Tirupati Venkateshwara Darshan - A Very Rare Happy Darshan

I had been to Tirupati Venkateshwara temple in  Andhra Pradesh, many times in the past years and used to come back frustrated after standing in the queue of unruly crowd for hours together, then having the darshan of Venkateshwara just for a fraction of a second or at the most, one second!  Still, we were going there again and again, because this god is our family deity  (Trichy Gunaseelam temple also) and we are supposed to visit these temples every year, which we don't follow (!) regularly, but do it at least once in 2-3 years (my son is rolling his eyes!). I prefer Gunaseelam temple, which does not attract much crowd and  a more peaceful place than Tirupati.

This time, my sister-in-law had booked for 'Tiruppavaadai Seva' (she had booked for this seva 5 years back, for Rs.5000/-) for which, apart from the couple, who book the ticket, 5 others can accompany them.  Thanks to her, we had a lifetime experience!

This seva was conducted in the mantap, which is in front of the main deity.   A huge mound of puliyodarai rice (tamarind rice) was spread in the shape of a rectangle (around 6-7 'long  x 4' broad x 2' high, approx.) with rounded corners, on a wooden plank, at the center of the mantap. The edges were carved like steps and the flat top had 7 mounds, depicting seven hills - four small mounds on four corners, two, next to the front two mounds and one huge mound at the center.  

The ticket holders were asked to sit on both sides of the rice hill and sankalpa was taken, i.e. the couple were asked for their and their family members' names, nakshatra, gothra (family lineage)  and the priest repeated with a plate of flowers which were touched by the couple. These flowers were used in the pooja later on.  We sat behind them.  Then, the mantras were recited for about 20-25 mts.   After aarthi, the couple were allowed for darshan first.  Then, we went inside. Normally, we are allowed to stand and have darshan near the dwaara paalakaas. Only during some sevas, the devotees are allowed inside.  

The inner area (Garbha Gruha) was dark and just the diyas were lit and the deity stood there, a medium sized idol,  without much ornaments - a dark stone statue with just shankha, chakra and the other two palms/hands,  in gold. The usual kireeta (crown) was not there on the head!   The feet were not covered with gold. The torso had just a yajnopaveetha (sacred thread), a folded angavastra and a blue dhoti in the waist.  The naamam also did not have any diamonds, just plain naamam (two white straight stripes on the sides and a red one in the middle)on the forehead.  The glittering jewellery and the kireeta, made the idol look huge and tall, on normal days, I think.  We had the normal darshan also, the previous evening - the usual flash of a darshan!

As the whole world knows, Lord Venkateshwara is the richest god in the world and the idol is always covered with huge emeralds and diamonds.  This time we had the darshan of the original idol, for the first time.   Normally, when we come  out, we just feel relieved and breathe easy.  This time all of us never expected this type of darshan.  We were sort of dazed and we will never ever forget this incident in our lives.  

I got this video of the pooja of Lord Sri Venkateshwara, which was shot in the year 1966.  

During the abhishekha, you can see the original vigraha (idol).  We saw this, which we had not seen on our previous visits.  Vishnu Sahasra Naama is heard in the beginning and later on, the famous Carnatic singer Balamurali Krishna and Ghantasaala are singing in the background.  

This also is an old video clip, which is very very interesting:

We can see the deity clearly.  Each and every part of the idol can be seen clearly.  I noticed, one more thing...they sang a stanza of Tamil 'Thiruppaavai' !  Thiruppaavai was written by Aandaal, for Kannan (Lord Krishna), like Meera wrote songs on Kaanha .  This is news to me! Famous Telugu playback singer Ghantasaala is singing in the background.   Laddoos are carried in cane baskets!   The devotees were able to see aarti and then the priest places 'jhataari' on the devotees' heads, which is not done now...too much crowd!

I thought of booking tickets for this seva, but was told that it is not available for another 7 years!  This seva is done only on Thursdays and is in high demand, naturally!  Anyway, I am happy I had this chance of a good darshan this time.

Temple Gopuram Photo courtesy: Amit Vasisht.