the journey continues…

“Shri Krishnaam Vande jagdgurum”
[I bow to Lord Krishna,the Universal Teacher]
Lord Shri Krishna has been designated as Jagadguru, the Universal Teacher. He is the one who guides all the human beings on the path of welfare irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or nation.

Since my childhood I always listened to the above lines from my dad. Lord Krishna is one among my favorite gods and Udupi, being my home town is always special and close to my heart.

Udupi is one among the 7 Parashurama Kshetras i.e. the places created by Sage Parashurama.History says Parasurama threw his axe from Gokarnam and it fell at Kanyakumari. The sea gave way to land, thus giving rise to all the coastal areas including Udupi.
Apart from Lord Shri Krishna Temple, there are 2 important ancient temples in Udupi.One is Ananteshwara Temple and other is Chandramoulishwara Temple.
In Sanskrit,Udupa means moon. According to history moon prayed Lord Shiva here to get rid of a curse.Lord Shiva was pleased with moon’s prayers and blessed him in the form of Lingam which you can see in Chandramoulishwara Temple.Since moon prayed here the place has got its name Udupi.

Chandramouleeshwara Temple

Lord Parashurama is being worshipped in the form of Lingam in Anateshwara Temple. Linga has been kept on silver base i.e rajata pheetam with snake images carved on it.Hence the place is called as Shiva-belli* i.e. shivalli and Brahmins here as shivalli Brahmins.
It’s a custom here to offer oil to lit lamps to Lord Anateshwara which is believed to be very auspicious.If it doesn’t rain in Udupi people come and offer tender coconut water to Lord Shiva to get rains. The usual practice in Udupi is to visit Chandresmaulishwara, Anantheshwara temples and then visit Sri Krishna temple.

Anateshwara Temple

Krishna Mutt was founded by the great vaishnavite saint Shri Madwacharya. According to history, there was a storm in the sea at Malpe. Shri Madhvacharya was on the shore at the time and saw a ship which was in trouble. He helped the ship to reach the shore to safely. The sailors were very grateful to him and gave him deities of Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama which was covered with sandlewood. He did the pratishte (installation ceremony) of the deity of Lord Balarama near Malpe. This temple is known as Vadabhandeshwara. He brought the deity of Lord Krishna and did the pratishte at Udupi. This temple is known as Krishna Mutt.

Most of the tourists visit Malpe Beach but they are not aware of the Balarama temple which is a must visit in Udupi.

There is a small tank behind the shrine known as Madhva Sarovara.The Swamijis have to take bath in this tank before worshipping the shrine.Its believed that once in every twelve years the sacred Ganges flows into this tank.
As we enter inside,we can see a small statue of ChennaKeshava.There is a door behind that statue which would be opened only on Vijayadashami and only the Swamijis of the temple are permitted to enter this after bathing in the tank.

Madwa Sarovara

There is no front door to the Sanctorum. Instead, you need to see through a window to get a darshan of the idol.The window is called as Navagraha Kindi.

Navagraha Kindi

There is also one more window called Kanakana Kindi. Kanakadasa, an ardent believer of God comes to Udupi to see Lord Krishna.But as he was from a lower caste,he was not permitted to enter the temple.Sri Krishna, pleased by the worship of Kanakadasa created a small hole in the back wall of the temple and turned to face the hole so that Kanakadasa could see him.This window is known as Kanakana Kindi.

Kanakana Kindi

There are 2 shrines inside the temple in front of Lord Krishna.One is MukhyaPrana [Hanumaan] and othere is Garuda.Its believed Sage Shri Vadirajaru brought this from Ayodhya and installed them here.Mukhyapraana is the most powerful deity here. All dishes offered to Lord Krishna are later on brought here and offered to Mukhyapraana.Rangapooje is one of the special rituals performed here everyday.
Its interesting to know that lamps burning by the side of Krishna idol were lighted by Shri Madwacharya and till now they are not allowed to get extinguished.

Daily many sevas are performed to Lord Krishna.The one that I choose most of the times is Hallu Benne Seve i.e Milk & Butter Pooja. As Lord Krishna likes butter,milk so much we always prefer to do this seva.

Further you proceed inside the temple you can see a big dining hall.In south canara almost all the temples serve lunch and dinner to deities everyday and krishna mutt is not an exception.People here believe that Annadaanam is the greatest daanam and everybody who visits the temple should not go back without having lunch.

The dining hall is called as Bhojana Shala and there is a small shrine of Mukhyyapraana inside the bhoojana Shala called as Bhojana Shale Hanumanta.The food is offered to this deity and then served.There is a special ritual here eating lunch on the floor which is considered to be very auspicious.Every saturday many dieties pray here and eat on the plain floor [without any leaf].

Bhojana Shala Hanumanta

There is also one more dining hall called as Chouki where all the Swamijis will have the lunch along with dieties.

Dining Hall Chowki

There is a temple of Lord Subramanya inside.Its believed that there is a huge golden treasury inside and a serpent is guarding that.Sri Vadiraja constructed this serpent shrine.

Subhramanya Temple

Apart from these there is a Navagraha Temple inside which has been built recently.
Photos are from my collection and some from internet.
Courtesy : http://www.udupishiroormutt.in/

“It’s not the Darshanam you get,it’s the Darshanam he gives”
Its a popular belief that Lord Shri Venkateshwara gives Darshanam to only those who deserves to see him.

The ancient and sacred temple of Sri Lord Venkateswara(a form of Lord Vishnu) is located at Tirumala which is close to Tirupati.
Tirupati consists of seven hills named Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri.Lord Shri Venkateswara has been presided on Venkatadri and so he is called as Venkateshwara.
Tirupati is one of the most holiest and the most visited place of worship in the world.Its is called as Bhoo Vaikuntam.(Vaikuntam which is home to Lord Vishnu is in heaven and in earth Tirupati itself is the Vaikuntam).

(Marriage of Lord Srinivasa and Padmavati.Photo taken during Brahmotsava Lightings)

Tirupati is also one of the richest temples in the world and people offer huge money,gold,silver to the Lord.The legend says Lord Venkateshwara borrowed money from Kubera for his marriage expenses and it was agreed that till this Kaliyug ends he has to pay interest to him.So people offer money to Lord Venkateshwara so that he can pay to Kubera!!

Inside the temple :
You would come in normal,peaceful queue till the temple entrance. But once you start entering inside the temple,the crowd increases and you should be really focussed to see the God.Actual idol of Lord Venkateshwara is very far from the place where devotees are allowed to see and you will get only a few seconds get Swamy Darshanam.So don’t be distracted by the people/crowd and loose attention.Slowly move with crowd and always keep eyes on the main shrine.
There are few instances where you will get more than few seconds to get darshanam of Lord Balaji.Like once my dad got as he was the last to one offer money in the “Sri Vaari Hundi” and according to temple rules they gave him extra 10 minutes to see the God.

Points of interest inside the temple :
Priests do offer Tirtham/Holy water inside the temple which you can have.
While coming back you can see Vimana Venkateshwara Swamy which has been carved on the golden gopuram.
There is a separate Hundi inside the temple called “SriVaari Hundi” where people offer money,gold etc.We also have the tradition of putting the wedding cards in that and seek blessings from God.


[Camers are not allowed inside the temple.Picture has been taken by a photographer of timecontent.com]

It seems that during the rule of the Vijayanagar dynasty that the contributions to the temple increased. Sri Krishnadevaraya had statues of himself and his consorts installed at the portals of the temple, and these statues can be seen to this day.
Temple also offers prasadam and laddus for every ticket.So should keep the tickets till you come completely outside the temple.

How to visit the temple?
Every day more than a lakh visit the temple and to regulate the crowd TTD has arranged Queue/Token system to visit the temple.There are free darshanams as well as paid ones.
Sarvadarsanam : No fee and but takes much time.
Seeghra Darshan : fee and minimum waiting is 2-3 hrs.
All the tokens have to bought in advance from TTD counters which are in Tirupati as well as across India.
There is also a online facility available for buying these tokens.
In addition to this,TTD also offers different sevas to Lord Venkateshwara.Booking these sevas online can avoid waiting hours as well as standing in the long queues.Personally I liked the Nijapaada Darshanam Seva which happens early in the morning when crowd would be very less.The first photo of Lord Venkateshwara is exactly what we can see in Nijapaad Darshanam Seva.
In online site you cal also find accomodation facilities which are provided by TTD.The rooms are maintained well and cost is minimum compared to other lodges in Tirupati.

There are buses for every 15 minutes from Tirupati to Tirumala.People go by their own private vehicles and some people prefer to walk up to the hills.TTD Devsthanam has constructed a footpath from Alipiri to Tirumala for pilgrims who wants to walk. It takes approximately 5 and a half hours to walk up the hill.Best time is to start early in the morning.I believe there is a separate queue for these pilgrims for darshnam.

Important temples to visit in Tirumala :
Swami Pushkarini (Holy water Pond)


A temple tank from where water would be used for Abishekam and othere temple rituals is called as Pushkarini.
Devotees take a dip in the sacred waters of these tanks before offering prayers at the Temples. Any Pushkarini is said to have healing and purifying powers.The Pushkarini at Tirumala is located very close to Sri Venkateshwara Swamy Temple and it is called as Swami Pushkarini. Bathing at Swami Pushkarini is considered equivalent to bathing in the holy River Ganga. It is said that this Pushkarini was originally based in Vaikuntam – the abode of Sri Vishnu and it was brought down to earth by Garuda and set here for Sri Venkateshwara Swamy.

Sri Varahaswami Temple

Originally Tirumala belonged to Sri Varaha Swamy from whom Venkateshwara took permission to reside.So its a practice here that devotees first see Shri Lord Varahaswamy and then Venkateshwara.The temple is on the banks of Pushkarini.

Sri Vaari Paadam


Sri Vaari Padam is a place on the hills where you can see the feet of Lord Shri Venkateshwara.Its said that the Lord descended on the earth first at this place.There is no bus service to reach this place.You have to get some private jeeps/cars.
Temples to visit in Tirupati
Sri Padmavathi Temple,Tiruchanoor
Tiruchanoor, also known as Alamelumangapuram, is about 5 km from Tirupati. The temple of Sri Padmavathi Devi, the consort of Lord Sri Venkateswara is situated here. It is said that a visit to Tirumala is fruitful only after visiting the Sri Padmavathi Devi temple.No token is required to enter the temple here.But there are tickets for Normal Queue and Fast Queue.Cell phones/Cameras are not allowed inside.

Sri Kapileswaraswami Temple, Tirupati

Sri Kapileswaraswami Temple is the only temple dedicated to Lord Siva in Tirupati.It is situated about 3 km to the north of Tirupati, at the foot of the Tirumala Hills. The sacred waterfall called Kapila Teertham (also known as Alwar Teertham) is located here.

Sri Govindarajaswami Temple


Sri Govindarajaswami Temple is one of the most important temples in Tirupati.In this temple there are two main shrines. In the northern shrine is ‘Sri Govindaraja’, who is Lord Vishnu lying on ‘Ananta’. He is considered to be Lord Venkateswara’s brother. The other main shrine has Deities of ‘Sri Parthasarathi’ (Krishna as the charioteer of Arjuna), ‘Rukmini’ and ‘Satyabhama’ (Krishna’s wives).

Sri Kalyana Venkateswaraswami Temple
12-km to the west of Tirupati at Srinivasa Mangapuram one can find Sri Kalyana Venkateswaraswami temple, where it is believed that Lord Venkateswara stayed here after his marriage with Sri Padmavati Devi, before proceeding to Tirumala.

Kodandaramaswami Temple
Located in the centre of the Tirupati town; the presiding deities over here are Sita, Rama and Lakshmana.
You can hire an auto and visit all these temples in a single day.TTD also provides the tour packages for visiting all these temples.

All the archakas in these temples bless us stating that “Punar darshana praptirastu” meaning we should be blessed to have darshan of Lord Venkateshwara/Perumal again and again.Very True.

Some useful links :
Online seva booking : http://www.ttdsevaonline.com/
Accomodation in mutts : http://sribalaji.com/acco-triumala.htm
TTD Counters in India : http://www.tirumala.org/e_darshancounters.htm

Sode/Sonda,a tiny hamlet is the divine resting place of Shri Vadiraja Teerthru,one of the main saints in Madhwa Parmpare or History.After Shri Raghavendra Swamy,Shri Vadiraja Teerthru is the one who has entered the vrindavana alive.Its believed that he still exist inside the vrindavana in this holy place and is blessing his devotees.

Importance of Shri Vadirajaru :
If you search in the internet for “Vadiraja Teertharu/Yatigalu” the first image comes is the below one:

Shri vadirajaru is holding the vessel on his head and a horse is eating that.Its said that Lord Hayagreeva was the favourite god of Shri Vadirajaru.Every day he will prepare the special dish “Hayagreeva Maddi” as Naivedyam for god.He will hold that plate on his head and then Lord Hayagreeva would come in the form a white horse,keep the legs on his shoulders and eat the naivedyam.This explains the importance of Shri Vadirajaru.The naivedyam “Hayagreeva Maddi” is a special sweet offered to god here and in Udupi Krishna Mutt,Sode Mutt now also they prepare it in the same style.
Its said that when Shri Vadirajaru visited the Tirumala,whole hillock looked like a Salagrama to him.He then climbed it on his knees without putting his feet on the hill.He also offered garland of salagramas to Lord Srinivasa.
“Dharmastala” is a popular piligrimage in South Canara and here the Shiva/Iswara idol is installed by Shri Vadirajaru.
Vadirajaru is also popularly called as Bhavi Sameera which means he would be the next Vayu Devaru.

Vrindavana Of Shri Vadirajaru(Pancha Vrindavana) :The below picture shows main Vrindavana of Shri Vadirajaru in the center and other 4 small vrindavanas sorrounded by which have the presence of Brahma,Vishnu,Yavu and Rudra Devaru.

Shri Bhootaraja Temple :
There is a small story you need to know about Bhootarajaru.Vadirajaru had a disciple called Narayanacharya,who was intelligent but ill mannered.So one day Vadirajaru cursed him to become a ghost.
The ghost started haunting in a forest near by hampi.It would ask a question to passers-by and if they don’t answer it will pain them.So one day Vadirajaru himself was passing by that forest.This time Shri Vadirajaru answered his question and from that time onwards the ghost became slave of Shri Vadirajaru and started serving him.
So he became one of the his favourite displies and fondly called as Bhoota-Rajaru.Now also you can see Shri Bhootarajaru Temple very close to vrindavana of Shri Vadirajaru.Shri Bhootarajaru is also called as Bhavi Rudra Devaru.
Here there is unique tradition of rolling coconuts in front of Shri Bhootarajaru.Everyone who visits temple must follow this tradition and suppose if they come in car they also roll 4 coconuts for 4 wheels of the car.

Below picture shows the pooja performed to Bhootarajaru every evening.

There is also a special corner place for Bhootarajaru on the banks of holy water pond which is called as Bhootarajara Moole.Till this date its believed that Shri Bhootarajaru sits in this place.

Shri RamaTrivikrama Temple
The Trivikrama idol here is installed by Shri Vadirajaru.The idol was worshipped by Shri Madhwacharyaru and given to Shri Vadirajaru.Its believed that Bhootarajaru bought the idol from Badari in a chariot.Now also you can see that the sanctum sanctorum is in the form of a chariot.

Sode Mutt
Shri Vadirajaru was very fond of Udupi.So in sode you can see a miniature version of Udupi.Davala Ganga(holy water tank) is similar to Madhwa Sarovar in Udupi,Rudra Devaru (similar to Shri Chandra Moulieeshwara),GopalaKrishna( similar to krishna temple) and Mukhya Prana Devaru.

(Below picture shows the pond and temple of Mukhya Prana).

Seva
Like Mantralaya,here also devotees do many sankalpa sevas.Most of my family members including me have done sevas here and there is no doubt that Shri Vadirajaru will fullfill our wishes.The best time to do seva here is early morning 5AM where its said that all the 300 crores gods make their presence in this holy place to bless the devotees.
How to reach?From Bangalore there are direct buses to Sode which are very convinient.From other places if you want to go then nearest place is Sirsi.There are very few buses from Sirsi to Sode and I believe the last bus is at 4.30 in the evening.This link might be useful for accomodation and seva details.

Other interesting reads:
Shri Vadirajaru
Shri Vadirajaru
Official site Shri Vadirajaru

The Raghavendra Swamy Vrindavana at Papparapatti is popularly known as Dakshina Mantralaya.Its one of the Mruthika and Saligrama Vrindavana of Shri Rayaru which means while making this vrindavana they have taken mruthika and few saligramas from the original Mantralaya Vrindavana.
Apart from Vrindavana,you can also see Mukhyaprana/Lord Anjaneya temple inside the mutt premises.
The mutt has great importance and witnessed many miracles of Sri Rayaru.

(entrance of the mutt inside photography is not allowed)

(Sri Mukhyaprana temple inside the mutt complex)

(Sri ganesha temple,Sri Durga devi,Sri Rudra Devaru and Parvati inside the temple complex)

The mutt is is very calm and quite place.Its inside an agrahara where you can see a lot of small old houses attached to each other.
how to go?
In the internet already there are so many links and maps to reach this mutt.Its around 16km from Dharmapuri,TamilNadu.From Bangalore the place is around 100km reachable via bus/train.Nearest train station is Dharmapuri.
Please refer to these links which gives full location details with phone numbers.
link1 and link2