I got to know from the hoardings, banners and posters kept all around the city that Tirumala Tirupati Devasthaanam (TTD) was going to conduct the celestial wedding ‘Srinivasa Thirukkalyana Mahotsavam ‘. It is the same Thirukkalyanam which happens at Tirupati every year. This event was organized at Chennai to enable lakhs and lakhs of devotees who are not able to go to Tirupati to get the grace of Lord Venkateswara and also for the goodness of the human race. It has to be noted that the same Vikrahas (idols) were used and the same Bhattars (priests) who perform the marriage ceremony performed the event at Chennai.
The same event was organized in 2006 at Chennai which drew a big crowd. The event was on 6th April Sunday evening at Island Grounds Chennai. I was in a dilemma whether to go or not as the event was going to be broadcast live on some Tamil channels. I hate crowd…thats why mostly I sit at home and watch the events in TV even if they happen in my city. But this time, something kept pushing me to go and participate rather than watch. So, I decided to go.
I never seen such a big crowd in my life. It should have been more than 2ooK. There were 8 gates through which the people were sent inside and it was an ordeal for the policemen to handle the crowd. Hundreds of special buses were operated from all around the city to the venue. Whoever claim that Hinduism is deteriorating and people are losing their belief in the religion should have come and witnessed the crowd by themselves. Since I went a bit early, I managed to get a place from where I was able to watch the events clearly. I do not have words to appreciate the arrangements. Right from the way the rituals were performed to the sound systems, plasma screens and the prasadam, simply exceptional.
It all started with the vocal performance by Sirkazhi SivaChidambaram followed by Annamayya Kritis. The best part was, there was a running commentary in Tamil which narrated the events which were going on and also explained their sole purpose. It was really enlightening as I was not aware of the intent of many of the rituals performed in a Hindu marriage.
When Lord Venkateswara tied the knots to his consort Padmavathi thaayaar the ‘Govinda, Govinda’ chant from the crowd brought the sky down. It was one of that kind spiritual exuberant moment. The whole set of events ended with a classical dance performance by renowned dancer Padma Subramaniam in which she enacted some of Annamayya’s kritis.
(Sri Venkateswara with thaayaar after the wedding)
To sum it up, it was a truly divine experience. I must have really done some good deed in my previous birth to be a part of this event. One must really appreciate the efforts of TTD in organizing such events all over the world to spread spiritual bliss.
