Miscellaneous - Religion   

Hallowed shrine

CHENNAI : The Supreme Being who is the Absolute (Para) assumes other forms for different functions. The Vyuha form lying in yogic sleep on the serpent-bed in the milk-ocean is associated with creation for which He divides Himself into Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. After creation of the universe, the Lord incarnates in the world whenever Dharma is on the wane and these manifestations are known as Vibhava (Avatara). The Lord indwells in all beings as Antaryami and in consecrated images as Archa.

In his Harikatha, Kalyanapuram Sri R.Aravamudachariar said the Almighty had made Himself accessible to devotees in Archa form in temples. There are sacred places (Kshetras) where the Lord took residence out of His will (Svayamvyaktam) and the famous shrine in Tiruvenkatam (Tirumala) is one such abode. Some like Guruvayur have deities installed there by celestials. There are many temples consecrated by sages while the majority are the ones built by human beings. There are 108 abodes of Vishnu, which have been glorified by the Azhwars that are reverentially called as the Divyadesas.

The Bhavishyottara Purana narrates the incidents relating to how the Supreme Being came to this Varaha kshetra (Tirumala) as Srinivasa. Once the sages assembled on the bank of Ganga to perform a sacrifice when Narada asked them to whom among the Trinity they were going to make the offerings. When they argued he advised them to send one to ascertain this. Bhrigu was chosen and he went to Brahmaloka where he saw the creator, Brahma, absorbed in Saraswati's music on the veena. Slighted that he was not made welcome there, Bhrigu went to Kailas where Siva was in Parvati's company. Enraged that they did not notice him the sage finally went to Vaikunta and there he found the Lord in yogic slumber. He lost his temper and kicked the Lord on His chest when He caught hold of Bhrigu's foot. Humiliated, Lakshmi left the Lord and unable to bear separation from Her, He went searching for Her and finally came and settled down in an anthill near the tank (Swami Pushkarini) in this hill awaiting union with Her.

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