Many devotees of Lord Venkateswara must be experiencing many amazing miracles while on their visit to the Tirumala Temple.. Every such miracle is an auspicious experience not only for those who were involved in it but also for those who hear about it or read about it.
Here’s one never before heard peculiar incident that occurred on the Tirumala hills, some time during the year 2007 or 2008.. Since, that was the time I was in a fighting mode with Lord Venkateswara, I did not attribute much importance to it.
In a way, I must honestly confess here that I have just heard about it and ignored it there.
However, if analyzed carefully today, with all the spiritual enlightenment that I have been mercifully bestowed upon by my beloved Lord Venkateswara, during that amazing experience I had in the Tirumala Temple on the 4th of April, 2014, am certainly in a far better position to view the invisible hand of my holy Lord behind this amazing incident.
This incident once again proves to the world that Lord Venkateswara is not only the Supreme Savior of all humanity but is also a true friend who wouldn’t mind walking down all the seven hills of Tirumala to rescue a devotee who is in a grave crisis.
I heard about this incident,
A few years ago, from one of my friends in Hyderabad.. As none of those persons involved in this divine cosmic drama, that dark night, had revealed it to the world, this incident had gradually gone into a black zone of oblivion.
However, as though reminded by Him, it suddenly entered my mind, while I was casually going through one of the posts on my Facebook news feed, last night. Then, deeply regretting for not having so far shared this incident with my beloved readers, I have immediately decided to present it before you all today..
Now, Please Go Through
Manohar is an young Auditor from the city of Hyderabad who got married to his school time friend, Archana, on one auspicious day, some time during the summer of 2008.
After the marriage, Manohar, who is a big devotee of Lord Venkateswara, wanted to go on a visit to the Tirumala hills, along with his newly wedded wife, and seek the divine blessings of his favorite Lord.
Accordingly, he had kept all the travel plans scheduled much in advance and had also made guest house reservations for their comfortable stay on the Tirumala hills..
Although young, Manohar is a successful Auditor, so getting accommodation on the hills and seva tickets for the Kalyanotsavam was not a big deal for him for the amount of clientele he has in the aristocratic circles of Hyderabad.
Even otherwise, Manohar is a perfectionist to the core and would plan all the things on his own, much in advance .. He firmly believes that everything in life, whether big or small, should be planned way ahead of time.
He further believes and also quite arrogantly keeps telling all his fiends and colleagues that,
“The journey of life should always go smooth and there should never be any inconvenience in life either to us or to those associated with us.. Life is not for the lazy or unplanned people but is only for the well prepared and successful people like me.
Of course I believe in God but I believe more in my preparedness and my capabilities.. As long as am so well equipped in life there can never be any inconvenience to me or to my family.. And why should there be any, when am so cautious in my approach towards life”
Uffff.. How sick and boring some people can be.. Manohar is just a personification of arrogance.. However, what the poor Manohar was not aware at that stupid moment of his life was,
“Above all, that is visible to the human eye today, there’s One sitting there in an invisible mode, and watching everything that His creation does on this planet.. It is not we who plan everything in our life but it is he Who does that for us, much before placing us in our Mother’s womb” PERIOD
Therefore, Lord Venkateswara – with an intention to teach Manohar a lesson for his arrogance and also to make him realize that there’s nothing that anyone in this world can really earn on their own, unless it is there in the divine scheme of things – had designed the following drama, on the Tirumala hills, using the most popular Indian Superstar yet the most humble devotee called Rajinikanth, as a pivotal character in the drama.
In a way, through this incident – that occurred on the Tirumala ghat road during the darkest hours of night – Lord Venkateswara had proved to Manohar that he’s just a nobody in this gigantic universe.
Please Continue Reading..
After arriving at the Tirupati airport, Manohar and his wife Archana headed straight to the Tirumala hills, in a special Car arranged by one of his clients.. In the evening, they went for the normal darsan of Lord Sri Venkateswara.
Next morning, the newly married couple attended the Kalyanotsavam..
Even during the sacred procedure of Kalyanam, Manohar went about boring his wife telling her how hard he worked during his student days to achieve his dream of becoming an Auditor and how popular he’s currently among his clients and how smartly he gets their works done.
What can any lady in Archana’s position, during such embarrassing moments, would say except faking a smile with a common thought every woman normally gets about men during such moments.. “Men are men”..
Archana was doing the same that moment, of course, still silently offering her prayers to the divine couple of Lord Venkateswara and Smt. Pdamavati to grant them that much desired eternal marital bliss in their life.
After all, it is with that desire that any couple would perform the Kalyanotsavam to the Lord in Tirumala Temple.. Right..??.
After the Kalyanotsavam,
Both Manohar and Archna had one more round of darsan of Lord Venkateswara at the Garbha Griha of the Tirumala Temple. Later, after having a sumptuous meal at one of the finest restaurants on the Tirumala hills, they both went to their guest house and relaxed in the afternoon.
In the evening, both went for a walk on the pleasant Tirumala hills and went about buying a few gifts for their respective family members.. After that, they had another round of lovely dinner at another luxurious restaurant on the hills..
After the dinner, Manohar once again called the private Car owner, whom he hired to take them straight to Chennai, that night.. His plan was to go straight to Chennai from Tirupati and spend a couple of days there with his paternal aunt and then return to Hyderabad.
During that telephonic conversation, Manohar told the owner in a commanding tone, “We should at any cost leave from our guest house at 11.25 p.m to night.. Because the ghat road will be closed between 12 pm and 3 am.. So if we can start at 11.25 we can go down before 12..
From there we can reach Chennai by early morning.. If we cannot reach Chennai before that time, then traffic begins on the roads and we will have to spend a lot of time in Car.. I don’t want that inconvenience at any cost.. So ask your driver to be at my guest house by sharp 11.15.. Is that clear Mr.Subrahmanyam..”
The poor Subrahmanyam said “yes” and disconnected the call..
Later, Manohar and Archana returned to their room and relaxed for a while.. From 10 pm, Manohar started hurrying up his wife to get ready.. When she said, ” there’s time”, he rudely replied to her saying, “what if we are ready half an hour in advance instead of being late by half an hour..
That’s the problem with all our Indians .. We don’t have time sense.. That’s why we are lagging behind in many matters.. See Americans.. How well they maintain their time. Hence, they are way ahead of us and we are still in times of British.”
Without uttering a word, Archana not only got ready but also kept the entire luggage ready by 10.45 pm.. From there on, Manohar started waiting for the driver and called him at least five times to make sure that he is reaching the guest house by 11.15 p.m.
Finally, the poor driver reached the guest house by 11.15 p.m..
Manohar asked the driver to first put their luggage in the boot area of the Car.. Later, he sat in the Car and noted down the meter reading and then checked the functioning of the A C in the Car.
After making sure that everything was perfect in the Car, Manohar called his wife outside..
Then he stood along with her on the entrance steps of the guest house; turned towards the Tirumala Hills; and silently offered his prayers to Lord Venkateswara, for a couple of minutes..
Later, loudly telling his wife “Punar darsana praptirastu”, Manohar boarded the car, along with her, and exactly at 11.25 p.m, the Car left the guest house and headed towards the exit gate of the Tirumala hills.
After a few minutes of silence in the car, Manohar turned to his wife and said,
“This is how I schedule any program in my life and this is how I mange my time table… Time management is an art very few people in the world cultivate.. Fortunately, your husband is one among them.. So, sweetheart, the summary is, I want everything in life to be perfect including you”..
Archana just smiled.. Poor Manohar was not aware that moment that all his principles of life and about life are going for a toss in a few minutes and through one most horrifying experience, Lord Venkateswara is going to teach him the harshest lesson of his life that will completely change his outlook towards life, wife, people, profession and society.. PERIOD
After A Few Minutes Of Silent Journey,
The great cosmic drama in the life of Manohar had begun..
And this was how it all began..
After crossing the exit gate, the Car entered the Tirumala ghat road..
Later, while taking a steep turn downwards, on the darkness filled ghat road, all the three in the Car first heard a loud blasting sound.
Before, they could even know what that sound was and where it came from, the Car first started going down rapidly with multiple jerks and then started quickly rolling down uncontrollably..
The shocked driver just was unable to know what to do..
However, he still composed himself and realized that something had seriously gone wrong with his Car.. Then slowly applying the brakes, using the hand brake lever, the sensible driver finally managed to bring the Car to a halting position.
Manohar and Archana were in a frozen state..
Slowly regaining normalcy, they stepped out of the Car and were shocked to notice that not only the rear wheel Tyre of their Car had blasted but also the Car went and almost knocked the wall that was built alongside the ghat road as a protection to prevent vehicles from slipping off accidentally into the valley.
After remaining in a shocking silence for a couple of minutes, assessing the whole situation, Manohar slowly turned to the driver and said,
“Looks like the wheel went over a sharp stone and got busted.. It’s okay.. Such things happen.. Lord Venkateswara saved our Car from slipping off into the valley.. Now quickly remove the spare wheel and fix it to the Car.
It’s a jungle area and is also very dark here.. It is also time for the wild animals to come out into open for roaming.. We will sit in the Car.. Finish off your job quickly and fix the spare wheel.. We should move from this jungle at the earliest”.
Saying so Manohar turned back to enter into the car.. Freezing Manohar again, the driver replied in a low tone,” Sorry Sir.. There’s no spare wheel in the Car.. Gave it for a repair in the morning”.
“Whattttt…???..” screamed Manohar..
Scratching his head, the driver replied,”Yes sir.. The spare wheel tube has a problem.. So I gave it in the repairing shop to replace it.. The shop is on our way in downtown Tirupati .. And it will be open round the clock.. Thought we can get it fixed on the way to Chennai once we are down the hills.. This problem I didn’t expect.. Sorry Sir”.
Almost pouncing upon him, Manohar shouted at him non stop for a full three minutes.. Unable to bear with the filthy language her well learned husband was using at that time, while abusing that poor hapless driver, Archana closed her ears.
Finally, the driver interrupted Manohar’s free flow of abusive language and said in a slightly angered tone,
“Sir, mind your language.. What can I do if tyre goes busted.. It is for Lord Venkateswara to protect His devotees.. You are in His kingdom so it is for Him now to protect you. How do I know what you did and why is He is punishing you like this”.
Screaming furthermore loudly, Manohar almost jumped on the driver.. Archana quickly came between the two and pulled Manohar back saying,
“Control yourself Manohar.. What can this poor fellow do if such unforeseen things happen.. As he said, Lord Venkateswara gave this problem so it is for Him to provide the solution.. Let us sit in the Car and wait and see if any other vehicle comes down now”..
Still fretting and fuming, Manohar told Archana,”The ghat road is closed from 12 am to 3 am in the night.. It’s almost 1’o clock now.. So no vehicles will come now.. Until 3 we just have to sit in the car and wait.. In the meantime, if no animal munches us we will survive otherwise Govindaa Gooovindaa”.
Saying so, Manohar went and sat in the car.. The driver then turned to Archana and said,
“Ammaa.. Listen to me.. There won’t be signals here so our mobiles will not be working.. Except waiting in the car, until the ghat road is again open, there’s nothing much that we can do now..
We can neither go up nor go down walking.. It is also too dangerous to do so, as many wild animals like the wild Boars, Wolves and Civet Cats will be freely roaming around this time.. Please sit in the Car.. Luckily if any emergency vehicle comes, I shall stop it.. At least you both can go”.
Left with nothing else to do, Archana silently went and sat in the Car.. The driver just stood outside, quietly watching the eight elements of Nature..
And Then..
Seconds started turning into minutes and minutes into an hour but there was no sign of any emergency vehicle coming from the upward direction..
The howling of the Wolves from a distance and the meowing of the Cats nearby combined with pitch darkness all around was making the night miserable for both Manohar and Archana..
Unable to bear with the fear of darkness and with the sounds of animals all around, Manohar slowly started cursing Lord Venkateswara,
“What is this Swamy.. I have been your devotee since my childhood and came all the way with my newly married wife to seek your blessings and is this what you are doing to me now..
Not correct Swamy.. Not correct.. Not sure whether we will be survive this night or not.. And if we do I don’t know about my wife but I shall never come to your Tirumala Hills again Swamy.. Nevverrrr..”
On the contrary, Archana closed her eyes and was silently reciting “Sri Venkateswara Vajra Kavacham” which she had learned in her childhood..
Time was moving slowly for them in that darkness; on that night; in that jungle; and on that sacred Tirumala Hills..
Exactly At About 2.33 A.M
The driver first saw the head lights of a Car coming from a distance form the upward direction.. Hurriedly getting up from the rock he was thus far sitting, he quickly came on to the road to stop that Car.
At the same time, Manohar too heard the horn sound of that Car.. He immediately jumped out of the Car.. Looking at Manohar the Driver said,”Sir looks like some TTD vehicle or a VIP is coming with a special permission.. I will stop the Car.. Be ready..”
Saying so, the driver went and stood in the middle of the ghat road and started signalling, with a Namaskar pose, to the speedily coming Car to stop.. The Car came zooming in but slowed down it’s speed on approaching the driver standing in the middle of the road..
The driver went running to the driver seat of that Car and explained him everything and requested him to drop them in Tirupati.. That driver turned his head back and told the same to his ‘Boss’ sitting in the Car.. The ‘Boss’ said something..
That driver then told this driver, “Boss said ok.. We are any how going to Chennai.. They can directly come with us to Chennai.. Boss says, “newly married couple should not have any problems..”.. Ask your customers to come and board the Car.. You bring the luggage and put it behind..”
Mnaohar and Archana literally danced with joy..Thanking Lord Venkateswara, they got down from the Car..
At the same time the ‘Boss’ stepped out of his Car and quietly bending his head went and sat in the front seat of his Car, beside his driver, just to accommodate the newly married couple in the rear seat.
Blaming the driver and refusing him to pay him his money for troubling them so much on that night, Manohar quite thanklessly went and sat inside the Car.. The hapless driver could not say anything as the Car carrying Manohar and Archana left for Chennai..
Since it was too dark that night and as they were also so tensed up, neither Manohar nor Archana could notice that great man who had come as a “savior” sent by holy Lord Venkateswara..
In a few minutes all the three of them slipped into a deep sleep.
At About 6 A.M
The Car carrying the ‘Boss’, Manohar and Archana entered the city of Chennai.. After going a little distance into Chennai, the ‘Boss’ said some thing to the driver in Tamil and in a low tone..
The driver then told Manohar, “Sir.. If it is okay with you we shall first drop my ‘Boss’ at his residence and then I shall drop you wherever you want me to drop.. That is what my ‘Boss’ is saying.. Is that okay with you sir”.
“”Certainly okay.. ” a fully beaming Manohar said.. Then turning his head towards the ‘Boss’, who at that time was looking at the empty streets of his beloved Chennai city, Manohar said, “thank you very much sir”.
Without turning his head back, the ‘Boss’ silently raised his right hand and pointing it towards a Diamond studded small black colored statue of Lord Venkateswara, that is there on the front side of his car said,’thank him”.
After about a few minutes,
The Car entered a luxurious house in Chennai city.. On halting the Car, the driver quickly came running to the other side of the Car to open the door for his ‘Boss’.. The ‘Boss’ majestically stepped out of the Car.
Manohar and Archana too quickly stepped out of the Car to thank that gentleman who had so generously brought them to Chennai.. Firstly, they saw an elderly salt and pepper bearded man with a bald head and with a Silk Shawl draped around the upper portion of his body..
It was a second later when ‘Boss’ turned and came close to them, that both Manohar and Archana felt jerks in their body as though affected by an electric shock.. It was a shock of their life for them..
The man whom they have grown up admiring ; the man who is the darling of millions of Indians living all over the world; the favorite star of all the Indian film stars; and the super star among all the Indian superstars – the great Rajinikanth is standing like a smple man in front of them..
Manohar and Archana just couldn’t believe their eyes.. They quickly bent down and touched his feet.. Lifting them up, the Thalaivar said, “God bless you my dears.. I came to Tirumala for a quick darsan and was coming back to attend a shooting in the morning in Chennai.. Met you on the way.. Am His devotee first and Rajinikanth next.
Whatever you all think am today is entirely due to His blessings.. So I often go to His Tirumala Temple to offer my prayers and my sincere thanks to Him for making me what am today.. Otherwise who am I.. If He desires He can make a bus conductor a superstar and a superstar a bus conductor..
If you all think or if I think that I have earned this status with my own efforts then it is wrong.. Many people put many efforts in their life but how many people attain the status that only a few in India have so far attained..
Unless blessed by Him, nothing moves in this world.. I don’t know who you are and what you do young man, but do well in life.. But always be humble and be thankful to Him for all that you have so far achieved in life or you would be achieving in your future..
Be soft spoken.. Be kind to people.. Do all that you can do to your fellow beings.. While there are only a few people who are really earning well in this world, there are millions who are starving.. So help them.. That makes God more happy because He is present more among them than in us.. Hands that serve are more powerful than the lips that pray..
I saw you shouting on that Driver and coming into my Car without paying him his money.. How is that poor fellow responsible for what had happened in your life.. By giving you this problem God is trying to convey something to you.
Read the signals and read that message and change the way you are treating life now.. He gave you the problem but He had also given you the solution through me.. Right..??.. Otherwise why would my journey get delayed when I was supposed to leave Tirumala at 11.30 pm..
My Car too had a problem and it took time for it to get rectified.. May be He delayed my program because I have to come to your rescue.. Always look at life the way I explained you, then all the happiness in this world is yours..
You must be having that driver’s number.. Call him immediately and make him happy by collecting his bank account details and credit the money to his account.. If possible send a thousand more.. It may not be a big amount to you but is certainly for him.. Good luck”.
Then turning to Archana, the great superstar Rajinikanth said, “Ammaa.. Glad that I could be of some help to a newly married couple like you that too on the sacred Tirumala hills.. May you both have a wonderful married life.. Now promise me that you both will manufacture a Cricket team for me in future.. Hahahahaa”
Love
Narrenaditya Komaragiri
narrenaditya@tirumalesa.com
To know more about the author please click here
