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| A Year of Utsavas at the Sri Venkateswara Swami
(Balaji) Temple Aurora
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The town of Tirumala is said to be a place of "Nitya
kalyanam pachaa toranam" which means that every day the town has the
festive atmosphere of a wedding due to the many utsavas or festivals that take
place there. The Sanskrit word "utsava" comes from the word "ut" meaning
"removal" and "sava" which means "worldly sorrows" or "grief". Therefore, an
"utsava" removes our worldly sorrows by the joyous festivities and atmosphere
of devotion created by the community serving the Lord.
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The Agamas, which are a class of Sanskrit texts that form the
basis for temple rituals and activities, prescribe many utsavas or celebrations
which must be performed over the course of a year for the different beras
(murtis/vigrahas or icons) in a temple. Like the temple at Tirumala, the Balaji
Temple of Aurora follows the Vaikhanasa Agama and has several kinds of
vigrahas. The primary virgrahas that are worshiped during the Temple’s utsavams
are:
the mula vigraha, which is the large beautiful
stone image that is nearly an exact replica of the Sri Venkateswara Swami
vigraha at Tirupati;
Bhoga Srinivasa, which is the small silver image
that receives the daily worship, located at the feet of the mula virgraha; and
the utsava vigrahas, which are bronze images of
Srinavasa, Sridevi, Bhudevi, Krishna, Rama, Sita, Laksman, Hanuman and
Sudarsana, all of which are taken out of the sanctum at the time of utsavas.
Just as a flame retains all of its qualities when it is passed
from one candle to another, in a similar way, Sri Balaji is present in all of
his images and retains his divine qualities. The beras or vigrahas are
"Archavatara Murtis", forms in which Sri Balaji appears and resides in order to
receive worship (archa) from his devotees. In the vigrahas, the divine power
(sannidhyam) is manifested and maintained by following the prescriptions in the
Agamas.
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At the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple of Aurora, the
Trustees and Executive Committee have tried to model the religious life of the
Temple on the festivities and mode of worship at Tirupati. Since the original
consecration of the Temple in 1986, the celebrations of the Temple have been
evolving in this direction. Several major utsavas such as Brahmotsavam and
Pavitrotsavam could not be started until the installation of the Bali Pitham
(offering platform) and Dhvajastambham (temple flag post), which did not happen
until 2003. Like all temples, the development of the festivals at the Balaji
Temple has been influenced by considerations of location (desham) and time
(kalam). For example, the Pavitrotsavam and the Brahmotsavam take place one
month earlier than in Tirumala, in order to complete the festivals during the
warm summer months. In addition, there are festivals which have arisen due to
the Temple’s location in the United States , such as the special Lakshmi puja
on Mother’s Day.
The timing of the utsavas is based on a lunar month of twenty
eight days, consisting of a dark lunar fortnight in which the size of the moon
becomes smaller and smaller until it disappears (new moon), and a bright lunar
fortnight in which the size of the moon increases until it becomes a full moon.
The days of utsavas fall on different days of the week. However, most people in
the United States can only come to the Temple on the weekends. The Temple has
always tried to balance the need to celebrate a holiday on the correct day and
to have a grand celebration on the weekends when people can attend.
In addition to the many Vaishnava utsavas centered on the
worship of Balaji, the Temple has many beautiful festivals for our Saiva
deities: Siva, Parvati, Ganesha, Subrahmaniya, Ayyappa, Kanyaka Parameshwari
(Vasavi), Nataraja, and Sivagami. At our Temple , both the Saiva and Vaishnava
communities worship in the same institution with mutual respect and great
enthusiasm.
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The Temple has been very fortunate to have good priests who
have been trained in the Agamas.The Vaishnava priests have had their Agama
training from the Tirumala Patashala. The Temple has had good support from the
devotee community throughout the United States. With the grace of Sri Balaji,
we hope that we will be able to continue to improve our standards of worship
until the Aurora Temple will be known throughout the world as the "Tirupati of
the West." It has taken hundreds and hundreds of years for the traditions at
Tirupati to evolve into their present condition. In the nineteen years since
its consecration, the Temple has gone a long way.However, there still is a long
way to go, and we hope that you will travel with us and continue to support the
Temple .
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