Anubhavams with Thiruvengadamudaiyan: report of a recent trip to Thirumalai by Sri Haresh Balasubramaniam of Simhapuri

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs:

 

Sri Haresh Balasubramaniam of Singapore is a very dear

friend of mine,who has helped immensely in creating

the home pages for ThiruvEnakdamudayAn , Swamy Desikan and

MaNavALa MaamnugaL .

 

He has also created a unique web page for Lord Krishna

with great Bhakthi . VeNNai ThAzhi KrishNan is his aarAdhana

Moorthy. He is also working on special web pages for

Swamy AlavandhAr and Swamy NaaTa MunigaL.

 

He had a short (4 days long) but wonderful trip to

ThiruvEngadam and few other dhivya dEsams recently.

He asked me to post this report on his trip to

Thirumalai in particular on the eve of Lord SrinivAsan's

Thirunakshathram tomorrow ( PurattAsi SravaNam).

 

I am pleased to do so.

 

Please do not miss browsing the web pages that he

has constructed for ThiruvEngadamudayAn .There are

some treasures of Images thanks to the help of

Sri TT DevasthAnam from their web pages ,The URL

for this growing web pages is :

 

http://venkateswara.freeservers.com

 

On His Thirunakshathram day, It will be a BhAgyam for all

of us to have the Sevai of the Lord and recollection of

the AzhwAr/AchAryAL's Sri Sookthis ,when we could not

be there in person.

 

Jayathu Jayathu Sri VenkatEsa:

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOPan

 

> asmad gurubhyo namah:

>

>Sri Srinivasa Parabrahmane namah:

 

> My Experiences with the Lord of Seven Hills

>

> By

>

>Haresh Balasubramaniam,Singapore

>

> Our holy scriptures have proclaimed :

>

> VenkatAdri Samam Sthanam BrahmAndE Nasti Kinchana

> VenkatEsha SamO Deva Na BhUtO Na Bhavishyati

>

>There is no place in this universe equal to the Venkatachalam Hill. There

has not been in the past, nor will there be in future, a God

>equal to Venkatesha

>

> In light of this quote, I wish to take a few minutes to narrate adiyen's

little but sweet experiences with the Lord of Tirumala. Adiyen is in the

habit of maintaining an image of Lord Sri Krishna in Vennai Thaazhi Kolam (

butter thief) since age 16. I had taken over this murthy from my revered

uncle Sri PGP Ramakrishnan who was responsible for introducing me to the

spiritual path.

>

> At that age religion was something new I was very much interested in

learning how to maintain the image of Lord Krishna. Some 6 years went by

with my limited understanding and then a sudden desire to do alankaram for

Lord Krishna arose.I was in a fix so I meditated upon Lord Venkateswara and

offered a prayer.

>

> Within days a video cassette of the TTD Brahmotsavam was received from my

grandmother.On the day when Lord Venkateswara comes in procession on the

Chandra Prabha Vahana, he is dressed as Vennai Thaazhi Krishnan.I took that

as a blessing from The Lord Himself and tried to the best of my ability to

emulate the alankaram and amazingly the resemblence is somewhat close! Such

is the mercy of the Lord.I have since named my Aradhana murthy as Venkata

Krishnan.

>

> The year 2001 has been one of many trials and tribulations in terms of

career, personal relationships etc.It had been six years since my last visit

to Tirumala and I was most depressed.

>

> One day after doing puja for Lord Venkata Krishna with Thulasi and Vishnu

Sahasranama Parayanam, I begged of the Lord to grant me a signal to assure

me that He was with me. The next day I visited a client at his residence and

a mutual friend of ours stopped by. This gentlemen was a devout Vaishnava

and entered in a radiant manner wearing the symbol of Vishnu on his

forehead. He then looked at me and said,

>

> " Haresh, I have been thinking of you for a month. By the way here is

something I want to share with you "

>

> From his pocket he took out a small bottle containing the Tirumanjana

Theertham of Lord Venkateswara which his manager had presented him two days

before, after a visit to Tirumala. This was the day before my prayer to the

Lord. I had lost my sense of speech for a moment !

>

> In my office I have a photo of Lord Venkateswara and one mid -August

morning, in the height of depression, I cried inside and prayed :

>

> " Srimannarayana! I cannot take the emotional stress and I long to see

you! Without you my life has no meaning "

>

> With that I mustered up enough courage to walk up to my manager and tell

him that I was taking four days off to go to Tirumala for darshan and

strangely unlike his usual self, he agreed at once granted me time off. So

off I went on a flight to Chennai the following week. Upon arrival

arrangements for my Trip to Tirumala were finalized. Now being a Saturday,

and my Tirumala visit being on Tuesday, I had time on my hands.

>

>Together with my unlce Sri Ramakrishnan, I set off in a car to Tirchy on

Saturday. We then spent the night at a hotel and proceed straight to Sri

Rangam int he morning and stopped for refreshments at the home of a Sri

Vaishnava Vidwan .Just as we finished our drinks the vidwan said , " Jeeyar

Swami(Poundrigapuram Andvan) wants to see you right away " .I was amazed as

the meeting with Jeeyar Swami ( head of a Vaishnavite Monastary)was not

scheduled till late afternoon; but who is to question the Lord's plans right?

>

> So after the audience with jeeyar , I was taken on a guided tour of

Ranganathaswami Temple and lunch was provided for at the Vidwan's house.We

left Sri Rangam by 3 PM and set off for Thanjavur & Thiruvarur. Along the

way my uncle said, " Haresh, since we are already here there is something

you must see before we go to Thirvarur " . I was wondering what could he

have in mind ?Just then it struck me between Thanjavur and Thiruvarur lies

the famous city of Kumakonam. And in the heart of Kumbakonam are housed some

famous Vishnu temples. Throughout my journey I had been constantly chanting

the mangala shlokam of Lord Srinivasa( Venkateswara) of Tirumala :

>

> Sriya: KaanthAya KalyANa NidhayEarthinAm

>Sri VenkatanivAsAya SrinivAsAya MangaLam

>

> May all auspiciousness shower on SrinivAsA of Venkatagiri! He is the Lord

of Lakshmi and is the rich mine of all auspiciousness. He is the

immeasurable wealth for all those , who seek Him .He has chosen the

Venkatam hills for Hiseternal residence .

>

> The first temple we stopped at was that of Oppilliappan who is considered

by the Vaishnavas as the elder brother of Lord Venkateswara and this

Oppiliappan Sannidhi as the dakshina tirumala.There in all His majesty stood

Lord Oppiliappan in the same pose as that of Lord Venkateswara.

Coincidentally the Lord here is also addressed as Srinivasa just like

Tirumala.I will elaborate further on the other temples in a separate

article.This was at 6.30 the same evening as I saw Lord Rangantha.

>

> Now after that we made our way to Thiruvarur where we spent the night .We

run a wedding hall in my maternal great grandparents' name there.I was given

a tour of the place by the manager and when I went to the second floor I saw

a signboard that read

>

> " THIRUVENGADAMUDAIYAN KALYANA MANDAPAM " .

>

> Now this was a sign from the Lord saying that he was with us whenever we

thought of him. Just for the benefit of the devotees who aren't familiar

with some the protocols at Tirupati, Lord Srinivasa there attends kalyana

utsavam or marriage ceremony undertaken by his devotees everyday.That is why

the Lord In Tirumala is known as Kalyana Murthy as he is always presenting

Himself as Bridegroom. So it is little coincidence that the signboard

reminded me of that practice in Tirumala.

>

> So after a night in Thiruvarur and visiting other temples in the nearby

area (Thirukannamangai and Thirucheari) we made our way back to Madras. We

rested for one night and set of to Tirupati the next morning.

>

>On Tuesday Morning at about 10 AM, we arrived in Thiruchanur where the

consort of Lord Venkateswara , Padmavati is located. As we entered the

temple ,I focused my mind on the thoughts of Mahalakshmi and how she is ever

living on the chest of Lord Srinivasa. As the crowds moved,I was blessed

with the darshan of Padmavati Thayar in her full splendour bedecked in

priceless jewels. Next was our visit to Tirumala Hill itself where the Lord

resides in His full majesty.We made our way quickly to the queue complex

after darshan of Varaha Swamy and by 1 PM we made our way to the main temple.

>

>Within half an hour of waiting, we were allowed to proceed to the main

sanctum of Lord Venkateswara.The chanting of " Srinivasa Govinda

Venkataramana Govinda " vibrated throughout the seven hills.Once we entered

the gateway of the temple the fragrance of ghee, green camphor ,musk and

sandalwood paste filled the air .This at once helped to focus our mind for

the meeting with Lord Venkateswara.Within minutes, the crowds moved on and

we were in the sanctum sanctorum or garbagriha there Lord Balaji stood in

His full majesty.His upper two arms bore the sudarshana chakra and

panchajanya conchshell, one of his lower hands rested on his knees while the

other hand was pointing towards His feet.

>

>It is said in the scriptures that Lord Ranganatha of Sri Rangam represents

the pranavam or the primordial sound of the vedas.Likewise the Lord of

Kanchi known as Varadaraja is the personification of one of the Narayana

Mantras.But it is Lord Venkateswara that reperesents the highest truth

enshrined in the Bhagavad Gita - Chapter 18, V 66 :

>

>

>

>

>We can see that the Lord has prescribed many ways to attain HIM.However in

this day and age and given the times and circumstances under which we live

today,once cannot simply follow the other rigid and ancient principles such

as Ashtanga Yoga,Agnihotram or even 100% Bhakthi Yoga is not possible as

much discipline and paraphernalia is required for such things.However 100%

self surrender, sharanagati is recommended by Lord Krishna.This is why Lord

Venkateswara shows one hand to His feet thus illustrating the importance of

surrender.Likewsie the other hand resting on His kneees illustrate that he

will reduce our sufferings to knee deep length if we surrender to him

wholeheartedly.

>

>I must say that the feeling of getting the darshan of Lord Venkateswara is

a truly blissful experience and should be encountered first hand by

everyone.After a satisfying darshan and purchase of the famous Tirupati

Laddu, we proceeded for lunch after which we set off for Madras.

>

>On Wednesday Morning I made a visit to Sri Parthasarathy Temple ( Krishna

Temple) in Madras and did some last minute shopping.In the course of my

shopping trip we were passing through T-Nagar where Thirumala Tirupati

Devasthanams has a information center and meditation hall.All of a sudden my

driver looked at me and said, " sir, I would like to take you to TTD center

as we are near, many devotees who cannot afford a Tirumala Yatra come here

to offer their prayers " .I obliged and when I entered the meditation hall, I

was practically crying tears of joy .There in the far end was a sculpture of

Lord Balaji with silver kavacham being offered Thulasi Archana.Hearing the

chanting of the Vaikhanasa Priests filled me with joy and truly I felt

blessed and it was as though the Lord was telling me, " I know your trip was

short but I am here with you, have a good journey home! " . It is amazing the

way in which the Lord works.None can understand His mysterious ways.

>

>As a Conclusion to this posting, I would like to request all devotees, to

visit the Website prepared by me on Lord Venkateswara and offer any kind

inputs on the site.The URL is as follows :

>

>http://venkateswara.freeservers.com

>

>May Lord Venkateswara Bless us always and shower HIS paripurna anugrahams

on all of us.Loka samastha sukino bhavanthu! Om Shanti Shanti Shantih:!

>

>Haresh Balasubramaniam

>

>27th September 2001

>

>p.s : Dear Sri VS, pls post on Bhakthi group on this Thiruvengadamudaiyan

TN .Thanks!