ARCHAMURTHY

The several types of rituals and prayer services too are astonishing in their number and variety. According to the belief, the Lord is worshipped eternally by the Nityasuris, as exemplified by the custom of filling of all the vessels used for worship with Punya Thirtha in the night, and is distributed as Prasad the next day. Would not skepticism dissolve to get solidified into perfect theism, if once it stands face to face with the enchanting form of this Lord to drinking in the divinity exuding from every pore, while ears listening to the narration of the Lord's supremacy, and soul lost in ecstatic joy at the prospect of immediate Sayujya Mukti. Seeing is believing; believing prepares one to inculcating right devotion and that inculcation leads to emulating the evolved souls, which culminates in emancipation. So a visit is a MUST, in spirit and fact.

Though every visitor deserves staying a little more longer before Lord Venkateswara, adorned with costly jewels and draped in shimmering silks whose worth can be fixed only in astronomical figures, we are dragged physically by the scores of guides, allowing not even a fleeting second, yet the experience remains evergreen and beckons unending repetitions of the visit. But similar effect is repeated on the next visit too. So each man then visits ... visits... visits... On being pushed out of the golden gate by the staff, we proceed to the Ardharmandap where thirtha prasad is given with the satari ritual. While moving, we will be surprised to see a long row of smart young men thrusting into our hands tickets for free meal, supplied in huge halls, served by hundred of men to thousands and thousands, both at noon and night. 

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