[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Balaji

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Wow, that is a lot of info! And highlighted both the pluses and minuses.

Thanks for sharing.

 

I think that is the danger any group or organization in the service of the Lord

has to beware of--devotion to God is bound to bring prosperity, success, and

fame beyond man's wildest expectations; but how one handles this is what defines

a true bhakta.

 

If only we could all always remember - " anookoole Jagannaathe, saanookulam

jagatrayam; pratikoole Jagannaathe pratikoolam jagatrayam! " 'if God is with you,

the world also is; if He is not, nobody is!'

Om Namo Narayanaya.

balagopal ramakrishnan <rbalpal wrote:

Hari Om

 

an interesting article about Balaji.

 

The unique idol of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala, the

most popular and bounteous pilgrimage center in the

country, is believed to be the first image of any god

or goddess that manifested spontaneously and is the

source of Archa or idol worship so common in India

today

 

The rich imagination of Brahmanical literature

describes him as the Lord of numerous universes: the

root of the phenomena of Creation, Life, Living,

Events, Change et al as the Preserver of the Hindu

Trinity. Sri Venkateswara Swami, or Tirupati Balaji,

is the presiding deity of the famous and bounteous

Tirumala temple.

 

Over the millennia, the Tirumala temple, near Tirupati

in Andhra Pradesh, has continued to draw countless

devotees who contribute billions of rupees to its

kitty. Its mind boggling reserves of pure gold, if

unloaded, can crush the world bullion market. Even the

Vatican and Mecca cannot match the temple's popularity

nor can the new pilgrimage destinations of India, such

as Sabarimalai, Vaishno Devi and Shirdi.

 

Pilgrims come for fleeting glimpses of the fascinating

life-size idol of Balaji, after inching in long queues

for hours and days. Many undertake the pilgrimage

asking for favors to mark various transitions in life

or simply to offer their hair, tiny silver or gold

bits or images of the deity. The shrine is an integral

part of life and culture especially in the three

southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu

and Karnataka.

 

The devotees, however, cut across all barriers of

region or religion. For the Dutch Peter who recently

converted to Vedic Hinduism through the TM

(transmeditation) route, the deity represents pure

consciousness. The miracle of survival amidst

recurring destitution and godsent jobs to the family

of Fathima, a Muslim devotee, is a moving story. Dr

Loy Camoens, a devout Latin Catholic and a physician

in New Citi Hopsital, Secunderabad, India, requests

for the laddu prasad or offerings, from Tirupati and

accepts it reverentially. A Jain woman in New Delhi,

India, pines for this deity. They are all moved by a

spontaneous feeling and urge.

 

Some leftists, known staunch atheists, have also been

drawn to Balaji. The moving force for Sri Sri, an

acclaimed Indian poet and Telugu revolutionary, was

the maddening jealousy of his fellow litterateurs.

Communist leader late C. Rajeswara Rao's red salute to

the deity some years ago had also sparked a

controversy.

 

UNUSUAL ICON

Venkateswara is not a name but a title. Vem-kata means

one who cuts or washes away one's sins.

 

The unique idol in Tirumala is a riddle to unravel.

Everything begins and ends or is reduced to sunyam

(nothingness) before him, while the infinite world

pens to the sincere seeker with an infinitesimal

offering. This is because spiritual wealth through

devotion is the basis of life and action in theism.

 

There are millions of gods in Hinduism but there is

ultimately only one God. All God's attributes are to

be found in Vishnu, in yoganidra (yogic sleep) or Sri

Ranganathaswami (Lord of the creation) who chose to

descend on the earth as Yoga Murti (idol), Balaji.

Thus, Balaji is not an avatar of Vishnu but Vishnu

himself.

 

The deity also represents the God of Justice,

according to V.G. Pragasam, Advocate-on-Record,

Supreme Court of India. He is blindfolded by the Namam

or forehead mark; the scales of justice are his two

wives on either side of his chest with the sword of

justice hanging in between. With his slim and black

figure, the deity is said to represent Shani (Saturn).

He subjects one to the trying period of Shanidasa and

metes out the package of rewards and punishments in

the material and spiritual spheres.

 

Interestingly, the image in the temple is most unlike

the portrait in the ubiquitous pictures, admits M.

Srinivasa Bhattacharyulu, an adviser to the Tirumala

Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the affairs

of the temple. In the portraits, the deity's

chubbiness, facial appearance and sword visibly

dangling below his chest are all misleading. The

Dhruva Beram (the standing idol of the deity) has a

Srivatsa mark in the middle of the chest instead of

the left breast which encloses a half-inch Lakshmi

(Goddess of wealth and divine consort of Lord Vishnu)

sculpture.

 

When installed and consecrated in a temple, any form

of Vishnu is said to create peace, nourishment and

happiness for devotees. Balaji is one of the eight

Swayam Vyakta Sthalas (spontaneous image locations) in

India and Nepal, Bhattacharyulu elaborates.

 

You don't need to go to Tirumala to fathom the Lord's

mystique or greatness. Mere listening to the wondrous

compositions of his noblest and humblest devotees,

like Annamacharya or Tyagaraja, Alvars Pasurama and

Purandara Dasa, suffices. They combine the

quintessence of the Vedas and the Upanishads.

 

There is a controversy about the deity representing

Shakti ( divine consort of Lord Shiva as well as

Goddess representing female power) and Shiva as some

rituals and traditions signify. The first three Alvars

describe him as a combination of Vishnu and Shiva. Dr

Medasani Mohan, director, Bhagavatha Project, TTD,

attests to the idol having jatas (locks of hair) of

Shiva and chiselled out bosom of Shakti when observed

from close quarters during the prolonged Abhishekam

Seva (holy bath) when the idol is undressed.

 

But Bhattacharyulu contradicts this theory. Normally

the lions atop the Vimanam (roof) are taken as proof

of its being a Shakti temple. But he says they are

mere guards as in Badrinath and other Vaishnavite

shrines.

 

 

A DAY IN THE DEITY'S LIFE

His day begins with the Melu Kolupu Paata (awakening

song) sung by the descendants of Annamacharya,

followed by Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatam.

 

A traditional cowherd or Yadava is given the first

darsan or holy sight of the idol, of the day. The

recitation of the deity's 1,008 names is begun in the

name of Hathiram Bavaji, a 15th century seeker from

North India. The Muthyala (pearls) Harathi at night

and Pavalimpu Seva (putting the deity to sleep) is

done in the name of Tarikonda Venku Mamba, a rebel,

writer and staunch woman devotee.

 

The Lord is said to go down the hills to neighbouring

Tiruchanur to see his consort, Sri Padmavathy, by

using the large shoes made as an offering by a Madiga

" untouchable " and returns early for the morning sevas

or services.

 

Sri Ramanujacharya, the 12th century reformer and

Vaisnavite saint, laid down a comprehensive system of

organization, management and worship, which survives

to this day in Tirumala. The daily worship was

institutionalized by 1200 AD. It represents a notable

exception to the casteist and dominant Brahmanism even

in the early part of the millennium, mainly due to

Ramanuja's towering stature.

 

AN ENDURING PHENOMENON

The geography of the central hill ranges of the

Eastern Ghats of India, is compared by the puranas or

ancient texts, to a huge recumbent cobra or Adisesha.

The Jyotirlinga of Sri Mallikarjuna Swami in Srisailam

temple is located on its tail, Sri Narasimha Swami

Temple in Ahobilam on its back, Sri Venkateswara

temple atop its hood like the dancing Krishna (though

the temple is noted for its location in the low of the

last hill rather than the peak) and Sri Kalahasti

temple of Shiva at the opening of its mouth.

 

Surprisingly, despite the hill's topography suiting

military operations, which were frequent in the

region, the Balaji temple remained miraculously

untouched, even by the infamous iconoclast Aurangzeb's

(the last of the Great Mughal Emperors) plundering and

pillaging army.

 

Ancient references to the deity and the purifying hill

even before the advent of the deity are many. They go

back to the Rig-Veda. Some described only the

purifying hill, others mentioned the Lord who absolves

sins and presides over the hill, but not any temple.

The puranas refer to the Tirumala hill as Venkatadri

or Venkatachala.

 

According to the Hindu epic Ramayana, Lord Rama, one

of Lord Vishnu's incarnations, and his Vanara

(monkeys) army marching to Lanka for war with Ravana

halted here on the request of Anjana Devi, the mother

of Hanuman. The Mahabharata, the longest epic in the

world, describes the transformation of the departed

spirit of Sri Krishna, after it entered the solar

disc, into a lifeless four-armed image, which was to

descend to Earth. An ethereal voice told the assembled

devas or gods that it was to be worshipped in

Kaliyuga, the present era of darkness and ignorance,

as an easy means for seeking personal salvation. This

is believed to be the Tirupati deity. The eighth

century Tamil classic Silappadikaram quotes a

pilgrim's description of the deity.

 

 

 

WHY IDOL WORSHIP

Idol worship is not animism practised by the so-called

primitive peoples and cultures, as colonialist

anthropology would have us believe. Faith in it opens

up many gates of spirituality. A recent book on the

first encounter of medieval Arabian Muslims with idol

worship in India reveals their curiosity and respect

for this path to God-realization instead of intolerant

iconoclasm they became infamous for.

 

Esoteric Brahmanism which evolved a complex system of

Archa or image worship is rooted in Balaji's idol. The

deity is the first image of any god or goddess that

manifested spontaneously.

 

Bhakti (devotion) path has nothing to do with sandhya,

vandana, japa and other rituals, which are all means

of worship and are all right, but worship of divine

images is accorded primacy in bhakti or devotion.

Attachment to the deity's image detaches the devotee

from samsara, this world, and enables him to realize

the supreme being as Narayana.

 

It is worth noting that Balaji's right hand is

pointing downward towards his feet just above the

knee, indicating that worshipping him will liberate

one from kneedeep illusions of worldly existence.

 

Thus, not only is the main idol in Tirumala believed

to be of divine origin, it is also connected with

divine sanction for Archa worship. The earlier yugas

or eras, offered a tough yogic path of penance, mental

concentration and meditation. Archa is to enable all

in Kaliyuga, the present era of darkness, to achieve

God realization through less tedious means of intense

love and devotion.

 

Lord Venkateswara is also known as Pratyaksha Daivam

(manifest divinity) who helps his devotees in distress

even if they do not or cannot help themselves, thus

contradicting a simplistic adage. This is, of course,

linked to one's yogam or spiritual entitlement.

 

TTD AND DESPIRITUALIZATION

TTD, the multi-billion rupees endowment, represents

the best temple management system in any shrine in

India. But it has also fallen victim to the general

trend of increasing commercialization and

despiritualization of pilgrim centers.

 

Black money constitutes only a small fraction of the

annual collection at the temple, contrary to popular

belief. The income from darsan and seva tickets itself

constitutes half the revenue and donations to the free

meal scheme add up another 33 crore (330 million)

rupees.

 

The culture of crass commercialism and exploitation

that dogs you in Tirumala has been institutionalised

by TTD itself. It has made minor services needlessly

free even as it milks people who prefer to pay to jump

the queue for darsan or sevas. With its eye on revenue

and populist policies, TTD has been tinkering with the

deity's sleeping time, religious duties and timings,

rather than work around the Lord as every temple

should.

 

An exceptional stampede in the temple many years back

was attributed by the then Paramacharya of Kanchi

Kamakoti Peetham to the improper or non-observance of

the rituals prescribed by the Agama Sastras. The

violation of the proscription on men entering the

temple wearing upper garments is prompted by the TTD.

This is in sharp contrast to the custom at major

temples in Kerala, India.

 

M.V. Soundar Rajan, secretary, Dharma Rakshana Samiti,

Hyderabad, is highly critical of the violation of the

Agama Sastras by the TTD and its treating the deity as

a mere stone. The famed, delicious laddu prasad, he

says, is not even offered to the deity but has been

turned into an industry despite strictures by the

Justice Kondiah Committee report 12 years ago.

 

He further points out that the deity has to suffer the

unnecessary and heavy diamond crown besides the heat

of focused electric lights. All sevas are compacted to

be completed by dawn to facilitate darsan by pilgrims

while ignoring the importance of Ushas Kalam (the

period starting at 4.30 a.m).

 

TTD is trying to please all, especially the state

government of Andhra Pradesh, except the presiding

deity it thrives on and claims to serve.

 

" The devotion and pilgrimage by millions increase the

power of the deity while violation of the Agama

Sastras will deplete its power and wealth, " Soundar

Rajan points out. One result of rabid commercialism

and brazen doubling of displayed rates of eatables and

beverages is frequent scuffles between indignant

devotees and vendors in the massive Vaikuntam Queue

Complex.

 

While its administrative and educational institutions

could have been managed better, the TTD's medical

institutions, such as the one for the handicapped, are

doing yeoman's service.

 

Its flaws apart, TTD continues to cater to the needs

of millions of devotees who throng the temple every

year to seek help for their mundane worries and

problems, propagating further the legend of this God

of Kaliyug.

 

Om Namo Narayanayah

 

Balagopal

 

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