The Journey through
7 Hills.
DAY:1
On Nov 27th, 2014 we boarded our train from Khurdha railway station to reach our long time dream & divine destination of
TIRUMALA TIRUPATHY TEMPLE.
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| TIRUMALA TIRUPATHY TEMPLE -A NIGHT VIEW |
The most revered temple in Andhra Pradesh which
comes under Chittoor district is dedicated to LORD VISHNU .The holy
temple is situated on the TIRUMALA HILLS /SHESHACHALAM which has 7 peaks
namely
1. SESHADRI
2.
NEELADRI
3. GARUDADRI
4. ANJANADRI
5. VRUSHABADRI
6. NARAYANADRI &
7. VENKATADRI , The main temple is on the Venkatadri hills. ..
The story of Lord Venkateswara begins when all
gods,goddess and saints in the Devlok(heaven)decide to perform a grand
pooja (offering).But then they were baffled, as among all the Gods who
was the most worthy to offer the pooja. Therefore, to make a decision
the main saint among them Saint Brugu sets on a journey to take a test
of all the Gods.Lord Brahma ,Lord Shiva and all the other gods fail in
his test and finally he reaches
VAIKUNT, the abode of Lord
Vishnu.Lord Vishnu wins his heart by paying him proper homage but
Goddess Lakshmi gets hurt because of the abuse lord vishnu has to suffer
and she alights from VAIKUNT & goes to Karavirapur to lead the
rest of her life & starts meditation. Lord Vishnu becomes
crestfallen and he too leaves Vaikunt and roams on his vehicle
THE GARUDA(the mighty eagle) & finally reaches
Seshachalam(Tirumala
hills)as Lord Venkateswara( an avatar/incarnation of Lord
Vishnu)seeking Goddess Lakshmi.Lord intends to meditate abstaining from
having food and water.All the gods then makes a stratagem to unify both
of them.Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma disguises themselves as a calf and
mother cow respectively and Goddess Maha Laksmi as cow's possessor and
vends the cow to a king in Chola region .The cow begins to nourish the
Lord Vishnu with her milk and finally this act was caught and the
cowherd who was blamed as a thief became outrageous and throws an axe to
the point where the cow showered the milk.Lord Ventakeswara receives
the wound by extricating the cow,so Lord's head gets injured and the
volume of blood which flowed like a stream was such that it could cover 7
hills placed one on top of each other.This act made Lord angry and
cursed the Raja(CHOLA KING) ,so that he became a beggar. The King then
pleaded for innocence and God blessed him & told his curse will end
only when Lord will be crowned during his marriage with Padmavati.
In the mean time Lord was being looked after
by Bakulamalika just as a mother nurtures her son. Meanwhile a king
named Akash Raj who was childless obtains a beautiful girl child from
lotus and so he names that girl as Padmavati (the one who came from
lotus .Padmam meaning lotus)who grew up as a charming & beautiful
princess .It is Goddess Lakshmi who emerged as Padmavati after 12 long
years of tapas /meditation in order to unite with her husband Lord
Venkateswara (an incarnation of Lord Vishnu) . One day during hunting
Lord happens to see Padmavati and fell in love with her.With the
permission of Bakula devi and Padamavati's parents Lord marries
Padmavati. As God has no place to live Lord asks for some land from Lord
Varaha Swamy(the 3 rd incarnation of Lord Vishnu)and with the help of
Thondiman ,Padmavati's father's brother,who was a great devotee of Lord
Venkateswara, a grand temple was constructed on the Venkatadri Hills and
Lord along with Goddess Padmavati begins to lead their life there for
LOKA SAMASTA SUKHINO BAVANDHU (meaning-forblessing the universe for its
well being ,peace and prosperity ).Meanwhile Goddess LEKHSMI
understanding the commitments of her husband decided to live in the
heart of her husband Lord Venkateswara forever...
Note :The entire story of Lord is beautifullynarrated in a book named "Venkateshakalyaan"
We had to travel hours to reach there.On the way we
enjoyed the most in our cabin munching on Vijaywada (a place on the
way,in Andhra)special SAMAOSA with hot green chillies & chilled
our tummy with lassi(spicy or sweet buttermilk).Wowww...It was just
awesome.Some how we killed our time and at last reached the Tirupathi
Station by 3.30 am on 28 t h Nov.After a long 1 hour wait, the Kerala
express reached and we met my parents and straightaway hired a cab (it
costs 500- 1000 INR) and started our journey up the hill .
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| crispy samosa with hot chillies & lassi |
There are three choices to reach the top of the hill.............
1.Through the cab/private vehicles
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| THE ROAD WAY |
2.Through the foot/ pedestrian path which starts from Alipiri/Sri vari
mettu & will take only 5-7 hours to reach all the way up the hill
.Free luggage counters are also avaliable there to transport our
baggages up the hill.
Note:They will receive only the bags which have locks on them.
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| THE PEDESTRIAN PATH |
3.Through APSRTC at very reasonable rates.
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| APSRTC BUSES |
At Sapthagiri check point after clearing the formalities we headed
straight to CRO(central reception office) Complex ,from where we got
our room keys as we had already completed the formalities for
reserving rooms for us through the e booking site of
TTD(www.ttdsevaonline.com and go for accomadation.if you are doing e
booking don't forget to take your id's and printed copy of the receipt
along with you ) .
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| SAPTHAGIRI CHECKING POINT |
{
nowadays TTD offers e booking facilities for booking rooms,darshanas and other poojas{web address:www.tirumala.org} .Its better to reserve the rooms and poojas ahead .}
For us PANCHAJANYAM guest house was allotted . The rooms
were clean and comfortable.We had a good shower, devoured our breakfast
and were all set for an outing.
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| Paanchajanyam guest house |
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| ready for an outing.. |
The main destinations other than the Tirupathy Temple which we visited are
1.
SRI VARAHA SWAMY TEMPLE
As the tale suggests one should first have the darshan of
Lord Bhoo Varaha Swamy(the
third avartar/incarnation of Lord Vishnu) then of Lord Govinda as a
token of respect for the Varaha Swamy who lend the land to the lord to
build a stay for himself in the Tirumala Hills.The idol of Lord Varaha
Swamy along with his consort Bhoo Matha (the mother earth ) residing on
Swamy's lap is very beautiful and a mind soothing experience.This
temple is boarded by the
Holy Pushkarini Pond/Chakra Theertham on one side and the main temple of LORD VENKATESWARA on the other side..
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| SRI BHUVARAHA SWAMY TEMPLE |
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| THE HOLY PUSHKARINI |
2.
SRI PADAM/SRI VARIPADALU
:It is believed as the point where LORD
VENKATESWARA first set his foot on the TIRUMALA HILL & left his
foot prints there.
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| INDIAN GIANT SQUIRREL/MALABAR SQUIRREL |
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| foot prints of LORD |
3.
SILATHORANAM /ROCK GARDEN
SILA MEANS ROCK & THORANAM MEANING GARLAND.
It is actually a rock garden & various rocks in there are compared
to the Lord Venkateswara's xancus/sankh,the sacred wheel /chakra and
TiruNamam (the dot/bhindi on Lords nose and forehead)
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| ROCK GARDEN |
4.
SRI GOPALA SWAMY TEMPLE
:A beautiful shrine with Lord Krishna along with his love Radha Rani as the main deities.
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| SRI GOPALA SWAMY TEMPLE |
On the way back i relished a cup of cool buttermilk with black salt
& sabja/basil seeds and Mr.V with a cup of hot badam milk.A lot
of refreshing drinks and snacks like tasty raw mangoes with a spicy
dip,bhelpuri(spicy puffed rice),dosas (crepes),pakodas &
bhajjas(fritters) are available and with the advent of time we will
even get Chinese veg special dishes like manchurian and chowmein which
symbolises the development even in this holy land.
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| buttermilk from clay pot |
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| hot badam/almond milk |
5.
PAPAVINASANAM
:It was actually a sacred waterfall .It is believed that
bathing in this water will purify the sins of the devotees and will
bring peace & prosperity in their lives.All those who visit Lord
Balaji 's temple in Tirumala will surely make a visit to this
place.But now considering the security reasons the TTD have made
available this water in the form of showers in a more secure place.Such a
fascinating pilgrim and tourist spot it was but now spoilt by the
devotees bathing spitting and littering .Nothing much to see there.If
you have ample time you can make a visit to the place.
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| PAPAVINASANAM |
6)
CHAKRA THEERTHAM
Another sacred water lodged area where we have a shrine for God
& Goddess Shiv & Parvathi, Lord Narasimha(lion man incarnation
of Lord Vishnu) and some Snake Gods.If you like trekking get ready for a
small adventure.
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| on the way to Chakra Theertham |
7)
AAKASHA GANGA:
The name itself signifies the Holy River Ganga from
originating from the lotus feet of Lord Vishnu,yet another sacred
waterfall on the Tirumala hills.
By 4 pm we arrived back to our
hotel.After having tea and some snacks we were dresses up to go for the
Darshan(in main sanctum sanctorum)It was our first visit after marriage
so we dressed up in our traditional attire ie. me in a saree and MR.V
in mundu or dhoti and shawl.
Note:
1.Those who book/reserve darshan and other pooja tickets
through internet are strictly allowed only in the traditional attires
like saree/half saree/davani for ladies/girls and dhoti/mundu/pijama
kurta for men. They should also take their identity cards with them to
show to the officers on demand.
2.Mobile phones.video cameras/still cameras/pager not allowed inside the temple
3.No drinking,smoking,eating non-veg foods and littering in the temple premises.
4.Do not wear flowers on your head as it is believed that all the flower on the hills are for Lord Venkateswara Swamy.
TTD offers a lot of facilities at free of cost for the devotees who reach there from around the world.
1.Free Food & water
The TTD offers free food throughout the day to the devotees.We also got a
chance to have the prasadam(Annadhanam- Free lunch offered from temple
to the devotees). It is served in batches in a multi story building
throughout the day.
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| builing where free food is served |
2.Free transportation by TTD buses in an interval of 5 minutes to important land marks in and around the main temple.
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grand TTD buses
|
3.Free accomdation facilities are also provided by TTD from the CRO
complex,where devotees will get free locker facilities,free bathrooms
and toilets round the clock.The amount(200 INR) they deposited will also
be refunded when they vacate the rooms.Each room can accommodate 10 -15
people &will be having a common bathroom and fan.
4.Free medical help is also arranged by TTD in the temple premises for the devotees in case of emergencies .
By gods grace within a period of 2 hours we had darshan
,got the prasadam and overwhelmingly we came out of the temple to join
the procession of Utsava Moorthy along with his consorts in the golden
palanquin .(the main deity is permanent in the temple,which is
immovable whereas the utsava moorthy or the movable idols are used for
various festival/ poojas outside and inside the main shrine.)
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| utsav moorthy in golden palanquin |
After which we galloped some food and slept peacefully..
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| a night view from the streets of tirumala |
DAY 2:
From 10 AM to
almost till afternoon we were attending the celestial KALYANA UTSAVAM.
EVERYDAY MARRIAGE CEREMONY IS CELEBRATED IN THE TEMPLE FOR UTSAVA
MOORTHY ALONG WITH HIS CONSORTS ,Goddesses LAKSHMI & PADMAVATI OR
BHU(bhoomi or mother earth) DEVI AND SREE (Lakshmi Devi) DEVI" FOR THE
WELL BEING OF ALL CREATURES AND TO LEAD THEM ON THE RIGHT PATH.
COMMEMORATING ALL THE RITUALS WHICH ARE PERFORMED IN A HINDU
MARRIAGE, ARE PERFORMED TO GOD AND HIS CONSORTS.AFTER WHICH
AKSHATA(SACRED RICE GRAINS) IS GIVEN TO THE DEVOTEES WHO PARTICIPATED
IN THE GLORIOUS WEDDING . Evening was set aside for roaming on the
streets and to do a little shopping for our cousins..
DAY:3
It was time to bid bye to Tirupathy with a hope to reach back to the
shrine of the Lord as soon as possible..On a cab we traveled all the way
down through the 7 hills.
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| PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE TIRUPATHY TOWN |
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| RUSTIC ROADS |
That day we visited the famous temples in and around Keezhu
Tirupathy or on the valley of Tirumala Hills.
1)
ISKCON TEMPLE:
One among the beautiful temples of LORD KRISHNA
which is flourished all around the world with mesmerizing interiors.The forever chanting mantras
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE" indulges the devotees in a spiritual ambiance.
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| ISCKON TEMPLE,TIRUPATHY |
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| ANOTHER CLICK |
2)
SRI KODANDARAMA TEMPLE {Ram,Sita ,Lakshman & Hanuman temple}
The ancient SRI KODANDARAMA TEMPLE is situated in
Tirupathi town.In token of visit of SITA ,RAM AND LAKSHMAN to this
place ,their idols were consecrated .
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| SRI KODANDARAMA TEMPLE |
3)
SRI KAPILA THEERTHAM
Another noteworthy waterfall ,of Vedic importance,
cascades from the Tirumala Hills is the Kapila Theertham. A shrine
dedicated to Lord Shiva is situated besides this waterfall. It is one
of its kind in the premises of Tirupathy temple which is dedicated to
Lord Shiva majority being the temples of Vaishavites (devotees of Lord
Vishnu).It is believed that the
Holy Saint KAPILA resided here
& worshiped before the idol of Lord Shiva and hence the name
Kapila Theertham. Don't miss the other shrines present in the temple
premises like LORD HANUMAN,LORD MURUGAN & VENUGOPALA SWAMY.
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| KAPILATHEERTHAM |
4)
SRI KALAHASTI
Another Holy Temple located on the outskirts of
Tirupathy town , on the banks of river Swarnamukhi, dedicated to Lord
Shiva is the renounced temple 'SRI KALAHASTI" which is also known as
the"
DAKSHINA KAILASAM". This temple is around 40-50 km from
Tirupathy town. Here the Lord Vayu is incarnated as Lord Shiva and is
worshiped as KALAHASTEESWARA. The Goddess Parvati is worshiped here as
Gnanaprasunambika
.The name of the temple derives from the 3 ardent devotees of Lord Shiva
A spider named SRI
A hunter named KALA &
An elephant HASTI . This temple is also famous for Rahu Ketu (the celestial bodies in the Indian astrology)poojas.
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| the lofty gopuram on the entrance |
5)
ALAMELU MANGAPURAM/SRI PADMAVATI AMMAVARI TEMPLE ,TIRUCHANOOR
The temple devoted to Goddess Padmavati
(lakshmi) the wife of Lord Venkateswara is only around 5 km from the
Tirupathy town.It is said that a visit to Tirupathy becomes incomplete
without a visit to this temple.This was our last destination in that
Temple city of Tirupathy.We availed special darshan by buying a 50/-
ticket. Once we see the goddess we will be blown away by grace and
charm,after all goddess being the lovely wife of Lord Venkateswara
Swamy..!
with new ray of hopes in our minds & with a strong wish to
return to the fane we bid bye to the Holy land ........govinda
govinda...
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