"Balaji"

Sri Venkateshwara or Balaji, is a form of the Lord Vishnu only. Sri Krishna is also an Avatar of Lord Vishnu. So, Sri Krishna, Lord Vishnu or Sri Venkateshwara or Balaji are one & the same God. As per the Hindu scriptures, Lord Vishnu, out of love towards his devotees, incarnated as Sri Venkateshwara and appeared for the salvation and upliftment of humanity in this Kali Yuga (dark age) and is considered the supreme form of Vishnu in this age. The meaning of Lord Venkateshwara is the one Supreme Lord who destroys sins. Lord Venkateshwara is famous for being the most-visited shrine in the World and its prime deity for being the richest God in the World. This Temple is in the town of Chittor District of Andhra Pradesh in India & is located in the foot hills of Tirumala. It is around 140 km from Chennai and 740 km from Hyderabad city in India. The ancient and sacred Temple of Sri Venkateswara is located on the seventh peak, Venkatadri Hills on the southern banks of Sri Swami Pushkarini & because of this reason only Lord Balaji has been named Venkateswara. The greatness & opulence of Lord Balaji, the preserver of the whole Universe, is reflected in his richly ornamented life-size idol in the Tirumala Tirupati Temple. In the Temple the black idol of Lord Balaji is covered in gold, jewellery and precious ornaments and its height is 2 meters.The sacred shrine is visited by millions of devotees from far and wide. Every year, millions of people visit this Temple from within India and the rest of the World, and it receives around Indian Rs 10 Billion (more than 200 Million US$) in offerings from the devotees.

Hinduism - manifestations of the ONE supreme God!

There is a general belief that there are numerous Gods in Hinduism, which are not present in most other religions. However, the fact is that although there are numerous Gods in Hinduism, all of these Gods are a manifestation of the ONE supreme God, which is explained in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Ten in detail:- Lord Krishna is saying that he is the source of all beings & gods. Not even that as per Lord Krishna, all these universes & creations spring from but a spark of His splendour only. As per Him, He is seated in hearts of all living entities. He Himself is Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva & Lord Brahma. He Himself is Sun, Moon, Wind & Fire. He Himself is Rama God too. He Himself is Lord of wealth - Kubera. He Himself is Spiritual word Om. He Himself is river Ganges. Among women He Himself is manifested as Goddess of fortune (Lakshmi), Goddess of wisdom (Saraswati) & other Goddesses of fame, memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience. As per Lord Krishna His opulence is limitless. Hindus likewise believe in only one God. They glorify and praise His thousands of qualities. For example when God is love, He is symbolically represented by Lord Krishna, God as virtue is represented by Lord Rama, God as power is represented by Lord Hanuman, God as wisdom is represented by Goddess Saraswati etc. etc. So these different aspects of Gods represent spirituality, purity, power etc. of the Ultimate One who is endless truth and bliss. "When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day." - Mahatma Gandhi Below are some verses from the Bhagavad Gita which explain about the various manifestations of the ONE supreme God. "aham atma gudakesha sarva-bhutasaya-sthitah aham adis cha madhyam cha bhutanam anta eva cha" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 20) "Sri Krishna said: I am the Super Soul, O Arjuna, seated in the hearts of all living entities. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings." "adityanam aham vishnur jyotisam ravir amsuman maricir marutam asmi nakshatranam aham sasi" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 21) "Sri Krishna said: Of the Adityas I am Vishnu, of lights I am the radiant Sun, of the Maruts I am Marici, and among the stars I am the Moon." "rudranam sankaras chasmi vitteso yaksha-rakshasam vasunam pavakas chasmi meruh sikharinam aham" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 23) "Sri Krishna said: Of all the Rudras I am Lord Shiva, of the Yakshas and Rakshasas I am the Lord of wealth [Kubera], of the Vasus I am fire [Agni], and of mountains I am Meru." "pavanah pavatam asmi ramah shastra-bhrtam aham jhasanam makaras chasmi srotasam asmi jahnavi" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 31) "Sri Krishna said: Of purifiers I am the Wind, of the wielders of weapons I am Rama, of fishes I am the shark, and of flowing rivers I am the Ganges." "aksharanam a-karo ’smi dvandvah samasikasya cha aham evakshayah kalo dhataham vishvato-mukhah" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 33) "Sri Krishna said: Of letters I am the letter A, and among compound words I am the dual compound. I am also inexhaustible time, and of creators I am Brahma." "mrityuh sarva-haras chaham udbhavas cha bhavisyatam kirtih srir vak cha narinam smritir medha dhrtih ksama" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 34) "Sri Krishna said: I am all-devouring death, and I am the generating principle of all that is yet to be. Among women I am fame, fortune, fine speech, memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience." "yac chapi sarva-bhutanam bijam tad aham arjuna na tad asti vina yat syan maya bhutam characharam" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 39) "Sri Krishna said: Furthermore, O Arjuna, I am the generating seed of all existences. There is no being—moving or nonmoving—that can exist without Me." "yad yad vibhutimat sattvam srimad urjitam eva va tat tad evavagaccha tvam mama tejo-’msa-sambhavam" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 41) "Sri Krishna said: Know that all opulent, beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of My splendor." "atha va bahunaitena kim jnatena tavarjuna vistabhyaham idam krtsnam ekamsena sthito jagat" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 42) "Sri Krishna said: But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe." BELOW ARE SOME OF THE FAMOUS QUOTES FROM BHAGAVAD GITA: "yada yada hi dharmasyaglanir bhavati bharataabhyutthanam adharmasyatadatmanam srjamy aham" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Four verse 7) "Sri Krishna said: Whenever and wherever there is a decline in virtue/religious practice, O Arjuna, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself, i.e. I manifest Myself as an embodied being." "paritranaya sadhunamvinasaya cha duskritamdharma-samsthapanarthayasambhavami yuge yuge" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Four verse 8) "Sri Krishna said: To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium." "karmany evadhikaras tema phalesu kadachanama karma-phala-hetur bhurma te sango ’stv akarmani" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Two verse 47) "Sri Krishna said: You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty." "na jayate mriyate va kadacinnayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyahajo nityah sasvato ’yam puranona hanyate hanyamane sarire" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Two verse 20) "Sri Krishna said: The soul is never born nor dies at any time. Soul has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. Soul is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. Soul is not slain when the body is slain." "vasamsi jirnani yatha vihayanavani grhnati naro ’paranitatha sarirani vihaya jirnanyanyani samyati navani dehi" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Two verse 22) "Sri Krishna said: As a human being puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones." "nainam chindanti shastraninainam dahati pavakahna chainam kledayanty apona sosayati marutah" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Two verse 23) "Sri Krishna said: The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind." I read an article -Specific similarities between the lives of Jesus and Krishna-which finds similarities between the lives of Jesus and Lord Krishna. Though Lord Krishna was born more than 3100 years before Jesus, some of the similarities between the lives of the two are interesting, such as:- Both were called Saviour, and the second person of the Trinity. Both were sent from heaven to earth in the form of a man. Krishna and Jesus were of royal descent. Angels in both cases issued a warning that the local dictator planned to kill the baby and had issued a decree for his assassination. Both Jesus and Krishna were called both a God and the Son of God. Both claimed: "I am the Resurrection." Both referred to themselves having existed before their birth on earth. Both were god-men: being considered both human and divine. They were both considered omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Both performed many miracles, including the healing of disease.