The afternoon Blake and Mikela arrived we dined at Vrndavan Restaurant and visited the two major temples in Madras, Kapaleeswara and Parthasarathy. Parthasarathy, Krishna as the chariot driver of Arjuna, is worshipped in a 1200 year old temple in the Triplicane part of town. Kapaleeswara is in the Mylapore area, so named because Parvati was cursed to become a peahen (mayil) when her attention wandered from Lord Shiva talking to a beautiful peacock. In the courtyard is a statue of Parvati as a pea hen, doing austerities to rejoin Mahadev.
Next day, Friday the 13th, we arrived by train to Tirupati in the evening. We met Hari Krpa, Sanatan Gouranga, Revati Raman, and Rupesavara, and got settled into two nice rooms. I have come to Tirupati each of the last three years as it is a most exciting project expertly run by the sweetest and most hospitable devotees I ever met.
These devotees were very busy getting ready for the grand opening and Deity installation for their huge, gorgeously constructed Lotus temple. They are expecting for the ceremonies on January 30, 31, and Feb. 1st three thousand devotees from all over the world, including 25 sannyasis, and perhaps 100,000 other guests.
The Lotus temple has been ten years in construction and cost 6 millions dollars (25 crores rupees). It was paid for 75 per cent by proceeds from book distribution. The Tirupati Tirumala Devastanam Trust (TTD, which manages the Balaji temple) gave four acres of land and has allowed book tables at all the major temples in the area - Padmavati, Govindaraj, and Srinvasan for the last decade. The temple itself is a three storied, beautifully designed edifice. Vaibhvai was very impressed with it. I have posted more pictures of it in the photo gallery section, under “India Trip 2007.”
I have a love affair with the temple devotees here and they with me.They profess a lot of attraction for my lectures. During the two and a half days we visited I was asked to give every temple class, the Sunday feast lecture, and two classes to college students, a total of six: ie. eight hours speaking during a 60 hour visit. I got a taste of what it is like to be a traveling sannyasi. I loved the opportunities to lecture but I do not like being given so much honor by the devotees. They are very sweet to offer such deference, but it makes me extremely embarrassed to be made such a fuss over. I prefer to remain more or less anonymous until it’s time to give a public address.
The reasons I have not been able to post on the web site for a while are three: the devotees kept me so busy at Tirupati I had little time to do anything personal 2) the shops were all closed on Mahasankranthi, the 15th. 3)The one time we did get to the internet, our temple web site connection was not workng for some reason. Fortunately we accessed it the next day, but by then we were on our way to Kanchipuram. In Kanchipuram there is no internet in the vicinity of the hotel. Thus I shall have to wait to post until we go into Chennai to pick up Justin on the 18th, tomorrow. Near the Udipi Home is an internet cafe with broadband (very rare) and USB.
Our cell phone number here is 9884400161. If calling from USA one has to first dial 011 and 91. All incoming calls are free, even international.
At Tirupati, in between giving classes we visited temples. On Saturday Ram Krishna, the guest house manager, took Blake, Vai, Mikela and myself to the 4 major temples in Tirupati. Tirupati is the name of the town at the base of the Tirumala Hills and Tirumala is the name of the town surrounding the famous Balaji temple up in the Tirumala Hills. Many pilgrims rather than taking a motor vehicle prefer to walk up the mountain on bare feet. Jai Krishna and I did this two years ago. The distance is 9 kilometers and there are 3,500 steps to ascend. It took us 2 and 1/2 hours. As I have described on the two previous visits here, this is by far the most popular temple in India, attracting 25,000 visitors on a slow day.
We four visited on Sunday, Maha Sankranthi, the day the sun changed its course from Southern Hemisphere to Northern (Winter Solstice). It is a big holiday in India on which an estimated 250,000 pilgrims visit Balaji, standing in line an average of 6 to 8 hours to get a two second darshan. But we had our secret weapon. In previous e-mails from America to Revati Raman, the temple president, I had asked if possible for Hari Krpa to take us up the mountain as our guide.
Hari Krpa is the extraordinary devotee who got me in to see Balaji on Maha Sankranthi last year within half an hour. Not only that, but my darshan then in 2006, lasted a full minute and a half. As if that wasn’t enough, Hari Krpa last year took me in a SECOND TIME TO SEE THE DEITY AND THAT DARSHAN WAS EVEN LONGER! I had e-mailed in advance hoping for the same kind of mercy for Vaibhavi, Blake, and Mikela. We were not disappointed. Everything happened for the four of us just as it had last year for me, except we did not go back for the second darshana. We were introduced to two of the main temple priests who gave us the mercy of pushing the most recently worn set of Balaji’s clothes into our faces. Wonderfully perfumed!
You must be wondering who is this magically empowered Hari Krpa who can leapfrog devotees over 250,000 others to see the deities and arrange for them to stay for one or two minutes when others get only 2 seconds. I have never been able to ask this question of him because he speaks no English. He is about 35 years old, stocky, medium height, dresses very simply with single cloth and shirt, no jewelry or even watch that I have ever seen. When it is switched on (never in the temple) his cell phone does ring every five minutes. Last year I tried to give him a couple hundred rupees for the expenses (car, driver, darshan fees). He not only refused the offer but handed me some very expensive and thoughtful gifts from himself. When I made inquiries about him I was informed that he is expert and powerful, extremely devoted to Balaji, and a greatly respected personage in the town: He has being getting almost DAILY darshan from Balaji for 28 years. As such he knows ALL the priests, security personnel, managers, ticket takers etc. He chats briefly with each and every one. His family owns the largest construction company in Tirupati, and, as such are very well off financially. And lastly, I learned that his brother is Tirupati’s mayor. All glories to Hari Krpa Prabhu.