DivyaDesam– Lord Vishnu | One of the DivyaDesamVishnuSthalam |
Region | Vada Naadu |
Vada Naadu | 11thVishnuSthalam |
Tirumala
Venkateswara Swamy is one of the richest temples in India. It is located in
Tirupati, Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the hill town
of tirumala which has seven peaks, each peak designates individual Hindu gods
known as Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabhadri, Narayanadri,
and Venkatadri. Tirupati is also called as Kaliyuga Vaikunta. It is one of the
richest pilgrimage place, people from all corners of the world visit.
Emperumaan,
Sriman Narayanan is found as Lord of the Seven Hills known as
"Eazhumalayaan" stands in this temple all alone in Nindra thirukkolam
and is giving the seva to lots and lots of Bhaktas. After the world has been
created, Trethayugham, Dwaparayugam and Krithayugam all went and in all these
yugam, as stated by Sriman Narayanan in Mahabharatham, he took Avathaar in some
form to establish Dharma and fought and destroyed "Adharma" or evil.
After all these Yugams finished, Kali yugam started from then, all sorts of
Evil things started to spread along throughout the world. Great Emporers lost
their Empire and lots of Yogis and Rishis were killed and their wives were
captured by Arakkas (Demon). At that Kaliyugam, a wild demon by named
"kali" emerged in this yugam who made the earth loose its beauty and
spread various evil aspects in the midst of the human minds.
In
Kaliyugam, person who has money and body strength are respected and all the
good things like human relationship, guru and his students relation, cheating
others for money and lots of sinful action were performed.
Lord
Brahma was so scared on seeing the Earth in this manner. Finally he thought,
the right person to cure this is Sriman Narayanan and if his divine thiruvadi
(feet) is touched on the lands of earth, it might regain its lost beauty and if
at least a drop of his blood is shed on earth, the earth become pure and
thereby all evil things might diminish. He said this to Narada Maharishi and he
should take of this.
All
the Maharishis had a meeting that a very big Sacrifice known as Yaagam must be
done and how much amount credit should be given to which god? Narada told that
it should be given to one among the 3 moorthies who stands as the structure of
Dharma and Sathyam and he should be capable of withstanding all sorts of
Adharmams. Finally, he ends by saying that Brighu Maharishi is the right person
who can do this in finding among the 3 Moorthies who is person with the said
Characters.
First,
he went straight to Siva logam where Lord Shiva and Parasakthi are found closed
to each other. It is one of the Universal truth that the union of Shivan and
Sakthi is said to be the way made for the Dharma to come all its way. But,
since Brighu Maharishi was so angry that his presence was not being noticed,
and gave him the Curse that on the earth, Lord Shiva would be done pooja only
in the form of Lingam but not in the form of Statues (or) Vigrahams (Idols).
This is the reason that Shiva Lingams are found in all Shiva temples but not
Idols,
After
this, Brighu Maharishi went to Brahma devan's Sathya logam. There also he was not
greeted properly, he was not noticed. It was him, Brahma devan who asked Narada
Maharishi for this to happen but it is fate that all this should happen. After
being un-noticed by Brahma and Saraswathi, Brighu Maharishi got angry on him
and like the same way, as he cursed Shiva, he gave Brahma devan a sabham that
there should be no temple for Brahma in the Bhoologam and after this he went
straight to Vaikundam.
After
entering into Vaikundam, he saw Sriman Narayanan sleeping in Aadhiseshan. He
could not be so calm since he was not greeted and taken care properly by Brahma
devan and as a result he had given them the Sabham.
As
a result, he burst out like Volcano and went straight towards Sriman Narayanan
and kicked him on his Thirumaarbhu (divine chest). After being kicked, Sriman
Narayanan woke up and asked Brighu Maharishi to sit and did Padha pooja for
him. Brighu Maharishi is a person who has an eye on his feet. Because of this
he was so angry and the perumal plucked the eye from his feet and as a result he
lost all of his anger and finally thought that all of the Yoga credit must be
given to Sriman Narayanan and came to the Yoga place.
As
we can notice, it was Brahma devan that who started the process of finding to
whom the yaga credit should be given but finally he got cursed that he should
not be worshiped in the earth. Its all a pre-written one and it is left to
destiny that these are the things that should happen. But, as Brighu Maharishi
kicked the thirumaarbhu (divine chest) of Sriman Narayanan, Lakshmi piratti
left him from Sri Vaikundam and came towards the earth. Because of this, Sri
Vaikundam, the Moksham lost its grace and brightness and all of these are said
to be only because of Kaliyugam.
After
being alone in Vaikundam, Sri Vishnu could not be in Vaikundam and came towards
the Bhoologam in search of Sri Mahalakshmi. Aadhiseshan turned as the mountain
of Tirumala and the perumal roamed all along the earth without knowing what to
do. He forgot all of his duties and he lost his conscious and sat like a person
without having food, water and anything else.
On seeing this, Brahma devan and Shiva came down towards the Earth known as
Bhoologam as a cow and calf and were finally handed over towards the Chozha
king.
Once
a cow-boy person took the cow and the calf for making them to eat. But in the
land, the cow (Brahma devan) and the calf (Shiva) went towards the putru
(ant-hill), where Sri Vishnu was found. The cow and the calf went towards the
Ant-hill and gave Sriman Narayanan the milk. This happened daily. But the
cow-boy could not understand why this particular cow is not giving milk while
the other do. so, finally he made up in his mind that he should follow the cow
and the calf and find the reason for not giving milk.
The
next day he took all the cows for the gracing to the plains but his eyes was
watching only the cow (Brahma) that's not giving milk daily. As a daily
practice, the spiritual cow went towards the Ant-hill and poured all of the
milk inside the ant-hill, where Sriman Narayanan is found.
On
seeing this, the cow-boy went to the Chozha King and told the reason why the
cow is not yielding milk but dropping the milk only at a specific ant-hill.
Then, the king sent some of his soldiers and asked them to destroy the
ant-hill. On that time, the cow as usual went towards the ant hill and gave
milk. During the same time, the cowboy tried to hit the cow with his axe, he
threw the axe towards the cow. But, to help and save the cow, the perumal came
out from the anthill and held the axe in his head. The axe directly struck the
forehead of the perumal and made a deep cut and as a result, the blood came out
and finally it fell on the earth thus, finally the earth was freed from all
sorts of evil activities that's being done by Kali.
As
the Emperumaan divine feet was stamped on the Bhoologam, it got its purity and
the perumal gave his seva first to the cowboy in spite of causing wound by
throwing the axe on him. But, as said by the Lord in Bagavath Gita, "Do
your duties, without expecting the return". As said by the perumal, the
cowboy did the right duty of stopping the cow which gave the milk to the
perumal. He didn't expected anything. Its his duty to take the cow out and get
the milk from them. As a result, he was the first person to get the dharshan of
the perumal.
After
coming out from the ant hill, the perumal went towards Sri Varagha moorthy who
helped out Bhoomipiratti from Hiranyatshakan, when the perumal took the Avathar
as "Sri Varaghar". The perumal asked for some place to stay in the
hill. As Varaghar could easily feel that the perumal is feeling the absence of
Lakshmi piratti, he offered the perumal some land on the hill and he asked for
a boon - varam. It is that every bhaktas should worship Varagha swamy first
then only they should worship the Sri Srinivasa perumal.
If
they worship him directly with praying Varagha moorthy, the perumal should not
give his blessing nor take their offerings. The perumal accepted it and
promised him that the Prasadham and his darshan will be offered first to Varagha
moorthy and then only it would be offered to the perumal in Tirupathi. Thus,
the perumal got the place to stay on and this hill is the Venkatachala hill
(Tirumala). Varagha moorthy also sent Vakula maligai along with the perumal to
help him out in the house. Vakula maligai is none other than Yasodha the mother
of Sri Krishnan in Sri Krishna Avatar. During that avatar, the perumal had
promised her that in Kali Yuga that she will be given his seva and she will be
seeing the perumal in Kalyana Vaibhavam, as Kalyana Moorthy.
One
day Lord Srinivasa who went to forest to hunt, he chased wild elephant. With
the sight of elephant, princess padmavati and her maids were afraid and started
pelting stones. Injured srinivasa reaced to vakula devi and narrated the whole
story. Vakuladevi learnt from the maids of padmavati devi that even she was
pinning for srinivasa. Both Lord Srinivasa and Padamavathi were ready to get
married with acceptance of their elders. In order to overcome marriage expenses
lord Srinivasa sought a loan of 11,400,000 gold coins with Lord Kubera.
Understanding the commitment of Lord Vishnu towards Godess Mahalakshmi, she
chose to live in his heart forever.
One
can see the beautiful and white temple Tower - Vimaanam, which is known as
"Aananda Nilaya Vimaanam". This Tirupathi temple is about 400 feet in
length and 250 feet width. There are two Towers known as gopurams to this
perumal. One is the outer Tower - Gopuram and another is InnerTower - Gopuram.
For two Gopurams, there are two Pragharams. The worship done in between the two
pragharams is referred to as "Sampangi Pradhakshanam". The worship in
between inner pragharam and Garbhagriham is referred to as "Vimana
Pradhakshanam".
Major
chunk of devotees who visit this temple often go by a stairway to the main
temple. This stairway is spread across 7 hills, starting at Alipiri, and
consists of a walk of 11 KMs. People usually take around 3 hours to 6 hours to
finish the trail but the experience is worth every step. The pathway to
Tirupati has some interesting points in between like the deer park, a few
photographic valley points and also there is a mid section of the route where
people pile up the stones on the road to make a 3-4 storey structure which
conveys to god that they need a house to build and it's a request to grant
their prayers. The rocks in this mountainous region are very old and the Sila
Thoranam - Natural Arch formation is a rare sight not only in India but also in
the world.
TEMPLE INFORMATION:
|
Moolavar |
Sri Venkateshwara |
|
Ambal |
Sri Alarmelmangai, Sri Padmavathi |
|
Theertham |
Akasha Ganga Theertham |
Lord grants all wishes
of the devotees.
Sri Venkateswara
Brahmotsavams, a nine-day event,
which is celebrated every year during month of October, is the major event of
Sri Venkateswara Temple. During brahmotsavams the processional deity Malayappa along
with his consorts SriDevi and BhuDevi, is taken in a procession in four mada
streets around the temple on different vahanams. Vahanams include Dwajarohanam,
Pedda Sesha Vahanam, Chinna Sesha Vahanam, Hamsa Vahanam, Simha Vahanam,
Muthaypu pandiri Vahanam, Kalpavriksha Vahanam, Sarva Bhoopala Vahanam, Mohini
Avataram, Garuda Vahanam, Hanumantha Vahanam, Swarna Rathotsavam (Golden
Chariot), Gajavahanam, Rathotsavam (Chariot), Ashwa Vahanam, and Chakra Snanam.
During Brahmotsavams, the temple will witness lakhs of devotees particularly on
Garuda vahanam. Vaikunta Ekadasi, the day on which it is believed
that Vaikunta Dwarams will be opened and the most important Vasihnavite
festival, is celebrated with grandeur in Tirumala. The Tirumala Venkateswara
Temple will be flooded with devotees on a single day with numbers reaching up
to 150,000, to have a darshan of Venkateswara through
special entrance which encircles inner sanctum called "Vaikunta
Dwaram". Rathasapthami is another festival, celebrated
during February, when Venkateswara's processional deity (Malayappa)
is taken in a procession around the temple on seven different vahanams starting
from early morning to late night. The other annual festivals include Rama Navami, Janmashtami, Ugadi, Teppotsavam
(Float Festival), Sri Padmavati Parinayotsavams, Pushpa yagam, Pushpa pallaki,
Vasanthotsavam (spring festival) conducted in March–April, were celebrated with
great splendor.
HOW
TO REACH:
This
divyadesam is located in Tirupati, Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. It is
located on the hill town of tirumala which has seven peaks.
TEMPLE
ADDRESS:
Sri Srinivasa Perumal
Temple Tirumala,
Tirupathi,
Andhra Pradesh.
LOCATION:
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