Vinaa Venkatesham Nanaatho Nanaathah Sai Venkatesh Balasubramanian Sree Sai VidhyaMandhir, Mallasandra, Bengaluru-560109, Karnataka, India.
[email protected] Abstract After a brief glimpse into the „mysteries‟ and legends associated with the deity of Tirumala, this article focuses on Venkateshwara, the Lord of this sacred site, understanding Him to be the Kali Yuga Varada, or the source of solace and salvation in the present era of Kali. Looking further, one finds within the deity, aspects of the six major deities of the Shanmata tradition, as well as the Guru. This is visualized through the concept of Spiritual Altitude, depicted as the „spiritual hill‟ of Govindaadri. This leads to the Lord being called as “Eka-Moorthy”, containing all divinity within Himself. As an extension to that thought, the article then discusses on the 108 sacred sites of Shanmata, called the Kshetra-Ashtottara, and how one can, merely contemplating upon Venkateshwara, perform a virtual „Kshetraadanam‟ to these sites. This visualization is termed “Eka Kshetra-Ashtottara Moorthy” (EKAM). Reconciling this concept with Govindaadri using the Panchaayatana concept leads to yet another visualization, termed “Pancha-EKAM”. In summary, this article elaborates upon a series of inquiries, thoughts and revelations to the author, regarding the nature of the Lord Venkateshwara, in various levels of Spiritual Altitudes, which are essentially measures of Spiritual Inclusivity. The most important observation and value- add from these discussions is that Tirumala of Venkateshwara is indeed the most sacred Kshetra of Baalaa Tripurasundari, who is the very special form of the Universal Mother Ambika, manifest with the core intention of “Kali Yuga Varadha”.