TIRUMALA TIRUPATI
Lord Venkateswara Swamy(Balaji) Story
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Once some rishis headed by Kasyapa began to perform a sacrifice on the banks of the Ganges. Sage Narada visited them and asked them why they were performing the sacrifice and who would be pleased by it. Not being able to answer the question, the rishis approached Sage Bhrigu. To reach a solution after a direct ascertainment of reality, Sage Bhrigu first went to Satyaloka, the abode of Lord Brahma. At Satyaloka, he found Lord Brahma, reciting the four Vedas in praise of Lord Narayana, with each of his four heads, and attended upon by Saraswati. Lord Brahma did not take notice of Bhrigu offering obeisance.
Concluding that Lord Brahma was unfit
for worship, Bhrigu left Satyaloka for Kailasa, the abode of Lord
Shiva. At Kailasa, Bhrigu found Lord Siva Concluding that Lord
Brahma was unfit for worship, Bhrigu left Satyaloka for Kailasa,
the abode of Lord Shiva. At Kailasa, Bhrigu found Lord Siva
spending his time pleasantly with Parvati and not noticing his
presence. Parvati drew the attention of Siva to the presence of the
sage. Lord Siva was furious at Bhrigu's intrusion and tried to
destroy him. The sage cursed Lord Siva and left for
Vaikuntam.
At Vaikuntam, Lord Vishnu was reposing on Adisesha with Sri
Mahalakshmi in service at His feet. Finding that Lord Vishnu also
did not notice him, the sage was infuriated and kicked the Lord on
His chest, the place where Mahalakshmi resides. At once, Lord
Vishnu hastened to apologise to the angry sage and pressed his feet
to allay the pain caused to Bhrigu's leg. In doing so the Lord
removed the eye in the foot of the sage, stripping of his special
powers.Thereupon, the sage concluded that Lord Vishnu was the most
supreme of the trimurthis and told the rishis the
same.
Sri Mahalakshmi was angered by the action of her Lord in
apologising to Bhrigu who committed an offence. Out of anger and
anguish she left Vaikuntha and resided in Karavirapur now known as
Kolhapur. After the departure of Mahalakshmi, a forlorn Lord Vishnu
left Vaikuntam and took abode in an ant-hill under a tamarind tree,
beside a pushkarini on the Venkata Hill, meditating for the return
of Lakshmi, without food or sleep. This was the place where Lord
took the form of Varaha to rescue Mother Earth form the deep
ocean.
aking pity on Lord Vishnu, Brahma and Maheshwara decided to assume
the forms of a cow and its calf to serve Him. Surya, the Sun God
informed Mahalakshmi of this and requested her to assume the form
of a cowherdess and sell the cow and calf to the king of the Chola
country. The king of the Chola country bought the cow and its calf
and sent them to graze on the Venkata Hill along with his herd of
cattle. Discovering Lord Vishnu on the ant-hill, the cow provided
its milk, and thus fed the Lord. Meanwhile, at the palace, the cow
was not yielding any milk, for which the Chola Queen chastised the
cowherd severely. To find out the cause of lack of milk, the
cowherd followed the cow, hid himself behind a bush and discovered
the cow emptying her udder over the ant-hill. Incensed over the
conduct of the cow, the cowherd aimed a blow with his axe on the
head of the cow. However, Lord Vishnu rose from the ant-hill to
receive the blow and save the cow. When the cowherd saw the Lord
bleed at the blow of his axe, he fell down and died of
shock.
The cow returned, bellowing in fright and with blood stains all
over her body, to the Chola King. To find out the cause of the
cow's terror, the King followed her to the scene of the
incident.
The King found the cowherd lying dead on the ground near the
ant-hill. While he stood wondering how it had happened, Lord Vishnu
rose from the ant-hill and cursed the King saying that he would
become an Asura because of the fault of his servant. The King
pleaded innocence, and the Lord blessed him by saying that he will
be reborn as Akasa Raja and that the curse would end when the Lord
will be adorned with a crown presented by Akasa Raja at the time of
His marriage with Padmavati. With these words Lord turned into
stone form.
Thereafter, Lord Vishnu in the name of Srinivasa, decided to stay
in Varaha Kshetra, and requested Sri Varahaswami to grant Him a
site for His stay. His request being readily granted, Srinivasa
ordained that a pilgrimage to His shrine would not be complete
unless it is preceded by a bath in the Pushkarini and darshan of
Sri Varahaswami, and that puja and naivedyam should be offered to
Sri Varaha swami first. Vishnu built a hermitage and lived there,
attended to by Vakuladevi who looked after him like a
mother.
Yasoda Reborn : Yesoda brought up Sri Krishna, the son of Devaki,
in his early years. However, Yasoda was not blessed to witness the
marriage of Sri Krishna with Rukmini and she felt very sad. Sri
Krishna promised to fulfil her desire in her next birth as
Vakuladevi in his next incarnation as Srinivasa. In Rukmini's next
birth as Vakuladevi, she was serving Lord Varahaswami when He sent
her to serve Srinivasa
Lord's Wedding
Tirupati, the Home of Lord Venkateswara has long been the
destination of many a newly wed couple. The temple is believed to
have a particular signification for newly weds as it is believed to
be place where Lord Venkateswara married
Padmavathy.
An interesting tale forms the backdrop to the temple. Quarrels are
not unknown between happily wed couples and the divine ones are no
different. Following a spat with Lord Vishnu, Goddess Lakshmi left
her heavenly abode and came down to the earth. Here she stayed in a
hermitage on the banks of the
Godavari.
Missing his beloved, Lord Vishnu went to search of her and this
search brought him to earth. Ultimately his quest brought him to
the Seshadri hills where he stopped to rest in an anthill. Upset by
the separation between Vishnu and Lakshmi, Lord Brahma and Lord
Shiva decided to intervene. Taking the guise of a cow and a calf
they went to live at the place of a Chola
king.
The cowherd took them everyday to graze in the Seshadri hills where
the cow would secretly visit the anthill where Vishnu was living
without sustenance. Emptying her milk, the cow would then return to
the palace.
The cowherd was angry as the cow never yielded any milk to him. He
watched movements carefully and his explorations brought him to the
anthill. In trying to ascertain what lay beneath the anthill, he
struck it with an axe thus injuring Vishnu on the
forehead.
In search of herbs to heal the wound, Lord Vishnu wandered far and
wide. His wanderings brought him to the Shrine of Sri Varahaswamy -
the third incarnation of Vishnu as a boar. Here, he sought
permission to stay, but Varahaswamy wanted a rental to be paid;
Vishnu pleaded that he was poor now and needed rent free
accommodation. To reciprocate this gesture of goodwill, he said he
would tell his devotees to worship Varahaswamy before they
worshipped him. The contract sealed, Vishnu built a hermitage and
lived there waited on by a devotee, Vakuladevi who looked after him
like a mother. In a nearby kingdom ruled King Akasha Rajan.
Childless for many years, he had one day found a beautiful baby
girl sleeping on a golden lotus in a golden box while ploughing the
fields. He had named her Padmavathy. A beautiful and accomplished
girl, Padmavathy had been granted a boon in her earlier birth that
she would be married to Lord Vishnu. One day, Vishnu, who had been
renamed Srinivasan by his devotee and foster mother Vakuladevi,
went hunting in the forest. His wandering led him to a garden with
a pond. Srinivasan was thirsty and tired. After drinking from the
pond, he rested in the shade of a tree. Soon the soft singing of
Padmavathy who was dancing in the garden with her companions roused
him. He was stunned by her beauty and drawn to her. She too seemed
to be drawn to him, but the angry attendants thinking him a mere
hunter drove him away.
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