There is a TTD temple of vEnkaTEs’vara swAmy on 16th cross, vyyalikavAl near chowDiah memorial hall.
I finally got to go there yesterday afternoon. My friend madhumita showed me where it was and we were planning to go together, but yesterday my need was too great.
I have been wanting to go to tirupati for a while now. But I am not been very confident that I can handle the physical difficulties so this was a short-cut!
nArAyaNa!
I felt it was a terribly long time since I have been to a temple – and this is technically untrue. I have been to s’ringEri s’AradA peeTham end of last month and to the GKVK – gaNEs’a temple after that!
But then the time of the mind and the time of the calendar based on regular planetary movements are never the same, are they?
nArAyaNa!
Interestingly my problem has been that I have spent a lot of time recently with people. Old friends, new friends, family and so on.
There is a problem with human friends.
Most human friends are stuck firmly in samsAra! When they come they bring samsAra with them! Though all the people I interact with are all extremely nice people, some of them suffer mean behaviour at the hands of other people and sometimes they like to open up their hearts and problems to me.
nArAyaNa!
I have bothered the universe with my foolishness and misery for so many decades. It is my turn to be the one to say a good, kind, loving and encouraging word. To be the strong shoulder for others to weep on. Not that I mind helping.
The issue is that the sadness of others turns my mind away from divinity. The humanity of my friends runs me to the ground. The divinity of my friends raises me to the skies!
nArAyaNa!
Just spending some time sitting quietly in the temple, facing nArAyaNa is the only thing that cures my ills and cleans my mind and makes me happy again.
To use electronics terms, I need to be plugged in to the mains (nArAyaNa), if I have to continually interact with samsAra. If the interactions are brief and light then I can handle them, so long as I can recharge myself after that.
nArAyana!
In thyAgarAjA’s words :
seethamma maa yamma sree raamudu maa tandri|:
seeta is our mother and raama is our father|
vaatatmaja soumithri vainateya ripu mardhana taata bharataadulu sodarulu maaku| :
the son of the wind, hanumaan, the son of sumitra, lakSmaNa, vinutaa’s son garuDa, the destroyer of enemies, s’atrughna and revered bharata are my brothers!
paramesa vasistha paraasaara naarada sounaka suka surapati goutama lambodara guha sanakaadulu dhara nija bhaagavata-agre-sarulevvaro vaarellaru vara tyaagarajuniki parama baandhavulu manasaaa…
paramEs’a, vasiSTha paraas’ara naarada s’ounaka s’uka surapati (indra) gautama lambodara (gaNEs’a), guha (kArtikEya), sanaka and others who are the fore-most true devotees of viSnu are my closest relatives, oh manas!
satyA
