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SRI VENKATESWARA

By Dr Santha Sampath

Bhaghan Sri Venkateswara, well known as Sri Balaji, is an avatar of Maha Vishnu. Jagadguru Sri Bharathi Tirtha Mahaswamigal says "In accordance with the siddhanta of our Sanatana Dharma, the Payamatma who creates and co= ntrols a11 worlds manifests in several places to confer blessings." - Of the sacred pilgrim centres where Lord manifests, Balaji's place of residence at Thirumla of seven hills is the most popular one. Thirumala is in the city o= f Tirupathi in Andh= ra state. Lord Venkateswara is worshipped both in India and abroad. There are s= everal temples built all over the world for this Lord, and we are very proud to ha= ve a main shrine for Him in our Temple in Canberra. The cha= rming deity of Lord Venkateswara of Seven Hills attracts thousands of supplicants= to its shrine. This deity has majesty and power and people who go to him feel their inner psyche awakened. A darsan of the Lord just occurs and has a mys= tic experience with centuries of tradition behind it. Once you have had the dar= san of the lord you return to Him again and again. It is stated - that Sri Bala= ji temple at Thirumala is 2,100 years old.

THE IDOL OF VENKATESWARA

This idol is unique in the structure it depicts both Vaishnavites (followers of Lord Vishnu) and Saivites (followers of Lord Siva). The idol = has jata, the mated locks and this is associated with Durga Devi. According to Vamana Purana, Skanda (the Lord Subramanya) performed tapas at Venakatachal= am and that the sacred tank at Thirumala is known as Swami Pushkarani. This suggests that the idol could have been that of Subramanya. There are other marks on the idol, which suggests that He is a symbol of Hari-Hara, which m= eans Vishnu and Siva symbolised in one form. This could be the reason that many = families of Saivites origin worship Lord Venkateswara as their Kula Deiyvam, which m= eans their family God. Lord Venkateswara represents archa form. This projects Vishnu's personality of "sarvam Vishnu mayam jagat", which means = that He is present all over the Universe. The quotation "The Supreme being = is pleased with him, who listens to all discourses on Dharma, who worships all gods, who is free of jealousy and subdued anger", suggests the reversa= l, that whoever worships Sri Venkateswara worships also every God and Goddess.= The deity at Thirumala is endowed with immeasurable potentialities of the three-fold universe consisting of Sat, Cit, Ananda emerged out of brahmayon= i, which as per Bhagavata Mahapurana was Sri Krishna alone "paripurnatam- purusottamah".

LORD'S MARRIAGE

At the end of Dwaparayuga, the Tondamandala was ruled by a king named A= kasa Raja. He had no progeny. On the advice of his elders, he decided to perform= a sacrifice. When he was rearranging to level the land for the site for sacrifice, his servants discovered a thousand petalled lotus with a beautif= ul baby. This baby was none other than Goddess Lakshmi born on earth. Akasa Ra= ja named her as Padmavathi and she later married Lord Venkateswara, who comes = to earth as Lord Srinivasa. There is an interesting story of Lord Srinivasa's marriage to Padmavathi. This story appears in Bhavishyottra Purana. Lord Srinivasa borrows a large amount of money from Kubera, the Lord of wealth to marry Padmavathi. A copy of the bond executed between the lender and the bo= rrower is still preserved as per the version of the priests. (Source: Tatvaloka).<= o:p>

RITUALS AT THIRUMALA FOR THE LORD

The daily routine of ritual ceremonies brings out the richness of worsh= ip and practice at the temple. The day starts with Suprapatham, the awakening = of the Lord. The hymns are sung before the golden doors. When this is over the Bhoga Srinivasa is shifted from his bed to sanctum. The pilgrims are allowed for a darsan of this Visvarupa Seva and thirtham, the holy water is distributed.

Next is Tomala Seva in which deity is richly decorated with flower garlands. Abhishekams, bathing of the Lord with special water and other liq= uids like milk, honey etc. are done for Mula Vigraha and Bhoga Srinivasa to the accompaniment of chants.

The third ritual is Koluvu, in which Srinivasa Murthi is brought out and seated on a silver plated chair with gilded canopy. After offering prasad, (special fruits) the income of the temple on the previous day is read out.<= o:p>

Sahasranama Archana, chanting of Lord's name in a thousand different wa= ys is the next ritual. Here the devotees, for a special fee, can get special blessings of the Lord with the mention of their name, birth star and gotra = (the family ancestry).

Next the Naivedyam, the specially cooked food is brought in front of the Lord as an offering. Sattumurai follows this ritual. This means recital of Tamil Prabandham of Alwars who have written many prayers on Lord Vishnu. Th= en pilgrims do the Sarvadarsan. The worship of midday called Madhyana Pooja is done next, and is followed by Rathri Pooja, the night prayer. Then the Lord= is put to bed and this is called Pavvalimpa Seva. Finally the day ends with Ekantaseva, for which public are allowed for daysan of the Lord, for a spec= ial fee. In this seva, a velvet bed is spread on a swing with silver chains. Sw= eets and fruits are offered to the Lord, songs are sung, and performed chandan (sandal wood paste) is placed on the chest of Bhoga Srinivasa.

There are several other special ceremonies offered by the pilgrims on special arrangements. One such special offering by pilgrims is offering of their hair as a rite of initiation. Hair offering is an important practice = in rites of initiation and propitiation of deities and forefathers. Hair offer= ing is similar to blood offering and is believed to establish a bond between the votary and the deity to whom it is offered, in all Semitic religions. (Sour= ce: Tatvaloka).

Lord Venkateswara is a powerful deity and many who believe in him pray = to the Lord to remove obstacles in their life and they make offerings to Him in different ways. Money is one of the offerings that is done by many pilgrims= and it is placed in the "Hundi", which is a big money box. In a day, several millions of rupees are collected in this "Hundi". This mo= ney is spent for building local schools, colleges affiliated to Sri Venkateswara University, hospita= ls in Tirupati, and other Sri Venkateswara temples around the world. There are several true stories narrated by several pilgrims as Lord Venkateswara's miracles and these seem to have changed their life in many ways.=

No doubt God is everywhere. But it is possible that his presence is more concentrated in some places and this you can definitely feel when you have a darsan of the Lord on Thirumala hills in Tirupati.

The author acknowledges that the above article was adopted from several articles of Tatvaloka, Vol. XIV, number 2, an issue dedicated to Sri Balaji= .

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