PAGE- 25 July 2016
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PRAYER is the key to heaven but FAITH
unlocks the door.
All about Tirumala
Tirumala is a hill town and abode of Lord Ven-
kateshwara. It is situated in South India.
The temple has acquired unique sanctity in Indian
religious lore and especially amongst the Vaishna-
vas. The Shastras, Puranas and Alwar hymns un-
equivocally declare that, in the age of Kalyuga, one
can attain mukti by worshipping Venkata Nayaka
or Sri Venkateswara. The temple houses the awe-in-
spiring deity of the Lord.
Tirumala is a combination
of two words. Tiru meaning ‘Holy’ or ‘Sacred’ and
Mala meaning ‘Hill or Mountain’ in Tamil, translat-
ing to ‘Holy Mountain’.
The entire hill range is said to be a manifestation
of Adi Sesha (the Cosmic Serpent) and is called Ses-
hachalam range. The seven hills represent the seven
hoods of Adi Sesha namely Seshadri, Neeladri, Ga-
rudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabadri, Narayanadri and
Venkatadri. The Venkatadri hills is believed to be a
part of the celestial Mount Meru brought to Bhoolo-
ka from Vaikunta by the Lord’s devotee cum vehicle
Garuda. Lord Venkateshwara resides on the seventh
peak Venkatadri.
In ancient literature, Tirumala is also known as
‘Aadhi Varaha Kshetra’ Aadhi meaning ‘First’ and
‘Varaha Kshetra’ meaning Lord Varaha’s Sacred
Place. (Varaha is the third Avatar of Lord Vishnu
mentioned in Dashavatar).
Where is Tirumala
Tirumala is a hill town. Generally all the pilgrims go
to Tirupati first and then head to Tirumala either by
bus or foot.
Tirupati is easily accessible by all modes of transport
by road, rail and air.
Road:
One can go by car, government owned buses
or privately owned buses to Tirupati be it from Ban-
galore, Chennai, Hyderabad or any other major cities
in India.
Rail:
Tirupati railway station is a major station and
is well equipped with five platforms. It is well con-
nected to major cities in India.
Air:
The nearest airport in Tirupati is near Reni-
gunta 15 kms away. This domestic airport has direct
flights to Hyderabad, Vishakpatnam, Chennai, New
Delhi and Bangalore. Hopefully by end of 2016, it
will be upgraded to an International airport. We Ari-
zonians can have Lord Balaji Darshan in less than 2
days.
Easiest Route to Tirumala
The distance from Tirupati to Tirumala varies de-
pending on the mode of transportation a pilgrim un-
dertakes.
1. If he decides to use a motor route, it is around 19
km. There are buses every 30 mins from Tirupati to
Tirumala. There are also private cars, taxis and ve-
hicles.
• There are many package tours conducted by the
Travel Agents from Bangalore, Chennai and Hy-
derabad. A person has to buy a tour ticket which
will cost anywhere between Rs. 1400 to Rs 1900.
This ticket includes transportation in an A/C
vehicle, hotel rooms, darshans at two temples
(Lord Balaji and Goddess Padmavathi), 2 meals
and lastly two Laddu prasad per person.
• I always use this service from Bangalore since my
trip is completed in less than 24 hours, most of
the time I go alone, it is very safe, Lord’s Dar-
shan is guaranteed and waiting time is less than
2 hours.
1.
If a pilgrim decides to walk, it is 12.1 Km. There are
two routes to follow. These routes are called ‘Sopana-
margas’.
Commonly used Sopanamarga starts from Alipiri.
And is called
Alipiri Mettu.
• It is 4 Km from Tirupati Bus station and Railway
Station.
• The walking route is a
bout 11 Km and is the com-
monly-used route.
• Number of Steps: 3550
• Usual time to reach Vaikuntam : 3 - 4 hours (Var-
ies from person to person)
• Alipiri Mettu is opened for 24 hours so pilgrims
can start their journey anytime.
The second Sopanamarga is called
Sri Vaari Met-
tu.
• It is 20.2 Km from Tirupati Bus Station.
• The walking route is 2.1 Km.
• Number of Steps: 2388
• Usual Time to Reach Vaikuntam: 1.5 - 2 hours
(Varies from person to person)
• Sri Vaari Mettu is open from 6 am to 6 pm. Trek-
king after 6 pm is not safe and is considered
dangerous. This route remains strictly closed at
night.
PS: Sri Vaari Mettu is the oldest path to Tirumala
than Alipiri mettu and is believed to have been
used every day by legendary Emperor Sri Krish-
nadevaraya in the 16th century.
However, it had remained closed for many years.
TTD decided to renovate it a couple of years ago and
started encouraging pilgrims to use this path as well.
I have used both the routes and I really love this path.
Reason it is faster and less crowded.
TTD provides special facilities to pilgrims
who walk up the hills to Tirumala.
•
Transportation of luggage is free of cost to Ti-
rumala. All along the way, one can avail drinking
water, juices, tea, coffee and delicious snacks.
•
Clean restrooms and shaded shelters
•
Constant patrol by security forces to prevent pil-
grims from being cheated or robbed by unscru-
pulous elements.
•
Twenty-four hour medical assistance all along
the route.
•
There is a Free Divya Darshan Bio-Metric Token
facility available at GAALI GOPURAM Entrance.
After collecting Token pilgrim need to report
within 24 hours and do remember that token is
not interchangeable
Dress Code
The dress code is enforced in order to maintain the
spiritual ambience in the temple premises.
• A lady devotee is expected to wear a saree or a
chudidar with chunni,
• A male devotee gets to wear dhoti or lungi with
uttareeyam or kurta-pyjama.
Sevas and Darshan Timings
There are different Pujas one can perform at different
timings of the day by paying fees. Please visit the TTD
website for the details of the sevas and the darshans.
/
temple-program-time.php
They can be booked at any e-Darshan counter avail-
able in different cities operated by TTD (Tirumala
Tirupati Devasthanams). Members have to be pres-
ent at the counter where photo of each person is
taken using web cam along with fingerprint. One can
do accommodation reservation as well from these
e-Darshan counters.
Places to visit in Tirumala:
• Shri Bhu Varaha Swamy Temple
• Sri Vari Museum
• Papavinasam Teertham
• Swami Pushkarni Lake
• Aakash Ganga Teertham
• Kapila Teertham
Places to visit in Tirupati
• Sri Govindarajaswami Temple
• Shri Padmavathi Temple
• Srikalahasti
• Shri Kalyana Venkateshwara Temple
• Talakona Waterfall
Hope you all enjoyed reading my article. Have a
wonderful and blissful Lord Venkateshwara Darshan
when you visit Tirumala.
‘Lokah Samastah Sukh-
ino Bhavantu’
With this quote, I would like to end
this lovely write up on Tirumala.
FAITH canmovemountains; But don’t be sur-
prised if Lord Balaji hands you a shovel. Feel
free to email me at
‘The World is a book and those who do not travel
read only one Page” - St.Augustine. Her wan-
derlust takes her from village to cities, oceans
to mountais... Padma loves to pen down her
thoughts on the places she visits, be it hiking in
Grand Canyon (her backyard) or DevBhoomi
(Char Dham where the Divine and Sublime coe-
ist) or travelling in Europe. Her informative and
witty travelogue with pictures on social media are
being appreciated by one and all.
PADMAKULKARNI
