Tirupati Calling

It is quite unimaginable how out of 365 days, we find it difficult to plan a trip to a world famous Vaishnavite shrine just three hours away. It has been my plan to visit Tirupati, the hill temple, atleast once every month, but I realised even making a trip once in a year is a bit of challenge. Most spiritualists say while you must have the will to persevere, it is only on the Divine's bidding can you ever make a visit.

The trip to Tirupati happened out of the blue. My aunt called and mentioned her family was making the one-day trip over the weekend and they had seats for two more. So we jumped in. It is usually believed that when you return from Tirupati, your life also experiences a turning point. We saw Lord Venkateshwara dressed in such beautiful jewellery and adorned with flowers that the sight still sits fresh in my mind's eye.

The temple authorities have been trying to optimise the visiting process for sometime now. You have to make your booking online and visit the temple for the allotted time slot. It was all fairly well organised. We had darshan in 1.5 hours where it usually takes a minimum of three hours or more. As you edge closer towards the deity, the sense of emotion is heightened. You are allowed a fleeting minute to see Him, while some quietly snuck in money to volunteers for a few extra minutes.  From there, we drove back down the hill to visit His wife, Sri Padmavathi Ammavari, and experienced such bliss sitting in her presence, of course we took the INR 200 Kumkum seva ticket to sit close to the deity. 

The language and lack of discipline is a huge problem in most places in India. Tirupati is no exception. There is lot of corruption, language barriers and absolute lack of civic sense or respect for fellow devotees that will get to you eventually. It is surprising that the Temple authorities who had done such a fine job organising the pilgrims in a single file decided to open it up into one deluge at the main temple entrance, bringing utter chaos and frenzy. It is still not late to put their thinking to good use. Keep the single file all the way out. You can do away with volunteers and corruption. 

Temples make a lot of money by cashing in on crowds and the spiritual fervour advertising special darshan, special offerings and so on; but while they retain some of the money, most can be put to good use for temple maintenance and offering real service to the devotees. Bringing in elephants to bless devotes while made to stand for long hours  in chains should be banned. Priests asking for money from devotees for giving holy water should be reported as much as devotees slipping in money to volunteers asking for favours.

Ironic that the very place we go to for healing the soul is a treasure trove of everything one should not be. When do we rise above this?