Hare Krishna
Tirupati Balaji Temple is in the town of Venkatgiri on Tirumala Hills in Andhra Pradesh, India. The revered God here is Lord Vishnu as Tirupati Balaji also known as Venkateshwara, Sreenivasa and Govinda.
The Story Starts as.....
Once there was a Sage named Bhrigu, known for his wisdom and devotion. He wanted to test the three primary deities of the Hindu pantheon – Lord Brahma (the creator), Lord Vishnu (the preserver), and Lord Shiva (the destroyer) – to determine who was the most supreme.
He went to Lord Brahma first, Lord Brahma immersed in music of Veena of Goddess Saraswati, he felt neglected and cursed him that he will not be worshiped. Second he visited Lord Shiva, who was performing Tandava with his consort Goddess Parvati in Kailash , he got angry for being neglected and curses him, that only Shiva in Linga form will be worshiped. Then he visited Lord Vishnu in Vaikunth but finding Vishnu sleeping with Goddess Lakshmi besides him pressing his feet, he feels neglected again, the enraged Bhrigu kicks on the chest of God Vishnu.
God Vishnu asks for forgiveness from Bhrigu and requests a chance to do hospitality. Then pressing his feets and eventually pressing an eye under his feet (eye in the feet represents the ego, anger and ignorance) and destroys it and Sage Brigu realises his mistake. Goddess Lakshmi feels dishonored and tells that now she cannot stay in the place where Bhrigu’s foot has touched (ie, in God Vishnu’s heart) and then leaves Vaikunth angrily and settles near River Godavari (Present day, we worship her as Kolhapur Mahalakshmi). In the state of longing for Goddess Lakshmi, Vishnu left Vaikunth and reaches Earth.
Lord Vishnu starts performing penance under an Ant Hill, he keeps calling for Goddess Lakshmi. Lord Shiva and Brahma takes the form of a cow and calf, and starts showering the milk in the ant hill for the Vishnu to calm his hunger. Seeing this, the angry cowherd throws the axe at the cow, which hits Vishnu’s forehead in trying to protect the cow and losses his memory. It is said that in Tirumala, Vakula (who is also claimed to be incarnation of Yahoda) was waiting for Krishna as her child. Vishnu who is wandering in the forest visits Vakula, seeing Sreenivasa she realises he is none other than her Krishna. He starts staying at her place and treats her as his mother.
On the other hand, Lakshmi incarnated herself as Padmavati who was the daughter of King Akasha Raja. One day she was playing with her friends, and an wild elephant starts chasing them, and she runs and falls in the embrace of Sreenivas who has come there for a hunt.
They both gets a glimpse of past memories and later plans to get married. As for marriage Lord Vishnu needed money, so taking loan from Kubera promising him to pay in interest, he became a groom and married Padmvati grandly in the presence of all the Gods and Demigods. It is believed that Lord Vishnu is Still Paying the Loan. Goddess Lakshmi from then started knowing as Sreedevi and Padmavathi is known as Bhudevi.
Later a temple was made and People Visits this temple and seeks blessing from Venkateshwara by donating their hair. The main Prasad here is Laddu. It is said that after visiting Tirupati balaji one should visit Kolhapur Mahalakshmi temple to seek blessings from Goddess Lakshmi.
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Radhe Radhe!!!
