Scintillating lessons at hill shrine

Some days back, when my son secured a merit super-specialisation seat in a reputed medical institution, I was swamped by sudden desire to see the Lord of splendid Tirupati hill shrine, despite sundry misgivings surging within. The glitch was we couldn’t get any darshan tickets for the next several days, including special seva ones.

Still, feeling super sanguine, we started off on the following Thursday at 4 am. Soon as we set foot on Tirupati soils, we headed straight towards the serpentine queue, setting sights on Sarvadarshan entry. Which was after two days, at 8 pm! Now, instead of drowning in despair, we decided to do some exciting things, in those two days of unexpected relaxed time, rarely got!

Yes, leisurely we traipsed around the temple of Goddess Padmavati, savoured the scrumptious laddoos; the next day, clambered the 3,550 steps by foot (later climbed down, too) sprinkled the sacred Pushkarni water on our heads, circum-ambulated along the squarish outer periphery of three splendiferous Gopuras, had a great view of Lord Varaha’s grand idol. Not to discount, the darshan of Lord Balaji, amidst throngs of people, pushing, punching, pummelling each other!

After which, though the body was all whacked out, the mind wallowed in walloping peace! Incidentally, I did learn a few scintillating lessons during this spiritual journey. One, when we have striven hard for some success, the taste of such success is truly sweet, and we totally realise its value. This aspect I realised on beholding the Lord after the four-plus-hour long wait.

And, the success is even sweeter, when we adopt sincere means to achieve it. This I saw standing in the snaky Sarvadarshan queue, stringing along with several hundred, seeking darshan, sans any special privileges.

Next, life keeps springing small joys, now and then. It is up to us to recognize them and maximise it. Finally, if God wills, mountains can move. Else, even a grass blade can’t shake. The great opportunity to see the Lord, sans prior ticket booking, especially on an auspicious Saturday, is indeed a proof in itself!