Would you believe there is a temple in India which fulfills your wish of getting a visa on your passport? Yes, there is one and for this very reason, the temple is nicknamed as the Visa Temple. Situated in Chilkur in Hyderabad, this temple is officially called Chilkur Balaji Temple and is one of the oldest temples in Telengana.
This is the temple that has no Hundi and neither accepts any money from the devotees.VAK Books also known as the Voice of Temples with religious news is available here.Temple trustee Sri M.V. Soundara Rajan and Sri C.S. Gopala Krishna struggled a lot to put the temple out from the clutches of government.
As this temple is not running under government control, we will never find any green channel or privileges for VIP's.Here it is found that whoever the devotee he/she is with respect to caste or status(even is if a prime minister) they need to come by line and have blessing of Lord Balaji. Chilkur Balaji Temple attracts millions of pilgrims every year and is an ideal place for sequestered retreat and meditation. The people who are performing 108 rounds will never get tired.
As this temple is not running under government control, we will never find any green channel or privileges for VIP's.Here it is found that whoever the devotee he/she is with respect to caste or status(even is if a prime minister) they need to come by line and have blessing of Lord Balaji. Chilkur Balaji Temple attracts millions of pilgrims every year and is an ideal place for sequestered retreat and meditation. The people who are performing 108 rounds will never get tired.
Sri Balaji Venkateswara deity is worshiped here however after a number of incidents of people praying to the deity for getting a visa stamp on their passport and their wishes coming true, this temple became famous as the Visa Temple.
The temple is in Chilkur and has over 75,000 to a lakh devotees paying a visit every week, with a major rush on Fridays and Sundays. If you are planning to visit this temple, be prepared to stand in a long queue especially on these days. There is no fee to visit the temple however if your sole purpose for coming here is to get a visa, you may have to come here again.
According to the rituals, people who want to get a visa visit the temple and offer prayers to the deity leaving with a promise of returning and taking 108 rounds or parikrama once they get their visa. And people say whoever wishes this and comes here will surely return because they will get a visa pretty soon.
With several students applying to US universities from Hyderabad, we can only imagine how many of them would come here to ensure their American Dream comes true. According to a 2015 report, the US consulate issued the highest number of US student visas in Hyderabad last year. Now we don’t know if it was a visit to the Visa Temple or pure merit that worked for these students, but chances are they may pay a visit just to get the deity’s blessings.
Also,It is recommended to devotees not to close their eyes while having his blessings. We have come from long distance to watch his magnificent image and if we close our eyes then we will miss our chance to see him.
There is also Lord Shiva temple “Sri Sundareshwara Swamy”, it is believed that lord is fromed as swayambu Linga. Around 350 years back there was a devotee who worshipped lord Shiva, later a tree originated at that place and people still believe that he is still present there in the form of Atma in the tree. Once a person tried to axe the tree, but he lost his sight, speech and fainted down. He took many medicines, one of the devotee said pour ‘abhisheka theertha’ in his eyes and mouth and take the blessing of lord Shiva. Surprisingly he regained his lost senses.
The Final note is:
During a visit the devotee goes through the usual rituals of prayer, including 11 circumambulations of the inner shrine, and makes a vow. Once the wish is fulfilled devotees then walk 108 times around the sanctum sanctorum. The majority of wishes by devotees are visa related, thus Chilkur Balaji is also referred to as 'Visa' Balaji.
Address: Chilkur Balaji Temple Road, Chandanagar, Chilkur, Hyderabad, Telangana 501504
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