Thirumala Tirupathi : Vengadam aalum Govindha; Thirumalaivaasa Govindha ~ ~~ falling at the feet of Lord Balaji

திருமலை திருப்பதி சிறப்பு : 'செடியாய வல்வினைகள் தீர்க்கும் பெருமானின் மகிமை" - பண்டெல்லாம் வேங்கடம் பாற்கடல் வைகுந்தம் - வேங்கடம் ஆளும் கோவிந்தா ! திருமலை வாசா கோவிந்தா !!!

For a Srivaishnavaite – thinking of Him, praising Him all the time, going to temples of His, doing services to His bhakthas and associating oneself in any form with various kainkaryams to the Bhagwan Shri Maha Vishnu are the only real things. That Sri Vaishnavaites would relish doing such things naturally come to them. For Srivaishnavaites, visiting Divyadesams and having darshan of Emperumans in these places are of utmost importance. To us – “Kovil – Thirumalai – Perumal Kovil” reverberates sweetly and flows honey all the time. The word Kovil, Thirumalai, Perumal Kovil would refer to “Sri Rangam, Thirumala Tirupathi and Kanchipuram” respectively.

Volumes have been written about Divyadesams and one can spend one’s whole life time reading all of them – still one would only have completed tiny specs of His valour, His deeds, His characteristic traits, His compassion, His easy availability to Bakthas and more.

Thirumala Thirupathi Temple – the sacred and most reverred temple of Sri Venkateswara is located on the seventh peak – Venkatachala hill of Tirumala. The Lord stands tall as bestower of all boons and lakhs of people reach here to have a glimpse – a few seconds darshan of the Lord. This beautiful temple in its present form owes a lot to the works of the greatest Vaishnava Acharya – Sri Ramanujar. Upon the instructions of Shri Ramanujacharya – his disciple, Thirumalai Ananthan Pillai known as Ananthazhwaar did yeomen service, creating a garden (nandavanam) for offering floral tributes daily to the Lord. It is 959 years since he was born and soon, we would be celebrating his 960^th anniversary celebrations. 60 years is celebrated as ‘Sathabishekam’ and 960 would be 16 times 60 years.

Had the great fortune of attending the 958^th anniversary celebrations of Thirumalai Ananthazhwaar – a full day rendition of Swami Nammalwar’s Thiruvaimozhi and other pasurams sung by other Azhwars on Tirupathi Perumal. More details of this festivity later.

One would have visited the most sacred and reverred Thirumala many a times in life – but our wish to have more darshan of HIM would remain unsatiated. Crowds throng Thirumala in lakhs – people travel from far off places, wait patiently hours together to have glimpse of Lord. A few seconds of His darshan and chanting His name ‘Govinda, Govindha’ – makes us feel so happy and would feel extremely satisfied and blessed with His darshan. Then even as one prepares to leave the holy town, one starts the urge to come back to Tirupathi for having darshan again. It is only 150 kilo meters from the metropolis of Chennai and by road would take around 4 hours to reach the footsteps – “Alipiri – the malai adivaram” and another 45 minutes to reach atop the Holy Hills.

You have all the facilities, the roads are well laid, transportation is at its best as there are buses at almost every 5 minutes from the foothill to the top – private vehicles are allowed to be driven to the top – you can go in a two wheeler, car, van, jeep, bus and more. In olden days, people used to climb the hill afoot which was arduous. Sri Udayavar (Ramanujacharya) used to climb the hill on his knees reverring the sacredness of the hill itself. There are now 3550 steps and for a healthy person would take around 4 hours to climb by foot. . The footsteps in most places are well covered and there are shops which make available things to the pilgrims.

As you travel, One can also enjoy the beautiful hills of Vrushabadri, Anjanadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Seshadri, Narayanadri and finally Venkatadri. It will be rudimentary as every Bakhtha knows the lay out of the temple and the more than 6 foot tall Lord Srinivasa called by innumerable names with Shri Balaji, Venkatesar, Govindhar, Ezhumalai Appar, Yedu Kondala vadu, Venkata Ramana, Srinivasar and……… more…. The Uthsavar Srinivasar is also known as ‘Malai Appar’. In the Sannadhi, beautiful vigraham of Lord Rama is present.

One should also have darshan of Lord Varadharaja, Garuda waiting in front of the Lord Balaji, the Anandha vimana, Acharyar Ramanujar and Yoga Narasimhar. The gate which we cross for reaching the Lord, where Jaya & Vijaya stand as Gate keepers (Dwara balakas) is known as “Bangaru Vagili” (the golden gate). The step before Perumal is known as ‘Kulasekara padi’ as sung by Azhwar ‘padiyaai kidanthu Un pavala vaai kanbene’. Kulasekara Azhwaar in his Perumal Thirumozhi describes the various forms in which he would like to be, for having darshan and here he says that he would remain the leading steps, as he can have His uninterrupted darshan.

So fortunate to have darshan of Lord Srinivasa on Sunday 26^th Feb 2012. Here are some photos taken during the present trip.

Adiyen Srinivasa dhasan.