Lord of Tirumala Hills(Lord Narayana/Srinivasa/Sri venkateswara), the Vedas transcend Yugas

The Vedas worship Lord Narayana. The greatness of the Vedas is that they are not authored by man, and they, like God, are not destroyed. There are four Yugas. The Krita Yuga lasted for approximately 17 lakh years, the Treta Yuga for approximately 11 lakh years and the Dwapara Yuga for approximately 8 lakh years. The Kali Yuga will roughly last for four lakh years. We are now in the Kali Yuga. The Matsya Avatara took place in the Krita Yuga. The Lord took the Matsya Avatara to recover the Vedas from an asura. So the Vedas existed even before the Krita Yuga. So if we total up the years of all the Yugas so far, we roughly get 36 lakh-odd years. So the Vedas have been known for as long as 36 lakh years, and the Vedas of such antiquity worship Lord Narayana, said Padur Rangarajachariar.

Such a Lord resides in Tirumala. The Varaha Murthy in the Hills is even older than the Srinivasa we worship there. The Hill itself is the embodiment of the Vedas. Once a Bhagavata came down from the Tirumala Hills and opened the food packet he had brought along. It was crawling with ants. So he went back up the hill to let out the ants. The ants could be Nitya Suris, who were residing in Tirumala, and that was why he took the ants back to the Hill.

Lord Narayana, who resides in Tirumala, has been worshipped for eons, and is still worshipped, and will continue to be worshipped by future generations. Thus He transcends Yugas.

The Lord of Tirumala has been praised by Azhvars and Acharyas. Swami Desika highlights the quality of Daya of Lord Srinivasa. He says Daya Devi is a consort of the Lord. It is this compassion or Daya of the Lord that sent us Acharyas like Alavandar and Ramanuja. Peyazhvar in his ‘Moondram Tiruvanthathi’ describes Srinivasa as the essence of the four Vedas. He says the Lord, who is the ‘Antaryamin’ of all, resides in Tiruvenkatam and also in his heart. Lord Srinivasa is Sarva Seshin — Master of all. Bhootathazhvar says in a pasuram that even the monkeys in Tirumala offer worship to Him. They bathe in the Pushkarini, pluck flowers and offer them to Him in the early morning hours.

Read more...

Lord Sri Venkateswara's/Srinivasa's vAtsalya

In the Rama avatara, the Lord exhibited primarily the quality of Sauseelya and in the Krishna avatara, the quality of Soulabhya. As Lord Srinivasa of Tirumala, He exhibits Vaatsalya, said Padur Rangarajachariar in a discourse.

He does not see our negative qualities as faults; He overlooks our faults as a loving mother would. Imagine a playful calf which runs away from its mother and slips and falls in the mud. The calf’s body is now covered with mud. The mischievous calf comes back to its mother. What does the cow do? It does not push it away, but licks its filthy body. Such is the Lord’s affection for us. He is like an indulgent parent who praises even the negative qualities of his/her child.

Even if Lakshmi complains to Him about one of His devotees, he brushes away Her complaints. He remarks that His devotees will not err, and if they have, then what they did could not be termed an error. Even if one has sinned, salvation can still be within reach, if one seeks refuge at His feet.

It is because of His vaatsalya that Mahalakshmi resides in His chest. Just as Lord Narayana had many avataras, Mahalakshmi too had many avataras. In one avatara, She was Bhargavi, the daughter of Bhrigu; in another, She emerged out of a vilva tree; She came from the Fire in one avatara, from the Earth in another, and from water in yet another. In another avatara, She emerged from the milky ocean, and She went immediately to Narayana’s chest and made that Her permanent abode.

But how could She have done so when so many were watching Her? Did it not suggest immodesty? How could She make Her way towards Her Consort and choose to sit on His chest in the presence of so many? The explanation is that She is the Universal Mother. To Her, everyone is Her child. So all the people present when she emerged from the milky ocean were only Her children. Just as a parent sometimes does not fight shy of showing his/her affection for his/her spouse, even in the presence of the children, so did Mahalakshmi display Her affection for the Lord. What drew Her to Him was His Vaatsalya.

Read more...