The Visa Lord

India, is a country of GOD's and why not, when alone Hinduism as 33 million gods and besides those we practice almost every major religion existing on this planet. The 33 million God's come in all shapes, sizes, color and every one has something or other to offer for the betterment of this human race for example "Agni dev" has fire, "Varun dev" controls air while the king of devas, "Indra dev" governs the rain. But of all the 33 million God's, three are respected, revered and worshiped throughout India. They are the holy trinity of Hinduism, the Generator - Brahma, the Operator - Vishnu and the Destroyer- Shiva. If you ask me who is my favorite, its Shiva, not because he is the destroyer but because of many other aspects which I will cover in some other post dedicated to my favorite GOD, the Shiva.

Another, most revered GOD across India is Sri Hari Vishnu who is designated as the Operator in the trinity. According to Hindu mythology, Vishnu incarnated on earth many times to set up the balance between good and evil. There is verse in "Geeta - a holy scripture" where Sri Krishna (one of Sri Hari Vishnu's incarnation) tells Arjun ( a character in Mahabharat - another epic) that whenever and wherever there is a rise of evil, and decline in religious practices, at that time I will descend myself (to correct the balance). 

Of his many incarnations, one of the popular "avatars" is the "Venkateshwara Balaji". The story of Balaji's incarnation is quite interesting. It is said that Lady Lakshmi got angry with Sri Hari Vishnu and left him. Lord Vishnu then came down to earth and started meditating for Lady Lakshmi's return. A temple is built for Sri Balaji and Lakshmi at the same place where Lord Vishnu was meditating. Currently, this temple is located in Tirumala.

There is one more story which says that one of the devotees of Sri Balaji used to regularly visit the temple at Tirumala. Once he was seriously ill and could not do so. Then he saw the lord in his dreams who told him that he need not visit Tirumala, as Sri Balaji is reisding in a nearby jungle. The devotee followed the directions received in his dreams and found an idol of Sri Balaji. That same place today is known as Chilkur, and the devotees who are unable to visit Tirumala, come to Chilkur to pay their homage to Lord Balaji.

Now that we have learned about Lord Balaji, let's come to the point. Why is this post here? That's because today I got a chance to visit the temple.The Balaji temple at Chilkur, is also known as the Visa Balaji temple. Anyone who wants a visa can come here, pray to Balaji and his visa will be granted. The ritual is simple, take 11 "parikramas" (rounds) of Balaji idol and make a wish, once the wish is fulfilled, visit again and take 108 "parikramas".

To my astonishment, the temple is very simple, quite, peaceful and serene. With everything that I had heard about I was expecting a huge structure, lot of pomp and show, donation boxes at multiple places, special privileges for VVIP's but it was nothing like that. Everyone was equal there, and it was an amazing site because I have been to many other such hyped temples and seen the difference in how they treat a regular devotee and a VVIP devotee.

Well, I liked the place, peaceful and calm only noise you could hear was of the devotees shouting various names of their deity Sri Hari Vishnu.

Since now I visited the VISA Balaji, I am planning to apply for US Visa and get it confirmed. Fingers crossed. Govinda, Govinda!!!