Who is lord sri venkateswara

Idam Lokesa Sarvasya.. Ida Meva Mama Brahmah.. Ida Meva Mama Guruh.. Ida Meva Mama Sarvasya.. Who according to many arguments and beliefs of great ancient Hindu philosophers and preachers like Saint Ramanujan, is an incarnation of Lord Sri Maha Vishnu.

Trethaayaam Raghu Nandanaha.. Dwaapare Vaasu Devascha.. Na Yogi Hridayena Cha. Madh Bhakthaa Yathra Gaayanthi. It may be interesting to quote here, an indirect reference to the Tirumala Temple, from Verse X. Located on a hilltop, meters above the main sea level, in the Southern part of India, Tirumala Tiru means holy and Mala means hill is a major pilgrimage center near the Tirupati town in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Spread over an area of The main temple of Tirumala lies on the seventh hill of Venkatadri. Lord Srinivasa, who later obtained a stone form and had become Lord Venkateswara, had personally taken King Thondaiman, before the construction of this Temple, to a particular place on the Seshachala hills and asked him to construct the Tirumala Temple there at that point, saying,.

This tree had offered me great service and hence is so beloved to me. Later, Lord Srinivasa had personally designed a plan and offered it to the King instructing him to build the Temple according to that plan.

Later, King Thondaiman had built the Tirumala Temple exactly the same way he was instructed by the Lord to build it. Lord Brahma took a promise from Lord Srinivasa that He Lord Srinivasa would remain on the Seshachala Hills till the end of the 28th Kaliyuga and shall redeem all the sins of His devotees who would come there to view Him in the Tirumala Temple..

Lord Srinivasa smiled and agreed. Later, amidst chanting of Vedic hymns by all the Gods, Sages and priests, Lord Brahma had lighted two oil lamps inside the Garbha Griha Sanctum Sanctorum of the Tirumala temple, saying,.

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. Taking 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. 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.

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. Sometime later, a King named Akasa Raja who belonged to the Lunar race was ruling over Thondamandalam.

Akasa Raja had no heirs, and therefore, he wanted to perform a sacrifice. As part of the sacrifice, he was ploughing the fields when his plough turned up a lotus in the ground. On examining the lotus, the King found a female child in it.

The king was happy to find a child even before he performed a sacrifice and carried it to his place and gave it to his Queen to tend it. At that time he heard an aerial voice which said "O King, tend it as your child and fortune will befall you". As she was found in a lotus, the king named her Padmavati. Princess Padmavati grew up into a beautiful maiden and was attended by a host of maids.

Now, the celestial wedding is performed in this Kalyanotsava Mandapam. All the pavilions on western side are now being used as store houses. As per the legend, Viraja, a sacred river of Vaikuntam flows below the lotus feet of the Lord.

The well of water in the temple complex is believed to be a part of that holy river. This well is located in front of the Ugranam or store house. Idols are sculpted on the stones used for the inner walls of this well. The temple kitchen is located in the route of Sampangi Pradakshinam. Sweets and savouries like laddoo, vada, appam, dosa, poli, sukhiya, jilebi, and so on, which are offered to the Lord are prepared here in large quantities. Every morning and evening the Jiyyangars collect the flower garlands prepared in the flower chamber and carry them over their heads to the Lord, after circumambulating the flagstaff amidst blowing trumpets and umbrellas for shading.

These flower garlands are presented to the Sanctum for performing the various rituals and poojas to the Lord. All the flowers used for the worship of the Lord are deposited in this well. Offerings to the deity are prepared here thrice a day. This is the second entrance leading to the Sanctum Sanctorum. Inscriptions say that the construction of the fortifications of this second entrance was started in the 12th century and completed in the 13th century.

The doors of this entrance were silver plated on October 1st A. Inscriptions in Hindi and English are found on this entrance. Hence, it is also called Angapradakshina marg. As soon as we enter the temple through the silver door, we can witness Sri Ranganadha kneeling on Adisesha serpent. The angapradakshina commences from here, moves round the Vimana Pradakshinam and comes to an end here. In the Vimana Pradakshina pathway and at a distance of nine feet to the south of the silver door, is the Varadarajaswami temple.

The idol is five feet high with a single pagoda over the shrine. The period in which this idol was installed is not known. It symbolises the glory of Varadaraja who is ever merciful and grants boons to the devotees! Opposite to the golden gate, there is Garuda Mandapam. Just opposite to the golden gate and facing the Lord there is a six feet high statue of Garuda saluting the Lord with folded hands.

Every day at the pre-dawn hour, Suprabhatham is recited in the place between the golden gate and the statue of Garuda. The Lord sitting on the golden throne in this mandapam, listens to the recital of almanac and the submissions of receipt and expenditure account of the previous day.

On either side of the golden gate, there are Jaya and Vijaya, the chief guards of the Lord, holding a conch, a disc and a mace respectively. There is a ten feet high wooden grill around these statues. These two devout servants guard the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord round the clock.

The most important entrance for going into the sanctum sanctorum is this golden gate. Here, the stone frame of the entrance and the porches of Jaya - Vijaya on either side are gold plated and hence this name. Every day after Thomala Seva, the idol of Koluvu Srinivasa Murthy is brought here and placed on the golden throne and his court is held.

During this court, almanac is recited; the affairs of the day, the details of income and the expenditure of the previous day are reverentially presented to the Lord. The golden throne that is used during this court is stored in the adjacent grilled chamber. There are two raised platforms on either side of this passage. Earlier, idols were kept on these platforms. At present these idols are placed inside the room. Yet the name has remained the same. In this room the offerings are kept in front of the Lord.

These offerings are never taken beyond this threshold of the Sanctum. The threshold in front of the Lord is called Kulasekhara Padi. Kulasekhara was a Vaishnava devotee. He had made a humble request to the Lord, to transform him to a stone threshold in front of Lord so that he will have a glimpse of divine beauty every day! Hence, this threshold was named after him. Earlier there used to be a Pradakshina circumambulation passage around this Ananda Nilayam. A wall was built around this sanctum and the Vimanam in between A.

She rejoiced in decorating the idol with many ornaments. That means, Bhoga Srinivasa Murthy acts as presiding deity since the main deity is huge and immovable.

Every morning Koluvu Sreenivasa Murthy is seated on the golden throne in Snapana Mandapam and almanac Panchangam is read out to him. All the details of the day like tithi, nakshatra, yoga and the information about different sevas are given to him. Then the treasury clerk humbly presents to him, the income and expenditure account of the previous day. This is done is Snapana Mandapam before the dusk and it is done in Ghanta Mandapam after dawn.

In the bygone days, the processional deity of Ugra Sreenivasa Murthywas taken out for procession during festivals. When this idol was taken in a procession on a particular day, strange, unusual and alarming incidents took place.

After these incidents, procession with this idol was stalled from A. There is a popular anecdote regarding Malayappa Swami being made a processional deity in place of Ugra Sreenivasa Murthy. The important role played by Sudarshana Bhagavan, in punishing the evil and protecting the devotees of the Lord, is commendable. He takes the responsibility of protecting the devotees coming to Tirumala as well as their safe passage. As a mark of their visit, their statues are kept in the temple.

As they were in exile, their statues reflect their simplicity and are devoid of any ornaments. In the month of Dhanurmasa January while Ekantaseva is performed, Lord Krishna is made to sleep on the silk mattresses in place of Bhoga Srinivasa Murthy. During this month, Suprabhatham is not recited.

Salagramas are black spherical stones, usually found in the sacred river Gandaki. What makes them so sacred is that they have lines ingrained on them, which resemble the shape of Sankhu and Chakra. These are worshipped by Vaishnavites as a form of Vishnu. This kitchen is a very ancient one.

All prasadams offered to the Lord are prepared here with pure ghee. It is believed that Vakuladevi, the Foster mother of Lord Srinivasa, supervises the preparation of food relished by her son. To this day, she continues to supervise the preparation of all the prasadams for the Lord. So a peep hole is made in the wall for her to oversee the preparations in the kitchen.

The water from this well is used for Abhishekam, Archana and cooking food for the Lord. The room adjacent to Ankurarpana mandapam is the Yagasala, where all yagas and homams sacrificial fire have been performed since ages.

But at present they are performed in the Kalyana mandapam located in Sampangi Pradakshina. However, during Brahmotsavams these rituals are performed in the Yagasala.