Most of the people think that the temple of
Lord Balaji is located in Tirupati. While the Tirupati Balaji Temple of Lord Venkateswara is established on the hills of Tirumala . Which is 22 kilometer from Tirupati.
Tirumala Balaji Temple Routes:-
To reach Tirumala Balaji. All the three ways i.e by rail, road and air are very good options . Train reach here from all over the country. If there is no train for ‘Tirupati’ from your city, then ‘Renigunta’ Junction is 11.1km from ‘Tirupati’ where almost every train stops. From there you can reach ‘Tirupati’ and then from ‘Tirupati’ to ‘Tirumala’ you can go by Bus. The bus fare from ‘Tirupati’ to ‘Tirumala’ is ₹84 and there is a bus after every 10 minutes.
If you want to come by airline, then ‘Renigunta’ airport, is the nearest airport here and the third option is by road the road is very well made, National Highway 71.
Train Travel Routes:-
After reaching ‘Tirupati’ by train, you will have to take a bus or a taxi or you need your own vehicle. After traveling 2 km from ‘Tirupati’, comes ‘Tirumala’ toll gates and check post where all your belongings are scanned irrespective of mode of travel. So bring only as much as you need. The road from ‘Tirupati to ‘Tirumala’ is via a mountainous region and your vehicle can reach up to the ‘Tirumala’ temple. Travel time of these 24 kms is 45 minutes .
Tirumala Staying Convenience:-
Talking about the convenience of staying in ‘Tirumala’, you can do online booking by visiting TTD, the official website of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams . You can get rooms in ‘Tirupati’ as well as in ‘Tirumala’. It depends on whether the room is available or not. You need to book 2 to 3 months in advance.
Important thing about online booking is that a confirmed booking slip comes out after making online booking, with the same slip you have to go to CRO office and secondly, online booking of the room is given only when you get booking of Darshan done first So booking of Darshan is done first and after that you are given the booking of the room.
Tirumala CRO Office :-
CRO office is 200-250 meters away from the bus stand.
For your information let me tell you that here, On one side you will find the statue of Balaji, On the other side is a Saptagiri Rest House.
The road that goes right in front of the Rest house leads to the CRO office and many other main offices.
Room booking takes some time, but the whole process is very smooth and step by step.
CRO office is just next to the railway reservation center.
Please note, when you go to the CRO office, you have to go to the ARP counter and get the scanning done. This was all about online booking.
You can also get offline booking done, you will have to stand in queue for 2-3 hours. If due to the crowd you do not get a room here even in offline booking then at a distance of a 100 meters from CRO office, there is ‘ Yatri Sadan’.
Tirumala Yatri Sadan:-
You get lookers here where you can keep luggage . In ‘ Yatri Sadan’ itself you are given bed sheets using which you can lied down on floor and sleep Staying facility in ‘Yatri Sadan’ is free of cost you only need Aadhar card at time of booking.
Devsthanam trust:-
The rooms from Devsthanam trust in ‘Tirupati’ range from 300-1000,
The room rent is from ‘Tirumala’ price 400-2000
Tirumala Mathrusri Vakuladevi Rest House:-
The rooms are very big and the bathrooms are hygienic.
TTD here has taken care of every small thing .
See here, if you need the pillow for additional duration, it starts at Rs 10, if you want a bed sheet, Rs 10, if you want a mat than also it’s Rs 10 per day . These little things make your journey to this temple even better.
Darshan Booking Process :-
The fee is 300 per person for darshan and in that you are given a free Laddoo as prasad .
If you want to have darshan of ‘Balaji’ for free then you can make a booking at the ‘Srinivasa’ complex which is 3 km away from ‘Tirupati’ railway station and there at that place in ‘Tirupati’. Sarva darshan tokens are issued another counter where the Sarva darshan Alipiri bhudevi complex which is 2km away from bus stand. You can book there by showing your Aadhaar card.
Free Darshan:-
But the free darshan queue will take you 18 to 30 hours.
Paid Darshan:-
Paid Darshan will take you 4 to 6 hours.
TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams):-
If you want to go anywhere near Balaji temple, here you have free bus service by TTD trust. There are various bus stops near the temple from where you will get the bus . There is ‘ Anna Bhojnalaya’ which is run by TTD free of cost from 8:00 am – 9:00 pm. From the temple its is around 100m away. Whenever you come to ‘Tirupati’, do eat once in ‘ Anna Bhojnalaya’ of Tirupati and witness wonderful arrangement of the world’s largest solar kitchen. Food is served here on banana leaves. Tirupati Trust daily arranges 70-80 thousand banana leaves on which food is served which is appreciable. From the figures of 2022 given by Trust, In the year 2022, 3cr devotees have taken food in ’Anna Bhojnalaya’, that means in one day , around 82 thousand devotees take food here in ‘Tirupati’. Women in saffron color all over ‘Tirumala’, they are the volunteers of the trust, you can get any information from then.
Mada street:-
At the beginning of’ Mada Street ‘is Varaha Swamy Temple. Here it is believed that before visiting ‘Tirupati Balaji’, one has to visit Lord ‘Varaha’.
The temple is dedicated to the third incarnation of Lord ‘Vishnu’. According to ancient Belief ‘tirumala’ was originally Aadi Varaha Kshetra and it was only after the permission of ‘Varaha Swami’ the Lord ‘Venkateswara’ resided in Tirumala mountain .
Kalyana Tirthang:-
According to ‘Kalyana Tirthang’ History of Tirumala Venkateswara Temple is of time of Satyuga . ‘Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu ’ were two brothers ‘Hiranyakashipu’ committed many atrocities to stop his son ‘Prahlada’ from devotion to Lord ‘Vishnu’ Later pleased with devotion, Lord ‘Vishnu’ incarnated as ‘ Narsimha’ and killed ‘Hiranyakashipu’.
‘Hiranyaksha’ was Hiranyakashipu’s brother . He also had demonic qualities. He hid Mother Earth and the Vedas in ‘Patal Lok’. In order to clean the filth of ‘Patal Lok’, Lord assumed ‘Varaha’ form and by killing ‘Hiranyaksha’ established the earth in its place. On the request of ‘Bhoo Devi’, Varah ji asked his vehicle ‘Garuda’ to go to “Vaikuntha Lok’ and bring a small part of ‘Vaikunth’ to the earth so that Lord Vishnu could live on earth with “bhoo Devi’. The mountain which was brought to earth from ‘ Vaikuntha lok’ is at present called ‘Tirumala’. The “Tirumala” temple is also known as ‘ Venkateshwara’ temple.
“Tirumala” is actually a mountain where Venkateswara temple is situated. Lord ‘ Venkateswara’ is considered Lord Vishnu’s incarnation. This incarnation of Lord ‘Vishnu’ is believed to protect the devotees in Kalyug. That is why it is called ‘Vaikuntha’ of Kalyug. In Kalyuga Lord ‘Vishnu’ is present in ‘Tirumala’ .
Beside ‘Varaha’ temple Tirupati Balaji’s 2nd main Pilgrimage site is ‘Swami Pushkarini Tirtha’.
Swami Pushkarini Tirtha:-
Devotees coming to ‘Tirupati’ go to Darshan only after taking a bath in ‘Pushkarini Tirtha’. The lake is in the middle of the ‘Tirupati Balaji’ temple and ‘Varaha’ temple. The story is such that at the time of ‘Varah’ Avatar, Lord ‘Garuda’ had brought this ‘Pushkarini’ from Vaikuntha dham for the bath of Lord ‘Varaha’. The importance of bathing here has been compared to Bathing at ‘Vaikuntha Dhaam’.
Offering hair Lord Venkateswara Swami :-
The place for offering hair is 100m towards the left from the ‘Tirupati’ temple. On entering the hall, you are given a slip on which your number is written and along with the slip, you are given a new blade and the whole process from slip to shaving is absolutely free. If you are willing you can offer something to the barber. While shaving cleanliness is taken care of. For shaving along with a blade, a small piece of sandalwood is also given. And before shaving hair is washed with antiseptic water. After hairs are shaved, you can apply sandalwood paste on your head. Hair offerings in Tirupati Balaji have such significance that even married women also get their heads shaved here.
Devasthanam trust has kept around 1300 barbers, they are paid salary from the trust itself, Hair offering is called “Kalyan Katta’ here Apart from the main ‘Kalyan Katta’ the guest houses around 9 other small ‘Kalyan Katta’ temples where devotees stay can get their hair shaved there.
‘Kalyan Kata’ is open 24 hours for the devotees. Mainly devotees get their head shaved for fulfilment of their wishes. When their wishes are fulfilled, They come here again to get their heads shaved, Almost 35,000 heads are shaved here every day and Around 5000 kgs of hairs get collected here. From these figures one can judge that ‘Tirupati Balaji’ fulfils the wishes of many devotees.
Coconut Hundi:-
This place’s coconut is broken here. See huge lamps here, this is from where the aarti is shown to Lord ‘Venkateswara’. Coconut and camphor along with ‘Deep Mandapam’ are available over the counter for 20. Devotees take half of the coconut with them keeping the other inside the coconut haat as an offering to the Lord.
You get a lamp wick here for 50. There is a tradition of wicking a lamp to Lord ‘Venkateswara’, so you must do this. Next to Coconut Haat there is the history of Lord ‘Hanuman’.
‘Sri Bedi Anjaneya Swami Vari Temple’ Here you will see the statue of Lord Hanuman with tied hands.
Lord Venkateswara’s Palanqin:-
Where Lord Venkateswara’s palanquin leaves here everyday, you are looking see two elephants and behind that is Lord ‘Venkateswara’. This palanquin goes around all four sides of the temple. If possible, try to witness this never-forgettable evening when Lord ‘Tirupati’ gives darshan in a palanquin around the temple.
Note:-
Tirupati Balaji temple around 100meters pilgrimage places there. ‘Tirupati Balaji’ temple’s traditional darshan process is like that first of all you have to go to ‘Varaha temple’ and then go to ‘Kalyan Kata’ to offer your hairs and then come to ‘Pushkarini’ sarovar to take holy bath. Then you have to light a lamp in “Coconut Hundi” And then finally you leave for sight of the main temple of “Balaji”.
Temple Inside Enter:-
As soon as you enter inside, you feel a different kind of positive energy. When you go inside the temple at first a stick will be visible on the right side, which is believed to have been used to beat Lord ‘Venkatapati’ in his childhood, Because of which the Lord’s chin was injured. That’s why sandalwood paste is applied every Friday even on the chin of Lord ‘Tirupati’. Here it is believed that Lord ‘Tirupati’ sweats. His hairs are silky, they never get tangled indis. The sweat comes on the back of the statue, That’s why the temperature inside is also kept cool. The South Indian construction style sanctum sanctorum is called ‘Vimana’ here It is completely made of gold and the statue of Lord ‘Venkatapati’ is installed in it. Near the statue of Lord ‘Venkatapati’, there is a lamp burning continuously for many thousands of years without oil. While doing darshan you have to keep in mind that you have to keep looking straight because for darshan you mainly have 5 seconds, but if you are careful then you get time of 20-25 seconds for darshan . When you come inside, keep your attention focused straight so that you can see Lord ‘Tirupati Balaji’ for maximum time. It is believed that Goddess “Lashmi” is also included in this form of God. Due to which there is a traction of dressing ‘ Sri Venkateswara Swamy’ in both male and female clothes. “Dhoti” is worn below and ‘Saree’ is worn above. Inside the main temple along with Lord ‘Venkatesh’ Goddess ‘Padmavati’ and Lakshmi’ are also present. The height of the idol of “Balaji” is 7 feet ,and the idol God is Black in color. “Balaji” is standing with a Conch, Chakra, Mace and a Lotus in hands. As you come out after darshan. You will see the sign board “Laddu Counter” All the Devotees are sent to that side. Devotees who have booked online tickets For 300 get one “Laddu” free from the counter. Apart from this, if you want to keep it separately, you have to pay according to the size of “Laddu”.
Rates of Srivari Prasadams:-
| S.No. | Name of the Prasadam | Quantity | Rate | weight |
| 1 | Big Laddu | One | 200 | 640 – 700 Grams |
| 2 | Vada | One | 100 | ——– |
| 3 | Small Laddu | One | 50 | 160 to 175 Grams |
| 4 | Camdy Pdcket | One | 5 | 100 Grams |
| 5 | Cover | one | 3 |
According to the figure given by the trust. In 2022 alone, 11 cr “Laddu” was distributed. This means around 3 lakhs in a day. So you can judge the level of reverence for Laddu prasadam among the devotees who come here to “Tirupati”.
Tirumal 7 main temple Darsan:-
The facility of the Andhra Prodesh Tourism’s buses is also available here. Fare is Rs 120 for visit of 6 main temples –
- 1. Lord Venkate Swamy Gopal temple:-
He is considered the elder brother of “Tirupati” and if you visit “Tirupati” temple it becomes. It’s distance from “Tirupati” temple is around 3 km
- 2. Japali Hanuman temple:-
The statue of Lord “hanuman” here is very attractive. And the Lord is established here in the posture of salutation. The “Akashganga” waterfall is 1 km from this temple. Before reaching there you can do it . Darshan of Lord “Hanuman” here.
- 3. Akashganga:-
This is a little waterfall Akashganga. The main reason for its fame is that . Lord “Venkateswara” is bathed from its water, From here people carry water for their homes.
- 4. Papavinasanam:-
People take bath here and seek. Salvation from Lord “Tirupati”.
- 5. Chakra Teertham,
- 6. Silathoranam,
- 7. Srivari Paadaalu
