At TIRUMALA… “ Its not the darshan you get . It is the darshan ” LORD” bestows”.

 The ardent desire of any devotee is to seek an everlasting darshan of Lord Venkateshwara at Tirumala  and…  

If this darshan is without any  physical disturbance or interference by the volunteers ,  the soul dances in ecstasy.

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There is no dearth of pilgrims who wouldn’t stop gushing about their opportune darshan lasting for even a  fraction of second or so with our  beloved LORD  while there are so many others who  excitedly wait  for  Lord’s  darshan patiently  even for days  .

Tradition has it, that hands of man did not work for the dhruva bera  ( Main deity )of Lord Venkateswara .

The Supreme Lord with abundant mercy manifested himself in the present form that could easily be worshiped by mortals. It is described in Mousala Parvam  of Sri Mahabharatam  that when  Supreme Lord Krishna decided to complete His incarnation, a divine play was enacted.   After the  fall of Yadu dynasty , Lord Krishna was resting under a tree  in a forest with his feet on one another.

A hunter from behind the thick grasses saw only his sole and toes. Mistaking the sole of the foot and toes that were pinkish amidst the thick grass and due to the distance he assumed it for a deer grazing in the forest. He shot a poisoned arrow that struck Lord Krishna lotus feet. The repentant hunter apologized  and understood it was a divine providence that had the sanction  of LORD and he was just a participant in Lord’s divine play .

While  Lord  Krishna was preparing to ascend to Sri vaikuntam,  the  three crore demigods headed by Brahma and Paramasivan  arrived and started glorifying  LORD   by reciting Purusha Suktam.  LORD disappeared from this place Prabhasa Theertham near  Dwaraka , in the form of parama jyothi.

check the appended  blog post for more details

https://kazhiyurvaradanblog.in/2015/02/17/mukthi-dwaraka-prabhasa-theertham/

When the jyoti ( Efflugence )  reached Suryamandalam, it transformed into a deity and descended on Tirumala Hills .

The moment  Lord Krishna disappeared, Kali yugam began  and to save His devotees from Kali, Lord decided to manifest himself  at  Tirumala…

As the hymn reverberates……..

“Krite Nrisimha Bhoothosou ..

Tretaayaam Raghunandanah ….

Dwaapare Vaasudevas Cha ……

kalao Vemkatanaayakah………………….               

   meaning …

“While Sri Narasimha was the Lord of Kritayuga, SriRama (Raghunandana) was the Lord of Treta yuga, SriKrishna (Vaasudeva) was Lord of Dwaapara yuga, it is SriVenkateshwara  (Venkata naayakah) who is the Lord of Kaliyuga.

Thus , the devas as well as humans have HIS darshan at Tirumala. It is believed the devatas worship LORD in the  early morning  hours. 

Before closing the temple after Ekanta Seva , the priests at Tirumala temple fill the pancha paathirams with holy water for Brahma to worship the LORD .This holy water is distributed among devotees as theertham after Suprabhatam Darshan .

According to the Bhavisthyottara puranam, the great sage Vaikhanasa Rishi was always in the mood of Krishna katha and thus got addicted to the playful leelas of Lord Krishna in Dwapara Yuga .

He did   severe penance to obtain darshan of Lord Krishna. The legend reveals that Lord Krishna pleased with his devotion, appeared and instructed  to worship HIM at Venkatachala (Tirumala) where he manifested for our upliftment.

He further advised that a devotee named Rangadasa would help him to locate the holy place at Tirumala  . Vaikhanasa Rishi overjoyed   proceeded to Tirumala and with the help of the devotee Rangadasa   worshipped the LORD ardently.

Thus Vaikhanasa Rishi, according to the legend, is the first person to worship the Lord at Tirumala. Hence in this temple, to this day, worship is conducted according to the Vaikhanasa Agama (the guide lines instructed by the great sage Vaikhanasa ) almost since few thousand years ago.

 The Pallavas of Kanchipuram, Cholas of Tanjore  , Pandyas  and Vijayanagara Kings, few Englishmen   like Thomas Munroe , Robert Clive , Williams were committed devotees of Lord Venkateswara .

Listen to the devotional pour of Archaka glorifying the holy place and the LORD who manifested only for uplifting the fallen souls

Long far-reaching queues do not matter to any of the pilgrim as long as they get to offer their prayers and remain in that bliss at this holy place. 

People forget their economic status, caste, creed, and sex, they leave all the material designations,

chant the Lord’s holy name

  GOVINDA   GOVINDA   GOVINDA , 

and come before HIM surrendering .

Lord being omnipotent and omniscient listens to an ardent devotee’s prayer.

The sincere thought of having darshan of LORD at TIRUMALA happens without any effort. 

Air / Train/ Bus  tickets get confirmed , accommodations are booked miraculously and darshan  happens as If……………………..

LORD wanted to see you so soon ……………………………..

Every devotee has a  special experience to share about the darshan and LORD’s presence………

  It’s a place of absolute happiness, and inexplicable moment of peace is felt .The soul identifies its purpose and gets twined in the aroma of the place. We go there as many times as possible as……… HE is ours for ever  …  

Even atheists and rationalists admit a sense of humility and the presence of the Lord as soon as one approaches the sanctum .

 Ten  out of twelve Azhwars  have glorified the LORD with almost 202  nectarine pasurams. The famous devotee  composers  Thyagaraja, Purandaradasar, Annamacharyar have glorified LORD in several Kirtanas . Annamacharyar had composed almost 32000 kirtanas which have become prayer songs  in every house ….

Its only the fortunate ones who develop faith in God and  blessed are those who surrender to our LORD VENKATESHWARA ….

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan

Pics :  Courtesy  : Google images

videos :  Thanks to Ramyagiri