From Here To Kingdom Come

Lord Venkateswara Swamy reigns over Tirupati. A visit to his court serves as a reminder of both, our collective strength and fragility

- Akhila Krishnamurthy

Tirupati isn’t a destination; it’s a mindset, an emotion, an experience. It’s a journey of journeys, a journey within journeys. A trip to Tirupati is as much a personal proposition as it is a celebration of the spirit of collective consciousness. The whole act of congregating in a single file with a humungous number of people, walking along under a series of roofs and rooms that finally lead up to the golden enclave, is a statement in the power and potential of faith; that we are all inherently different and yet our destinies bind us together in prayer.

Perhaps, on a more philosophical note, this collective journey culminating in a darshan—20 seconds to a minute, at the most, depending on who you are—right in front of the majestic idol, is symbolic of a quiet, inevitable surrender to the universe, at large. That in the face of a larger, supreme being, we are, after all, so fragile, so vulnerable.

I remember shedding a tear or two myself a couple of times after a darshan of the gloriously adorned Lord Venkateswara Swamy, an avatar of Vishnu, also known as Srinivasa, Balaji, Govinda or Perumal. Let me quickly clarify, I’m not the religious type. I was raised in a god-fearing household no doubt, but exposure and experience had the better of me, allowing me to reflect upon and craft for myself, a uniquely personal relationship with god.