

The devasthaanam organises several Bhakti and Dharma publicity programs taking the advice of the Hindu Dharma prachara Parishad. Recently an exclusive T.V Channel named Sri Venkateswara Bhakti Channel was started and it was inaugurated by the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil. The devasthaanam also runs a full-fledged hospital, two Universities named Sri Venkateswara University and Padmavati Mahila Viswa Vidyalay, apart from running colleges and schools in and around Tirupati town. Recently Governor of Andhra Pradesh inaugurated a Vedic University started by the Devasthaanam Board. It promotes study of Sanskrit and Vedaas and Upanishads and related saastraas and also research in Sanskrit and Vedic knowledge. A veda paathasaala functions on the hills in Gurukula type to impart vedam to young children.

 

There are professional colleges like engineering, polytechnic, ayurveda, medicine and several other courses.

 

Devasthhanam also gives grants for construction of Kalyaana mandapams in the other towns of the state for use as marriage and function halls. More recently a program called kalyaanamastu was started and it is organised in different parts of the state to facilitate performance of marriages of poor people in groups in which the wedded couples are blessed with mangala sootram and other gold ornaments and also darsan of the deities. This has become very popular and is a real blessing to poor people.

 

Another scheme launched by T.T.D. is the system of taking the Lord to the areas inhabited by poor people in remote areas they may have the longing to have the darsan of the Lord, but do not have the means to spend that much money to go to Tirupati. Kalyanotsavam of the deities is performed on this occasion and it is a feast to the people from below poverty line. The T.T.D. is planning to launch such other innovative schemes to give the blessings of soul-filling satisfaction of this most merciful Lord to all sections of people.

 

Tirumala is truly Kaliyuga Vaikuntham and the entire range of Tirumala and Tirupati reverberates with chanting of the Lord’s name as Govinda and one experiences the vibrations from the moment a devotee lands in Tirupati. Tirupati can be reached by train, air and road and from Tirupati to Tirumala, buses ply continuously. Devotees can also go by private transport up the hill. The visit and darsan of the Lord bestow life time soul-satisfying experience (aatma sdamtrupti). One should not miss it and should have the Lord’s darsan at least once in his life time.

 

(The author is former DG Police, Andhra Pradesh.)

 

(Tirumala Tirupati Devasvom Board, Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh.)