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ToggleArchana/ Sahasra Namaarchana / Ashtottara Shata Namaarchana
Archana refers to the recital of various names of Lord and seeking His divine blessings for the prosperity of the entire humanity.
Also known as Sahasra namaarchana, this arjitha seva deals with the recitation of 1008 glorious names of the Lord. The important feature of this particular seva is that the divine blessings of the Lord are invoked in the Names and Gotras of the grihasta pilgrims who take part in this seva by paying the requisite amount.
The Venkateswara Sahasra Namaarchana is unique to Tirumala shrine only and it is clearly mentioned in the inscription dated back to 1518 AD.
Reciting the thousand divine names of the Lord, the holy feet of the lord are worshiped with basil leaves offered by Jeeyangars.
Later the basil at the feet is taken out to worship Sri Maha Lakshmi reciting her 24 divine names.
At Glance
- Beram being used: Dhruva Beram
- Place or venue: Inside Bangaru vakili
- Timing of the Seva and duration: After Tomala Seva for 30 minutes (4:30 AM)
- Devotees and Seva fee: 220 for one person
- Prasadam / Bahumanam: 2 small laddus
- Exception: Only on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
During Brahmotsava, Pushpa Yaga, Pavithrotsava this seva will not be performed. (Tickets are not available on Mondays for the months of May, June and July)
The Uniqueness of Sri Venkatesa Sahasranama
For the liberation of mankind, people are bestowed with a lot of means to engage themselves in the blissful devotion towards God, and the best among the means in this Yuga is said to be ‘Namasankeerthanam’, which is chanting or singing or reciting or just listening to different names of God.
This is facilitated by Sahasranama, a collection of thousand names. There are many Sahasranamas in Bhakti literature and in general the very name signifies Sri Vishnu Sahasranama. Besides, there are many like
- Lalitha Sahasranama,
- Rama Sahasranama,
- Lakshmi Sahasranama,
- Lakshmi Narasimha Sahasranama, and
- Sri Venkatesa Sahasranama.
It is widely known that Srimannarayana manifests Himself in five different celestial abodes namely Para [in Sri Vaikunta], Vyuha [in Ksheerabdhi], Vibhava [descend to the earth as ‘avatara’ like Rama and Krishna] Antaryami pervades inside everything in the universe and Archa is a tangible and visible ‘vigraha moorthi’ in the temples.
Among the many Sahasranamas that exist, Sri Venkatesa Sahasranama is unique as it is attributed to the ‘Archa vigraha moorthi’ of Lord Venkatesa in Tirumala, whereas other Sahasranamas are in praise of ‘Vibhava Moorthis’ called ‘avatars.
Sri Venkatesa Sahasranama was originally sung by Lord Bramha and His ‘Manasaputra’ Narada happened to listen. He persuades Lord Bramha to educate him on this sthotra. Lord Bramha readily does the ‘upadesa’ and Narada in turn passes the sthotra as ‘upadesa’ to ‘rishi’ Vasishta, another ‘Manasaputra’ of Lord Brahma. This is cited elaborately in the Brahmanda Purana.
