Agama Shastra will never agree to change even a brick inside temple

Tirumala: AgamaShastra never tells about devotees or ArjithaSevas, but it only tells about the system of poojas and the procedure to be followed in performing various rituals.

The poojas and rituals will never stop, even if there are no devotees or there are one lakh of them. The priests have no concern about the number of pilgrims but only concerned about blessing them. Other things will depend on administrative convenience and administrators can take whatever steps they want to take, said the chief priest of Srivari temple in Tirumala Dr AV Ramana Deekshitulu.

It’s the fond belief, that anyone who watches Garuda Seva will be blessed by the Lord and will be taken care by him

Speaking to The Hans India during the Brahmotsavams at Tirumala, he stressed “As far as we are concerned, we give our opinion. Agama Shastra will never agree to change the very structure of the temple in any way. Even a small brick cannot not be removed as it was constructed according to it. Creating new exits or entries in the temple or any other such move is against the Shastra”, he said categorically.

On the importance of Garuda Seva, which lakhs of pilgrims witness and worship the Lord, Ramana Deekshitulu said every Utsavam in Tirumala has its own importance. Brahmotsavams attains more importance as they were being performed by Brahma himself. The nine-day Utsavamsare held as prescribed by Brahma with Yagas, Poojas and Homams. These were all meant for the welfare of the society. Various special ornaments were used to adorn the processional deity of Lord Malayappa Swamy during these Utsavams.

Garutmantudu has a special place in Agama Shastra. He serves Lord Venkateswara with complete dedication. Sri Maha Vishnu’s flag wears Garuda and his ratham is Garutmantudu. That’s the reason during Dwajarohanam Garuda is said to sit atop the Dwajam and herald the event and invite all Gods for the nine day mega event on earth. From that Dwajam, he supervises the entire course of SrivariBrahmotsavam, Deekshitulu explained.

He added that Garuda bears the lord’s foot by keeping them in his two hands. Garuda has the capacity to fly with infinite speed to anywhere to save the devotees. GajendraMokhsam is a fitting example to this. It’s the fond belief, that anyone who watches Garuda Seva will be blessed by the Lord and will be taken care by him . Garuda shows the way of worshipping the Lord. Hence, Garuda vahanam is considered to be the most auspicious of all the events.

Adding grandeur to the event the most precious ornaments which the presiding deity wore normally like Makara Kanti, Lakshmi Haaram, Sahasranama Haram etc will be brought outside the temple with ‘Melatalalu’ to decorate Lord Malayappa. This is done so that people will have the opportunity of seeing them from close quarters. He also wears the sacred garlands from the temple of Goddess Andal in Srivilliputtur. New Umbrellas for the Vahana Sevas will also be used for Garuda Seva, he averred.

By V Pradeep Kumar