Sree Matre Namaha
I wanted to share with you a real miracle which happened late in 1979 in Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam(TTD) on the Tirumala hills. The reason for this is, that, in kaliyuga, it is very hard to experience the grace of God. We all have a fixed notion that God may come in a form and bless us like in movies etc. It may happen or it may not happen and it may come in any form. Unfortunately, we have fixed the form for God.
So, how does God’s grace come?
It really happened on the night of 7th of Nov, 1979 exactly 39 years back, the time was after midnight. Everybody right from the street urchin to the priest and including the lord were sleeping. In those days there were not many people, only about 25,000 people visited the temple. So, fortunately, God had enough time for sleeping and rest! They used to close the temple after the Ekantseva around12 o’clock and then at 4 o’clock or so the Suprabhatam was done.
So suddenly the temple bells, the big bronze bell in the Bangaru Vakili inside the temple, just before the main icon, started to ring, with such great sound…Ghanghghanghghangh Like that…! The waves of the sound made the whole of Tirumala tremble and everybody woke up. Right from the Police personnel, TTD employees and the normal people, they rushed to the main door. Suddenly after a few minutes, the sound of bells stopped. Nobody knew the reason. Normally after the Ekantsevathey search every nook and corner and lock the temple, so nobody could be inside! But after thinking and discussing for a while, they came to a conclusion that possibly some pilgrim by mistake, was caught inside the temple and they closed the door without checking properly. Probably the pilgrim wanted to catch the attention of the outsiders so he rang the bell. Hence they decided that at Suprabhatam when they open the door they can see that.
But then, why did the temple bells ring?
We need to go back for seven days or more. At that time there was a big scarcity of water, no rain at all, for the whole year. They had put sanctions on the TTD employees because their quarters were there. About sixty thousand people were living in Tirumala, apart from the twenty-five thousand regular visitors. They were not allowed to go beyond the sanctions. The water in the Gogarbham dam was almost empty. The TTD chairman, the EO at that time was Sri PVRK Prasad. He convened a meeting of all the engineers and discussed what needed to be done. They said the water would not last more than one week and they wanted to impose further sanctions on the employee’s usage, which the EO refused because there could possibly be no further restriction on the usage of water.
Further, they could not restrict the pilgrims coming to the temple because that would be against the TTD rules. So finally the engineers said they have to do something otherwise the temple has to be closed indefinitely which will be a bad mark on PVRK Prasad in the history of TTD.
So he decided to solve it on his own. He knows and believes that Vedas and dharma shastras have a definite solution for a serious problem of this kind. But there should be some person who can guide him properly. He discussed with the people and finally decided he should approach the great Vedic scholar who is known as Saraswati Avataram, Sri Uppuluri Ganapati Shastry, who was 82 years old at that time. He went to meet him in Hyderabad. When he explained the water scarcity problem in Tirumala, Sri Ganapathi Shastry smiled and said the golden words, “The problem comes because the solution is there!!”
In fact in mankind for every problem, there is a solution. We need to believe in God, focus and search for the solution. The Vedas, dharmas, and Shastras provide solutions. In fact, in those days people used to follow these solutions and solve many of their problems easily. But In Kaliyuga who would believe that by doing the Varun japam, water rains will come, and who is competent enough to do the Varun japam sincerely and with focus? Sri Ganapati Shastry replied, “He is a scholar, he has spent over 40 years to learn Vedas, not only Vedas but Veda upangas like Siksha, Vyakarana, Mimasa, Tarka. He is the authority on Vedas.” PVRK Prasad was noting all the details. Then Shastry said, “If you agree then I can send the ritviks and we can do the japam for three days. It will rain.”
So PVRK was very happy, he went to his office in Tirumala and he decided after discussing with the scholars that Nov 1st was the muhurtam for starting the Varun Japam. Unfortunately for some reasons the ritviks could not come and because of old age Sri Ganapati Shastry also could not come, so the problem came back to square one and Sri PVRK Prasad could not decide what to do.
Then he convened an emergency meeting with all his staff. He said, “We need to do this Varun japam on our own. Let us call all the pandits and then do the Varun japam.” He fixed the muhurtamas 8th of Nov. But he turned towards Lord Balaji and said, “Hey Bhagwan, I’ve been a sincere officer serving you and your devotees, I never spare my efforts to make Tirumala neat and tidy and full of dharmic living, why this trouble for me? I want to do this Varun Japam staring from this 8th, I need your approval. I don’t know how you give, but your approval needs to be there for me to start.”
And then it happened on the 7th midnight! The temple bells rang on their own! How else can you say that Balaji had approved PVRK Prasad’s samkalpam! He was full of joy. Tears came to his eyes, and he said “Balaji you accepted my proposal! Let us start”. They started the Varun Japam on 8thas planned. After 3 days the rain should have come but not even a single drop of water!!! Again God wanted to test! So after the Japam all the ritviks and the employees with depressed, saddened faces and tears in their eyes started bringing all the utsav vigrahas back to the main temple within hundred yards. And then it happened!
The sky as if…it opened up, it started to pour so heavily that the people could not even cover the hundred yards! They got drenched in ecstasy! The water was overflowing and soon in the night the engineers informed that, “The Gogarbham reservoir is overflowing with water, we are safe!” Immediately PVRK Prasad stood up from his chair and turned towards the temple direction with tears in his eyes and said, “Balaji what more can be an example of your grace, you saved us, you saved Tirumala!”
Follow the dharma, follow the vedic rituals, have belief in God, any problem can be solved. Sri PVRK Prasad was in Hyderabad leading a saintly life and has attained liberation last year, and Sri Uppuluri Ganapati Shastry left his mortal body.
But why I am telling this is, even in this Kaliyuga, God will respond, but what we need is shraddha, dedication, and belief, nammakam, when you have that, God is responding, in all the directions, in all the manners like sound, in form, in thought and in action!!
