Thousands of devotees thronged the temples of Lord Vishnu across the state, on Thursday, to mark Vaikunta Ekadasi.
Thousands of devotees thronged temples of Lord Vishnu across the state, on Thursday, to mark Vaikunta Ekadasi, which is observed in the Dhanur Masam.
Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala, Sri Rama temple in Bhadrachalam, Sri Rangam Ranganatha Swamy temple in Nellore, Laxminarayana Swamy temple, Yadagirigutta, Mangalagiri, Simhachalam and Dharmapuri experienced a flood of devotees, since the wee hours of Thursday.
The Vishnu temples in the state were decorated with flowers and lights. Special poojas and homa rituals for the prosperity of the state were conducted. Temple premises reverberated with the chants of "Govinda Govinda", discourses, meditation and singing of the Hari kirtan.
Governor E S L Narasimhan and his family members went to the Lord Venkateswara temple in Srinagar Colony and performed a few special pujas.
The Governor's family had the darshan of Lord Venkateswara through the Uttara Dwara.
Apart from state ministers and MLAs, central ministers, including Sushil Kumar Shinde and Subhodkant Sahai, went to Tirupati to seek the blessings of Lord Venkateswara.
All the ministers had a darshan of Lord Venkateswara under the VIP darshan. Later, Sarva Darshanam was done for the general public.
The festival, popularly known as Mukkoti Ekadasi, attracts thousands of devotees from India and around the world. The festival is observed on Shudda Ekadasi – the 11th day during the waxing phase of moon – in Pushya or Margasira month, which falls during the Dhanurmasam.
Vaikunta Ekadasi is a 10-day festival at Bhadrachalam Devasthanam, and is known as Adhyayanotsavams. Another feature of the 10-day festival is the Dasavatara Mahatosavams, or the celebration of the 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu.
Dasami, the day before Ekadasi, is popularly known as Teppotsavam or boat festival. Lord Rama and Sita are taken around the Godavari river in a boat. On the Vaikunta Ekadasi day, the key highlight is the opening of the Vaikunta Dwarams at the northern gate of the temple in the early morning hours.
This door is only opened on this particular day, and it is believed that those who pass through this door attain Moksha.
The Uttara Dwaram has been reconstructed into a D shape in accordance with "Vaastu Sastra", to enable mmore pilgrims to have a darshan of the idols of the presiding deity during the Uttara Dwara Darshanam, on Vaikunta Ekadasi. (INN)