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Wednesday, 11 November 2020

యీ తరం కధ-- ప్రార్థనా ఫలం

నమస్తే.

యీ తరం కధలకి స్వాగతం.

ఇవాళ మనం చెప్పుకునే కథ - ప్రార్థనా ఫలం

ఒక గ్రామం లో విజయ్ అనే అబ్బాయి వుండేవాడు. అతని చిన్నతనం లో జరిగిన ప్రమాదం లో ఒక కాలు విరిగినది. అందువల్ల సరిగ్గా నడవలేక పోయేవాడు. మిగిలిన పిల్లలతో ఆడుకోలేక ఎన్నో అవమానాలు పొందేవాడు. అది చూసి అతని తల్లి తండ్రులు ఎంతో బాధ పడే వారు.

ఒక రోజు విజయ్ తల్లి, సాయిబాబా గుడికి వెళ్లి, పంతులు గారితో బాధ చెప్పుకుంది. అప్పుడు, పంతులుగారు, నలబై రోజులు తెల్లవారు జామున నాలుగు గంటల సమయం లో సాయిబాబా ని ప్రార్ధించ మని చెప్తారు. ఆ నలబై రోజులు పంచదార నిషిద్ధము అని చెప్తారు. తను అలాగే చేస్తా నని బాబా కి మొక్కుకుంది.

విజయ్ తండ్రి ఒక కారు మెకానిక్. చాలి చాలని జీతం తో సంసారాన్ని నడుపు తున్నాడు. ఒక రోజు తన కొడుకుని తలుచుకొని బాధ పడుతున్నాడు. అప్పుడు తన మిత్రుడు వైద్యనాధన్ అనే ఎముకల డాక్టర్ గురించి చెప్పాడు. విజయ్ తండ్రి సంతోషంగా ఆ డాక్టర్ ని కలుసుకోవాలని ఆసుపత్రికి వెళతాడు. అక్కడ డాక్టర్ గారి చిత్రపటం చూస్తాడు. డాక్టర్ గారు మరో పదిరోజుల్లో విదేశాలకి పని మీద వెళుతున్నారని, తిరిగి రావడానికి సమయం పడుతుందని, వైద్యం కి పది వేలు ఖర్చు అవుతుందని అక్కడి వ్యక్తి చెప్పాడు. అది విని విజయ్ తండ్రి ఎంతో దిగులుగా ఇంటికి చేరాడు. విజయ్, తన తల్లి తండ్రులు డాక్టర్ గారి గురించి, పంతులు గారు చెప్పిన సంగతి గురించి మాట్లాడు కోవడం విన్నాడు.

మరుసటి రోజు ఆ దంపతులు, సాయిబాబా మీద నమ్మకం తో పొద్దున్నే లేచి, స్నానం చేసి విజయ్ తో ప్రార్ధించటం మొదలు పెట్టారు. అలా పది రోజులు గడిచిపోయాయి. వాళ్ళు పంచదార వాడడం మానే సారు. టీ లో పంచదార లేకుండ తాగడం అలవాటు చేసుకున్నారు. విజయ్ తండ్రి రాత్రి పగలు తేడా లేకుండా పని చేసి డబ్బులు కూడ బెడుతున్నాడు. రోజు ఏ తెల్లవారు జాముకో ఇంటికి చేరు తున్నాడు. ఆ సమయానికి అతని కోసం విజయ్ తల్లి చెక్కర లేని టీ తయారు చేసేది.

ఇంతలో డాక్టర్ వైద్యనాధన్ విదేశానికి వెళ్లాల్సిన రోజు రానే వచ్చింది. ఆ రోజు డాక్టర్ గారు విమానాశ్రయం చేరుకోవటం ఆలస్యం అయింది. తను ఎక్కవలసిన విమానం వెళ్ళిపోయింది. అందుకని మరో విమానం వెక్కటానికి హైదరాబాద్ వెళ్ళటం ఒక్కటే మార్గ మని తోచింది. వెంటనే కారులో హైదరాబాద్ కి పయనమయ్యాడు.

డాక్టర్ గారి కారు విజయ్ ఇంటికి కొంచం దూరం లో ఆగిపోయింది. డాక్టర్ గారు కారు దిగి చాల విసుగ్గా డ్రైవర్ ని ఇంకెంత సమయం పడుతుందని అడుగుతున్నాడు. అదే సమయానికి, విజయ్ తండ్రి ఇంటికి చేరు తున్నాడు. కొంత దూరం లో డాక్టర్ గారిని చూసి గుర్తు పట్టి వివరం అడిగాడు. తాను మెకానిక్ అని చెప్పి, కారు డ్రైవర్ సహాయం తో కారుని బాగు చేసాడు. డాక్టర్ గారు సంతోషం తో డబ్బులు ఇవ్వ బోతుంటే విజయ్ తండ్రి డబ్బులు వద్దని చెప్పి, దగ్గరలోనే తన ఇల్లు ఉందని, కొంత టీ తాగి వారి ప్రయాణం సాగించామని చెప్పాడు. డాక్టర్ గారు కాదనలేక అతని ఇంటికి చేరాడు.

అప్పుడే విజయ్ సాయిబాబా ని ప్రార్ధించి తండ్రి వద్దకు కుంటుతూ వస్తాడు. తండ్రి, విజయ్ ని డాక్టర్ గారికి పరిచయం చేస్తాడు. ఇంతలో విజయ్ తల్లి టీ తీసుకుని వస్తుంది. చక్కర లేని టీ తాగడం తో డాక్టర్ గారు, విజయ్ తండ్రి ని ఎందుకు చేదు గ వున్నా టీ ని తాగుతున్నారని అడుగుతాడు. అప్పుడు విజయ్ తండ్రి వాళ్ళ ప్రార్థన గురించి చెప్తాడు. అది విని డాక్టర్ గారి మనసు కరుగు తుంది. విజయ్ కాళ్ళని పరీక్షించిన తర్వాత డాక్టర్ గారు ఆ దంపతుల తో విదేశం నుంచి రాగానే విజయ్ కి వైద్యం చేస్తానని చెప్తాడు. అక్కడేయ్ వున్నా సాయిబాబా కి అందరు నమస్కరిస్తారు. విజయ్, అతని తల్లి తండ్రులు ఎంతో సంతోషిస్తారు.

డాక్టర్ గారు విదేశం నుంచి రాగానే విజయ్ వాళ్ళ ఇంటికి తన కారు పంపుతాడు. విజయ్, అతని తల్లి తండ్రులు సాయిబాబా కి నమస్కరించి డాక్టర్ గారి ఆసుపత్రి కి చేరు తారు. డాక్టర్ గారిని కలుసుకొని తమ వద్ద రెండు వేలు మాత్రమే ఉన్నాయని చెప్తారు. దానికి డాక్టర్ గారు విజయ్ వైద్యానికి డబ్బులు తీసుకోను కానీ వైద్యానికి గాను చెక్కర వేసిన టీ ఇవ్వమని చెప్తాడు. విజయ్, అతని తల్లి తండ్రులు నవ్వు కుంటూ తమ ప్రార్థనా ఫలం దక్కిందని సంతోషిస్తారు.

మీ అందరికి కథ నచ్చిందని అనుకుంటున్నాను.

కథ కంచికి మనం ఇంటికి.

సాయి బాబా కి జై.

कामयाब

Meet our hero: RJ, a final year B.Tech student from financial weak background.

One day he went to post office to check whether he got any money order from his uncle who promised to pay exam fee. Disappointed with the answer 'NO' from post master, he started to think how to pay the exam fee.

Accidentally he bumped, Mr. Giri an old man who came to post office to do money order and is in rush mood. Giri fell down but was not in a position to grasp what happened.. he was in tension mood to do money order. Giri did not notice the falling down of purse from his pocket. He was searching all his pockets.

RJ finds Giri purse lying on ground and hands it over. Giri feels happy and completes his work at post office. Then he turns towards RJ who was about to leave the place but stops to the words of Giri.

Giri comes to know RJ needs money and takes him to a radio station. He offers RJ, radio jackey job. RJ feels happy to have but little confused with the time slot. It falls mid night when the entire city is in deep sleep.

Giri wants to find the capability of young RJ and says it is testing period to exhibit caliber. RJ falls in trans but considers it as a challenge. In a happy mood, RJ offers a chocolate wrapped in a cover with his phone number to Giri. Giri takes it and both of them move out from that place.

RJ prepares himself to the job by listening to other radio jackies, their working style. So, RJ shares his phone number to dear and near people. Expecting a call from them in deep midnight could start his work at the radio.

For the first 10 days no call from people makes RJ bore at his work and push him into fear of loosing job. He starts thinking how to cross this huddle and starts advertising his number to many people who he meets on the road while coming to the office. RJ cultivated the habit of meeting and sharing his number to road cleaning staff, news paper transport people, etc. Still he wont get a call as expected.

On the 25th day, Giri calls RJ and reminds about the last day for his challenge. RJ is more tensed but hopes some miracle will come. That night, as usual, he starts his work and gets a call from abroad where a lady calls him and asks to play a song. Most happily he receives the call and plays the song. Daily he gets call from the lady and many more from her friends in the city and in abroad.

On the 30th day, RJ meets Giri and knows the winning of challenge. Giri promises salary next day. RJ feels happy and thanks the lady in his mind. He will be eagerly waiting for her call. Suddenly he receives a call from an unknown person who says he saw an injured lady on road and needs ambulance immediately. The person seeks help of RJ and inform hospital people by a repeated broadcast in the radio. As per rules of the company, RJ should not do and promote such calls. It is the day where he is about to receive salary and last day for exam fee.

RJ in much tension mood, takes deep breath and violates office rules for humanity. He activates hospital staff and informs about the details of the injured person. He feels relax and is ready for the consequences.

Giri calls RJ and in a serious mood asks about the violation of rules. RJ explains the importance of humanity and time of approach. Giri happily taps on the shoulder of RJ and introduces his daughter who was the caller from abroad.

She explains how she was gifted the chocolate by father, Giri. She also says the faithful nature of RJ observed by Giri at the moment of the purse return by RJ in the post office. On that day, the lady was flying to abroad. She sat in her seat and opens the hand bag. She finds the chocolate. Enjoying the taste of chocolate, she started thinking about RJ and want to know about him much more. On boarding to her place, she calls RJ number on wrapper that luckily falls in the mid night slot of RJ radio work. Much knowledge about RJ, finally she returns to city and want to surprise RJ. Finally, RJ succeeds his tasks and says: 'हम होंगे कामयाब एक दिन'.

Wednesday, 20 November 2019

Karthika masam special-Lord siva poem: Harom hara-

Written and painted by Suresh.

Ohm Namah Sivaya......
Please share your comments on this to +91 99662 44674.

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Wealth from waste

Wealth from waste:

Many materials after their main purpose were thrown as waste. Little thinking with a creative mind can bring wealth from the waste. This can be observed from the following articles I made from various wastes like paper, plastic bottles, etc.

I believe in a saying, 'There is nothing waste in this world. Even a stopped watch shows correct time twice a day, only we don't believe in it.'

Thursday, 18 September 2014

Tour to Tirumala

Where is Tirumala?

Tirumala is the collective name for the series of seven Hills. It is believed that Lord Venkateswara resides in these Hills. It is one of the sacred pilgrims located in the eastern ghats of Andhra Pradesh of India. Lord Venkateswara is worshipped as Vishnu and is popular by other names like Narayana, Govinda, Balaji, Srinivasa, Malayappa, Perumallu, etc. Hence he is prayed as:

Om Namo Narayanaya Om Namo Venkatesaya Om Namo Srinivasaya

Tirumala hills:

These images can be considered as an evidence for the presence of the Lord on the hills of Tirumala. This brings a holy feeling to the devotees to visit the sacred Tirumala Hills. The sacred place starts from the ‘Alipiri’ gate, with ‘Garuda’ in an inviting posture as shown below. Even ‘Garuda’ is observed on the rocks of hills.

Seven hills of Tirumala:

The sacred place covers seven hills of Tirumala. They are:

1. Seshadri:

The hill is named on ‘Adi Seshu’, a big snake. He is a great devotee to Lord and serves the Lord as a bed. The road ways to the temple looks like a snake on the hills.

2. Neeladri:

The hill is named on ‘Neela veni’. Neela veni is a woman devote to the Lord. The lord has a mark on the fore head due to the injury caused by a shepherd. Neela veni felt bad about the mark. She plucked few strings of her thick long black hair and covered the mark on the fore head of Lord. Lord was very much impressed about her service. He observed that Neela veni developed a mark on her fore head due to plucking. He immediately called other devotes and collected hair from them. But it was insufficient and could not cover the mark completely. So, Lord gave her a boom that until she recovers the mark, he collects hair from his devotees. Still to today, we are offering our hair to the Lord that was believed to cover the mark on the fore head of Neela veni.

3. Garudadri:

The hill was named on ‘Garuda’, an eagle. Garuda is the vehicle for Lord Vishnu. Once, Lord Vishnu wants to stay on Earth for few days. He could not find a suitable place to stay with his wife, Lordess Lakshmi. He ordered Garuda to shift the Venkatadri hill from Heaven to the Earth. Garuda succeeded with the order and placed the Hill. In all the festivals, Garuda plays an important role. The image is the flag hosted on the occasion of one of the important festival called Brahmotsavam.

4. Anjanadri:

The hill is named on another women devotee called ‘Anjana’. Anjana prayed Lord Vishnu on this Hill for many years. Lord impressed by her prayer for long time blessed her with a strong boy. She named him as Anjaneya, son of Anjana. Anjaneya is another name to Lord Hanuman. Hence, his statue of 30 feet tall is located on this hill and is worshipped at this place. Also hanuman mandir is located on the banks of ‘Jabali Theertham’ near the temple of Lord Balaji. A naturally formed Ganesh idol on the trunk of a tree at this Theertham attracts pilgrims to the place.

5. Vrushabhadri:

In Krutha Yuga, there lived a demon named Vrushabhasura. He worshipped Lord Shiva for long time but could not get the darshan of Lord. Then he chopped his head and offered it to Lord Siva. Lord Siva was pleased by his action made him alive. Then, Vrushabhasura asked the Lord to fight with him. Lord Siva surprised and accepted it for the war. It went on for many days. Finally Lord Shiva prayed Lord Vishnu and defeated Vrushabhasura. Before dying, he asked prayed both the Lords to name the place with his name. They blessed him and named the hill place as Vrushabhadri.

6. Narayanadri:

‘Narayan’ in Sanskrit means "path of man". It also represents the Lord who created living beings using water. I heard an interesting story about this name that is related to Brahmotsavam. In the early days, Lord Brahma along with saints prayed Vishnu at this hill place to guide him in creating the universe. Lord Vishnu pleased with the prayer generated water from his feet. The pure water soon turned into a huge river and was named as Ganga. Brahma as an action of appraisal used the water to clean the feet of Lord Vishnu. At the same time, Gods and saints celebrate the happiest moment as a festival known as ‘Brahmotsavam’. Brahma then collects the holy water and uses it for creating the living beings. As Lord Vishnu was responsible for the creation, he is considered as ‘Narayan’. The saints requested the Lord to leave a mark on the hill for their worship. The Lord left his footsteps as a mark. The mark on the hill was known as Sri Vari padalu. Even to today, the feet of Lord are visible at this place and are worshipped by many saints.

7. Venkatadri:

Temple of Lord Venkateswara is known as ‘Ananda nilayam’ It is located on this hill and is known as Venkatadri /Venkatachala or Venkata Hill. The term ‘Venkatadri’ is obtained from two words ‘Vem’ and ‘Kata’. '’VEM” means “sin” “KATA” means remove. It is believed that, the idea to make a sin starts in the head. The head is covered with the strings of hair. In this way, sins made by humans hold the strings of hair located on the head. When the human offers his hair to the Lord and takes a dip in the holy water of Pushkarini, all sins are removed. In this way, the Lord on this hill helps the Humans to get release from the sins made by them.

Travel to ‘Ananda Nilayam’:

Ananda Nilayam is the name of the temple where Lord Balaji/ Venkateswara resides. It is on the Venkatadri hill of Tirumala. There are two paths to travel on foot from Tirupati to Tirumala:

1. Alipiri Mettu: Alipiri represents a place situated at the foothills of Tirumala. Mettu means step. This is one of the ancient ways to reach Lord. It has 3550 steps to cover 11 Km (6.8 miles) long and passes through Tirumala deer park.

2. Sri Vari Mettu: It is also one of the ancient ways to reach Tirumala. The actual distance between Srinivasa Manga Puram and Tirupati is about 15 Km. There is a short path to travel that takes us to Tirumala with a distance of 2.1 K min 2400 steps. It is a difficult path with steps made of rocks that are of very high and in various sizes. Local trained people use this path in emergency to travel as well as to transport the goods to temple. The story behind the formation of path is shared as follows:

Sri means Lordess Lakshmi. Varu or Pati means care taker. In this way, Sri Varu is the word used for Lord Vishnu. Mettu means step. This way originates at Srinivasa Manga puram. Srinivasa is another name to Lord Venkateswara. Nivas means place of residence. As the Lordess Lakshmi resides with her husband Lord Vishnu and Lord Venkateswara is believed to be Lord Vishnu, Srinivasa is considered as a name of Lord Vishnu. Manga is the name of Lordess Alivelu Manga. She is considered as Lordess Lakshmi. Lordess Padma vathy is also considered to be Lordess Lakshmi Devi. The way is believed to be travelled by the Lord and Lordess during their first visit to Tirumala.

Forms of worship performed at the temple:

In this temple, there are different forms of worship performed to the Lord. Some of the important forms of worship are discussed below:

1. Suprabhata seva:

Waking up the Lord for accepting our prayers is the objective in this worship.

2. Abishekam:

Performing bath to the statue of the Lord is called Abishekam. It is performed on every Friday.

3. Asta dala Padma pada seva:

The Lord has shown the ultimate path to lead a life with morality and values. Observe the mudra of the Lord expressed in his statue.

It says to surrender our life at his feet. He is the guide of our life and when we follow the path shown by him, we reach him. To express the sincere gratitude, we perform this seva. Asta means eight that represents difficulties faced by the human beings. Padma is the flower which has eight petals. Pada means feet of the Lord. When we face any difficulty, we should realise that it is one of the petal of the flower that needs to be placed at his feet. Then he will take care and guide us in a right way.

4. Tirumanjana seva

In this seva, bathing Lord along with his Deverulu with holy water on special occasion is the form of worship performed.

5. Nithya Koluvu:

Nithya means daily activity, Koluvu means Darbar or office. The money offered by devotees to the Lord is collected from ‘Hundi’ and is credited in banks. The amount credited, the amount debited for making prasadam, anndanam, etc., are expressed to the Lord by the officer of the temple. The priest explains the importance of the day, date, year, etc.

6. Nithya Kalyanotsavam

Nithya means daily, Kalyanam means marriage, Vutsava means festival. In this worship Lord is married to his wives. The story behind the seva is as follows:

The Lord came to Earth to marry Lordess Alamelu Manga and convince his first wife Lakshmi to return to their place, Vykuntam. He married Alamelu Manga and settled at Tirumala. Also he convinced Lordess Lakshmi to stay at Tirumala for the sake of devotees. As the main purpose of his visit to this world is marriage, it is performed by the devotees to the Lord with his two wives. Lakshmi is also called Sri Devi and Alamelu Manga is also called Padmavathy Devi. As Devi is common for both the names, they are called ‘Deverulu’.

7. Unjal seva

Unjal means Swinging chair. The Lord with his wives takes rest by this seva.

8. Sahasra deepa alankara seva

Sahasra means thousand. Deepam means light with lamp. Alankara means decoration. The Lord with his wives takes rest by swinging. The place is decorated with a thousand lamps around them. The lamp expresses the prayer of devotees. When the lamp s lightened, the devotees praise the Lord in the mind. When it is placed in the surrounding of the Lord, by looking at each deepam, the desire or difficulty faced by the respective devotee is cleared by the Lord.

9. Ekanta seva

Ekanta means alone in silence. Taking rest at night is the worship observed in this seva. This is performed in the temple premises only.

10. Brahmotsavam

Brahma started creating the universe with the water that took birth at the feet of the Lord. To express the gratitude, Brahma cleans the feet with the same water and collects it as holy water. In that occasion of gaining holy water, saints and other gods celebrate their happiness as a festival. Later the devotees started it celebrating every year. The Lord along with his wives is decorated with jewellery and is placed on statues of animals/ chariot, etc. They are taken for a visit around the temple. To express the fact that Lord has taken many characters in this universe he is decorated with many weapons and in various forms like Saraswathy/ Krishna/ Surya Dev etc.

11. Chakra snanam

At the end of Brahmotsavam, the Lord along with his cheap weapon called ‘Sudarshan’ is dipped in the holy water of Pushkarini. Devotees feel that they are taking bath with the Lord and dip in the same water along with the statue.

About the Lord at Tirumala

The following is the long story of the Lord that is believed behind his stay at Tirumala.

Kali is the demon who was the king to rule the universe in these days. Under his influence, he forces the humans to make sins. Lord with a kind heart, removes the sins of humans and guides to lead a moral life. It was difficult for Kali to rule the world in presence of Lord. So, kali always tries to trouble the Lord. It was believed that, the following three incidents made the Lord feel bad about the humans and forced him to turn into a statue.

Incident-1: War between Thondaman and Vasudan:

In those days, Akasha Raj along with his brother Thondaman was ruling the place. Padmavathy and Vasudan are the children of the King. Padmavathy got married to the Lord. When his son was young, King left the world without sharing the kingdom to his brother. The prince, Vasudan wants to rule the kingdom without sharing it to his uncle, Thondaman.

Thondaman said that, “I am so young when my father Sudarma left me in the hands of my brother Akasha Raj. From then onwards, Akasha Raj treated me with care and affection. Due to love and affection on one another, I wanted him to be the king. As Vasudan is too young to rule, I want to take the ruling pattern of Akasha Raj”. But Vasudan disagreed and declared that his uncle was lying. The argument resulted in a war between them for the property and position. They approached the Lord individually and requested him to be on their side. Lord convinced Thondaman to take his main weapons conch shell and Sudarshan chakra, while he would be on the side of Vasudan. The weapons could not fight against the Lord, but was causing huge damage on both the sides. To make them realise Lord acts that he was severely injured. Thondaman and Vasudan felt bad about the situation caused for their ignorance and pray Saint Agastya to cure the Lord. The saint along with the care taken by Padmavati brings consciousness to the Lord. They prayed Lord to forgive for their behaviour. The Lord forgives and divides the kingdom in two equal parts.

Thondaman wants to show gratitude for the Lord. He wants to construct a new house for the Lord and Padmavathy. He expresses the wish with the Lord and asks him to select a suitable place. The Lord chooses a place on the Venkatadri hill of Tirumala, with the permission of the resident of Venkatadri hill, Varaha Swamy. Thondaman with great efforts builds a house in the place. On a holy day, Lord started residing in the house with Padmavati and care taker, ‘Vakula matha’.

Incident-2: Quarrel between wives of the Lord

Under the influence of Kali, Lordess Lakshmi felt bad about the second marriage of her husband. She met the Lord in front of Padma vathy. Lord could not satisfy his wives, stood silently. Lakshmi realised the cause of silence and left the place. Padma vathy felt very sorrow as to take the second position as his wife. She also left the place and settled at Tiruchanur. In those days, Thondaman was taking care of the Lord.

Incident-3: Negligence of Thondaman

Demon Kali approaches Thondaman as a Brahmin. The Brahmin introduces himself as a traveller. As the place was strange to his pregnant wife, he requests to give shelter and food. Next day, the Brahmin says it was urgent for him to leave the place to attend a personal work. Thondaman promises that he would take care of his wife. He shows her a room to the lady and forgets to give food. After six months, the Brahmin comes back and asks for his wife. Then Thondaman realises his negligence. He quickly visits the shelter and finds that the lady was dead. Thondaman unknowing what to do and how to face the Brahmin approaches the Lord.

The Lord feels very bad of kali and turns into a statue. He has four hands. The two upper hands are empty and he lower two hands express different mudra.

The Lord speaks from the statue and guides Thondaman to take a holy bath in the pushkarini near the temple. Thondaman realises his sin and takes the bath as advised. Also he offers his hair as to remove the sin. From then onwards, it became a tradition for the devotees to offer the hair to the Lord and take the holy dip in pushkarini.

Lakshmi comes to know that the Lord has taken the form of statue and settles on his heart as a golden shape. The care taker ‘Vakula matha’ takes the shape of Tulasi garland and reaches the neck of the Lord. Padma vathy also takes the shape of statue at Tiruchanur. It is believed that, Lord daily travels a distance of 28 Km at night to meet Padma vathy Devi.

History of temple:

The exact period in which the temple was founded is not known. According to the local folks, a story behind the temple was discussed below:

Vaikhanasa Gopinatha is a saint who worships Lord Varaha Swamy on Tirumala Hill.

Rangadasa, a kind hearted devotee of Vishnu used to serve the saint. One day, Rangadasa viewed a deity of the Lord beneath a tamarind tree, near the Swami Pushkarini. He exposed the deity and raised a rough wall of stones around the deity. He brought to the notice of the saint Gopinatha. Daily the saint used to worship the deity along with Varaha Swamy with the flowers supplied by Rangadasa. One day, Rangadasa was distracted by a Gandharva king and his ladies and forgot to supply flowers for the worship. That night, Lord appears in a dream and tells to Rangadasa that he was pleased with the service. Rangadasa in his next birth would be born as a king of that place and would construct a beautiful temple. After the death of Rangadasa, the deity was again covered with an ant hill under the tamarind tree.

Rangadasa was reborn as Thondaman, the son of the royal couple, Suvira and Nandini. One day, he went to Tirumala Hill for hunting. He saw a cow feeding boy and farmer in that place. Suddenly they heard a voice from the sky. It said that there is a huge ant hill on the banks of the Pushkarini. It was located near to the place where they stood. The voice ordered to feed the ants in the ant hill. Thondaman collected milk from the farmer and took the help of cow feeding boy to locate the ant hill. He poured the milk in the ant hill as a feed for the ants. The milk uncovered the idol of Lord Venkateswara hidden beneath the anthill. He got surprised and recognises the deity that he explored in his previous birth in the same place. He recalls the dream to construct a temple for the Lord.

With the directions given by the Lord, Thondaman constructs a prakaram and dvara gopuram. He also arranged for a regular worship of the Lord.

Facts about the temple:

The following are some of the facts related to the temple:

1. From the dates available, Samavai, a queen of Pallava dynasty (614 AD), is said to have the first silver image here.

2. The detail of temple is mentioned in Sangam poetry of 500 BC - 2000 AD.

3. Numerous temple inscriptions from the 9th century records say that many contributions were made by both Pallavas and Chola Kings.

4. It is believed that originally there was only one shrine at Tirumala. When Sri Ramanuja, visited the place in the 12th century, the temple at Tirupati was built.

5. The Chola period saw the temple complex prosper and expand further.

6. In 1517, Krishna devaraya donated gold and jewels to the temple.

7. The Maratha general Raghoji Bhonsle visited the temple and set up a permanent administration for the conduct of worship in the temple. It was continued and supported by the rulers of Mysore and Gadwal.

8. In 1843, with the coming of the East India Company, the administration and many shrines of the temple were entrusted to Seva Dossji of the Hathiramji Mutt at Tirumala as Vicaranakarta for nearly a century.

9. Until 1933, when the temple was under the administrative charge of the mahants.

10. The Madras legislature passed a special act in 1933 whereby the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) committee was invested with powers of administration and control through a commissioner appointed by the Government of Madras. A Ryot Advisory Council was formed for the management of the estates of the TTD, and was assisted by a Religious Advisory Council with regard to religious matters.

About the Statue of the Lord:

The height of the Lord’s statue in Tirumala is observed to be the same as the height of the natural arch [Height: 3 m (9.8 ft) and Width: 8 m (26.2 ft)]. Natural Arch on the hills is a geological wonder that is located near the Chakra Theertham. It is called as ‘Sila thoranam’ in local language (Telugu). ‘Sila’ means rock and ‘Thoranam’ means arch.

The statue represents the physic of Lord Vishnu. It has long hair, which falls on the shoulders. It has a bare chest that could be 36 to 40 inches and waist could be 24 to 27 inches similar to that of a lion's waist. The qualities show the person's handsome and great personality. It was not found with the statues of other God’s that the right hand placed in downward direction.

On the right side of chest, an impression of Lordess Lakshmi and is observed and is known as Sri Vatsam. It has strong legs and lotus feet, with ornaments on HIS ankles.

It also has few other impressions listed below:

1. Sacred thread (Yajgno pa vitam),

2. Golden chains from neck,

3. Buja Kirti's (ornaments decorated on shoulders),

4. Wide thread below the waist.

5. Impression of bow-string (Vinti Nari) on the shoulders formed from bow (Kothandam) and pouched arrows (Ammula podi) due to wearing them for a long time.

Story behind the scar on the chin of the Lord statue:

In 11th Century, it was difficult to get good flowers to worship the Lord (Poolangi seva). So, Sri Ramanuja charya wanted to develop a garden at the place. It was assigned to one of his strong followers, Ananta alwar.

Ananta alwar selected a suitable place to grow the garden, near the temple. He started digging the earth with a crowbar for making a water body. His pregnant wife was helping him by removing the earth and carrying it off in a basket. Few minutes later, she got tired and felt difficult to carry the basket with full of soil and rocks. Knowing about the short temper of her husband, she was silently chanting the names of Lord. Lord pleased by her attempt to work, decided to help her. He appeared as a little boy and started helping her. After sometime Ananta alwar noticed that the service of the boy and started shouting with anger. The boy laughed at him but continued with the work. In that anger, alwar threw the crowbar on the boy. It hits the boy at the chin and the blood oozed dripped off from the chin. In the evening, when alwar went to the temple to worship, he noticed that the Lord's chin got hurt and blood dropping from it. He was shocked and soon realized that the little boy who helped his wife was none other than his Supreme. He prayed the Lord to forgive and started giving first aid. He took a flower and dipped it in white camphor and calcium stone powder. He applied the mixture on the wound. Within seconds, the bleeding stopped. Lord was pleased for his devotion and service and said to continue the first aid as a daily activity. The impression was considered as a holy mark similar to Sri Vatsam. The crowbar that was used by Ananta alwar is displayed at the northern wall near the entrance of the temple.

Similarities of the Lord’s statue with other Gods

Lord exhibits 'Ananta Rupa'. The term 'Ananta Rupa' means exhibiting multiple shapes. The idol of Lord Balaji in Tirumala differs from other popular idols of Lord Vishnu. The mudras exhibited by the two lower hands of the idol expresses a message, ‘Why fear when I am here. Just surrender your difficulties at these feet’. Such mudras are also observed with a minor deviation in the idols of Thiruchendur Subramanya Swami (Tamil nadu) and Guruvayur Swami (Kerala). The following image explains the similarities found among the three idols.

Similarity with Lord Shiva

Adi Sankara charya and his followers observe the following impressions on the statue and strongly believe that the statue has similarities of Lord Shiva.

1. Mark of Cobra on the body and head,

2. Bhujanga Valayam (girdle of the serpent on the arms).

Use of sacred ‘Bilva’ leaves during the worship in ‘Dhanur masam’ makes no difference between the Shiva and Venkateswara.

Similarity with Lordess

It is believed that, Lordess has the fore head similar to lion’s fore head (Simha lalatam). Even the statue has a similar fore head, which brings common features for Lordess and the Lord. The Simha lalatam can be visible at the time of Abishekam as it is generally covered by the big size Kasturi Govinda namam.

Acharyas fills the empty hands of the statue

Many great Acharyas like Shankara charya, Ramanuja charya, Madhava charya etc., visited the Lord and worshipped. Shankara charya worshipped the Lord as Shiva while, Ramanuja charya worshipped as Vishnu. As the procedures for Lord Shiva and Vishnu are different, this created confusion in selecting the procedure for daily worship.

Once it was expressed before Ramanuja charya. He said to place the weapons of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu before the deity and lock the doors for the night. When the doors are opened in the morning, Lord was holding the weapons of Vishnu. From then onwards, the Lord was worshipped with the procedure related to Vishnu.

Importance of Vimana Venkateswara Swamy

Vimana means on the gopuram of Ananda Nilayam. An idol of the Lord Venkateswara, made of gold is embedded in the gopuram. Devotees believe that by having darshan of Vimana venkateswara we get the second time darshan of inside statue.

Sri Vari ‘Laddu’ Prasadam:

In ancient days, prasadam made of rice powder and jaggery’s juice was offered as Naivedyam. It was called as ‘Manoharam’.

In 1940, Nithya Kalyanam seva was started to worship the Lord. As per Hindu custom, ‘Laddu’ is served in the food supplied as lunch or dinner in the marriage. Hence, the management of Tirumala Tirupati Deva sthanam (TTD) started preparing ‘Laddu’ using sugar, basin powder, Cashew nuts, Elachi etc. and offered to the Swamy. From 1943, ‘Laddu’ was issued as prasadam for the participants of Kalyanotsavam seva.

Later, it was also distributed to devotees who visited the temple on Saturdays and are in Dharma Darsanam. Soon it became as a bench mark and people started asking Laddu as prasadam from the devotees who visited Tirumala. This created a large demand from the devotees to have prasadam for sale and resulted in the issue of laddus daily. Along with Laddu, Vada and other prasadam are also issued by TTD. Even TTD started Anndanam on daily basis.