Trek up to Tirumala temple

This is the third time I have made this trek but I never fail to be amazed both by what I see along the way, and what awaits at the temple itself. Chennai, the city where we are staying, has managed to maintain a village-like atmosphere through most of its sections. Perhaps it’s the various bicycle contraptions piled high with goods, the occasional bullock cart navigating through the traffic, the brick and thatch roofed houses that sit in the shade of high rises. When we travel to the city of Tirupati, which houses the Tirumala temple, we go through villages and suburbs. Unlike the US with vast expanses of wilderness or fields that show no sign of human habitation, the four hour road to Tirupati is lined with people the whole way. Sometimes store fronts give way to rice paddies, but along every stretch of the road people are walking, riding, herding goats, school kids in uniform rushing to school, or people selling things by the roadside. There are so many things I saw that are remarkable even after three trips, but it would fill a book. I have taken many photos catching what I could. One thing I failed to capture on film was a stretch of about 10 miles where three and four story buildings were sliced down the fronts as if with a knife, exposing the insides that used to be someone’s house or business. The cabinets still on the walls. It reminded me of photos of earthquakes or bombs where one half of a building had collapsed. It was explained to me that they were widening the road and rather than knock the buildings down they just cut away the part that was in the path of the road. The owners are compensated for the loss of square footage but many would choose to keep the money rather than repair and rebuild. And so, like many areas of Chennai and beyond, you will find half-finished buildings that are still inhabited in part. Anywhere there is a place to set up a sleeping mat and cooking fire, you will find people living there.

As we neared Tirumala, which is a holy town made mostly of hostels, hotels, and restaurants for pilgrims going to the temple at its center, it started to rain gently. This is out of season and was a special sign that things were going well. Rain is very auspicious and also brought a welcome change of temperature. At the bottom of the seven hills we went to the first temple in honor of the wife of Venkateshwara, who resides at the main temple. The kids were wonderful. We went in and got blessings to continue our journey. Another good sign that things were going well is the prasadam, or food offering that is given out to all after the puja, was pure sugar candy. This is one of the few foods Nitara can eat. The fact that she was able to receive the blessing of prasadam was very special. Shortly after going through a security checkpoint Vignesh and I set off up the foot path to the temple at the top. This is the third time we have made this special journey. The first was before we had Abi, to ask for the blessing of a baby after waiting a long time. That was in January and by the next December Abi was born. Then when Abi was a year old we (mostly I) carried her up the hill to the top to give thanks. We hoped to do the same for Nitara but she was too sick to travel when she was small. She’s too big to carry now, so we walked in her honor. She and Abi were driven up by car. The path is 10 kilometers long and is traditionally walked in bare feet. Most of the path is cement or stone steps. Some of it is straight and part of it comes out on the road before going back to the footpath. The first part is the hardest. After that it is a gentle climb, with one more brutal hill almost straight up at the end. In all it is exactly 3,750 steps. The steps are covered in sandalwood paste and kunkum powder as an act of devotion. The rain made the steps slick and soon our feet and pants were stained with red and yellow. Sometimes people light small bits of camphor on the steps on their way up. At regular intervals there are stalls selling food and drinks. We had fresh roasted peanuts mixed with unripe mango chunks, onions, and crunchy bits. Also got some candy bars and crackers to keep up our strength. We made the trek in just over 3.5 hours which is a clipping pace. It was special to make that journey just with my husband.

We arrived at the top at around 9:15 PM and were picked up and taken to the hostel. We had made arrangements for a nice hotel but they fell through, as often happens there. We stayed in busy hostel, all 7 of us sleeping in three twin beds pushed together. The bathrooms were primitive but at least we had hot water! We ate and went to sleep for a few hours. At 1:30 AM we awoke to get ready for the 2:30 darshan (viewing of the god). Along the way to the temple we passed rows and rows of people sleeping right there on the sidewalks and courtyards. People of all ages, who were not able to get shelter and were just happy to be there in such a sacred place for Hindus. The temple services between 10,000 and 30,000 visitors daily depending on the season. We had to pass through metal detectors and go along the maze of queues to the area just outside of the sanctum. As we waited in the last holding area (men on one side, women on the other), the gold plated doors swung open and a curtain was pulled across. This is the point where they were waking up the murthi, or image, inside. Some believe that the murthi is alive in a way. Others believe that the murthi holds the culmination of the spirit of devotees that have come to that sacred place for three thousand years, and the murthi represents the divine spirit of the universe, the Creator. Several years ago I was a very spiritual person but life events and perhaps just maturity has lessened my need to worship while still preserving my inner faith in the Divine. I was not sure if I would be moved to the same degree as past visits to the temple. As we waited devotional songs were sung and accented by loud cries of “Govinda!” Finally the curtain was swept to one side and people were ushered into the inner sanctum. We had to step over several brass-plated thresholds and it was very much like a cave inside with beautiful lifelike carvings jumping out of the carved granite. As I approached I felt that familiar surge of emotion—I cannot properly define it—it was just the magnitude of the experience and the sacredness of the place, the very energy that was I the air from continuous devotion, the inner sanctum being almost an unearthly place. And then I cast my eyes on the face of Venkateshwara and it was like I was encountering an old friend who knew me as I came back at three distinct phases of my life: young married woman, new mother, and full grown woman with two children. Abi also was moved by the experience and showed a degree of sincere devotion that I have not seen in her before. After a few seconds in front of the murthi we were ushered back out. At each threshold I turned and looked back and then, too quickly it was over. We entered the darkness of the early morning and I was able to gaze up at the gold plated gopuram above the temple. The moon was framed between that golden gopuram and the solid white granite gopuram at the entrance to the temple. It was quite a photo, but since cameras are strictly forbidden I can only preserve that image in my heart. We were ushered into a small side room and Vignesh was draped with a cloth that had been used to dress Venkateshwara on a previous day. It was silk and embroidered with gold. This was made possible by a donation from our brother in law. The children and I were sprinkled with yellow-stained rice to add blessings to us.

The rest of the trip was an anticlimax. We went back to the hostel and packed our things. On the drive home I captured more photos—not nearly a complete picture of all that I saw. At one point we stopped by the roadside and ate the jelly-like fruit of palm coconuts and drank the fresh juice from another kind of coconut with a straw. It was refreshing in the heat of south India. Now we are home and I’m sitting in the a/c room, my swollen, turmeric-stained (but strangely not sore) feet propped up as I type this all out. I know it will take days if not weeks to digest it all. I am just thankful than in my life time so far I have been blessed to visit such a holy place on this earth three times.

Photos: http://s199.photobucket.com/albums/aa115/abiramineha/Tirupati/

Subalbum: Tirupati
password: photos

More photos from the internet:

Overhead

At night

A short but sweet webpage about the temple

A virtual tour of the temple, stopping short of entering the inner sanctum

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As a side note-- did not want to take away from the main story, we are having some issues getting some of the relatives to fully understand and accept Nitara's health issues. Some are very accepting and accomadating. Others just keep telling me she will outgrow it and even give predictios of when this miraculous event will happen. The allerigies may get better in time but I doubt she will ever be fully cured or be able to ditch the feeding tube any time soon. The motility issues (GERD, constipation, etc) are probably neurological in nature and will be with her for life. I try not to discuss it anymore. The last time it happened I brought out her binder of medical records and invited them all to read it and then ask me questions if they had any. At the main temple a certain family member was upset when I did not allow Nitara to eat the prasadam (holy food) because it had a lot of unsafe foods for her. We finally got around that one by having V eat it on her behalf, but it greatly offended the family member at the time. Because pradadam should not cause harm, right? Even if it contains dairy and nuts and stuff.

Nitara's tummy has been "off" since we left. Nothing too serious, but she has been on mostly continuous feeds by pump or she feels nauseated. Feeling crummy is a part of her reality and she's never let it slow her down for long. In fact she loves four flights of stairs in the house we are staying at. Her only apprehension is that she went into the wrong room, thought it had turned into some other room myseriously, and now she won't go up and down unless someone is with her. That experience kinda freaked her out. That same day she locked herself in our room for a few minutes so now she won't be left alone in there.