Lord Venkateswar

Lord Venkateshwar

Visit to Tirupati

Our tour of Tamil Nadu started off with a pretty serious bang. Shortly after arriving in Chennai, I hopped on the phone to see what I could rustle up. I had no idea that our first visit would be to the creme-de-la-creme of Hindu temples - to have darshan of Lord Venkateshwar at Tirupati.

It's hard to overemphasize the importance of a place like Tirupati in India. Some numbers might do it justice. Visited by over 6 million people a year - that's well over 15,000 people a day - Tirupati is more visited than both Mecca and the Vatican. Needless to say, the government stepped into to facilitate crowd control. Which means that to go for darshan with the general public is an all-day affair. The public arrives early in the morning and is siphoned off into holding areas and then over the course of the day, each holding area is permitted into the temple grounds for darshan. It can take up to 8 hours of waiting before a person gets to have his 15-second darshan of Venkateshwar. Needless to say I wasn't too excited about that.

So I called up Ammaji, who had visited our house in Sugar Land a few months before. She is one of India's few female gurus. And as I found out that day - apparently quite influential in Tirupati. That influence works wonders. Call it luck, or even more divine intervention - you decide:

She happened to be in Tirupati that very day AND
The next day was her last day there AND
She was going for darshan the next morning AND
She had two extra VVVIP passes for darshan (read: skip 8 hour queue) AND
One of her ashram's drivers was in Chennai AND
He was going to Tirupati that night AND
There was one last room available in the guesthouse where she was staying.

So Jean-Marc came, dropped his stuff off, and we drove off at midnight for Tirupati. We arrived at 4 in the morning, napped for a couple of hours in the guesthouse, and at 6 were up to meet Ammaji to go with her for darshan. After greeting Ammaji she told me very simply, "When you and I look back on this in the future, both of us will realize just how much the Lord was planning for you to have His darshan." We then sped off to the temple for darshan.

It was only then I realized how many V's were in order. The crowds were already gathering (they were coming in by the busload as we arrived from Chennai), but we just walked right by them and straight into the temple. We walked straight into the inner sanctum area and right up in front of the murti. And what an incredible murti it was. I've only seen pictures of Lord Venkateshwar, but nothing beat darshan in person. We stood there for three or four minutes (they did a special aarti for our visit!) just gazing at this beautifully carved idol.

I don't remember much of what was going on during that time because my mind was totally silent. Not blank, just silent. Content.

I was then jarred back to reality by a security guard, and we shuffled out again, looking over our shoulders to catch one final glimpse of Venkateshwar. I then noticed the public was shuffling by and having darshan from the door behind us - almost another 10 feet away. I couldn't believe it - we were basically all the way inside the inner sanctum - the area reserved for priests only!

Who would have thought that my first meeting with Ammaji even BEFORE I planned to go to India at all would result in a face-to-face encounter with the most revered ishtadev in all of the country?

Wow.

In Chennai

Well, a busride to Ahmedabad and a waaaay too early flight from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Airport put me in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu on the morning of the 15th.

Jean Marc's colleague Radhika has been kind enough to let us stay at her apartment while we are in Chennai. I took a prepaid cab to a theater where she said she'd pick me up - much more hospitality than someone she's never met deserves, I think. We spent the first few hours filling in the gaps that Jean Marc had left - and she even cooked me food! Talk about royal treatment! Her apartment is really nice, too. It's furnished all modern-like - a bit like I would imagine a hip 20-something's apartment in the USA to look like, actually.

A few well-placed phone calls and a lot of luck (or divine intervention) has scored us a VVVIP visit to the famous Tirupati Balaji temple. Too bad it means that Jean Marc won't get a chance to rest - we'll leave right from the airport (at like midnight) to drive all night to Tirumala so we can be there for darshan of Lord Venkateshwar at 6 AM.

More on our visit to Tirupati later.

Climbing Girnar and Gaining Confidence

I went to sleep early because the next morning I woke up at 4:30 to begin my ascent of one of the holiest pilgrim hills in Gujarat - Mount Girnar. I knew the 10,000 steps were going to be a challenge, but I welcomed it - and the sore legs that would accompany it later.

Starting my climb before dawn was really fantastic. It was so quiet and I was one of about 5 people that started that early. As the sun started to rise, the receding valley below slowly started coming into view. It was a beautiful sight to see all of Saurashtra slowly appear from the darkness. The first plateau contained a large collection of magnificently carved Jain temples. The top of the first peak (at step 5000) was the temple of Ambaji. At the end was the Guru Datt temple.

I found that my climb of Girnar paralleled life as I had experienced it in my 23 years pretty well. Somewhere far off in the distance was a goal that I wanted to reach. About 1/10th of the way there, I was already out of energy, and the hundreds of people coming past me the opposite way having already achieved that goal was a bit disheartening. Seems like life is a lot like that sometimes. But I also learned one thing about myself. I knew I was going to make it to the top. I wasn't sure if I had enough energy to do it in one trip, but making it to the top was not a matter of if - just a matter of when. And when I realized that I sure as hell wasn't leaving without having climbed to the top, suddenly my legs didn't hurt as much, I wasn't as winded, and I wasn't as miserable being passed by people moving faster than me and by people already coming back from the top. And, surprisingly, in only 2.5 hours, I had reached the very end of the path. And by hour six, I had reached the base again, having stopped for a total of 1 hour along the way. Yes, my legs were shaking, and I could barely walk, but I set my goal, went after it, and got it. Now if only I can figure out how to apply that to the rest of life...

On another note - I fly to Chennai tomorrow to travel with Jean Marc, and believe it or not, Mary's actually coming in less than a month! Unbelievable!

Junagadh and Somnath

After the adventure to Pavagadh with the Brazilians, I decided it was time to strike out on my own again and visit somewhere in Gujarat. I decided on Junagadh - a fairly central location in Western Gujarat that would give me easy access to a few other towns nearby.

I decided to camp at the BAPS Mandir in Junagadh. After catching a state transport bus for the 9 hour ride to Junagadh (bad idea), I found myself at the mandir with only the name of the head sadhu there. Yet within 15 minutes, I had a place to bathe, sleep, and eat for the next three days. I love this Swaminarayan network. I've never met ANYONE there before, but all might as well have known each other for years. They were kind enough to give me a free place to stay and free food too.

The day I arrived I headed out to visit the town of Junagadh - and in particular Uperkot Fort and the old Swaminarayan Temple. The fort was fairly interesting, but my favorite spots were the Navghan Kund - one of the first step wells ever built (11th century). It's transverse steps down to the bottom were really eerie and seemed to go on forever. There were also some buddhist caves whose pillars got more intricate the further down into the cave system you went. But my favorite was the Jama Masjid inside the fort. Though used as a mosque, its artisans were Hindu and so filled the mosque with Hindu symbols. In fact the mihrabs (nooks facing Mecca) were so intricately carved, they could well be the inner sanctum of a temple if there was a murti inside. The carvers had even managed to include animals like elephants, flowers like the lotus, and bells. They had even carved the back wall of the mihrab where the idol would be. I guess that was their way of snubbing their noses at their Muslim overlords...

Later I walked into the old city center to the Swaminarayan Temple where Gunatitanand Swami was the head sadhu for over forty years. It's a beautifully crafted and painted temple. I found out after I came back from the visit that, in order to appease the muslim nawab (governer) of Junagadh, Lord Swaminarayan built a small mosque into the top of one of the spires. A zoomed-in look at the picture of the spires that I took confirmed it. How incredibly insightful of Swaminarayan... and odd...

The next day I caught a Rs. 35/- sharebus (the kind that are packed to the brim and usually have people hanging out the door) to Veraval to visit the Somnath Temple. As I walked toward the temple, an old man offered me a tour of all "tirths" (sacred places) in and around Somnath in his horse-pulled cart. We settled on Rs. 30/- and off we went. We visited many temples. Sooo many temples. There's seriously an infinite number of them in India. The trick is finding out which ones are worth visiting and which ones aren't. I have a mental idea of what that criteria is but I can't express it quite yet. One of the temples - to Hinglaj Mataji, is reached by crawling backward down an incredibly narrow (and long) set of stairs. I'm glad I'm not claustrophobic. I'm so used to Murtis that are intricately carved and incredibly lifelike that when I see one that looks like someone pasted a large pair of googly-eyes on the wall and painted a head-shape around it, I'm not sure whether to take the experience seriously or not. I'm trying to figure out currently what the background for that murti design style is. The priests at the temples said that the Pandavas (from the Mahabharat) spent time in these caves and were responsible for the construction of these temples. They look waaay too new to be over 5000 years old. A few other not-so-memorable stops completed the hour-and-a-half tour. The highlight, of course, was the magnificent Somnath Mandir.

Dedicated to Someshwar Mahadev (Lord of the Moon), the "idol" is one of twelve Jyotirlinga around India. The temple is HUGE and is really something amazing to look at. And it has an incredible history. It's been destroyed and rebuilt time and time again. Mahmud of Ghazni sacked the first one in 1021 A.D. and Aurangzeb had a go at a later version. The version today was built only in 1950, but a lot of research into what the older Somnath Temples may have looked like went into this one's construction. I'm not sure what it is with Moghul's and knocking down Hindu temples. The coolest part about this temple though is that it's administered by the state government. Considering that India strives to be secular, this seems counterintuitive. But amazingly enough, the state government hires real, trained, brahmins to administer to the temple. They don't even ask you for money, but they have a list of pujas that you can take part in if you leave a donation. Different pujas have different prices - I still find it odd to pay for a prayer. It'd make sense if the donation were optional, but it's not... But I was interested in seeing if these Brahmins at Somnath knew what they were doing. I knew what proper puja's should sound like, what kind of verses should be recited (since I know most of them now). And Somnath's holy men passed my test with flying colors. They were on the money from the opening invocation to the closing Ganpati stotra. In fact, they were so knowledgeable, when he asked who my "ishtadev" was (to which I replied Swaminarayan), he asked which sect I belonged to (I replied BAPS), to which he continued the puja by invoking not just Shiva, but also Swaminarayan and the entire succession of gurus of BAPS. But I really liked that the priest asked the participant to keep in mind his own personal deity, not just Someshwar Mahadev. And they worked hard to create an environment of worship and devotion. A very organized, hassle-free, and spiritually sound experience. I returned to Junagadh, stopping enroute at Bhalka Tirth, where Krishna's foot is believed to have been pierced by an arrow, ending the era of Krishna-avatar.

Next I climbed Girnar.

Hanging out in Gujarat

Hello again! I know I haven't posted in a while. In all brutal honesty, I haven't been up to that much in the past week. After my sister left, my parents and I flew down to Gujarat.

First, we attended the last day of the 86th birthday celebrations of Pramukh Swami Maharaj. I think BAPS might be one of only a handful of organizations that can successfully throw a birthday party and ignore the birthday part. The celebrations were a collection of excellent spiritual discourses and an amazing cultural program. In the entire 3 hour program they mentioned Pramukh Swami's name once...

After that, though, we just hung out at my aunt's house. My mother crammed in a little more shopping (though there wasn't any room in the bags to put it), and I managed to get in some sleep. Soon, my parents left. I was sad to see them go - I hope I get to see them again soon! After that, I just bummed around at my aunt's house for a couple of days with my cousin.

Then the Brazilians came. In waves. All in all, 8 showed up over 3 days. And they were early. Their program with AIESEC (which my cousin works for) doesn't start until the 15th, and so they needed something to do! So I took them to Pavagadh - an Ayers Rock-type formation that is definitely out of place in the flat plains of eastern Gujarat. The climb was enjoyable and I shared with them a bit about what I know about Hinduism and have learned over the past few months. The highlight was trying to teach them how to order food in Gujarati. Eventually, Lira managed to order a few pieces of naan, though all were quick to discover that pointing at something then holding the appropriate number of fingers worked just as well. All eight of us stuffed ourselves silly for $11.

I love India.

Krishna's Janmabhoomi

I expected to be harassed more by touts at a place as important to Hindus as this, but there was only one persistent boy trying to be our guide. The security, however, was another matter entirely.

The government of India had obviously taken the possible repercussions of the Ram Janmabhoomi (birthplace) incident in Ayodhya (read more here) to heart. Police armed with semi-automatic machine guns donning bullet-proof vests guarded the entrance to the complex. Almost-rough patdowns on every visitor weren't enough apparently. The guard stuck his hands INTO my pockets to make sure there really was nothing there - which almost pulled my pants down in front of everyone... Armed guards inside the area guarded the entry and exit to the temple and the Janmabhoomi itself. It's a bit strange to have an armed sentry say "Jay Shree Krishna" after patting you down, but honestly, I say better safe than sorry.

The Mandir itself, however, was filled with a spiritual air. Built by the Birla family, it housed the incredibly beautiful murtis of Radha and Krishna (similar in style to the Laxmi-Narayan murtis in the Birla Mandir in Delhi), and the air was filled with the sounds of prayers, chants, and devotional songs being sung loudly by a large group of devotees sitting in the middle. The ceiling was one giant fresco and told the Krishna Lila (divine life-story). The pujaris gave prasad to anyone and everyone (I can't imagine how much they give out over the course of the day!). So far I'm two-for-two for great experiences in Krishna's mandirs.

Off to the side of the mandir was the actual Janmabhoomi sthan. We didn't know what to do with our shoes, so my dad stayed behind with the shoes while my mom and I went inside. My dad followed us about a minute later - the armed sentry said he's watch the shoes for us since darshan was closing soon.

I never really understood what the big deal was about the Ram Janmabhoomi or the reason for the security at this Krishna Janmabhoomi. But just seeing that small slab of stone silenced everyone that walked into the small room. Everyone silently contemplated the same thing - that on that small chunk of granite, at one time the floor of a small jail cell that held Vasudev and Devaki, the Lord Himself had taken birth to relieve man of his sins and grant him redemption.

I don't expect you to understand even the concept of that feeling until you've felt it yourself - the weight behind the importance of a place so holy that it silenced every thought in my mind and filled it with reverence and prayer. Perhaps you do. But I suspect if the very birthplace of Jesus, Buddha, or Mohammed was ever found, and a serious believer visited it, he'd know what I'm talking about.

Rajasthan and Wife Management

My family came to visit the day after I returned from Manali. It was the first time in about six years that my sister had come to India, and everyone in the family was glad to have her there. They arrived at 6 AM and we went home showered, then headed out to take my sister and grandfather to visit Akshardham. After their visit, my parents booked us a trip to Rajasthan for a week.

Our first stop was shopping - I mean Jaipur - for some shopping. After looting the city, we checked into our hotel. The next day was our tour to the Amer Palace. Situated high above Jaipur on a hill and incredibly complex in design, the palace made it very clear that the muslim Maharajas knew how to live in style. Our trip to the hilltop was facilitated by booking an elephant - a very tired one named Jamno. The elephants make 5 trips up and down the hill before they basically collapse in exhaustion. My sister and I fell in love with our elephant and felt really bad that we had made him climb up for us when we could just as well have done it ourselves. And that it cost us Rs. 500/- of which he's going to get about Rs. 20/- of food didn't make us feel any better. So we walked down. Still not the same.

The palace itself was like most other tourist sites maintained by the government - the only artwork that you can really see on the walls are key-scratches saying "Pinky loves Bittu" encircled by a poorly-shaped heart. Some of the pillars combined both muslim and hindu design styles by putting an elephant with lotus (hindu) at the top while a strictly floral design (anti-iconographic - muslim) at the bottom. My favorite part was how this Maharaja dealt with his many wives. He set up the Maharaja's Rules of Wife Management:

1) Keep secret passages so no wife knows who the king's with at night.
2) Place spies in the women's common bathing area to check for "baby bumps."
3) Prevent gossip by creating a common area for inter-wife conversation.
4) Punish all wives together by requiring them to grind wheat in the kitchen.
5) Prevent infidelity by keeping only Eunuchs as servants.

Indeed timeless lessons.

After another day of shopping and a visit to the Swaminarayan Mandir in Jaipur, we headed to the Ranthambore National Wildlife Reserve, home to the last bastion of Asiatic jungle tigers. Our first safari yielded lots of spotted deer and peacocks, but no tigers. We figured we'd seen 'em upclose and personal in Africa so not seeing them in India wasn't that big a deal. We left the next day on the return trip to Delhi. We stopped in Fatehpur Sikri (two towns - The Maharaja's palace and fort - Fatehpur - and the small poor village nearby - Sikri. Why does that not surprise me?) to see the Buland Darwaza (a large gate celebrating the Moghul emperor Akbar's conquest of Gujarat - DOH!). We continued to Mathura, to the Krishna Janmabhoomi (the birthplace of Krishna).