Tirupati Laddu
Do we ever know that the great Tirupati Balaji himself was very fond of eating Laddus!
As per ancient legend, when Lord Vishnu took the form of Lord Venkateswara, and while he was staying in the hut of his foster mother Vahulamalika, he used to eat lot of Laddus, made out of pure cow ghee! Lord Venkateswara’s previous avatar was Lord Krishna, and Ma Vahulamalika’s previous birth was Yashoda Ma. Similar to feeding lot of butter to Lord Krishna during his Krishna Avatar, likewise, during his Venkateswar Avatar also, Yashoda Ma, who was in the form of Vahulamalika, used to prepare delicious Laddus and offer it to her foster son Lord Venkateswara in an affectionate manner, and Lord Venkateswara also used to eat it delightfully!
This wonderful incident was mentioned in the ancient text, Sri Venkateswara Mahatmyam, but most of the devotees of Lord Venkateswara are not aware about this incident! It is also believed that those who consume the sacred Sri Venkateswara Prasad, Tirupati Laddu, would get the entire grace of Lord Venkateswara, and they would surely prosper in their lives.
Even diabetes patients can eat the tasty Tirupati Laddu without any hesitation, but they should taste only a limited quantity of the Laddu, by considering their health factor!
So far most of those, who had eaten the marvellous Tirupati Laddus didn’t complain either about its quantity or quality, since this Laddu is prepared under the strict supervision of Ma Valukamalika, the foster mother of Lord Venkateswara, who still supervises the Tirumala Kitchen, and about the making of the food. Though she does this act in an invisible form, yet the temple priests and the kitchen supervisors strongly believes, that the divine mother still remains alive, and she actively serves as the kitchen head of the Tirumala Kitchen!
Hence, let us visit the Sacred Tirumala Temple at least once in our life time, in order to get the divine vision of the Lord of seven hills and also to taste the wonderful food stuff, “THE TASTY TIRUPATI LADDU”.
“OM NAMO VENKATESAYA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR