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An experience of unplanned trip to the seven hills


Shista-Palaka Govinda. One of the thousand names of Lord Venkateshwara, Sri Vari, popularly known as Govinda, or Balaji. 
Shista-Palaka Govinda literally means one who follows the rules stringently. This we realized over a period of time, after about a couple of dozen trips to the sacred 7 hills, popularly known as Bhoo-loka Vaikuntha (Spiritual planet of Earth). 
One fine Monday morning, on receiving a call from my new employer confirming my employment with them and asking  to join on following Thursday, purely by the Lord’s grace and arrangement.  A usual tradition is followed to visit a temple, before commencing a new task, job, project to have commendable success. Even I made up my mind to visit the majestic shrine, residing on 7 hills, commonly known as Tirumala-Tirupati to seek the Lord’s blessings in my future endeavors. On reaching the foothills of 7 hills, at about 3 early in the morning, the gates to climb the hill were temporarily sealed until sunrise, due to wild animals infiltrating the pedestrians. Accompanying a couple of other fellow-devotees, we got an opportunity to rest under the open skies of one of the most visited Divyadeshams. Whilst gazing at the elegant Sapthagiri, also known as the Lord’s Anantshesha, on whom the Lord rests on the Sheera-sagara, we were praying hard to the Lord’s Tilaka, Shanka, Chakra, for elevating us spiritually and settling down materially. After some time, we gave up on resting and started to chant and warm up our bodies before climbing the hill. As time progressed, the Lord’s Vahana, the personal carrier Sri Garuda, standing tall and magnificent, at the foothills, locally called Alipiri enthralled me towards him and expressed the uncomfortable journey through prayers, during the night in the rail, as mine was an unplanned journey. Unexpectedly, I started praying earnestly to Garuda dev and the ever-merciful Lord to grant us a comfortable 4 wheeler, bearing in mind at least 1 trip must be made in that vehicle, as we weren’t still comfortable driving long.  Having this tinge of desire, not bothering me much we continued the rest of our journey for the pilgrimage.
Hardly completing 2 weeks of tenure in the new job and of the pilgrimage, reaching home after my training, on Janmashtmi’s eve, I see a comfortable 4 wheeler parked in our condominium’s parking lot. Though it wasn’t surprising as the Supreme Lord had sanctioned the not-so bothering minute desire of owing a 4 wheeler, after a long time. My faith, belief, and confidence in the merciful Lord, swelled with joy. Considering the fact now, it was time to fulfill my partial desire; yet the most waited, to plan a family pilgrimage to Tirumala. I started pestering my father to plan a family pilgrimage at the earliest in the new vehicle.  As none of us in our family were expert drivers, we were a little hesitant to take the risk of driving about 200 miles & various reasons were bombarded. This was pushed nearly for 18 months.

Finally we had a day long trip to a nearby place called Melukote about 100 miles from our place. The vehicle broke down en-route which led to apprehension. Taking precautions, we reached our destination and at the time of departing, yet another catastrophe struck again with the vehicle. After reaching safely back home, sometime later the moment had reached to pay a whopping amount for not paying our dues (For not keeping up the word). The vehicle was sold after spending a prodigious amount.

This was an indication, a message or a muted punch from the holy Lord, saying any commitments made whether it’s for a penny or a heap of gold coins, stay firm and fulfill your commitments. This incident over a period of 18 months was a culmination of mixed emotions where one end was an accumulation of colossal faith in the Lord & the other was resentment of not keeping up the commitment.
Location: Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India

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