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Pranesh Datar Pranesh Datar June 2012 Travel Guide to Tirupati June 2007 June 2012 Pranesh Datar the author of the eBook "Travel Guide to Tirupati" is the Sole Copyright holder of all versions of the Book( eBook,Hard copy and any other electronic or mechanical forms). All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author. Printing and sale of this document is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Email: [email protected] [email protected] Author’s Not e ith a little bit planning the chances of success are Whigh, with that objective this book is written and after reading this book hope your trip to Tirumala will be a memorable one in all aspects. Along with the Blessings of Lord you (and your family) should carry home very good memories of the trip and this should lead to more frequent trip for the Darshan of the Lord. We all feel Enthralled by the Darshan of The Lord, as the Sole Savior of the mankind in KALIYUGA it is but natural that we turn to him at times of happiness and distress, as he embraces all those who seek Him. This book is an attempt to put together all relevant information about Tirupati and present it as a guide for the trip, in spite of our perfect planning a good and memorable trip can ONLY happen with Blessings of the Lord, all the planning is useless if He does not Bless the trip, on the contrary without reading a book like this, one can have memorable trip, if He Wishes, being human all we can do is to Pray for his Blessings, while doing so we can at best try to organize things for the trip, as they say chance favors a prepared mind. Writing a book on this subject is a difficult exercise as the changes happen regularly and in a few cases the information written may be outdated, if you come across any such instance, please do write to the author so that it can corrected in the next edition and it will prevent others from making the same mistake. Most of us aspire to have at least one Darshan of the Lord in our life time and few fortunate one's do have it more often and God encourages people to visit Him more often and to be with Him for while, so that we can be at peace with ourselves. With Blessings of The Lord Venkateshwara I am writing this book. May The Almighty Bless us all and let more of the Humanity get a chance to have His Darshan. After reading this book even if FIVE people are inspired to undertake a pilgrimige trip to Tirupati I would consider that my mission has suceeded. Pranesh Data r 25th, June 2007 Ba hr ain Author’s Note-2nd Edition t has taken 5 years to edit and publish the 2 nd Edition of the I Tirupati Pilgrimage Book. While the first had a different set of objectives, I have focused the second edition as quick guide, most of section in the story, accommodation etc have remained unchanged, internet does offers latest information that suit the reader, major change has happened in the Darshan section, this has been updated to the best of my knowledge, if you notice any incorrect information please bring it to my notice (authors email address given below). Earlier version of E-Book was password protected, some people had difficulty in getting password, those issues have been addressed, down loading, opening document and printing should be a simple thing in this version. Thanks for downing loading the book, hope you find it useful and recommend it to your friends. HareSrinivasa Pranesh Datar Australia June 2012 [email protected] [email protected] CO NTEN TS Chapter 1 The Place 7 The Legend- A Brief History of Tirumala 8 Climate 13 Ecology and Environment, Flora and Fauna 13 Art and culture 14 Music 14 Chapter 2 Arriving at Tirupati 16 Getting There 16 Conducted Tours 16 Air 18 Road 18 Rail 19 Chapter 3 Tirupati 24 Tourist and TTD Office 24 Places to Stay 24 Places to Eat 26 Places to See 26 Chapter 4 Tirumala 31 Reaching Tirumala 31 Places to stay 33 Places to Eat 38 Chapter 5 The Darshan 39 Sevas to the Lord 43 Offering Hair 45 Laddu 46 Other places of interest 46 List Of Sevas 49 Travel Guide to Tiru pati - The Place 6 Chapter I The Place Travel Guide to Tiru pati - The Place 7 THE PLACE Govinda!!!!!! Govinda !!!!!!!!!! Sounds get louder as we near the inner door of the temple and people get impatient every minute and this leads to more push, pull and jostling. The Khaki ‘Q’ guard has just opened a shortcut rope and let in people on the route that is shorter and people in normal ‘Q’ get more restless. Some of those in ‘Q” may have waited over 18 to 20 hrs to be with the Lord for a few seconds and still have enough energy to take the name of the Lord as they push through (or get pushed rather) and as we near the Sanctum sanctorum the pitch gets louder. Finally we are on the ramp near the entrance of the main temple and sign board says "have Darshan of the Lord through the mirror" and you look there eagerly as you move to the level plane the sign board now reads "have Darshan of the Lord from here as you move closer to Him". At this point the parents with young ones lift the kids up or put them on their shoulders so that the young ones can see the reason for being in the ’Q’ or even travel all the way from their home town to be with the Almighty for a few seconds and these few seconds are the most precious ones - for the hour, the day , the month, the year or a life time (in a few cases). At last you get your first glimpse of the Lord, suddenly emptiness starts filling up and you find yourself right in front of the Lord and you notice that pushing has stopped, but it is the marshals now holding your arm and pushing you forward, you continue to stare at the Lord and your hands raise up to do Namaskara and your feet have almost stopped moving and you cannot take your eye of the Lord and you are now moving away from Him and walking backwards and you freeze there till the marshal gives you another push and now at the door and still focusing on the Lord and in fraction of a second you will be out of the door and your Moment with the Lord has ended. The people coming out are quiet, the crowd going inside are in the same spirit as you were a few moments ago and the difference in people going in and coming out is very clear and what has made them quiet and they look so content! Some feel that the excitement that they had since they planned the trip has just now climaxed and they have to wait for the next trip to have one more Darshan of the Lord. What makes people to go through all this just to be with the Lord for few seconds? Well the answer is not a simple one and could be more like the story of four blind men feeling a elephant and giving four different answers, but in this case all the answers are right. What we are making contact in those few seconds is the ultimate Truth of all the living beings on earth and the sole protector, this is more true at Tirumala as we are now in Kaliyuga, He is the One and the Only One and here( in Tirumala) He is presenting Himself to the people whom he loves and will do all he can to see that all his subjects are happy. This is what that makes Tirumala so special, as said earlier this is last resort in Kaliyuga and there is nothing beyond this. So the sea of humanity you see here are all those who have Travel Guide to Tiru pati - The Place 8 realized this truth and have come here to share a few moments with the Lord. Best time for the Pilgrimage If you wish to have a quiet trip with plenty of time in front of Lord and would like to have Darshan more than once in the same trip then it is better to plan the trip so that you don't land up in Tirumala when there is heavy rush. The numbers give the correct picture, at peak time (weekend, National holiday or summer vacation time) 50,000 pilgrims have Darshan of the Lord in a day, if 20 Hrs per day darshan is allowed, then each devotee will get just 1.44 seconds in front of Lord and if you take in to account the time you get in ‘U’ turn in front of the Lord then it can at best be 15 seconds. So you now see how important it is to time your visit to Tirumala so that you don’t get caught in peak time like the one illustrated above and this book is an attempt in that direction. The reason for visiting can be many say an annual visit, at the end of a successful completion of an event like marriage, better job, promotion etc.