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.

Babies for rent at Tirupathi Devasthanam

I was watching India TV just now. I was shocked at this news:

3 months to 2 year old babies are available for rent at Tirupathi Devasthanam for phataphat darshan! Mostly on Mondays and Tuesdays! If you carry a small baby in your arms, you can skip the long queue and go in, via a shortcut way and have the Lord's darshan within one or two hours! Rent is Rs.200/- per hour!

They showed 3 persons with 3 rented babies in their arms.

Where are we going?

Tirupati Tirumala darshan.

We went to Tirupati to have darshan of Lord Venkateshwara on the Deepawali day. We had booked the tickets for 'Archananatara Darshan' (AAD) paying Rs.200/- per head in the month of June itself. They mention the darshan timing in the ticket itself and it was for 28th October '08 morning 5.30 a.m. This darshan starts at 4.30 in the morning every day and goes on till 6.30. Because of the terrorist threats, they do not allow us near the Garbha Gruha nowadays. If the crowd is less, they allow during this darshan, inside. Otherwise we have to get satisfied of the Lord's Darshan (God Venkateshwara is mentioned in the website of this temple as Lord Venkateshwars and Lord sounds funny for us!) from the outer level.

We reached Tirumala on the previous evening after having darshan of the Devi at Alamelu Mangapuram and it was late. Next day early morning, I heard the Nagaswaram at 1 a.m., Venkatesha Suprabhatam at 2 a.m. also. Got up at 3.30 a.m., had bath and were at the Vaikutam queue gates at 4.30 itself. There, a huge crowd was waiting and the temple officials were informing that because of the Deepawali festival, the Lord has got special poojas and so, they allowed people with AAD tickets early - from 3 to 4 a.m. They said that they had been announcing about this from the previous day evening via speakers. These speakers are inside the temple complex and can be heard only by the people who were inside the complex. How can the others hear it, I don't understand. They were asking us to come back at 9 a.m.

We had gone there by car and were able to have darshan afterwards and instead of returning home for lunch, came home late in the evening. There was a big group who had come from Mumbai and their return tickets were booked for 10 a.m. train. They returned back without having darshan.

The temple authorities should not have given darshan timing when the special Deepawali pooja is done every year at the same time. People come there from all over India to visit the temple and their whole plan gets upset and they get mentally upset for going back without having darshan. I do not know if this is the first time it is happening. Anyway, whoever is going to Tirupati have to get confirmed of the darshan timings, at least the previous day, I think.

We had a good darshan later on, though. The ex-CM of Andhra Pradesh, Mr.Naidu had done some very good arrangements for easy movements of the pilgrims and every year, more and more people are coming there! Lord Venkateshwas has to take care of all of us, I think!