Monday, October 12, 2009

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Venkateshwara is another form of Lord Vishnu who is the most popular deity among GSBs in Kerala. He is also known as Venkatachalapathi or Venkataramana or Tirumal devar or Varadaraja or Srinivasa or Balaji or Bithala. He has a dark complexion and four hands. In his two upper hands he holds a discus (a symbol of power) and a conchs hell (a symbol of existence). With his lower hands extended downward he asks devotees to have faith and surrender to him for protection. The supreme temple of Venkateswara is at Tirupati and every GSB wants to visit this temple at least once in life.
The temple town of Tirupati is situated at the foot of Tirumala hills in the Chandragiri Taluka of the Chittor district in Andhra Pradesh. The sacred spot on the hill about 2,800 feet above sea level is known as Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara. The hill forms part of the Eastern Ghats and is also known as Venkatachala and Seshachala. It is said that the Eastern Ghats on this side along with their curves, heights and falls resemble the serpent Adisesha and that the seven hills of Tirupati are its seven heads and Ahobalam where Lord Narasimha murthy is worshipped, representing the centre of Adisesha, and Srisailam representing the tail end of Adisesha. That is why Tirumala is called Seshachala. According to the legends, this has been a sacred place in all the four yugas, and was known as Vrishabhachala in the Krithayuga, Anjanachala in the Tretayuga, Seshachala in the Dwaparayuga and Venkatachala in the present Kaliyuga.
In this temple, unlike other Vishnu temples, we find no minor shrines or idols of Vaishnava saints. Apart from the Lord Venkateswara temple, the other important places at Tirumala and Swami pushkarini, Papavinasam and Akasaganga waterfalls, Varahaswamy temple, and Shila Toranam a very ancient rock formation supposed to be over 10,000 years old.






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Meanwhile, Akasa Raja and his queen Dharanidevi were anxious about the health of their daughter, Padmavathi. They learnt about Padmavathi's love for Srinivasa of Venkata Hill. Akasa Raja consulted Brihaspati about the marriage and was informed that the marriage was in the best interest of both the parties. Kubera lent money to Lord Srinivasa to meet the expenses of the marriage. Lord Srinivasa, along with his consorts and Lord Brahma and Lord Siva started the journey to the residence of Akasa Raja with his vehicle Garuda. At the palace entrance, Lord Srinivasa was received by Akasa Raja with full honours and taken in procession on a mounted elephant to the palace for the marriage. In the presence of all the Devas, Lord Srinivasa wed Princess Padmavati, thus blessing Akasa Raja.





Everyday at Tirupati temple, a kalyana utsavam celebrates the divine union in a celebration that stretches to eternity.ne day, Lord Srinivasa, who was hunting, chased a wild elephant in the forests surrounding the hills. In the elephant's pursuit, the Lord was led into a garden, where Princess Padmavati and her maids were picking flowers. The sight of the elephant frightened the Princess and her maids. But the elephant immediately turned around, saluted the Lord and disappeared into the forest. Lord Srinivasa, who was following on horse back, and saw the frightened maidens. However, He was repulsed with stones thrown at Him by the maids.  He returned to the hills in haste, leaving His horse behind. Vakuladevi found him lying on his bed, not interested in anything. The Lord informed her that unless he married Princess Padmavati. The Lord then narrated the story of her (Padmavati’s) previous birth and his promise to wed her.   After listening to Srinivasa's story of how he had promised to marry Vedavati in her next birth as Padmavati, Vakuladevi realised that Srinivasa would not be happy unless he married Padmavati. She offered to go to Akasa Raja and his Queen and arrange for the marriage. On the way she met the maid-servants of Padmavati returning from a Siva Temple. She learnt from them that Padmavati was also pining for Srinivasa. Vakuladevi went along with the maid servants to the Queen.




kal8.jpg (8339 bytes)At Vaikuntam, Lord Vishnu was reposing on Adisesha with Sri Mahalakshmi in service at His feet. Finding that Lord Vishnu also did not notice him, the sage was infuriated and kicked the Lord on His chest, the place where Mahalakshmi resides. At once, Lord Vishnu hastened to apologise to the angry sage and pressed his feet to allay the pain caused to Bhrigu's leg. In doing so the Lord removed the eye in the foot of the sage, stripping of his special powers.Thereupon, the sage concluded that Lord Vishnu was the most supreme of the trimurthis and told the rishis the same.
Sri Mahalakshmi was angered by the action of her Lord in apologising to Bhrigu who committed an offence. Out of anger and anguish she left Vaikuntha and resided in Karavirapur now known as Kolhapur. After the departure of Mahalakshmi, a forlorn Lord Vishnu left Vaikuntam and took abode in an ant-hill under a tamarind tree, beside a pushkarini on the Venkata Hill, meditating for the return of Lakshmi, without food or sleep. This was the place where Lord took the form of Varaha to rescue Mother Earth form the deep ocean.Taking pity on Lord Vishnu, Brahma and Maheshwara decided to assume the forms of a cow and its calf to serve Him. Surya, the Sun God informed Mahalakshmi of this and requested her to assume the form of a cowherdess and sell the cow and calf to the king of the Chola country. The king of the Chola country bought the cow and its calf and sent them to graze on the Venkata Hill along with his herd of cattle. Discovering Lord Vishnu on the ant-hill, the cow provided its milk, and thus fed the Lord. Meanwhile, at the palace, the cow was not yielding any milk, for which the Chola Queen chastised the cowherd severely. To find out the cause of lack of milk, the cowherd followed the cow, hid himself behind a bush and discovered the cow emptying her udder over the ant-hill. Incensed over the conduct of the cow, the cowherd aimed a blow with his axe on the head of the cow. However, Lord Vishnu rose from the ant-hill to receive the blow and save the cow. When the cowherd saw the Lord bleed at the blow of his axe, he fell down and died of shock.
kal17.jpg (7961 bytes)The cow returned, bellowing in fright and with blood stains all over her body, to the Chola King. To find out the cause of the cow's terror, the King followed her to the scene of the incident. The King found the cowherd lying dead on the ground near the ant-hill. While he stood wondering how it had happened, Lord Vishnu rose from the ant-hill and cursed the King saying that he would become an Asura because of the fault of his servant. The King pleaded innocence, and the Lord blessed him by saying that he will be reborn as Akasa Raja and that the curse would end when the Lord will be adorned with a crown presented by Akasa Raja at the time of His marriage with Padmavati. With these words Lord turned into stone form.

three times bigger image in new windowTirumala is where the Venkateswara (Sri Balaji) Temple is located. Tirumala is located on Vyenkata Hill at an altitude of 840m (2,800 ft). Vyenkateswara means "the Lord of Vyenkatachala." Vyenkatachala is a chain of hills.
The temple is situated on the top of seven adjoining hills, also called Seshachalam Hills, which are said to be an incarnation of Ananta Sesa...
three times bigger image in new window...Once Vayu and Sesa entered into a disagreement over who was stronger. Sesa wrapped his long body around Mount Meru and challenged Vayu to move it. Vayu tried but failed. Vayu pretended to be exhausted and stopped blowing. Then Sesa opened his mouth to breathe. At that moment, Vayu blew off part of the hill. After the hill had traveled a great distance, Mount Meru asked Vayu to leave it there...
three times bigger image in new window...Ashamed of his defeat, Sesa did penance, meditating on Lord Vishnu. When Lord Vishnu appeared and offered a boon, Sesa assumed the shape of the hill and requested the Lord to stay on his head. This hill is called Sesachalam...
three times bigger image in new window...The Lord's appearance in Tirumala is mentioned in about 12 different Puranas. According to the Brahma Purana, Lord Vishnu wanted a change from Vaikuntha, so he inquired from Narada Muni about a place on earth for diversion and sport. Narada suggested Sesachalam (the head of Ananta Sesa).
three times bigger image in new windowIt is said that when Ramanuja visited here, he walked up the hill on his knees to avoid stepping on Sesa Naga.
three times bigger image in new windowTemple of Nrsimhadeva on the way to Balaji.
three times bigger image in new windowAll the property at the top of the hill at Tirumala belongs to the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which is recycles much of its wealth to such humanitarian works as schools, orphanages and hospitals. Tirumala is an unusual place for India in that the streets are totally clean of trash. There is no wonder that Srila Prabhupada wanted his managers in ISKCON to take example from management in Tirupati.
three times bigger image in new windowThere is a temple staff of over 6,000. The worship in the temple is performed by Sri-sampradaya Vaishnava Brahmins, in the line of Ramanujacharya. Every pilgrim is entitled to free food, accommodation (very basic), and medical treatment. The inner shrines of the temple are not officially open to non-Hindus. Foreigners may be asked to sign a paper saying they believe in Hinduism. If they sign the paper, they can enter the temple.
three times bigger image in new windowSwami Pushkarini tank
There is a large water tank next to this temple called Swami Pushkarini tank, where pilgrims take bath before their darshan.
three times bigger image in new windowThe Varaha Purana says Swami Pushkarini was a pond used by Lord Vishnu in Vaikuntha for recreation. Tradition says that Garuda put this tank here. Next to the tank is the Varaha Swami Temple.






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