SRI SRINIVASA LORD OF SEVEN HILLS SRI SRINIVASA LORD OF

Sri Srinivasa - Lord of Seven Hills Sri Srinivasa - Lord of Seven Hills

SRI SRINIVASA

LORD OF SEVEN HILLS(Glory of Lord Balaji Sri Venkateswara)

VISWAPATHI(Timmaraju Viswapathi Rama Krishna Murthy)

SHRI DESIGNSVedic Business Consultants

www.shridesigns.netHyderabad.

2008

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SRI SRINIVASALORD OF SEVEN HILLS(Glory of Lord Balaji Sri Venkateswara)

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SRI SRINIVASALORD OF SEVEN HILLS

(Glory of Lord Balaji Sri Venkateswara)

CONTENTS

S.NO. CHAPTER PAGE NO.

1. VENKATADRI-

Sacred hill of thousand names 1

2. SRI VARI SUPRABHATHAM 7

3. ANANDA NILAYAM 10

4. FRIDAY ABHISEKHAM 19

5. BHOGA SRINIVASA MURTHY 24

6. UGRA SRINIVASA MURTHY 28

7. KOLUVU SRINIVASA MURTHY 30

8. SRIVARI BRAHMOTSAVAMS 33

9. LORD SRI VARAHA SWAMY 41

10. SARVAROOPA SRINIVASA 43

11. SRI MALAYAPPA SWAMY 48

12. SURYANARAYANA IN TIRUMALA 51

13. PULANGI SEVA 53

14. THIRU NAMAM 57

15. ALVARS 61

16. SRI ANNAMACHARYA 66

17. A DAY IN TIRUMALA TEMPLE 72

18. SRIVARI PADALU 77

19. SACRED STEPS 78

20. TIRUMALA IN OLDEN DAYS 82

Y


NIVEDANAThirumala is the most sacred place in this

universe. Lord Srinivasa, the supreme lord of SevenHills is the most famous & most powerful deity of theworld. Everyday, thousands of devotees visit Thirumalato have Lord’s darsan. They come from across thecountry and abroad too.

By the grace of Lord Srinivasa, I wrote threebooks so far, all of which are in Telugu, my, mothertongue. I wrote the first one ‘Sri Srinivasa Mahatmyam’in 2002 following a divine order. In 2005, I wrote ‘SriVenkateswara Vratha Kalpam’- a vratha kadha book ofLord Sri Venkateswara. It is very simple and any onecan perform it easily. We have translated this intoHindi too. In 2007 I wrote ‘Sri VenkateswaraDarsanam’ which explains the glory of SriVenkateswara through 24 kesava namams. All these threebooks have become very popular with the devotees. Itis only with my poorva janma punyam that I couldwrite these three books. I was only holding the pen andit is He who wrote them. But for His enormous grace,I would not scribbled even word about Him.

I did my M.Tech. in Electrical Engineering fromRegional Engineering college, Warangal in 1983. Iworked in industry and teaching till 1998. I have alsodrawn cartoons for Indian Express between 1984-90. Istarted designing logos for business organization in 1993by applying vedic principles under the name “SHRIDESIGNS”. It is absolutely by the grace of LORDSRI VENKATESWARA that all the companies forwhich I have designed logos are doing very well today.I have so far selected Company names, Brand names,and designed Logos based on birth particulars ofpromoters for more than 2,500 organisations worldwide.

Thirumala is the most sacred place in thisuniverse. Every stone on Tirumala has got a story totell. In fact ,each stone is nothing but saligrama sila,image of Lord Vishnu. One requires several thousandjanmas’ punya, even to step on this sacred hill andseveral crores janmas’ punya to have lord’s darsan.Every second, a miracle occurs on Thirumala hills.Many devotees experience great miracles of LordSrinivasa while on the hill. For those who have greatfaith in Him, they can experience His miracles and feelHis presence in their day to day life too, wherever theyare in this world.

Many books have already been published on LordSrinivasa. But each one’s experiences with Him areunique to themselves. I have been thinking of writing abook in English for the last couple of years. I am able


to write it finally now with His benovelence. This book,Sri Srinivasa - Lord of Seven Hills is written in simplefree flowing English. I just wrote the way the flow hasappeared in my mind. You may find severalgrammatical mistakes. I request you to kindly excuse meas I gave more importance to bhava (expression) ratherthan grammatical language.

I have experienced several miracles while writingthese books. It is my strong belief and experience toothat if we have strong sankalp, He will take care ofeverything and make our work easier. In fact, HEHimself will be behind us every moment. LordSrinivasa, is the kindest of all. The easiest way to getHis blessings is by abject surrender at His lotus feet.

Whatever I could write is only far less than evenTrillionth of his glory. When even the thousand tonguedAdisesha, cannot describe His glory fully, need we sayanything more about ordinary mortals like me? I prayLord Srinivasa to pardon me if I have committed anymistakes while writing this book.

I express my sincere thanks to authors of severalbooks which were of great help while writing this book.I have taken the writing of this book as an yagna andseveral people helped me in this yagna. I am verythankful to my wife Smt. Venkata Rukmini Vydehi,daughters Anandi and Amuktha and son Aditya Srinivas.I am greatly indebted to Sri Ramana Murthy, SriA.K.Goyal, Sri Y.B.S.Murthy, Sri Madhu, Sri Ravi

Namburu and many others without whose noble supportI would not have completed it. I also thank Jagadeeshof Sri Vasavi Graphics for his excellent designing work.

There are great scholars and devotees among you.I request you to kindly inform me through e-mail orletter any suggestions you want to give. You are mostwelcome to write to me your opinions so that they canbe incorporated in the next editions.

What can I offer in return to my Lord forshowering such enormous blessings on me? What can Ioffer to the Parama Purusha to whom everything in thiscreation owes it’s origin. I promise my Lord thatspreading Sri Venkata Tatwam is the only goal of mylife and pray Him to bless me with strength andconfidence to carry it out forever Om NamoVenkatesaya…Om Namo Srinivasaya…Om NamoNarayanaya…

I pray Lord Sri Venkateswara and SrideviBhoodevi to shower their blessings on all of you.

I will be very glad to receive your feedback.

VISWAPATHI(T.V.R.K.Murthy)


Dedicated to the Sacred feet of Lord

Sri Venkateswara in memory of my late parents

Sri Timmaraju Lakshmi Narasimha Rao

&

Smt. Timmaraju Naga Ratnamba.


Chapter-1

VENKATADRIsacred hill of thousand names

Venkatadri, the abode of Lord Srinivasa is themost sacred place in this universe. It is said in severalpuranas that it is only with punya of several thousandsbirths one will be able to step on this sacred mountain.Srinivasa, the Supreme Lord is affectionately called bydevotees as lord of seven hills. The seven hills areSeshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrishabhadri,Narayanadri and Venkatadri. Venkatadri, the most sereneplace in this universe has several names… kanakadri,theerdadri, srisailam, chintamani, srigiri, seshachalam,venkatachalam, etc.

A devotee is filled with infinite joy walkingthrough these mountains and reaching the top of thehills. Once you go by walk, you feel like going bywalk every time… such is the power of these hills…

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the most picturesque surroundings take you to unknownworlds…. nature in it’s splendor…

Venkatadri is very dear to Lord Srimannarayana.The syllable’vem’ indicates amritha (nectar) and ‘kata’denotes aiswarya or prosperity. Thus venkatadribestows a devotee with bliss, prosperity and ultimatehappiness.

Venkatadri is the first place in this universe. LordSrimannarayana kills the demon Hiranakshya , saves thisworld in varaha avatar (white boar). Lord brings upthe world on his tusk. Venkatadri is the first place tocome out of water and it is from this sacred hill thatLord Brahma started the whole creation at the behest ofLord Srimannarayana. Every devotee should visit SriVaraha Swamy temple near the main temple inThirumala.

Lord Srimannarayana decided to descend on thishill from sri vaikuntham to save the people frommiseries of kaliyug. As by then Sri Varaha Swamy isalready on the hill, Lord requests him for some placeon the hill. Varaha Swamy accepts this request andgrants Lord 100 feet place on the hill on the conditionthat first puja and naivedyam should be accorded tohim and only then to Lord Srimannarayana… LordSrinivasa happily accepts this and this custom isfollowed till today. It is the tradition of Thirumala thata devotee should first visit Lord Varaha Swamy’s temple

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before going into the main temple to visit Lord Balaji.It is only then that Lord Balaji is pleased.

To strengthen the fact that it was all under wateronce upon a time, we can still see many plants onthese hills which normally grow only under waterelsewhere. We will not find them growing on the landanywhere else in this world except on Venkatadri.Similarly many trees on these hills are brought by godsto this hill when all of them descended from celestialworlds to pray Lord Srimannarayana staying on the hill in the form of Srinivasa … It is because of thepresence of these divine trees that the weather is verypleasant all through the year on these hills.

Venkatadri is called by several names… seshadribecause adisesha, the serpent king took the form of ahill… adisesha is the most ardent devotee of lord…garudadri because it is garuda (the eagle lord) whobrought this hill from sri vaikuntham… as this hillhappens to be the abode of Sri Mahalakshmi too, itcalled srisailam… ’sri’ meaning Maha Lakshmi and‘saila’ meaning hill… It is also called Narayanadribecause once a Brahmin by name Narayana did tapasof Srimannarayana on this hill… vrishabhadri because ademon by name Vrishasura used to live on this hilltroubling saints… Lord Srimannarayana kills him on thishill in a fierce war… the battle went on for severaldays and finally the demon lost all his energies and

recognizes him as none other than supreme LordSrimannarayana himself… He then requests SupremeLord that the hill be called by his name Vrishabhadriafter his death… Lord, the most benevolent ,grants hisrequest… Thus the hill is also called vrishabhadri.

The stillness of the beautiful forest reverberateswith chantings of govinda, govinda by devotees trekkingthe sacred hills by walk with great faith in Lord ofseven hills Sri Venkateswara, the supreme power.

Venkatadri is nothing but Lord Srimannarayana’s kreedadri (sporting place) of srivaikuntha brought to thisearth by garuda. It is resplendent with wonderful trees,plants and shrubs of wonderful scented flowers… Everresounding with melody of singing birds… filled withdelightful streamlets…

Venkatadri is also called chintamani as it grantsall desires of devotees… gnanadri because of it’s powerof conferring enormous knowledge… kanakadri as thehill is nothing but kanaka (gold) itself… To ordinarymortals like us it is looking like a rocky mountain…But it is actually splendid gold…It is also known assimhachala as it is believed Lord Srimannarayana killedthe demon Hiranyakasipa on this hill…anjanadri asAnjana Devi, mother of Lord Hanuman gave birth tohim on this hill after doing tapas for several years…Aswe all know Lord Hanuman is of Siva amsa…observethis unique aspect…Anjana Devi did tapas onSrimannarayana’s Venkatadri and is blessed with a boy

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of Siva amsa…Vishnu and Siva are same…sivayavishnuroopaya siva roopaya vishnave…Both are differenttatwams of same supreme force…In fact another pointworth mentioning here is none other than LordMahaSiva Himself is the kshetra palaka of thirumalahills…Kshetra Palaka is the ruler or protector of theplace. In the earlier days there used to be a big sphereshaped rock in the temple. It is believed to be Sivaamsa. After closing the hills the temple archakas(priests) used to keep the keys on this rock. The rockused to go round the sanctum sanctorum protecting it.One day a small boy happens to come under sphericalrock and gets wounded…then the archakas and templeofficials shifted the rock to a far off place on the hill.Special prayers are offered at this place even today onevery Maha Sivarathri festival day…

It is also called neeladri because once a demonby the name ‘neela’ was staying on the hills troublingthe saints doing tapas. He was ultimately killed by lordSrimannarayana and the hill thereafter is called neeladriat the request of the demon.one more story states that amonkey king by name ‘neela’ was staying on this hilland hence the name neeladri. According to anotherstory, a female devotee by name ‘neelambari’ was thefirst one to offer hair to Lord on this hill. So the nameNeeladri. Perhaps it is due to this reason that tonsureceremony is called talaneelalu in telugu. Tonsuring ofhead is an important custom in thirumala. Everyday anestimated 5,000 devotees offer hair in Thirumala. It

symbolizes the surrendering our ego before the SupremeLord.

Venkatadri’s glory can not be described fully byfour faced Brahma or thousand eyed Indra or thousandhooded adisesha….such is the power of this hill thatany good deed done on this hills bestows a person withthousand times more blessings. Lord Srinivasa is theantaryami of all of us and it is by serving him onegets eternal bliss…om namo venkatesaya…om namosrinivasaya…om namo narayanaya…

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Chapter-2

SRIVARI SUPRABHATHAM Lord Srinivasa wakes up every morning to the

chanting of ‘Suprabhatham’. Temple archakas standinfront of bangaru vakili of ananda nilayam at about2.30 A.M. and recite suprabhatham consisting of 29slokas, Sri Venkateswara Stotra consisting of 11 stanzas,Sri Venkateswara prapatthi of sixteen slokas and SriVenkateswara Mangala Sasanam consisting of 14 slokas.It is believed Sri Prathivada Bhayankar Annan, anardent devotee of Lord Srinivasa composed thesuprabhatham.

A devotee experiences magnificent divine joywhile listening to these recitations. One may not evenunderstand the language or meaning. but the vibrationsof the flow are simply superb…we are taken tounknown worlds hearing suprabhatham…even if welisten once our whole body vibrates with the divinerhythm of Suprabhatham forever.

Suprabhatham of Lord consists of 29 slokasreflecting deep devotion to Lord Srimannarayana. Thefirst sloka starts like ‘kousalya supraja rama…’thesuprabhatam starts with prasing Lord Srinivasa and thenthere is an invocation to Sri Maha Lakshmi which goeslike ‘mathah samastha jagatham…’

Sri Venkateswara stotra comprising of 11 slokaswonderfully describes the glory of lord srinivasa …mostof us familiar with one of the slokas which goes likethis….

Vina venkatesam na nadho na nadhaha

Sada venkatesam smarami smarami

Hare venkatesam presida presida

Priyam venkatesa prayascha prayascha

Only venkateswara is our lord…no one else…noother refuge for us…only your namam reverberates inour hearts always… oh! swamy! venkatesa!... showeryour divine blessings on us always… grant me all mywants… kindly bestow your blessings on me always….

Sri Venkateswara prapatti consisting of sixteenstanzas is an exquisite piece of poetry starting with aninvocation to Supreme Mother Sri Maha Lakshmi.Lord’s mangala sasanam consisting of thirteen slokastakes a devotee to mystic divine experiences.

Every morning Lord of Seven Hills wakes up tothe recitation of these slokas with a magnificent smile

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on his lips…the smile that is the supreme protection forthis universe…the smile that overpowers everything elsein this universe with it’s magnificent divinity and charm…the smile that engulfs the whole universe withultimate bliss…the smile that fills us all with a sense offulfillment and joy…the smile that relieves us all of oursorrows…

Oh! Srinivasa!...You are Supreme…You areeverything to me and everything around me is noneother than You…Om Namo Venkatesaya…Om NamoSrinivasaya…Om Namo Narayanaya…

Chapter-3

ANANDANILAYAM According to legends the Thirumala temple was

first built by King Thondaman at the order of LordSrinivasa. It is believed lord was standing in open withsky as umbrella for a long time. Thondaman built thebasic temple. no one knows the exact timing of thisconstruction of sactum sanctorum. Reference to thistemple can be found is Tamil literature as early as 2A.D. So temple must have been in existence far earlier.According to some devotees it is far earlier than 250millions years.

Thondaman built the garbhalayam (sanctumsanctorum) of the temple. All additional structures camemuch later. Garbhalaya is called as anandanilayam…the one that gives enormous joy todevotees…it is the place which gives a devotee infinitehappiness.

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Lord Sri Venkateswara is swayambhu, self-manifest.Lord’s image is not carved by either humans or gods.Lord Srimannarayana Himself took the form of a silamurthi to bless us all in this Kaliyug.

The Supreme Lord Srimannarayana manifests infive aspects. They are para (the transcendent), vyuha(the emanating), vibhava (the immanent), antaryami andlastly the archavathara (the form of consecrated image).The first one para rupa is Lord Srimannarayana invaikuntha seated on Adisesha. In this form He isavailable only for free souls such as ananta, garuda,sudarsana etc.called nitya-suris. No one else, evendevathas can not approach him in para roopa.

The second aspect of Srimannarayana is vyuhaavatar. This again has four aspects namely vasudeva,sankarshana, pradyumna and anirudha. Even these fouraspects of vyuha avtar of lord are in reach of onlyvery greately blessed souls.

The third one is called vibhava avatar. In thisavatar Lord Srimannarayana is available to all of us. Infact he moves among us as one of us. Sri Rama, SriKrishna, Vamana etc.are vibhava avathars ofSrimannarayana.

In The fourth aspect Lord Srimannarayana lives inthe hearts of yogis as antaryami and is meditated up onby them.

And the fifth aspect is archavathara. It is in thisform He is available to all of us. Lord Srimannarayanatakes the form of an idol so that it is easy for all ofus to worship him. Archavathara again has many aspectssuch as divya, manusha, siddha, swayam vyaktha…if theidol of the lord is consecrated by gods it is divya…if itis installed by humans it is called manusha…swayamvyaktha is the supreme among all these as it is theform in which Lord Himself manifests…He isconsecrated by neither humans nor devathas…Lordhimself takes the form He wishes to bless His devotees.Thirumala and Srirangam come under this aspect ofarchavatar. In Thirumala thus Lord SrimannarayanaHimself is manifest to redeem all of us from miseriesof Kaliyug.

Lord Srimannarayana is present in ananda nilayamas srinivasa to bless us all…eventhough He is appearinglike silaroop (idol) Lord is present Himself in His viswaroop in ananda nilayam…to ordinary mortals like us Heappears to be a statue… it is because of Lord’spresence whole area is filled with an air of divinity. Weare all taken to world of unbounded joy as long as weare in the vicinity of ananda nilayam because ofpresence of parama purusha, the supreme lord.

While doing floral alankar to Lord, it is said, thatif archakas come in touch with lord’s image they feelas if it is human touch..hands are very tender likehuman beings…some devotees at times observed lord’slips moving with a majestic smile…Lord Srimannarayana

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Himself is infront of all of us to bless us!...Oh! Howblessed all of us are!...always remember that He is thekindest of all…He and He alone knows all ourlimitations…our weaknesses…our problems…everythingabout us…your brother, your sister, your spouse, or evenyour parents many not understand you fully…but heknows everything about you…and always remember Heis the most affectionate…no one else is moreaffectionate to you than him …just think of Him withsincerity…you do not have do big yagnas oryagas…smaran alone is enough…he will instantlyanswer your prayers…all your problems will vanish intothin air…

When a devotees stands infront of the Lord, heforgets everything… you are dumbstruck with hismajestic, magnificent and most beautiful and evercharming murthi…such is the power of Lord that youcan not stare at the moorthi continuously for a fewseconds…unknowingly one closes his eyes…we go toHim with so many desires…but the moment you areinfront Him you are speechless…an aura of ultimatehappiness sweeps across you that you forget everythingelse in this world…all your desires, all yourproblems…everything you wanted to seek from Him…allthese will not come into your mind at all…you areengulfed by the supreme, devine aura…Oh! Swamy!what a divine darsan?...kindly grant us one moredarsan…this is what every devotee feels before leavingThirumala…

Lord’s image is about nine feet in height…Hiseyes are dark and long…He is looking at all of us inwhat is called ‘sama drishti’ the looks are absolutelyhorizontal…He is looking with a grand smile of extra-ordinary tranquility…the smile that envelopes all Hiscreation with benovelence…Oh! Swamy!... when you aretaking care of us with such an affectionate smile whyshould we worry at all?...

Lord is richly adorned with flowing locks of hairwith some of them resting on his shoulders…theshoulders have marks resembling scars made by constantwearing of bow and a pack of arrows… Lord’s imagehas four arms and the upper two hold sankha andchakra…sankha and chakra are not an integral part ofthe idol. They were later adorned by SriRamanujacharya… the lower right hand is thevaradahastha pose…the lower left hand is inkatyavalambitha pose…it is to convey us all that forthose who seek me ,ocean of life is only knee-deep…inthe image the fingers of left hand actually rest on leftthigh with the thumb almost parallel to waist line…

Another interesting feature is Lord is not exactlystanding in the tribhanga posture. The murthi has takena tilt slightly to the left…knees themselves are bent andopen slightly outwards… Goddess Sri Mahalakshmi ison the right chest in sitting posture and forms anintegral part of Moola Murthi…Lord has anyagnopaveetham (sacred thread) too…we can observe aset of four necklaces and ornaments on the neck

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too…Oh! Swamy! How charming You are !...howmagnificent you are!... Murthi has armlets too……Lord’smurthi is depicted wearing a dhoti below waistdownwards while upper portion is not covered with anygarment…the nipples in the chest are prominent…srivaru, as Lord Srinivasa is affectionately called bymany devotees, also has a katibandham… Oh! Swamy!when Adisesha with his thousand tongues could notdescribe even thousandth of your glory what can anordinary fellow like me?... when even great saints likeBharadwaja could not describe your divya mangalaroopa completely what can an ordinary mortal likeme?...it is only my poorva janma punya that I am ableto write a few lines about you…Oh! Swamy! howmerciful you are!

Srivari’s feet are magnificent. Annamacharya, thegreat composer and ardent devotee of Lord Srinivasadescribes them in one of his keerthanas as ‘Brahmakadigina padamu’…the feet that are served by noneother than Lord Brahma himself…it is believed thatviraja river, which flows in lord’s vaikuntam flows inthe sacred mountains as antarvahini. It flows underlord’s feet in the temple. In the olden days water usedto ooze out from the lord’s feet…

Except temple archakas no one goes inside thesanctum sanctorum…no devotee, even of the highestauthority of land, is allowed inside…we all have to stopat ‘kulasekhara padi’…Kulasekhara, one of the TamilAlwars, praises Lord and says he want to be the

‘gadapa’ (wooden step) of ananda nilayam so that hecan have Lord’s maginificient darsan forever…hence itis called ‘kulasekhara padi’

Lord Srinivasa stands on a padmapeeth, a pedestalof lotus flowers. It is believed that Sri AdiSankaracharya when he visited Thirumala placed ‘SriChakram’below Lord’s moorthi and Dhana AkarshnaYantra’below Lord’s Hundi…some say this is one of thereasons for the temple attracting thousands of devoteesand large amounts of donations…

Every devotee’s experience of Lord’s darsan isunique to himself…some say they feel as If Lord issmiling at them…some say they have seen bright tejas,so bright that they could not withstand it’s power andhad to close their eyes…some say they had ultimate joyat that instant, a joy which can not be described inwords…some say they heard pranava, the omkara at thetime of darsan…every one’s experiences are exclusive tothemselves…every second a miracle occurs inThirumala…if one has absolute faith he can experienceLord Balaji’s miracles in day to day life tooeveryday…the easiest way to get His blessings is byfollowing saranagathi, the doctrine of self-surrender. Itis the easiest of all means to get His infinite mercy.

Lord Srinivasa is omniscient and omnipotent. Heknows everything what we have done in the past, whatwe are doing at present and what we intend to do infuture. We can not conceal anything from Him. With

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the recommendation from supreme mother goddess SriMaha Lakshmi he forgives all our faults and bestowshis blessings.

Narayana anuvaka of taittariya Upanishad statesexplicitly that Srimannarayana, our Balaji, our Srinivasa,our Venkateswara, is the cause of this world, the para-tatwa, the parama purusha, the supreme soul of all.

Narayana anuvaka goes like this…He is thethousand headed god. He sees all things and He is thesource of welfare of all the creation. Narayana is theworld. He is the unchanging master. He is eternal andauspicious. Narayana is the supreme light. Narayanapervades everything in the world. He is the paratatwa,param jyothy and paramatma.

It is believed all devathas visit Lord in the nightafter the temple is closed. Everyday before closing thetemple in the night temple archakas keep sacred waterin a golden vessel for the devathas to offer prayers tolord srinivasa. It is believed that many times the vesselwill be half empty by morning. Priests and templeofficials take this sacred water as theertham.

We can not see lord’s sacred feet except onFriday morning during ‘nija pada darsanam’. At allother times Lord’s feet are covered by sacred tulasileaves. Tulasi is very dear to Lord Srimannarayana. Lordis very pleased if anyone offers prayers to Him withtulasi leaves. Tulasi is the most sacred plant in thisuniverse… any flower which is used once in puja of

any Lord cannot be re-used… but tulasi can be re-usedin puja…while staying on the sacred Thirumala hills, byjust thinking of tulasi which Lord beloves most, one isrelieved of all miseries.

Lord Srinivasa is the supreme…most affectionate…by praying Him we can easily get rid of sins committedin thousands of previous births…Oh! Swamy! bless uswith your infinite mercy…Om Namo Venkatesaya…OmNamo Srinivasaya…Om Namo Narayanaya…

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Chapter-4

FRIDAY ABHISHEKAMThe Friday abhishekam of Lord Srinivasa is a

glorious spectacle. Devotees can have a close look atLord’s moola murthi only during this abhisheka seva asmany ornaments are removed for abhishekam.

Lord is given a full bath on every Friday, whichis called pooraabhishekam. Among all sevas thisparticular seva has got the longest waiting. If one buysa ticket for this seva, he gets his turn only after 20years (at the time of writing this book)…the ticket costsRs.750 and only one person is allowed. This seva hasgot greatest demand as we can sit in front of lord foralmost an hour watching abhisheka seva. One more sevais added to this in the recent times, called vastra seva,in which one can offer a vastram to Lord Srinivasa.This seva costs Rs.12,500 as of now. Only about 15-20tickets are issued for this sevas every Friday. Thosewho take this seva tickets can sit in the front rows.Even this seva has got a waiting time of several years.

Perhaps nowhere else in the world a temple seva hassuch a long waiting time as that of Abhisheka Seva ofLord Srinivasa.

It is believed Samavai, a queen of Pallava dynastyhas initiated this abhishekam of lord in 614 A.D. It isshe who presented bhoga srinivasa idol, a replica ofLord Srinivasa to the temple during one of her visits.As it happened to be a Friday the queen performedabhishekam to Lord’s main moorthi and this practice iscontinued till today. It is believed that in the initial daysabhishekam was done everyday to moola murthi. LaterSri Ramanujacharya has changed it to a weekly seva.

Elaborate preparations are under taken for theabhishekam of Lord Sri Balaji. Many sugandh dravyasare used in the abhisheka water. Lord’s abhishekam isdone to the chanting of purusha suktham, sri suktham,narayana suktham and divya prabandhas etc. Abhishekaof lord starts with suddhodakam (pure water) andalternates with milk and chandana (sandalwood) water.

An unique feature is application of civet oil beforeabhishekam. It is believed that this is done perhaps asa preservative.

As the lord is very tall, of about nine feet, thepriest performing the abhisheka stands on stool. He alsocovers his head and mouth with a turban going roundhis head and chin.

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All major ornaments of Lord are removed andLord is draped in a white dhoti. Sankha and Chakra notremoved. These two are never removed on anyoccasion…namam is thinned…We can see Lord in Hisnija roopa as he has manifested in ananda nilayam,sanctum sanctorum. Goddess Sri Maha Lakshmi is alsoclearly visible on Lord’s right chest…Lord is given bathfirst with akasa ganga theertham brought by archakas ingolden vessels…this is followed by ksheerabhishekam inwhich lord is given sacred bath with pure milk…themilk is little warm…archakas carefully collect milkflowing from lord’s two hands i.e.kati hastham andvarada hastham and distribute it to the devotees afterthe seva is completed. After this Lord is given bathwith sacred water mixed with many sugandh dravyas.This sacred water flowing from Lord’s murthi iscollected in golden vessels and is called sripadatheertham in temple traditions. It is given to archakas,temple officials and devotees after the seva isover…how blessed are the ones who get thistheertham…what can be more sacred than this in theworld with which Lord Srimannarayana himself is givena bath!...It is only with punya of thousands of janmasone can get this sripada theertham. Even if we take atiny droplet of this theertham we are cured of allillnesses…and are relieved of all sins done in severalthousand janmas. The moment it touches one’s tonguewhole body gets reverberated with narayana namam…

Annamacharya, the legendary composer describesthis sacred Sripada Theertham in many of hiskeerthanas. He says at one place…sreepada theerthambe chedani mandu…moha pasalu gosi mokshamicchemandu…meaning it is the medicine which cures alldiseases and it is the only one which gives mokshaeasily. Let’s pray Lord Srinivasa to bless us with thistheertham in our next trip to Thirumala…

Devotees can have divine darsan of His sacredfeet only on this day…Lord Srinivasa’s feet are coveredwith golden covering at all other times…let’s pray Hisdivine feet…it is the only saviour to all of us…it isthis feet which is prayed always by 33 crores gods…itis the darshan of this feet that many yogis, sadhus,kinneras and kimpurushas are doing tapas for millionsof years…just close your eyes for a while…Lord willbless you with a darsan of His divine feet…we are allblessed by Lord Balaji…

Devotees having darsan on Friday morning canhave blessings of having darsan of Lord’s divine feet.

After abhishekam is done with sacred waters ofbangaru bavi, Lord is given another bath with holywater from akasa ganga theertham…after this archakasuse a sacred cloth to dry Sri Swamy vari’s MoolaMurthi from crown to feet…it is believed that whiledoing so some archakas observe small droplets of sweaton Lord’s Murthi as if a human being is standing…aslukewarm water is used for abhishekam Lord too sweats

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a bit like all of us…Oh! how blessed the archakas tohave such divine experiences…

Lord’s namam is now thickened and made broadertoo…refined camphor is pressed on the chin of Lord…Katuka (collyrium) is applied to Lord’s eyes.

We can see Lord’s namam now in fullsplendor…the namam that is savior of mankind…thenamam that grants us everything we seek…the namamthat saves us from all miseries…that namam thatultimately gives us moksha…

Abhishekam of Lord Sri Mahalakshmi on Lord’schest is performed and harathi is given…then Lord isdressed in pattu vastram bedecked fully withmagnificient jewellery...

What a magificient darsan…Oh! Swamy save usall from all these worldy miseries and bless us everwith your divine smile…Om Namo Venkatesaya…OmNamo Srinivasaya… Om Namo Narayanaya…

Chapter-5

BHOGA SRINIVASA MURTHYMany interesting practices are followed in the

Thirumala temple. one such interesting practice is thepradhama darsan, the first darsan of Lord Srinivasa inAnanda Nilayam…everyday Lord gives pradham darsanto an yadava boy!...yes, not an archaka…nor a templeofficial…it is a person of Yadava hereditary who getsfirst darsan of lord when the temple is opened around2.30 A.M. everyday…it is because when Lord stayed onThirumala Hills as Srinivasa it is person of Yadava sectwho first sees him…Lord blessed him and told him thatHe would grant pradham darsan to his decsendents forever…this custom is followed till today and adescendant of that yadava family is given first darsantill today. He is called sannidhi golla in templepractices. When the temple doors are opened in themorning, it is this person who goes inside to have

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Lord’s darsan…this darsan is called viswaroopadarsan…

Another interesting aspect is no prasadam likepulihora, daddhojanam or even famous laddu is offeredto Sri Swamy Varu in the sanctum sanctorum…all theseare offered by keeping them out side only…only atypical rice prasadam goes inside that too in a piece ofan earthen pot!...not a silver vessel nor a goldenvessel…the only Prasad that is offered to lord insidegarbhalayam is in small earthen pot piece…Lord gaveword to an ardent kummari (potter) devotee ‘kuruvarathinambi’ that only the prasadam in earthen pot piece isto be offered to Him always…see Lord’s benovelence…He has thousands of kilograms of gold at His disposal.He has wonderful and most valuable golden utensilsdonated to Him by rich and the mighty…but He choseto accept only the prasadam in an narthen potpiece…Oh! Swamy! How merciful you are!...it isbecause of this gesture of Lord Srinivasa, Annamacharyacalls lord as thomani pallala vadu, meaning a personwho does not use any washed plates.

We find four murthis of Lord in the garbhalayamapart from Lord’s Dhruva Murthi. One of them is calledbhoga srinivasa murthi, which is also called ‘kouthukabera’ or ‘purusha bera’ in vaikhanasa tradition. this idolis consecrated by Samavai, a pallava queen in 966 A.D.It is for this Bhoga Srinivasa Murthi’s idol that theEkantha Seva is performed every night. During thisseva Bhoga Srinivasa Murthi’s idol is placed in a silver

cradle in sayana mantapa and milk etc.are offered toLord to the accompaniment of music and songscomposed by tallapaka poets. Sanadal paste is appliedto feet of lord’s main murthi, and to Sri MahaLakshmi’s image in Lord’s chest and to Sri BhogaSrinivasa murthi. A part of this paste is kept in agolden plate for the use of Lord Brahma and otherdevathas visiting lord in the nights. It is believed alldhevathas descend on Thirumala in divya roopas in thenights and offer prayers to Lord Srimannarayana inAnanda Nilayam. On many occasions devotees sleepingin temple mantapams heard temple bells ringing on theirown!...it is nothing but devathas offering arathi to lord.

As all gods are present on the Thirumala Hills inthe nights the atmosphere is electrifying. If we takestroll anywhere on the hills between 2.30 A.M.-4.30A.M. we can feel a pleasant, divine and magnificient airsweepings across us…we forget all our miseries andyour body becomes very light…omkara reverberates inyour body…

The idol of Bhoga Srinivasa Murthi is a true copyof dhruva murthi (moola murthi) except that Sankha andChakra are permanently fixed in the case of this idolwhere as they are not an integral part of the mulamurthi…we can also find an Yantra placed below BhogaSrinivasa Murthi’s idol…it is believed such a similaryantra is present below Lord’s murthi is garbhalayaalso…

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Bhoga Srinivasa Murthi’s idol is kept very closeto main murthi in the sanctum sanctorum. Abhisekhamis performed to Bhoga Srinivasa Murthy everyday whileit is done to the Moola Murthy only on Fridays.Sahasra kalasabhishekam is done to Bhoga SrinivasaMurthi every Wednesday at 6.00 A.M. During this sevathis idol is kept connected to lord’s main murthi with agolden thread…the inner meaning of it is that it is asif the abhishekam is performed to lord’s main murtiitself….let’s all pray Bhoga Srinivasa Murthy to bless usall with His darsan too in our next trip toThirumala…Om Namo Venkatesaya…Om NamoSrinivasaya…Om Namo Narayanaya…

Chapter-6

UGRA SRINIVASA MURTHIApart from the main idol in the sanctum

sanctorum, it is this idol of the Lord which is theoldest. It is believed that this idol of Lord wasparticipating in all the temple festivals in the oldendays. This practice was discontinued in 1330 whenmany calamities occurred while Ugra Srinivasa Murthi’sidol was going on in procession during a festival. Sincethen the murthi is never brought outside AnandaNilayam.

Every year only on two occasions the idol isbrought outside. One on dwadasa thiruvaradhana dayand second time on karthika dwadasi also called kaisikadwadasi or ksheerabdhi dwadasi.on the day of dwadasathiruvaradhana Ugra Srinivasa Murthi’s idol is broughtto ghanta mantapam at 10.00 P.M. and again kept backin ananda nilayam after the completion of puja rituals.

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On karthika dwadasi day this murthi is taken in aprocession in ‘maha pradakshina marg’. Extreme care istaken to ensure puja rituals are over well before3.00A.M.itself. It is strongly believed that sun raysshould not fall on this idol at any cost as it wouldbring ugra roopa to the idol resulting in calamities and catastrophes for the world…so the archakas and templeofficial see to it that the idol is kept back in AnandaNilayam well before sunrise.

Oh! Swamy! you are the most benevolent !whyshould we worry when you are there to take care ofus…Om Namo Venkatesaya…Om Namo Srinivasaya…OmNamo Narayanaya…

Chapter-7

KOLUVU SRINIVASA MURTHIIn whatever roop we see him, He is simply beauty

personified…ultimate divine beauty…koluvu srinivasamurthi too is one such idol of Lord which is simplyglorious. He is like a guardian deity of the temple.

It is this idol of lord which is placed on goldenthrone everyday after thomala seva (adorning swamywith flowers). Everyday a darbar called koluvu is heldin snapana mandapam when the deity is brought andseated on a golden throne under a golden umbrella.Everyday panchangam (the thithi of the day, the star ofthe day, the lunar month etc.) of that particular day areread by the asthana siddhanthi of the temple. Theprevious day’s income to the temple is also read outbefore Koluvu Srinivasa Murthi’s idol. All of us canlisten to this recitation through mikes arranged by theDevasthanam at all places in the hills.

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We also find a beautiful image of Lord SriKrishna in the sanctum sanctorum. It is in navanithanritya pose with his Queen Rukmini. Lord Krishna is inthe pose of a dancing child standing on a lotus pedestal. The right leg is lifted and bent at the knee. The righthand holds a ball of navneetha, butter. The left hand isstretched out gracefully in a dancing pose. It is this idolwhich receives ekantha seva during dhanurmasam monthinstead of Bhoga Srinivasa Murthy. Bhoga Srinivasaparticipates in the ekantha seva for the rest of the year.Temple inscriptions of 1100 A.D. make a mention ofthis idol. So the idol must have been donated muchearlier by some devotee. We also find chakrattalvar,Lord’s Sudarsan chakra in the sanctum sanctorum.

Four copper idols Sri Rama, Lakshmana, Sitha andSugreeva are also found in the garbhalayam. These idolsare believed to have been installed during 12 A.D. bySri Ramanujacharya. We also find beautiful images ofAngada and Hanuman in the Ramar Medai platformoutside garbhalaya in the Antarala Mantapam.

It is a great divine happiness to listen to allmorning recitations sitting on anywhere in the hills theatmosphere is most serene…all the hills are engulfed bya divine aura in the morning hours…listening ofsuprabhatham through mikes during these hours can bea life time experience for a devotee…as LordSrimannarayana himself is present on the hill the

atmosphere is simply electrifying… brahamananda canbe experienced only on these hills in the entireuniverse…Oh! Swamy! bestow us your blessings…omnamo venaktesaya…om namo srinivasaya…om namonarayanaya…

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Chapter-8

SRIVARI BRAHMOTSAVAMS Several festivals take place on the Thirumala Hills

throughout the year. Infact, every day is a festive day inThirumala. Among them, Brahmotsavams are the mostimportant festival. They are celebrated every year duringthe Navarathri festival days.

It is believed that until the tenth century,Brahmotsavams were celebrated only once in an year.Then a Pallava queen by name Samavai introducedbrahmotsavams one in Peratasi month of Tamil calendarand another during Mukkoti Ekadasi. It is she whopresented Bhoga Srinivasa Murthy idol to the temple. Inthe early days Brahmotsavams were held four times ayear, first one in Peratasi month, the second one on theRathasaptami Day, the third one on Kaushika Ekadasi and the fourth and the last one on Vaikhuntha Ekadasi

day. From the late sixties Brahmotsavams are beingcelebrated only once in an year.

As these festivals are initiated by Lord Brahma,they are called Brahmotsavams. It is believed that all 33crores devathas are present on the seven hills during Brahmotsavams. The whole of Thirumala is splendidlydecorated with arhes and lighting. The devathas too enjoythe festive atmosphere on the Hills like all of us. Theymingle among us like any other devotee and enjoy thedaily processions on all the days. It gives them greatpleasure to see Lord Sreemannnarayana’s Brahmotsavamsfestivals attended by lakhs of devotees. It is because ofthe presence of so many gods that an air of heightened Cosmic energy pervades the whole mountain rangesthrought the festival days.

The present Brahmotsavams start withAnkuraropanam, the customary sowing of dhanyas, TheDhwaja Arohanam takes place the next morning, Garudaflag tied to a rope is hauled up on the flagstaff and theflag is flown on the Dhwaja sthambham. This signalsthe commencement of Brahmotsavams. Garuda, theEagle God is the first servant of the Lord. We can seeGaruda facing Lord Srinivasa in the main temple

In the evening Lord’s Utsavamurthi, calledMalayappa Swamy, accompanied by his consorts Srideviand Bhoodevi is taken in procession in four madastreets. Malayappa swamy, processional diety of LordSrinivasa is an exact replica of mula murthi. This image

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is about three feet high and stands on a lotus pedestal.Sridevi is to the left with her left hand in ‘katakahastha’ pose ,a pose holding a lotus in the hand. Butactually there is no lotus in the hand. We can observethat fingers in right hand are in ‘gaja karna’ mudra.Bhudevi is seen to the left of the Lord. Her righthand is in ‘kataka hastha’ pose similar to Sridevi withfingers in gaja karma mudra. Her hand is seen danglinggracefully.

It is these three murthi’s of Lord with Hisconsorts that participate in all temple festivals. If forany reason one can not have darsan of lord in the maintemple, one is equally blessed by praying these murthis.

On the first day of Brahmotsavams lord goesaround four mada streets of Thirumala in ‘pedda seshavahanam’. The four streets around the temple are calledmada streets in temple traditions. It is a feast to theeyes of devotees to see Lord Srinivasa going in thisvahanam (vehicle) with an image of ‘adisesha’ (snakegod) …Adisesha is the couch of Lord Sri Maha Vishnu.He is the most ardent devotee of Lord and follows Himin all His incarnations like Sri Rama, Sri Krishna etc.

Lord Srinivasa has innumerable golden ornamentsdonated by several kings of yesteryears and manydevotees in the later times. Even now many devoteesdonate wonderful ornaments to lord. Lord’s ornamentsare very valuable running into several thousand croresof rupees. During Brahmotsavam festival days, Lord andHis consorts are decorated with these ornaments. The

‘alankar’ (decoration) varies each day of the festival.these wonderful ornaments look more dazzling bydecorating the Supreme Lord.

Lord wears ‘maha meru paccha’, the big greenemerald during the pedda seshavahanam procession. Wecan also see him wearing a crown of navarathnas. Onthis day devotees can see koustubham, a uniqueornament of Lord Mahavishnu in his chest. The twoqueens of lord Sridevi and Bhoodevi too are decoratedbeautifully with several ornaments and flower garlands.

No words can describe the majesty and glory ofLord going in procession with His queens. We get ridof sins committed in 64 crore previous births by havingdarsan of Lord along with His consorts going inprocession during these festival days. As it is LordBrahma who has initiated this festival ‘brahma ratham’,chariot of Brahma precedes the Lord’s vahanam. AsBrahma is not worshipped in archa roop, the chariot isempty but has a golden kalas at the top. It is followedby a cow, an elephant and a horse followed by Brahminscholars chanting Vedic scriptures. and then followmusical bands of temple musicians.

We can not describe the whole electrifyingatmosphere on the hills during Brahmotsavams. One hasto see it personally and get the blessing of Lord. It is adivine, mystic experience to be a part of the crowdwatching Lord in procession with much grandeur. Arathi is given to Lord at various places in the madastreets.

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Second day starts with chinna seshavahanam. It isalso a sesha vahan except for it is silver throne todaywhile it was golden previous day. A wonderful goldencrown can be seen on Lord’s head. The vahan of theevening of second day is ‘hamsa vahan’, swan vehicle.Lord goes through four mada streets decorated asgoddess Saraswathi. We can see veena on left handwith right hand fingers playing the strings. An importantfeature is decoration of navarathana mangalyam with athick gold tubular necklace around Lord’s neck.

Third day starts with simha vahan in the morning-a vehicle of lion king. as we all know lord as SriNarasimha killed hiranya kasipa, the demon. He cansee yoga Narasimha ‘s idol too in the temple. We canalso observe lions on all the four corner tops of thetemple. Lord is believed to be Sakthi swaroopa also inthe evening of that day, Lord gives us darsan inmutyala pandiri vahanam, a canopy made of pearls.Lord Srinivasa sits majestically in this pearl canopy andgoes round mada streets…simply beauty personified…thealankar in the seva is done in balakrishna roopa i.e.lord Krishna as a boy. Lord and his queens aredecorated with wonderful ornaments and garlands.

The fourth-day starts with kalpa vriksha vahan inthe morning. Kalpa vriksha is the celestial boon-bestowing tree of heaven. All our wishes are fulfilledinstantly by having darsan of Lord, the supreme boon-giver in this vahanam. In the night we see Lord in‘sarva bhoopala vahanam’. Lord’s alankaram is done as

‘kaliya mardana Sri Krishna’-Lord Sri Krishna dancingon the hoods of kaliya, the fiery serpent.

On the fifth day morning, Lord goes around fourmada streets decorated in ‘mohini avathar’. Lord takesthe form of mohini, the divine damsel who distributesamrtith (nectar). In this vahana Lord is embodiment ofeternal beauty. Lord is specially decorated on this daywith garlands sent by Andal from villiputtur. Andal isan ardent devotee of Lord Srimannarayana. She takes avow that she will not marry anyone except Lordhimself. She wrote thiruppavai, a highly acclaimed workwhich is recited during dhanurmasam in all vaishnavitetemples. In Thirumala temple too, it is recited in placeof suprabhatam all through dhanurmasam days. A uniquefeature of this day is another procession too of lordpasses along side with lord decorated as navaneethaKrishna ( Krishna holding butter). This Krishnapalanquin moves along side Mohini procession.

The most important vahana seva of thebrahmotsavam festival takes place on fifth day. It is theLord’s garudotsavam. Lord goes around mada streetsriding garuda, the eagle god. Lakhs of devotees attendthe festival on this day. On this day Lord MalayappaSwamy is adorned with many special ornaments such asmakara kanti, the sahasra nama mala, the chathurbhujalakshmi haram etc. These ornaments are always onmoola murthi’s image in the garbhalaya and only onthis day they are brought out of the temple especiallyfor this seva.

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Another unique aspect of garudotsavam is umbrellafestival. Two very big umbrellas are specially madeecstastically and brought from Chennai. Many devoteesaccompany these umbrellas on foot from Chennaisinging bhajans accompanied by nadaswaram band. Afterreaching thirumala the ‘godugulu’ (umbrella) arereceived by temple officials and offered to LordSrinivasa with vedic chantings by temple priests.Thirumala hills are sea of humanity on the day ofgarudotsavam. An estimated 3-5 lakhs devotees throngthe hill on this day chanting govinda, govinda,govinda…whole Thirumala hills reverberate withchanting of Lord’s namams…

Sixth day starts with Hanumantha vahanam in themorning. Hanuman is ardent devotee of Lord Sri Ramain Tretha yuga, who is none other than LordSrimannarayana himself. On the night of that day, Lordgoes around four mada streets in gaja vahanam,elephant vehicle. Lord is adorned with wonderful pearlgaalands. Elephant symbolizes aiswaraya. Lord Srinivasawho is the supreme bestower of aiswaraya (prosperity)rides of elephant vahana on this night.

Seventh day morning, the Lord is seen on suryaprabha vahanam. Surya prabha means light from sun.As we all know sun in none other than LordSrimannarayana himself. Sun worship is as old as lifeitself. Sun is visual embodiment of

Lord Sri Maha Vishnu himself. The vahanam is achariot of sun god with seven horses representing sevenrays of aditya, the sun god.

On the night lord goes around mada streets inprocession in ‘chandra prabha vahanam’, vahanam ofmoon lord. During this vahan decoration ‘ganda bherundapathakam’, a special ornament adores Lord’s chest. Lord’sidol is also decorated with a very big white garland, theemeralds on the chest adding to the majesty.

Eight day is a very important day inBrahmotsavams as on this day, Lord’s Rathotsavam,chariot festival is held. It is believed that a devotee getsmoksha by having darsan of Lord Srinivasa riding onthe chariot. We will be relieved from the cycle of birthsand re-births by having Lord’s darsan in thisrathotsavam. The chariot is wonderfully decorated withbeautiful flower garlands. in the night lord rides on‘aswa vahanamam’, horse vehicle.

Avabrutha snanam, the bathing ceremony takesplace on the 9th day of the festival. The ten day longfestival comes to an end with ‘Dhwaja Avarohanam’ onthe tenth day. Lord’s Utsava Moorthi along with hisqueens are highly decorated and brought near dwajastambham. The garuda flag is brought down with vedicchanting of priests. Mangala arathi is given to Lordand his consorts.

It requires punya phalam of several births to seeBrahmotsavams. No words can describe one’s joywatching Lord Srinivasa going around the mada streetswith His Queens on these festival days. Oh ! Swamy!,bless us with Your darsan on these Brahmotsavamsdays…Om Namo Venkatesaya… Om Namo Srinivasaya…Om Namo Narayanaya…

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Chapter-9

LORD SRI VARAHA SWAMY The sacred Thirumala hill is originally known as

‘adi varaha kshetra’, a sacred place of sri varahaswamy. According to bhavishya purana, when Srinivasais roaming on the hill in search of Sri Maha Lakshmi,he encounters a swetha varaha (a white boar). Theyboth wonder who the other is and realize soon that theyboth are of same amsa that of Lord Maha Vishnu.

Lord Srinivasa then requests Sri Varaha Swamy togive Him place on the hill. Sri Varaha Swamy happilyaccepts the request and grants him 100 feet on thesacred hill and request Srinivasa that in return for this he should get first darsan and first naivedyam. LordSrinivasa readily agrees to this and the custom isfollowed even today. Even today Prasad is offered toSri Varaha Swamy first and only then Lord Srinivasa inthe temple is offered naivedyam. Every devotee should

make it a point to have darsan of Sri Varaha Swamynear the pushkarini and only then enter the temple tohave Lord Balaji’s darsan. Infact every devotee visitingThirumala should also visit Goddess Sri Padmavathi atTiruchanur. Only then the pilgrimage is deemed to becomplete.

Sri Varaha Swamy is also known as ‘gnanappiran’giver of knowledge. A darsan of swamy will bestow usof wisdom.

Let’s visit Sri Varaha Swamy first during our nexttrip and get the blessings of Lord sri Varaha Swamyand Lord Srinivasa….Om Namo Venkatesaya…Om NamoSrinivasaya… Om Namo Narayanamaya…

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Chapter-10

SARVAROOPA SRINIVASA Lord Srinivasa is none other than Lord

Srimannarayana Himself who descended on this earthfrom Srivaikhuntam to redeem us all from the miseriesof kaliyug. Call Him by any name…balaji…venkateswara… govinda… gopala… srinivasa…venkatachalapathi… venkatanadha… He will answeryour prayers instantly…in Thirumala He is blessing usall in swayam vyaktha roopa…He is self-manifest…notcarved by any sculptor human or divine…Lord Himselfchose this most sacred place in the universe to benearer to all of us…

Many devotees strongly believe that the murthi inthirumala is trimurthi swaroopa. In fact in the oldendays Lord Srinivasa was being worshipped by some asLord Siva, by some others as Lord Maha Vishnu andsome others were worshipping as Sri Durga Matha and

some others as Lord Sri Subrahmanayeswara… duringcertain periods same murthi used to be prayed as Sivain the morning by Saivites and as Vishnu in theafternoons by Vaishnavites and as Sakthi in the eveningsby Saktheyas.

Everyone had their own reasoning…Lord’s MoolaMurthi has flowing locks of hair like jatajut of LordMaha Siva with curly hair resting on His shoulders…thearms have armlets which looks like nagabharanam anda serpent is depicted as coiled around Lord’s right arm.We find bilva leaves used in the temple prayers . Allthese are normally associated with Lord Siva. Anotherinteresting aspect is Lord is in the middle of garbha-gruha (sanctum sanctorum) which is the case with anytemples of Lord Siva. We find the Siva Linga in themiddle of any Lord Maha Siva’s temple whereas LordVishnu’s idol in any temple is always nearer to theinner wall and not at the center as is the case withThirumala temple. Those who were praying as LordSiva used to cite all these reasons…but some argue thatwe can not say the Murthi is Maha Siva just becauseof these reasons alone. They say that bilva being one ofthe sacred leaves, it can be used in the worship of anydeity…similarly they argue as Adisesha (the serpent god)is an ardent devotee of Mord Maha Vishnu, there isnothing unusual about nagabharanam adorning lord’smurthi.

Those who were praying as Goddess Durga Maahad their own reasons…they say that devotees call lord

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as Sri Balaji, Bala being Durga Maa’s name…on thetop of the temple we can see lions on all four sides..alion is Durga Maatha’s vahan… sandal paste is used inlord’s worship which strengthens the argument that lordis Sakthi Swaroop… in Thirumala temple Lord’sabhishekam is done on Friday which happens to bemangal snan (holy bath) day of woman …normallywoman in India take full bath on Fridays…butVaishnavaites used to brush aside all thesearguments…they say calling lord balaji is a veryrecent…we do not find any such name in any templeinscriptions…regarding Friday abhishekam, it is pointedout that the abhishekam is mainly to Sri Maha Lakshmiwho is on the chest of lord…as Maha Lakshmi’s imageis an integral part of lord’s Moola Murthi one has toessentially perform abhisheka to whole idol…

In fact there used to be frequent tussles amongdevotees and sometimes no puja was performed toLord’s Murthi at all…

All these arguments were finally put at rest by SriRamanujacharya who declares the Murthi as none otherthan lord Sri Maha Vishnu himself…in those days ayadava king was ruling Chandragiri under whichThirumala’s jurisdiction was falling. Like many othersthe king too is upset over the tussles amongdevotees…he approaches Sri Ramanujacharya andrequest him to solve this confusion putting an end toall these doubts. Ramanuja agrees for his request anddecided to put an end to all this confusion.

One day Sri Ramanujacharya calls all the devoteeson the hill and tell them ‘oh! dear loved ones! it isunfortunate that all of you are arguing about MoolaMurthi…as all of us are aware whoever He may be Heis very powerful…isn’t it?...should we continue to arguelike this and deprive such a powerful god from anyprayer at all? Are we not doing big sin by doing so?...So let’s all put an end to those arguments…I have anidea…and let’s all abide by the result taking it as God’sdecision itself…ok..is it fine?...dear loved ones, when weclose the temple tonight we shall place trishul,dhamaruk, sankha and chakra before the lord…and thenclose the temple doors…when we open the temple ifwe find sankha chakra on Lord’s upper hands weshould from now onwards pray him as Lord MahaVishnu…if on the other hand He takes trishul anddhamaruk leaving sankah chakra, He is none other thanlord siva…none of you should fight among yourselves there after…we will abide by Lord’s decision…’

Everyone present there accepted this proposal.After offering prayers they close the temple…on thenext morning temple was opened in the presence ofYadava King, Sri Ramanuja acharya, archakas, templeofficials and devotees….

Everyone is anxious to see what the Murthi hasaccepted. Is it Lord Siva or Lord Vishnu… As thetemple doors are opened to the playing of nadaswaramby the asthana vidwans everyone finds to their joy Lordwearing sankh and chakra…all the doubts are

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dispelled…the Murthi is none other than the supremepower Lord Srimannarayana himself!...their joy knew nobounds…now that all doubts are dispelled every onewas very, very happy…they have all celebrated a bigfestival for a week decorating Lord with wonderfulflowers and reciting daily Vedic scriptures and manydivya Prabhandhas…

Sriramanujacharya stayed on the hill for sometimeand initiated many pujas of Lord. It is He who has settemple traditions & puja practices which are flowed tilltoday.

Akaasaat patitam toyamyathaa gacchati saagaram

Sarvadeva namaskaraaha kesavam prathi gacchati

Whichever deity one worships, that worshipultimately reaches only Kesava, like the water that fallsfrom the sky reaches the oceans ultimately!

Lord Srinivasa is Parabrahma Murthi. All of usfeel His divine presence on the hill. You call Him byany name Govinda… Gopala… Balaji… Srinivasa…sridhara… sripathi… venkatanadha… any name…He willanswer your prayers instantly. In fact the names of allgods are His names only… and all the gods are nothingbut different rupas of Lord Srimannarayana himself…Oh! Swamy you are the embodiment of allauspiciousness… betow us all your divine grace… OmNamo Venkatesaya…Om Namo Srinivasaya…Om NamoNarayanaya…

Chapter-11

SRI MALAYAPPA SWAMYMalayappa swamy is Utsava Murthi of Lord

Srinivasa. it is this idol of lord which we see in alltemple festivals. This idol is an exact replica of lord inAnanda Nilayam.

In the earlier days another idol ‘Ugra SrinivasaMurthi’ used to be taken out in all temple festivals. Asthe name indicates Lord is Ugra Swaroopa in this idol.Once during some festival days, as Ugra SrinivasaMurthi’s idol was going round the mada streets in somefestival procession, suddenly a fire broke out and manyfestival pandals and houses got burnt. All archakas,temple officials and devotees were shell shocked notknowing what went wrong in the temple rituals. All ofthem started praying Lord Srinivasa as to why such acalamity happened… then Lord spoke through a devotee that from then onwards His processional idol of

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Ugra Srinivasa Murthi should never be taken out of thetemple premises at any cost. As everyone present therewere worried Lord again states that they can findanother idol in the glades of the mountain which shouldbe used in all temple festivals in the place of UgraSrinivasa Murthi from then onwards… He even signalsthe location of the idols..then all those present thanklord for His benovelence and sang bhajans in praise ofHim…

Then all archakas, temple officials and devoteesgo to the place indicated by Lord accompanied bynadaswara band and other musicians. When they reachthe glades of the mountain they were all very happy tofind Lord’s idol with His two consorts Sridevi andBhoodevi.. As the hill is bowed very low at that placeLord is affectionately called ‘malai kuniya ninraperumal’… from then onwards These idols areparticipating in all temple festivals… the idol came tobe known as ‘malayappa swamy’ and the place it isfound ‘malayappa kona’.

It is these Murthis of lord which we see in alltemple festivals like Brahmotsavams etc. MalayappaSwamy has a special place in all our hearts after MoolaMurthi. it is for these murthis that kalyanotsavam isperformed everyday. Abhishekam is done to thesemurthis on the day of sravana star (birth star of lordSri Maha Vishnu). It is done in ekantham, meaning nodevotee is allowed to witness it.

Many devotees from time immemorial giftedprecious jewellery to Malayappa swamy and His twoQueens. Malayappa Swamy alone has many invaluableornaments such as vajrakavacham, mutyala kavacham,bangaru kavacham etc.

It is a feast to the eyes of devotees seeing SriMalayappa Swamy going around in procession in fourmada streets with His consorts in Brahmotsavamfestival with unique vahan decoration every day...Oh!Swamy! bless us all with your divine grace!... OmNamo Venkatesaya…Om Namo Srinivasaya…Om NamoNarayanaya…

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Chapter-12

SURYANARAYANA IN THIRUMALALord Surya, the Sun god is given an important

place in Hindu mythology. He is none other than LordSrimannarayana himself. By doing surya namaskar whilein Thirumala one is relieved of sins committed inseveral thousand births. We are blessed with perfecthealth by praying Sri Suryanarayana while on the hill.

Among all stotras, the famous aditya hridyayabestows one with success in all matters, prosperity andvictory over enemies. Lord Srinivasa in Suryanarayanaroop shadows all other tejas with his efflugence.

Aditya is the cause of all six seasons. He is thesoul of all celestials. He is the lord of the sky. He isthe Supreme lord who bestows us with wisdomdispelling darkness. He is the lok sakshi, the witness toentire world of beings.

Lord Srimannarayana is called Vishnu because heis all pervading. He is sarva vyapaka… He iseverywhere in this world… He enters everything andcontrols everything… the main doctrine of visistadvaithaof Sri Ramanuja Acharya is that Vishnu has the wholeuniverse as His body i.e. sarira. If you worship anygod, it is as if worshipping Vishnu Himself , as allgods are a part of Him. Narayana Anuvaka also saysthat Narayana pervades everything both within andwithout. This brings out the immanence andtranscendence of Lord Srimannarayana.

By praying Lord Sri Venkateswara as Sun godatleast once during the stay on thirumala we are greatlyblessed… Om Namo Venkatesaya…Om NamoSrinivasaya… Om Namonarayanaya…

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Chapter-13

PULANGI SEVAThe worship in Thirumala temple is done strictly

according to vaikhanasa agama, initiated by VikhanasaMahamuni. It is believed Lord Mahavishnu himselftaught vaikhansa agama to Vikahansa who later taughtit to his four disciples Atri, Brighu, Marichi andKasyap.

The puja of any god is of three types… manasapuja, homa puja and bera pooja…manasa puja ispraying in one’s mind…homa puja is praying withagni…bera puja is puja of an image or idol of Lord.Among these three the last one is possible for allwhereas the first two are possible only for great souls.

The day in Thirumala temple starts withSuprabhata seva. Many sevas are performed through theday. Each seva to lord is unique by itself and is a feastto the eyes of devotee. Some sevas are performed in ekantham (with out allowing any devotee).

Pulangi darsanam of Srinivasa is devotee’s delight.Every Friday after the abhishekam is performed Lord isdraped in a long sari like garment called ulchattu inTamil. It is believed such a long garment is necessarybecause lord has many heavy golden garments on hisperson all through the year. In one way such long thickpadded sari like garment serves as a protection to lord’sidol from the heavily weighing ornaments.

This long garment is removed after Thursdayafternoon puja and Swami is draped only in a whitedhoti and an upper cloth. Many ornaments too areremoved from moola murthi as abhishekam is schedulednext morning. Even namam of Lord Sri Balaji isthinned, which is called sadalimpu in temple traditions.As the namam is very thin devotees will have awonderful darsan of Lord’s magnificient and charmingeyes. This netra darsan of lord continues from Thursdayafternoon to Friday morning… Next time when youvisit thirumala try to have darsan in this period. Youwill be greatly blessed by Lord’s charming looks. Themajestic and mesmerizing looks take you to unknownworlds. You will be dumbstruck and spellbound…

Lord Srinivasa murthi is adorned with beautifulflowers with wonderful fragrance on Thursday evening.It is called pulangi darsanam. Devotees can not deviatetheir eyes from divya manohar murthi majesticallydecorated with flowers and flower garlands.

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Lord Srinivasa is para brahma, param jyothy andpara tatwa… Srimannarayana is everything andeverything in this universe is nothing but Himself…He is in the air… but air does not know His existencewithin it… He is in the oceans.. but oceans do notknow it He is in sound… but sound does not know itHe is sarva vyapthi… all pervading… He is everywherein the universe… in fact the whole universe is Hisrupa…

Sahasra seersha purushaha

Sahasraksha sahasra path

Narayana is the parama purusha with innumerableheads, innumerable eyes, infinite hands, infinite feet…itis Viswa roopam… Lord Srinivasa is always present onThirumala in this viswa roopa. As we are all ordinarymortals we are seeing Him as sila murthi (statueform)… but He is actually present there in ViswaRoopam. It is said many devotees while having hisdarsan feel as if He is smiling at them.. sometimessome blessed devotees observed twinkling of eyes… andlips magnificently smiling… Oh! how blessed thoseones!... Those of the archakas who are fortunate enoughto be nearer to Lord have many divine experienceswith Him… If they accidentally come in contact withHim during changing of flowers they feel the touch ofhuman being… very, very tender as if someone really isstanding and not a Sila murthi (statue) at all…

Lord Sri Venkateswara is kindest of all in thisworld He and He alone is our saviour… He is thebestower of all auspiciousness… with abject surrender toHis divine feet one is rid of all problems… all miserieswill vanish instantly…

Once Narada asks Lord Brahma’Oh! Father! whois the greatest of all?... who is HE who can giveultimate happiness to people by praying up on?... Bypraying whom one is relieved from this birth-deathcycles and attain moksha?’. Then Lord Brahma replies’Oh! Narada, my dear son… you have asked a verygood question… even great souls are unable to knowanswer to this… Now I am telling you this greatsecret… the supreme force is Srimannarayana and noone else… by chanting ‘Om Namo Narayanaya’everyone gets infinitely blessed… chanting of thisnamam even once a day relieves one from the sinscommitted in thousand births… all prosperous thingsand auspicious things come in search of the one whochants this namam at least once everyday… Lord Yamawill not dare to come anywhere near a person whochants this namam eleven times a day…this namam isthe only saviour to this whole universe…’after hearingall this from Brahma ,Narada felt very happy…Oh!Srinivasa!... Oh ! Balaji!... Oh ! Seshachalapathi!...whyshould we worry when you are so near to us!...OmNamo Venkatesaya…Om Namo Srinivasaya… Om NamoNarayanaya…

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Chapter-14

THIRU NAMAMThe moment we think of Lord Balaji, it is His

namam that comes to our mind immediately. Oh! whata sacred namam!...a pleasant and serene feeling sweepsus the moment the namam flashes in our mind…we areall engulfed by the aura of supreme lord’s thirunamam…it is this namam which is protector for thiswhole universe…the saviour to all of us ordinarymortals.

Every Friday namam is applied to Lord’s foreheadwith paccha karpooram. 16 tulas of karpooram is usedfor the namam and one and half tulas of kasturi (musk)for the inner mark. But on the Fridays coming duringBrahmotsavams, double the amount are used.32 tulas ofpaccha karpooram and 3 tulas of kasturi are used onthe Friday in the week preceding Brahmotsavams, onthe Fridays during Brahmotsavams and on the Friday of

succeeding week of Brahmotsams. These Fridays arespecifically called ‘rettimpu sukravaram’ in templetraditions, rettimpu meaning double in Telugu.

In the earlier days the namam used to be of whiteearth during the first three days of the week i.e.Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday. But it appears that this customis not being followed today and only paccha karpooramis used for the namam on all the days. Even thenamam itself was not thick as it is now. we can clearlyobserve this in the older paintings of lord.

Another unique feature is putting up of a dab ofpaccha karpooram on the lord’s chin too. This has aninteresting background. In the earlier days an ardentdevotee of lord by name Anantacharya settled down onthe hill for service of Lord srinivasa. He thought ofhaving a flower garden specifically for lord’s puja andstarted leveling the ground with the help of his wifewho was in advanced stage of pregnancy. He was usinga crow bar to dig the land and leveling it. His wifecarried the mud away in a basket on her head.

It was hot summer days and the couple weretoiling a lot. They are not allowing anyone else to helpthem. lord is observing the couple and thought it ishigh time He helps them… He came running to thewife as a brahmin boy and requested her to handoverthe basket. She resisted saying her husband would getangry. But the boy did not listen. He forcibly took thebasket and ran way and came back after emptying it.

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He did so several times… after a while Anantacharyarealized that his wife is coming faster than earlieremptying the basket… how could it be she is returningfaster everytime… as he lifted his face up to see howit was possible he noticed that an young boy washelping his wife.. he got angry that someone else issharing his service of Lord Srinivasa… he shouted atthe boy… the boy started running… Anantacharyabecame more infuriated… holding the crow bar in hishand he too started running after him… after a whilehe got tired and in a fit of anger he threw the crow-baron the boy… it hit the boy’s chin and the boy startedbleeding… the boy ran more faster and disappearedsoon.

Anantacharya came back feeling sorry that he hitthe boy in a fit of anger…in the evening he went totemple to have Lord’s darsan…he noticed a commotionin the sanctum sanctorum…all archakas were discussingsomething seriously with worry quite visible on theirfaces… Oh! what happened?.... why suchcommotion?… he ran into the garbhalaya and wasshocked to see Lord’s chin hurt and bleeding…instantly he realized what has happened… the boywhom he had hit was none other than Lord Srinivasahimself!... he immediately started applying pacchakarpooram on the chin as tears rolled down his eyes…oh! Lord! forgive me! what a sin I committed!... thereis no succor to me… I committed gravest mistake…Anantacharya started thinking thus when everyone

present there heard a divine voice… it is Lord Himselfspeaking… Lord consoled Anantacharya and tellseveryone present there that paccha karpooram should beapplied on His chin forever to remind devotees of greatbhakthi of Anantacharya…and the crow-bar should bepreserved in the temple …

In accordance with Lord’s wish paccha karpooramis applied on lord’s chin and we can find the crow-barused by Anantacharya even today in the temple…seeLord’s benovelence… He will do anything andeverything to come to the rescue of HIS devotees…Oh!Srinivasa! You are the Supreme Lord…Oh!Venkateswara, the Parama Purusha…Oh! Govinda, Youare the Para Tatwa… …Oh! Swamy… Oh! Narayana…Oh! Seshachalavasa, bless us all with Yourmajestic smile…take us all in Your lap of infinitejoy…Om Namo Venkatesaya…Om NamoSrinivasaya…Om Namo Narayanaya…

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Chapter-15

ALVARSAlwars are twelve ardent devotees of Lord who

devoted their life to service of the Supreme Lord. Alvarmeans he who is deeply immersed in devotion and lovetowards God. The four thousand songs in Tamilcomposed by these twelve Alvars are known as‘Naalayira Divya Prabhandham’.

An important factor about these alvars is that theycome from various strata of society and belong tovaried castes. The place or caste of birth is never ahindrance to Lord Srimannarayana’s bhakthi. Bhakthi ordevotion alone is important and not one’s caste orcommunity.

Alvars verses portray paratatwa, atmatatwa andmadhurabhakthi aspects. All the alvars are believed to

be the manifestations of one or other amsa (incarnation)of Lord Sri Maha Vishnu Himself. Poigayalvar isbelieved to be the manifestation of panchajanya, Lord’sconch. Thirumalasai Alvar is born of the amsa ofsudarsana chakra of Lord, Nammalvar of vishvaksena,commander of Lord’s forces, Bhoodatalvar ofkaumodakee (mace/club), Madhura kavi alvar ofvainatheya (garuda), Kulasekhar Alvar of kausthubha,necklace of gems. Periyalvar is believed to be themanifestation of srivatsa, a mole of Lord’s chest. Andal,only woman among twelve alvars, is believed to be ofBhoodevi’s amsa. Thondaradippodi alvar is of amsa ofLord’s garland. Peyalvar is the amsa of Lord’s swordnandaka and Thirumagai ais of saranga, Lord’s bow.

Alvars verses are very simple and written in veryeasy to understand language by one and all. In theirverse all alvars praised various qualities of LordSrimannarayana. One of the alvars goda devi (andal)wrote wonderful thiruppavai. As a child she wasdiscovered by father Vishnuchitta (periyalvar) in a tulasigarden. She grows to be an ardent devotee of Lord andtakes a vow that she will not marry anyone except SriMaha Vishnu himself.

All the Alvars are great devotees of Lord. Theyare all blessed ones. Once, Bhakthisara, one of thealvars happens to pass by a group of brahmins recitingVedas. As he nears them they stop the recitation

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thinking that Vedas should not be heard by a person oflower caste… Oh! how foolish they were?... Does castehas anything to do with devotion?... bhakthi and bhakthialone is enough to get His blessings…on seeing thebrahmins’ action bhakthisara’s face glows with a benignsmile…the Brahmin group tries to re-start the recitationafter Bhakthisara has crossed them and went a fewyards further…to their surprise none of them could re-collect where they stopped the recitation…their mindswere simply blank…their minds were confused…noteven one of them could recollect even a word of thesequence… oh! what happened?... why we are notgetting a single word?... they were all astonished…when they looked at the alvar who was a few yardsaway, they were curious to see him doing a peculiaract… he was holding black grain in his hand… he splitthe grain into two with his nail and threw it on theground before the Brahmins… a spark crosses theirmind seeing this action of Bhakthisara… the sequenceof their vedic recitation flashed in their minds… it goeslike this…’krishananaam vrihinaam nakhanirbhinanaam’… meaning grains which are black incolour and are split in to two by nails…this verse fromyajurveda says that rice to be used in an yagna shouldbe dark in colour and should be split by fingers onlyand not by any machines…

In fact it is at this sloka that the Brahmins havestopped the recitation… the alvar has shown themeaning of that sloka to them by his mime action…the Brahmins were speechless and felt very sorry forinsulting Bhakthisara and requested him to forgivethem… there were many such instances in lives of allalvars reflecting their enormous depth of knowledge ofVedas, Ithihasas and Puranas.

The examples and glorification of Lord’sbenevolence by alvars in their pasurams is extraordinary.In one of his pasurams Vishnuchitta uses a wonderfulsimilie while seeking God’s forgiveness. He says if aspotted deer has one more additional spot than isnecessary, it will not change the fact that it is a deer. Itwill not make any difference to it at all. Similarly, hetells lord ‘ Oh! Swamy! you are forgiving sins of somany devotees.. one more additional fellow like me isnot a burden to you…’what a wonderful way to seekHis mercy…

Vishnuchitta’s ‘pallaandu’ is a very famous bunchof mangalasasana verses which are invariably renderedin all Vaishnavite temples. Andal’s famous ‘thiruppavai’is read during whole of dhanurmasa in thirumalatemple during morning suprabhatha seva. In factthiruppavai is recited in all vaishnvite temples duringthis month.

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The conceptual presentation of LordSrimmannarayana as a spiritual doctor par excellence isadopted in some of the verses of alvars, especiallyKulasekhara alvar. In one of the verses he says’ themedicine in the form of divine name of Sri Krishnacures ignorance. It is the medicine which kills thedemons of minds (bad thoughts). It is the only medicinewhich can destroy one’s fear and leads to attainment ofsupreme bliss.

All the alvars works reflect only one thing… withabject surrender to Lord Srimannarayana one gets rid ofall worldly miseries and attains mukthi… we should allfollow the ways shown by them and get the blessing ofLord of Seven Hills, Srimannarayana… Om NamoVenkatesaya…Om Namo Srinivasaya…Om NamoNarayanaya…

Chapter-16

SRI ANNAMACHARYA Many devotees have served in several ways Lord

of Seven hills through times immemorial. They have alldevoted their whole life to Lord’s service. Many kingsand queens of many dynasties such as Chola, Pallava,Vijayanagara were His ardent devotees. They donatedinnumerable villages to the temple as well as invaluablejewellery running in to several hundred crores of rupees.Many devotees like Sri Ramanujacharya, Thirumalanambi, Anantacharya, Kuruvarathi nambi, Annamacharyaetc. did enormous service to Lord in the form ofcomposing keerthanas on Lord ,spreading Sri VenkataTatwam etc.. In fact they were all chosen ones by LordSrimannarayana himself. They took birth on this earthonly to complete tasks assigned by the Supreme Lord.As it will run into hundreds and thousands of pages towrite about all of them in detail, let’s read about onesuch devotee, Sri Annamacharya.

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Annamacharya belongs to 15th century. He is bornin tallapaka, A tiny village in Chittoor district ofAndhra Pradesh. He is the earliest musician to havecomposed songs on Lord Sri Venkateswara. His‘keerthanas’ are very simple in style and can beunderstood by one and all. Annamayya, as he is fondlycalled by one and all, is known to be born as amsa(incarnation) of nandaka, Lord’s sword. He devotedwhole of his life to the composing and singing kirthanspraising Lord Sri Venkateswara and has composed32,000 songs during his life time. Unfortunately half ofthem are lost over the years and remaining arepreserved carefully by Thirumala TirupathiDevasthanams.

Born to Narayana Suri and Lakkamamba couple,Annamayya spent all his life in and around Thirupathi.At a tender age of eight he left home and joined apilgrim party to go to Thirumala. Joining the group andchanting govinda, govinda he reached Alipiri afterseveral days, as the terrain was very steep and difficultto climb, he fell unconscious after climbing a few steps.He was thoroughly exhausted. All the others in thepilgrim party continued their journey forward forgettingAnnamayya. Anamayya lay down on a rock with thrustand hunger.

The divine mother watched all this… can Sheallow Her child in such misery?... no, absolutely not…she rushed to annamayya taking the form of an oldlady… Supreme Mother Maha Lakshmi woke him up

and gave him food and water. She gave him lord’sprasad too and showed him the way to reach Thirumala.After eating the prasad annamayya felt rejuvenated.Everything around him was looking very bright andglowing with greater tejas. By the time he knew whatwas happening, the old lady disappeared… Annamayyarealized she is none other than Supreme Mother AlarmelManga, Sri Maha Lakshmi Herself. His joy knew nobounds. He instantly composed a satakam (a book ofhundred songs) on Alarmel Manga.

After a few days Annamayya reached the top ofthe hill blessed by divine mother. After taking sacredbath in swamy pushkarini and praying Lord Sri VarahaSwamy he entered the main temple. He was awestruckby the charming Sri Venkateswara. Instantly he sang asatakam on lord.

One day he went around the four mada streets ofThirumala praying Lord Sri Venkateswara and rested ona pial. In those days a Vaishnavite saint by nameGhana Vishnu was staying on the hill doing service toLord. Lord Srinivasa appeared in his dream one nightand told him about Annamayya. Lord gave his Sankhaand Chakra mudrikas to Ghana Vishnu and instructedhim to do mudra dharana to annamayya. Lord indicatedto him the place where Annamayya was staying on hill.Saint Ghana Vishnu wakes up in the morning and goesin search of Annamayya as instructed by Lord in hisdream. He finds Annamayya resting on a pial singingkeerthanas on Lord. He approaches Annamayya and

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narrated to him the previous night’s dream. Annamayyafelt very happy and saluted Ghana Vishnu, the saint. Bygetting ‘pancha sanskaras’ from the saint, Annamayyahas become Annamacharya. Thus Annamacharya gotinitiated to Sri Vaishnavism on the sacred hill itself!

Annamayya stayed for some years on the hill itselfserving Lord and singing sankeerthans on Lord everyday.Even today this custom is continued and every day inthe morning during suprabhatha seva to Lord, adescendent of tallapaka family sings suprabhathakeerthanas.

After reaching home Annamayya was reluctant tomarry thinking it as a hindrance to serving Lord. ThenLord Himself appears in the dream and tells him tomarry. Obeying Lord’s order Annamayya marries twogirls. He went back to Thirumala after marriage andcontinued his sankeerthana yagna. His songs are of‘adhyatmika’ and ‘sringara’ type. His songs on divinelove between Lord and his consorts Sridevi andBhoodevi are simply superb.

In the course of time Annamayya’s fame spread toseveral places. Salva narasimharaya, the then ruler oftanguturu invites him to his court after hearing abouthis greatness. Acceding to his request Annamayyareaches his kingdom and sings Lord’s keerthanas in theking’s darbar. The king is moved by his songs andrequests him to stay in his kingdom for sometime.Annamayya though initially resistant later agrees to stay.

During his stay he sang wonderful keerthanas on Lordof seven hills. The king too became a staunch devoteeof Lord Sri Venkateswara.

One day during darbar Annamayya sang awonderful keerthana glorifying the love of divine coupleSrinivasa and Sri Mahalakshmi. Moved by the madhurabhakthi in that song, the king requested Annamayya tosing one such song on him too! Annamayya getsinfuriated at king’s thoughts and tells him that he willsing only on lord and never on ordinary mortals. Theking becomes angry and orders that Annamayya bepunished severely for disobeying his orders.

Annamayya was hand-cuffed and sent to jail. Hewas beaten mercilessly in the jail. Annamayya sings akeerthana praising Lord of Seven hills saying he is theonly succour for him….the cuffs broke instantly on theirown and fell down…the king salva knowing thismiracle realizes the greatness of Annamayya and requesthim to pardon him. He bows down and requestAnnamayya to forgive him and stay in his kingdomforever. Annamayya refuses and says it is time he goesback to Thirumala.

Returning to Thirumala, Annamayya sangmelodious keerthanas on Lord. He sang several songson all the festivals of Thirumala temple. He also wrotea work ‘Srinagara Manjari’ on Lord Venkateswara. Itreflects the viraha avastha of a damsel in love with theLord and how she finally attains Lord.

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Nothing can be more apt than description ofAnnamacharya’s grandson Sri China Thirumala acharyaabout Annamayya’s keerthanas ...’sruthulai, saastramulai,purana kathalai, sugnana saramulai,athi lokagamavidhulai, vidha mantrarthambulai, neethulai, kruthulai,venkatasaila vallabha rathi kreeda rahasyambulai…’…..meaning ‘annamacharya’s compositions arescriptural statements, saastras, puranic episodes,consummation of agama statements, repository ofmeanings of many mantras, glorification of divine loveof Lord Sri Venkateswara and his consorts…’

Annamacharya attained mukthi in 1503, leavingbehind a remarkable treasure of sankeerthanas of lord ofseven hills….his keerthanas reverberate in the hearts oflakhs of lord’s devotees everyday…Om NamoVenkatesaya…Om Namo Srinivasaya…Om NamoNarayanaya…

Chapter-17

A DAY IN THIRUMALA TEMPLEIt is said ‘nitya kalyanam pachha thoranam’ in

telugu meaning daily utsavams and decorationseveryday… everyday is a festival day in Thirumala. It isestimated that about 450 festivals take place in an yearon thirumala. So how is a day like in the temple?What are the various sevas that go through the day atvarious times? It will interesting to know such detailsof Supreme Lord’s sevas, which are feast to the eyes devotees.

The temple is usually opened at 2.30 A.M. Thefirst seva of the day is Suprabhatha Seva of Lord. Thetemple is opened in the presence of temple officials,archakas and sannidhi golla. Sannidhi golla is thedescendant of a yadava family. When Lord came on tothe Thirumala hills it is a yadava boy who saw himfirst. Lord tells him that the first darsan will always be

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to descendant of his family. In keeping with thattradition a yadava devotee goes inside the AnandaNilayam and has the pradhama darsan of LordSrinivasa. Then archakas enter the sanctum sanctorumand offer arthi to Lord waking Him up. Suprabhathamis sung by archakas standing in the ghanta mandapam.Members of Tallapaka family also sing ‘melu kolupu’songs. After the completion of suprabhatham followedby mangala saasanam and prapatthi, Lord is again given arathi. Devotees purchasing a ticket of‘suprabhattha seva’ are then allowed to have darsan ofLord. The darsan at this time is called ‘Viswa RoopaDarsanam’ of Lord. Any devotee can attend this sevaby taking tickets well in advance. The atmosphere inthe temple is electrifying during early hours. An aura ofdivinity sweeps across the temple in those ‘brahmamuhurtham’ hours of the day.

After the suprabhataha seva, the temple is cleanedwhich is called ‘suddhi’ in temple tradition. Theprevious days ‘nirmalyam’ (flowers on Lord) areremoved and thrown in to the well called ‘pula bavi’situated in ‘Sampangi Pradakshina’ marg of the temple.Preparations for later pujas go on simultaneously withsacred water from akasa ganga theertha brought byarchakas.

Suprabhatham is followed by abhishekam of BhogaSrinivasa Murthi’s idol. This idol of Lord is always keptin the sanctum sanctorum near to moola moorthi and isconnected to moola murthi with a golden thread. it is

believed that Supreme Lord’s divine power passes toBhoga Srinivasa Murthi’s idol through this golden string.Daily abhhishekam is performed to this idol whereasonly on Friday Mula Murthi in the garbhaalaya is givenabhsihekam.

Bhoga Srinivasa Murthi’s idol is kept back in thesanctum sanctorum after performing abhishekam followedby naivedyam and arathi. Now ‘thomala seva’ of Lordtakes place. In this seva, Lord is decorated with freshflowers brought by archakas. All those colourfulflowers look more beautiful by decorating the supremelord… what is the punya of those flowers adoring lordSrimannarayana… million of flowers abound theworld… but it is only a select few that go insideananda nilayam to adorn Lord Srinivasa… Oh! Howblessed are those flowers!...

Thomala seva is followed by ‘koluvu’ in thirumamani mantapam in which previous days hundi offeringsare read before Koluvu Srinivasa Murthi’s idol. Thepanchangam for that particular day is also read byarchakas. Now it is the time for Lord Srinivasa’ssahasranama archana. Temple archakas recite Lord’ssahasranama from Brahmanda purana. Archakas offerprayers to His Queens Sridevi and Bhoodevi with tulasileaves and flowers picked up from lord’s sacred feet.

Now it is the time for first bell, the firstnaivedyam to Lord Srinivasa. Many South Indian Prasadspecialities like pulihora, dadhojanam, pongali, appalu,

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dodas, sweet pongali etc.are offered to Lord. All theseprasads are kept outside kulasekhara padi, the goldenstep of Lord’s sanctum sanctorum. The ‘nivedana’ isdone to the recital of Vishnu Gayathri and ‘ahamasmi’manthras of anna suktham.

Kalyanotsavam takes place everyday around 12.00noon. It goes on for about one and half hours.Gruhastha can participate in Lord’s Kalyanotsavam bypaying Rs.1,000. Lord is given another naivedyam in theafternoon, called second bell in the temple tradition.

On every Monday morning ‘visesha puja’ takesplace at about 7.30 A.M. Every Tuesday ‘ashta dalapada padmaradhana’is performed in which Lord isworshipped with 108 golden lotus flowers. These goldenflowers are gifted to the Lord Srinivasa by a Muslimdevotee of Hyderabad in 1984.’ Sahasrakalasibhishekam’ is performed to Lord’s Utsava Murthison every Wednesday at about 7.30A.M. Thiruppavadaseva takes place on Thursday and abhishekam of Lord’smoola murthi is done on Friday. All these are calledweekly sevas.

Ekantha seva is the last seva of the day in thenight usually at 10.30 P.M. It is performed by keepingBhoga Srinivasa Murthi’s idol in mukha mantapam.Desecendants of Annamacharya’s family sing keerthanaswhile prasadam is offered.

The temple is usually closed at 1.30 A.M. In theearly days it used to be closed by 12.30 itself. But with

number of pilgrims increasing year by year nowadays itis being closed around 1.30 and again is opened at 2.30A.M.

Oh! Swamy, it is our punya of several thousandbirths that we are able to know about all your sevas…all your utsavams… all your pujas… what else gives usmore happiness than this?... Oh! Swamy bless usall with your majestic darshan during all these sevas…Om Namo Venkatesaya…Om Namo Srinivasaya… OmNamo Narayanaya…

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Chapter-18 SRIVARI PADALU

(Lord’s sacred feet)The easiest way to get Lord Srinivasa’s blessings

is by praying at His feet. Every devotee visitingThirumala should visit a place called ‘srivari padalu’(lord’s sacred feet). It is situated about 2 k.m. fromthe main temple on ghat section in Narayanagiri. It isthe highest tip in Thirumala Hills. One gets a bird’s eyeview of temple and cottages complexes standing at thisplace. The wind blows very pleasantly all through theyear and the atmosphere is very serene. One shouldvisit Silathoranam, a natural arch of 250 million yearsold on way to ‘Srivaripadalu’. It is believed that Lordstepped first at ‘Srivaripadalu’ after descending from SriVaikuntham and walked through this arch to AnandaNilayam... oh! what majestic feet?.. the feet that relievedthe curse of Ahalya…the feet whose padarakshas arerequested by Bhratha in tretayug…

Let’s all pray Lord to grant us the darsan of Hissacred feet…Om Namo Venkatesaya…Om NamoSrinivasaya… Om Namo Narayanaya…

Chapter-19

SACRED STEPSIt is believed that this creation started from

Thirumala Hills. After the cosmic deluge (pralaya),Vishnu lay supine floating on a banyan leaf as smallboy, vata patra sai. the waters did not recede forseveral maha yugas. Then Lord Srimannarayana thoughtof a new creation with a majestic smile on his lips. Atthe instance of Srimannarayana Lord Brahma thenstarted creation from this sacred hill.

Everyday thousands of pilgrims climb the hill onfoot chanting edukondala vada govinda …anadharakshaka govinda… apathbhandhava govinda…vaddikasulavada govinda…apada mokkulavadagovinda…jai balaji…trekking the hills by barefoot is agreat divine experience indeed. some walk to fulfil avow… Some for the sheer pleasure of walking throughnature’s most beautiful mountain ranges… nature in it’ssplendour… it is stated in many puranas that it is onlywith punya of many janmas one gets a thought of

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visiting Thirumala… if we are not destined to put ourfeet on this sacred hill, however best we try, we willnot be able to make the trip… when all our previouskarmas are over Lord will clear all hurdles and makeour journey pleasant giving us His divine darsan… youmay be the richest, you may be king, you may bepresident or a prime minister… but unless you have Hispermission you can not have His darsan… some hurdleother will make you to postpone the journey in the lastminute…

Remember, in Thirumala it is not the darsan youget… it is the darsan He gives…

You do not have to be a millionaire or majesticking to get his darsan… a sincere prayer is enough…one should have unshakable faith of Srimannarayana asthe only saviour and protector… that only He issarvarakshaka and salvation for this creation…with anabject surrender to him, you will get instantly blessedand all your miseries will vanish…

It takes about 4-6 hours to reach top of the hills.the distance is about nine miles. The first structure wesee on our way is gali gopuram. It was constructed byMatli Kumara Ananta Raja of Matli family of Chiefs ofCuddapah district. It is believed that it is he who laidout the steps for the first time till this gali gopuram.The ascent of the first hill is a bit difficult as it has asteep gradient…. but you will not feel tired at all whilewalking up… in fact if you walk once you feel like

walking every time you visit Thirumala… such is thepower of attraction the hill…one enjoys every bit oftrekking… one forgets all their miseries, all theirproblems while walking up the hill…the steps are veryconvenient to climb and you have roof above thewalking path all through.

We see several mantapams on our way up thehills. One such mantapam is ghanta mantapam, whichhas an interesting story associated with it. In the oldendays there used to be a ghanta, a big bell, at thisplace. The Yadavaraya King who was ruling Chandragiriwas an ardent devotee of Lord. He used to take foodonly after lord’s naivedyam. This bell on ghanta mantamused to be rung after Lord’s maha naivedyam. Yadavarayaused to take his food only after hearing this bell.

Many medicinal plants grow on the hills… it isbelieved some of them are brought from devalokas(celestial worlds)… we find some rare plants on thesehills which we do not find anywhere else in thisuniverse … …as we inhale the pure air sweeping acrossthese trees, we are cured af all illnesses… our bodygets rejunevated with the cosmic energy in the hills…

Many of the trees we find on either sides whiletrekking are nothing but great sages and saints doingtapas for millions of years…they appear as trees forordinary mortals like us…it is believed that LordHimself walks along with us in the form of anunknown devotee…it is the experience of many devotees

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that once they are tired and sit fully exhausted, anunknown devotee smiles at us ,sitting along side andinitiates some discussion… in the course of thediscussion our exhaustion disappears and we feelrejunevated with lot of energy… we start walkingagain… the unknown devotee simply disappears afterwalking a few steps with us… He is none other thanLord Srinivasa himself!...

It is believed many gods too take human formand walk the nine mile stretch to have Lord’sdarsan…they believe that this is the easiest way toplease Lord Srinivasa…

Centuries ago Thirumala mountains are full ofthick forests…devotees used walk through these forestsbraving chill and wild animals…it was a difficult terrainwith no proper road or steps…it was only as recent as1940 that concrete steps were constructed and only in70s that whole path was covered with roof…

When you visit Thirumala next time, try to go bywalk and experience the devine joy that reverberatesforever… Om Namo Venkatesaya…Om NamoSrinivasaya… Om Namo Narayanaya…

Chapter-20

THIRUMALA IN OLDEN DAYSEveryday about 30-50,000 pilgrims visit Thirumala

to have Lord’s darsan. On weekends this number goesup to 70,000 and on festival days it is as much as alakh. For some of the sevas in the temple one has towait as long as 15 years to get his turn... till a fewyears ago, the waiting time for most of these sevas is amere 2-3 weeks… till early 60’s about 500-1000 peopleused to visit thirumala…how the times changed?...noneof us can hardly believe that devotees used to walkstraight through mahadwaram, main entrance to haveLord Balaji’s darsan in those days.

So how was Thirumala in those days?... it will bevery interesting to know how thirumala used to be inthose good olden days…. come., let’s take a trip toThirumala about hundred years ago…

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Thirumala was a very serene place in those days.All these cottages, shops, canteens etc were not to beseen at all… Thirumala was blooming with wonderfulflower gardens around the temple… the temple andHathiram Math were the only structures on the hills.Even temple archakas used stay in kothur village downthe hill. They used to climb the hill everyday and offersuprabhatham to lord at 7.00 A.M. and get down thehill by 4.00 P.M. itself as it was very chilly on thehills throught the year. It was very difficult to stay inthe nights…added to the cold winds was the fear ofwild animals…thirumala was surrounded by thich forestsand tigers, lions, bear etc.used to wander the Thirumalastreets in the nights…

There was no ghat road and propersteps…piligrims used to trek the nine miles throughdifficult terrains reaching the top of the hill after acouple of days.. They used to rest in between atwayside water ponds in the nights…they used to makebon fire to scare the animals…devotees often used tohear roaring of lions in the nights…but by the grace ofLord Sri Balaji, they never harmed the piligrims…BritishGovernment built the steps for the first time in1870…they were laid out with stones and were notsymmetrical…but far better than earlier roughterrain…piligrims were finally happy …

By 1940 the number of pilgrims went up to 200-300 a day…as there were no canteens, prasadam wastheir lunch…in fact very tasty prasadams were given in

large quantities in the early years to devotees…childrenused to play in the temple premises while elders areengrossed in discussions…

It was thought that unless Thirumala develops as avillage it will be difficult to provide amenities for thepilgrims. Hathiram Math leased some lands to somelocals of Thirupathi and invited them to stay on the hillwith their families…slowly couple of families startedsettling on the hill and the number went up to 200-300by mid forties… pilgrims used to stay with these peopleand were given warm reception.

Our famous laddu was not heard on those days atall!...only pulihora, vada and daddhojanam used to begiven as prasdaam…vada prasadam was costing merefour annas (about 25 paise)…the then MadrasGovernment introduced sweet boondi in the prasadamswhich in the later years turned to become LADDU…inthe initial days only about 10-20 laddus used to beprepared which went up to 500 over the years…todayabout one and half lakh laddus are prepared everydayusing 4,500 kilograms of basan, 9,000 k.g.s of sugar,1,080 k.g. of cashew nut,120 kg of elachi, 500 kg ofkismis and 5,000 kg of pure ghee!

In the early sixties one could attend lord’skarpoora harathi by just paying one rupee!...thomalaseva ananthara darsanam was mere four rupees!...inthose days kalyanotsavam was not a daily utsav as it isnow… kalyanotsavam of lord used to be performed only

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when any visiting v.i.p. specifically asks forit…prasadams in large numbers used to sent to thecottages of gruhasthas performing the kalyanotsavam…temple nadaswara musicians used to accompany theprasadams…

The hundi collection used to be between rupees1,000-2,000 in the early days… today it is between 1-1.5 cr.a day!

The first ghat road was constructed by GANNON& DUNKERLY in 1944 and was opened to public bySIR ARTHUR HOPE, the then Governor of MadrasState. Slowly bullock carts and horse carts startedmoving on this road… all the materials required formaking prasadams were transported by these bullockcarts… motorized transport was first introduced in early50s by way of small buses which look like today’smatador vans… they were called ‘budda bassu’ bylocals…initially only one bus with just one trip wasrunning between Thirupathi and Thirumala…slowly thenumber of trips increased to thrice a day…today thestate owned transport runs one bus every ten minutes…during Brahmotsavams the frequency is much higherwith one bus every minute…

The first cottages on the hill were in the form ofasbestos roofed sheds…they were calledN.M.SHEDS…north mada sheds…thirty sheds wereinitially constructed in early 50s with the donations frompiligrims…later concrete blocks were constructed for

V.IP.s…they were called N.M.R.C.C. sheds…the cottageshave increased over the years…today we have cottageswith most modern facilities…

Oh! Srinivasa!... times have changed… people toohave changed a lot… but you are ‘nitya’… neverchanging… ocean of ever flowing charm… whether it ismillions of years back or today, you are blessing yourdevotees with the same benovelence… with the samemagnificent grace… Oh! Swamy!.. bless us all… relieveus all from these worldly miseries and take us all inyour lap… Om Namo Venkatesaya…Om Namo Srinivasaya…Om Namo Narayanaya…

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SRI SRINIVASA LORD OF SEVEN HILLS SRI SRINIVASA LORD OF