(Image source from: Kuwait Times)
If you are from India, you must have at least once told about a Hindu temple in Hyderabad that fulfills your yearn for a visa. For people who aren’t familiar with it, we are here to put in the picture.
The Chilkur Balaji temple or visa temple (as it is widely called as) situated on the outskirts of Hyderabad city will be thronged with hundreds of devotees daily praying for a single wish - the U.S. visa.
The 500-year-old Hindu temple of deity Sri Venkateswara Balaji has long been a one-stop solution for prospective Indian immigrants seeking U.S. visas.
The “H-1B” visas are highly sought after by aspiring Indian immigrants but Trump’s push to make the permits available only to the most-skilled or highest-paid applicants has many worried.
(Image source from: Yahoo News)
According to Gulf News, Shreekanth Angirekula, a software engineer was among the fortunate ones who secured a U.S. visa in 2017 after repeated rejections and he credits Chilkur Balaji temple for it.
“It’s a miracle. I couldn’t get a visa for the last two years but after visiting the temple everything went off smoothly,” Angirekula, 33, told AFP.
“I am not superstitious but there was definitely divine intervention,” he said.
(Image source from: The Straits Times)
Over 75,000 people visit the temple every week. They proffer their passports and a flower before the deity as they walk round doing pradakshinas in the inner sanctum of the temple 11 times while chanting Hindu hymns.
Once the wish is granted, worshipers must return to make 108 rounds of the sanctum.
How Did Chilkur Balaji Come into Being?
(Image source from: Holidify)
According to Telugu One, a devotee of Lord Venkateshwara used to visit his ideal god at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh every year. Since he could not continue this practice for a prolonged period owing to his deteriorating health, Lord Venkateshwara appeared in his dream and said: "I am right here in the jungle nearby. You don't have to worry."
As the devotee went to the spot and started to dig it up, he found blood oozing out as the result of damage caused to the deity by the ax on the Lord’s chin and chest. The devotee was then advised to flood the hill with cow milk which he did with a good deal of devotion. When the devotee did so, a Swayambhu idol of Lord Balaji accompanied by Sridevi and Bhoodevi was found and a temple was built there.
There are also some rituals accompanied when a person visit Chilkur Balaji temple. One of them is that any the devotee must keep his eyes open while offering prayer to the Lord.
By Sowmya Sangam
