Lord Venkatesha

I finally got to visit Tirumala temple after years of failed plans. Lord Venkatesha is the principal deity in the minds of most people around where I grew up. I last visited when I was 3 years old. I have faint memories of some journey and places along the way, but I have no memory of the place or temple itself.

When walking up the steps on the seven hills, there are notice boards instructing that, only devotees are allowed to visit the temple, and no one should visit the temple for recreation. I climbed up wondering which category I fall in.

The place, temple town, Tirumala and the temple in it are very well organized. I found it very similar to urban spaces in developed countries like USA. All the roads are paved, cleaned. There is green/blue color direction markers everywhere to facilitate easy movement of vehicles and people. There is car parking at each major place. There is a well organized accommodation reservation system. The entry is well planned, entry tickets are issued with specific time to enter the temple to facilitate smooth and predictable flow of people in and out of the temple. We see thousands of people everywhere, but everything moves smoothly. There is no place that gets jammed unexpectedly. The people, administration, all behave very organized, as if they know their exact job in the system. There are no touts trying to cheat you. 

Of all the places in India, if there is one place where we can see the blueprint of a possible developed future for the country, it is Tirumala. Lord Venkatesha means business. You don't get to mess with the Lord or his place with your petty shortcuts in life, your disorganised mess, and your general chaos.

The temple, probably the richest in the world, has seen remarkable continuity since more than a thousand years. It is probably the oldest temple I visited that is still visited by devotees. Most old temples tend to be mostly of archaeological importance, with devotees having stopped visiting them at some point and now only visited by tourists and history enthusiasts. Lord Venkatesha has seen Cholas, Pallavas, Krishnadevaraya, Marathas, Mughals, Sultans, British, French and the modern local brown men. The uninterrupted and growing worship is not an accident. Communists and atheists may argue faith is farce, but the Lord doesn't care, he has endured heretics, non-believers, atheists, muslim invaders, christian missionaries and a horde of people for more than a thousand years. The faith he inspires in the people is real and enduring. He will most likely endure all of us, all the things we see, going by the historical evidence. Anyone visiting the Lord and denying the faith he inspires in people is fooling themselves and just shows they don't understand the world around us, as it unfolds, as much. Lord means business, and whether we like it or not, it is the place we should seek and observe to find a model for organization, for establishing order in chaos, to build an inspiring future.