It Was About 10.30 A.M
On the Tirumala Hills that day.. It was the ninth day (last day as well as the auspicious day of Vijaya Dasami) of the annual Salakatla Brahmotsavams on which day the sacred Chakra Snanam would be performed to Lord Sri Venkateswara.
What is Chakra Snanam..??
As part of the Brahmotsavams, a special Abhishekam called the Avabhrutha Abhishekam will be performed on the last day to the Utsava Murthys (Processional Deities) of Lord Sri Venkateswara and his divine consorts, Sri Devi and Bhoodevi in the Varaha Swamy Temple located on the banks of Swamy Pushakarini on the Tirumala hills.
After this Abhishekam, amidst chanting of Vedic hymns by the Temple priests, the Sudarsana Chakra (the Disc weapon of the holy Lord) of Sri Varu would be immersed in the holy waters of Swamy Pushakarini, for an auspicious bathing.
This sacred procedure is called the Chakra Snanam (Telugu) to witness which thousands of people from all over India would throng the Tirumala Hills, every year.. Similarly, there were many thousands of devotees on the hills that day.
Unfortunately On The Same Day
The whole scenario inside the Tirumala Temple complex was extremely chaotic and was in fact resembling a battle field.
It was perhaps the ugliest day in the history of the sacred hills, on which day a fierce battle had broken out between the employees of the Tirumala Tirupati Devarthanams (TTD) board and inspectors belonging to the Andhra Pradesh state reserve Police force.
And in that battle.. Words were being exchanged.. Fist blows were being delivered.. Shirts were being torn.. And butts were being kicked..
Everything was happening there on that day, inside the Temple, and everyone was beating the other one and mouth fully cursing one another with unmentionable foul language..
Huh.. Shameless people and mindless behavior.. Not even one of them was ashamed of their behavior there and not even one of them had sense that,
“We are waging a street battle in the holy premises of the Earth’s greatest and the most sacred Temple and in the presence of this Universe’s most powerful and the most worshiped God..” .. Sick.. Sick.. Sick..
Later, as a result of that ugly battle between two of the Andhra Pradesh state government’s most responsible departments’ most irresponsible personnel; the doors of the Maha Dwaram of the Tirumala Temple were closed down, indefinitely.
That resulted in the sudden stoppage of the devotees’ Q line heading towards the main gate of the Temple for the Darsan of Sri Varu.. Thousands of devotees waiting in that Q line were abruptly stopped from proceeding further and were ruthlessly put on hold, wherever they were standing that moment.
After a few minutes of restless waiting, the devotees in the Q line had started screaming with confusion and their children with fear, as they were feeling suffocated inside the locked Iron chambers of the Q line.
(If you have ever visited the Tirumala Temple in your life, at least once, and had walked through those narrow Q lines, you would be knowing how suffocating and breathless that it would be when you are sandwiched between the devotees in front of you and the devotees behind you, when the Q line is put on hold.
Unfortunately, the scenario of the Q line is still the same today.. Devotees would find it a hell if, for any reason, the Q line is stopped midway, on a busy day, where there’s heavy rush on the hills..
I have been visiting Tirumala Temple since my childhood and had experienced hell lot of problems standing in the Q line.. Even during my recent visit in the month of August, 2016 the scenario in the Q line is terrible even after purchasing a Rs.300 ticket.
I have purchased Rs.300 tickets for two evenings, both for me and my wife, but had to keep the second evening tickets unused, losing the money, just because of the horrible experience both of us had in the Q line, the previous day.
During my recent walk in the Q line to the Temple, I have marked and identified some areas where there is enough room for expansion.. However, I wonder why is that TTD is just not bothering to expand these Q lines and are still using the same old Q lines built during the British era).. MYSTERY
Now let us come to the story.. There was not a single security guard on duty there, at that moment, to tell the hapless devotees why they have been so locked and what exactly was happening there.
Unable to understand the actual reason for their plight that morning, all the devotees were cacophonycally praying to Lord Venakteswara, not for His darsan, but for their release from that locked Iron chamber.
To say the least, confusion was at it’s peak, that moment, on the Tirumala hills and the entire atmosphere there was under a grip of great unrest which would have otherwise been under the grip of great devotion.
But what was the devotees’ mistake.. ??.. Why were they suffering so..??.. Why was peace on the Tirumala Hills so suddenly disturbed.. ??.. What is the reason for all that battle there.. ??.. What exactly was happening on the serene seven hills, that day..??.
Please go through..
On That Last Day Of The Brahmotsavams,
A rogue Deputy Superintendent Of Police, belonging to the Andhra Pradesh state reserve police force, had tried to forcibly enter the Tirumala Temple, along with four more members of his family, through the Maha Dwaram, which was much against the rules of the Temple.
According to the rules I know, only our honorable President, Prime Minister, heads of nations are brought to the front of the Maha Dwaram of the Temple and then taken directly into the Temple through the Bangaru Vakili (Golden door).
That means, unless you and me become prime minister and president of India, we can never even dream of enjoying such a facility on the Hills.. At least that is what I know but please correct me if am wrong and also help me know who all are eligible to enjoy such a facility.. PERIOD
On select occasions, officers on special duty at the Temple will be allowed to go directly into the Temple – through the Maha Dwaram – after obtaining a special permission for the same from the Executive Officer of the TTD board.
However, without following any rule that day, the goonda DSP had tried to barge into the Temple, along with his family, through the Maha Dwaram.. The TTD officials on duty there had quickly halted him and asked him to produce the necessary permission letter to use that protocol facility.
Angered by the obstruction of the TTD officials, the shameless DSP, who didn’t had any permission letter with him, had still tried to forcibly enter the temple by muscling away the officials.
Irritated by the dirty behavior of the arrogant DSP, the TTD officials, using their forces, have thrown him out of the main door not allowing him to move even an inch forward into the Temple.
Outraged by the rejection of the four TTD officials, the egoistic DSP had immediately left the Maha Dwaram – fretting and fuming – and returned in about half an hour with a battalion full of his Reserve Police constables and inspectors.
Straight away all of them had not only sinfully entered the sacred Temple, with their Boots on, but had also started mercilessly beating up, using their lathis, the four TTD employees who have denied permission to their DSP, earlier.
Quickly, the word, “our TTD employees are being beaten by the Police in the temple” had spread among all the employees of TTD working on the hills.. They all came running to the Temple, stopping whatever duty they were thus far performing, to rescue their colleagues from the wrath of the Police.
Fire erupted between the two parties and that led to a large battle.. Suddenly the entire atmosphere inside the Temple complex had turned violent and all the TTD officials too have retaliated more violently than the police and went about beating them, mercilessly..
Words were exchanged.. Fist blows were delivered.. Shirts were torn.. And butts were kicked ..
And after about fifteen minutes of bashing each other, the fierce battle between the TTD employees and the reserve police constables had come to an end as the police had fled away from the place watching the strength of the TTD employees rapidly growing..
However,
That did not convince the agitating TTD employees a bit.
Unmindful of their duty towards Lord Venkateswara and unmindful of their commitment towards His loyal devotees, the completely irresponsible TTD employees have then entered the Temple premises, after chasing the police for quite a distance, and quite ruthlessly had closed down the Maha Dwaram of the Temple, that resulted in the stopping of the Q line
Later, boycotting their duties and raising slogans against the unruly behavior of the Police, all the TTD employees have squatted down, in the Temple complex, near the Maha Dwaram not allowing anyone to open it.
That means, they were just not bothered about the predicament of the devotees languishing in the Q line complex..
All that they were demanding at that moment was an unconditional apology from the Police department and also a stringent action against the DSP and all the inspectors and constables who supported him.
Fine.. But how’s that possible to implement their demands into immediate action.. Secondly, what punishment should then be awarded to the TTD employees who have also beaten up the police right in the sacred premises of the Temple..??
Agree.. They were provoked and only reacted.. But that doesn’t mean they should be left unpunished still after being partially responsible for all the violence in the Temple premises..
However, the TTD employees were not in a position to consider any of these commonsense related questions..
All that they wanted, that moment, was some quick remedies to their unhealthy demands and a soothing solution to their wounded egos, so what if that’s at the cost of causing severe inconvenience to the devotees waiting in the Q line..
In that dirty fashion, the shameless and irresponsible TTD employees just went about showing their dissent to all around them by raising slogans and by blocking all the activities of the Temple.
And It Was Exactly That Moment,
The Executive Officer of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams board had literally come there running.. He was first shocked to see the Maha Dwaram of the Temple closed down and then with the inhuman activity that had taken place in and around the most sacred area of the Tirumala Hills.
The first point that struck his mind was, “what is the present condition of the devotees in the Q line now after the Maha Dwaram is closed.. They may be standing wherever they are.. In pain and in agony.. Cursing us..”.
His heart almost stopped for a moment.. Without wasting any more time, he quickly ordered his secretaries and personal staff to forcefully open the doors of the Maha Dwaram and had also instructed them to immediately suspend any TTD employee who would oppose the opening of the doors.
Later, he quickly entered the Temple complex and headed straight to the slogan raising TTD employees and asked them what their problem was.. After carefully listening to everything that they have conveyed, he told them in a cool tone,
“I really feel sorry for what all has happened to you here in the Temple today.. It’s really unfortunate that such an ugly incident had taken place right inside our Temple.. However, as your boss, I stand by you now, in your hour of crisis, and share your pain..
But you all need to know one very important point here which you have unfortunately had forgotten due to your disturbed frame of mind..
We are not like other government employees who would fight for their rights whenever they want to, by putting their tools down and boycotting their duties.. We are Lord Venkateswara’s humble servants and are here to serve Him and His devotees..
We are also answerable to Him at every stage of our job here.. You all know well how much He loves His devotees and how He would run to their rescue whenever there’s a crisis.. Then how can we cause any inconvenience to His devotees, however strong a reason we have in our support..
For Him and also for us, a devotee is the most important person on the hills and everything else comes to us next.. Our Lord wouldn’t mind if we cause any inconvenience to Him but would certainly mind if we cause the same to His devotees.
Knowing this pretty well, you all have already caused quite a lot of inconvenience to His devotees.. Never mind.. But not any more.. I shall immediately appoint an inquiry commission and ask it to submit it’s detailed report, on this ugly incident, by evening today..
Based on that report, I shall also send my recommendations to the government to initiate legal action against everyone found guilty by the commission.. Until then, please cooperate with me and vacate this place immediately and report to your duties.
We must quickly commence the Darsan of Sri Varu and relieve all the waiting devotees from the inconvenience we have thus far caused to them.. Please cooperate.. Otherwise we may have to see the wrath of the Lord.. Please..”
Convinced with their boss’s line of argument, all the angry TTD employees had quickly got up from that place and silently reported to their duties.. Later, in about a couple of minutes, complete normalcy was restored in the Temple premises and the regular Darsan of Sri Varu too had commenced..
All this drama, inside the Tirumala temple premises, had commenced and concluded in about thirty minutes of time.. Quite miraculously, all the fire too had subsided as quickly as it had erupted.
Please Click Here to read the final part of this story
Athi Velathaya Thava Durvisha Hai.. Ranuvela Kruthai Raparadha Sathai.. Paritham Thvaritham Vrisha Sailapathe.. Paraya Kripaya Paripahi Hare
Love
Narrenaditya Komaragiri
narrenaditya@tirumalesa.com
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