Day 207 of Indian places giving you smiles.. The high spiritual energy of Tirumala and Tirupati
Our family God – Lord Balaji attracts thousands of devotees who visit his natural abode at Tirumala to seek his blessings and get miraculous favours in life. My father had carried me as an infant here, and again we had to visit this holy place when I was barely nine years old.
But reaching the ‘Lord of the seven hills’ is no easy task. We kept praying as our battered ambassador taxi struggled to climb the sharp and steep hair pin bends of the seven hills. We even had to take a snack break on the way up to the mountain, because the radiator got extremely heated and I watched in fascination how my uncle poured cold water on it and hot steam was spurted out from the car!
When we reached the top, we searched in vain for a hotel room. I could sense the tension among the adults and in the end our big group of eight were actually allowed to sleep on mattresses on the floor in the open space behind what I clearly remember was the cash counter in the reception area of a hotel! I don’t think that any kind hotelier will do this type of favor in this day and age!
As a child, the power of this deity was not known to me and after my childhood visit to Tirumala, I was just happy to get away from the uncertain situation, and head back to the comfort of our car, singing anthakshari and playing many silly number games on the way. Each one in the car would select a single digit and get points for any vehicle that we spot on the road, ending with our chosen digit. Remember in those days there were hardly any vehicles on the highways!
Few years later my maternal grandparents moved on a permanent assignment to Tirumala. We were few of the lucky children who got to spend our month- long summer and winter vacations in a place that is not only one of the most holy pilgrim centres of India but also a beautiful hill station!
Our cottage was situated just next to the beautiful botanical gardens. I have very fond memories of running around amidst the greenery with my very little cousins, playing hide and seek behind the bushes, trying to pluck out the fallen peacock feathers from their cages, climbing up small trees, looking at the ducks in the water and even shouting out our names at the echo points.
And yet the holy Lord’s presence was felt at all times. We would hear continuous chants of prayer and holy songs being played by the loudspeakers at all public places. We made daily evening visits to the temple to have a peaceful ‘darshan’ as my grandfather was a renowned caretaker of the famous Woodlands hotel in Tirumala. We would walk in and out of the hotel for snacks of our choice and if we were lucky we would get to see some film celebrities. The hotel staff probably knew us as the naughty grandchildren!
And at the archway in the garden, we would watch all the pilgrims who came panting up the steps after having climbed all the seven hills as a demonstration of their faith in the Lord! Little did I know that many years later even I would undertake this ardous task of climbing up the steps of all the seven hills. This time there was an immense devotion towards the Lord, and our big group of three generations of relatives, all managed to sing devotional songs and get the required strength and stamina to reach the peak of the hill.
The pleasure of getting a view of the Lord after such a long climb made the whole effort completely worth it. This temple is believed to be over 12 centuries old with magnificent typical South Indian temple architecture. There are innumerable stories about people receiving abundant miracles from Lord Balaji. In fact one of my grandfather’s ex-staff member eventually became a big hotelier himself and we tried to use his influence to get a faster ‘darshan’. This kind of influence is needed because of the unending crowds that are permanently waiting outside the temple. In complete contrast to my easy childhood visit to the temple, after some years, it became extremely difficult to get a tension-free darshan of the Lord.
On one of my visits, I had spent seven and half hours in serpentine queues, cooped up in one caged enclosure after another and that too with very hungry, thirsty and cranky babies of my own! Some years later, this system of waiting in unending queues was given up in return for computerized numbered wrist bands. I remember getting the darshan time of the next day, so we were free to explore the local market for Gods items and take a dip in the holy tank, before entering the temple at the allocated time.
Yet all these physical difficulties are completely forgotten once we stand in front of the imposing idol of Lord Venkateshwara. The sight of the exquisitely decorated Lord, the smell of incenses, the sound of the shouts of praises of the Lords and the unexplainable positively uplifting spiritual feel of the place is something to be indeed experienced by any devotee.
The only jarring note of this experience is the touch of the volunteers who actually push you away from your deity to ensure that the uncontrollable crowds keep moving! Well this is the price of fame I guess. As the powers of this temple became known worldwide, more and more people kept thronging to its holy precincts. We even attended religious functions of relatives here and there was a time when we would visit Tirumala at least once a year, preferably on our wedding anniversary in gratitude for all his blessings received during the meteoric rise in our lifestyles.
And all people contribute generously to the ‘Hundi’. Legend is that Lord Srinivas had to borrow heavily for his marriage to Padmavati. In Kaliyug, he promised to get the amount from his devotees and in return would grant countless blessings and favours to them. We recollected the whole story of Lord Balaji which is depicted in sculpted images around the temple periphery and also on the golden dome.
I wondered what is the feeling of the many people who shave off all the hair from their heads as an sign of offering to the Lord. This must be a huge lesson in humility and surrendering of the self and the ego at the feet of the Lord. Maybe I was not ready for such complete surrender as yet and still bothered about continuing with my looks.
Nowadays we book our tickets in the internet months in advance for a pre-dawn time darshan of the Lord. After a bath at 3 a.m. in the morning, and waiting in the line from 4 a.m.onwards, we are allowed to get as close as possible to the Lord without too much of pushing. And we come out of the temple just in time to catch the powerful energy of the rising sun at dawn. We collect our limited quota of the famous Ladoos of Tirupati. Believe me, the exquisite taste of these Ladoos can never be duplicated in any other place in the world!
We now stay in a very swanky guesthouse on top of the Narayangiri hill with a panoramic view of the temple town. The richly decorated gold covered dome would be shining brilliantly in the rays of the morning sun. The very high entrance dome would be also visible from afar. There were many more cottages, hotels, massive lodges, rest houses, shops and even a museum to cater to the growing needs of the lakhs of tourists who throng this place.
After my visit to the holy temple, I still make it a point to visit my favourite childhood garden and look out for the ducks in the water! Tirumala and Lord Balaji, I love you lots!
After visiting the Venkateshwara God at Tirumala, it is considered mandatory to visit the temple of his consort Goddess Padmavati at another temple town of Tirupati which lies at the base of the Seven hills. The crowds have increased here too and I was surprised that I was asked to take the services of a local priest to get a faster Darshan.
I strongly believe in the adage, ‘Behind every successful man is a woman’ and I bowed in reverence to the ‘shakti’ or strength of Goddessn Padmavathi in Tirupati!
So, which Indian place made you smile today?
Please share your own experience of visiting Indian places.
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