Guide to Tirumala - Tirupati and its importance

Guide to Tirumala-Tirupati:

Tirumala Venkateswara Temple located in Tirupathi in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh in Southern India is most prominent shrine in this planet. The temple is located upon a range of 7 hills considered holy place by Hindus. The temple is amongst the richest and the most visited holy place in the world.

Meaning of Venkateshwara: Veenka means Papam (Sins), Tesha means toliginchavada (who clears) and eswara means lord shiva. It means Lord who clears sins of people in this Kaliyuga.

Daily pujas in Tirumala Venkateshwara temple starts with Annamaya’s Suprabhatam and ends with Vengamamba Aarti. Kaliyuga is after Dwapariyuga and Venkateshwara swamy was born in Kaliyuga and called as Pratikshaya Daivam. Lot of people travel to Tirumala from across the world and I want to share my travel expenses and may act as a guide who visits for first time.

Tirumala : Its is a place where Sri Lord Venkateshwara Swamy temple is located along with Sri Varaha Swamy temple and few other prominent places.

Tirupati :  It’s a place where several historical importance temples are located and is a major economical and educational hub in the southern region of the state.

Places to Visit in Tirumala:

1. Lord Venkateswara Temple
2. Sri Varaha Swamy Temple
3. Pushkarini
4. Sri Vari Padalu
5. Papavinasanam Teertham
6. Akasaganga Teertham
7. Chakra Teertham and more

Places to Visit in Tirupati:

1. Govindarajulu Temple
2. Kapileswaraswami Temple
3. Srinivasa Mangapuram
4. Iskon Temple and more

Other Prominent Places nearby Tirumala-Tirupati:

1. Thiruchanoor
2. Kanipakam
3. Sri Kalahasti 
4. Athirapally Waterfalls and more

How to reach Tirupati-Tirumala:

Tirupati can be easily reached by Air, Train and Road which has connectivity with all major cities in India and Tirumala is 40 mins travel from Tirupati by road which has connectivity with buses every 2 mins from Bus Stand and Railway Station.

People often go to Tirumala by walk which can be reached by crossing all 7 hills(Venkatachalam). There are 2 popular ways to reach the adobe.

1. Alipiri: It is the longest way (nearly 4200 steps and 9kms around) and most preferred way by devotees. It can be reached easily from all corners of tirupati. It will take around 4-5 hrs to reach the top of hill.
2. Sri Vari Padalu: It is located nearby Srinivasa Mangapuram and has 2100 steps which will take around 2 hrs to reach the top of hill.

Accomadation in Tirupati-Tirumala:

Devotees who are willing to stay in Tirumala need to book a room prior to thier journey from TTD counters which are located across all major cities. Room can also be booked through internet booking (http://ttdsevaonline.com/) where payment can be done by all major credit/debit cards. Rooms are available at various price ranges starting from INR 50.

Note: There are no private lodges in Tirumala, so make sure you book a room if you want to stay in Tirumala or else need to stay in Tirupati which has all major restaurant and lodges spread  across the city.

Things to do in Tirumala:

1. Don't darshan Lord Venkateshwara Temple without having a bath at Puskarini which is collective of 5 holy waters.
2. Devotees should make darshan of Lord Varaha Swamy temple before visiting Lord Venkateswara Swamy, because the entire 7 hills belongs to Varaha Swamy and as Venkateswara Swamy wants to stay in 7 hills so he requests Varaha Swamy to allocate some space in mountain. Varaha Swamy asks why i should give you space, then Lord Venkateshwara says whoever come for my darshan they will visit you first and then next to me, if they do that then their wishes will be fullfilled.
3. Don't walk with chappels in 7 hills as it is a place where Venkateshwara Swamy himself born there which is equivalent to Lord Vishnu born place.

Other Important facts of Tirumala:

1. Place where Venkateshwara Swamy stays also called as Seshadri refers to Sesha dasa of Lord Vishnu with its head at Tirumala, mid part at Ahobila and tail part at Srisailam.  
2. Daily after Suprabatam, the first darshan will happen to a Huntman (Boyavadu in Telugu) because he is the first person to see Lord Venkateshwara Swamy avatar in Kaliguy. Even today their family person only will have darshan first. 
3. Venkatachalam (7 hills) is one of the prominent hills in South India and the other one is Arunachalam which is hill of Lord Shiva. In Scanda Purana it was said as Venkatachalam was directly brought from Vaikuntum.

Spiritual Doubts of Lord Venkateshwara Swamy:

1. Varaha Swamy and Venkateshwara swamy both are avatars of Lord Vishnu, still Varaha Swamy will not provide space in Venkatachalam because this is Kaliyug. Probably this might be first lease happened in this Kaliyug.
2. Avatar of Lord Venkateshwara Swamy is not to kill anyone. It was only to marry Lakshmi Devi and in this Kaliyug she borns as Vedavathi (Padmavathi).