The world-famous Tirupati Balaji is situated on Tirumala Hill near Tirupati in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, where Lord Sri Hari Vishnu is worshiped as Venkateswara. Lord Sri Venkateswara resides in Tirumala with his consort Padmavathi (Lakshmi Mata). Let’s know the story of Balaji.
Brahmaji’s worry
At the beginning of Kalyug, Adi Varah left Venkatadri mountain and went to his world, due to which Brahmaji started getting worried and asked Naradji to bring Vishnu back. One day Narada went to the banks of the Ganges where the sages were confused as to who among the trinity would get the fruits of our sacrifice. Narad Ji entrusted this task to Bhrigu to solve his doubts.
Sage Bhrigu’s curse
Once the sage Bhrigu, who is believed to have one eye on his foot, was going around the whole universe in search of true knowledge. At first, he knocked on Lord Brahma’s door, but Lord Brahma was so engrossed in chanting the name of Vishnu at that time that he did not hear the voice of sage Bhrigu. Angry at this behavior of Brahma, sage Bhrigu cursed Brahma that no one would worship him on this earth anymore. After that sage Bhrigu went to Shiva. At that time Lord Shiva was so engrossed in talking to Mother Parvati that he did not pay attention to the sage’s words. The enraged sage then cursed Lord Shiva that from now on only his linga would be worshipped. After this sage Bhrigu went to Lord Vishnu and he too refused to listen to him.
Vishnu ji crash ego of Sage Bhrigu
Enraged by this, sage Bhrigu attacked Lord Vishnu’s chest. It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi resides in the chest of Lord Vishnu. To pacify sage Bhrigu, Lord Vishnu took hold of the sage’s feet and started pressing him gently. While pressing his feet, Vishnu plucked out the eye attached to the feet of the sage, due to which the ego of the sage ended. Rishi apologized for his mistake. But Mother Lakshmi gets angry with Lord Vishnu and leaves Vaikunth and goes to earth. Mother Lakshmi got angry because of kicking the chest of Shri Hari Vishnu. She could not tolerate the humiliation of her husband and wanted Lord Vishnu to punish Sage Bhrigu, but this did not happen. As a result, she left Vaikuntha and came to earth to do penance and started meditating at Karvirapura (Kolhapur).
Lord Vishnu went in search of Lakshmiji
Helpless lord Vishnu takes shelter under a tamarind tree on the Venkata hill on earth to find the goddess. During this, the Lord gave up eating, drinking, and sleeping and started meditating to bring back Mother Lakshmi.
Shiva and Brahma helped lord Vishnu
Seeing the pain of Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma, and Shiva take the form of a cow and a calf. The king of Chola country buys them and sends them to graze in the fields of Venkata Hill. Finding Lord Vishnu, the cow feeds him her milk. But when the queen learns that the cow is not giving milk, she becomes very angry. Then she tells a man to keep an eye on the cow. He sees that the cow spills all her milk on the hill. Angered by this, when the man raised the ax to kill the cow, Lord Vishnu appeared there. They are completely obsessed with blood, seeing that the man dies of fear.
Vishnu’s curse to King
Seeing this the king came running to that place, then Lord Vishnu appeared there and cursed him that he would take the form of an Asura as his servant in the next birth. Hearing this, the king apologizes to God. So Lord Vishnu forgives him and gives a boon, that he will be born as Aksa king and gives his daughter Padmavati’s hand in Vishnu’s hand. In this way, Lord Vishnu took the form of Srinivasa and started living in Varaha. Then after many years, there came a king named Aksa who had a very beautiful daughter named Padmavati.
Vishnu and Lakshmi reunited
When Lord Vishnu saw Queen Padmavati, he fell deeply in love with her. The king confirmed the marriage of both. Lord Vishnu borrowed money from Kubera, the god of wealth, to meet the expenses of his marriage. When Goddess Lakshmi (Padmavati) came to know about this, she came there and then recognized Sri Hari, and after that Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi ji hugged each other and after that, they turned into stone. Then Brahmaji and Shivji intervened and made people aware of the purpose of this incarnation. It is said that at some point in time Sri Hari Vishnu incarnated as Venkateswara Swamy. It is also said that he took this incarnation to save people from the suffering of Kalyug.
That’s why Maa Lakshmi is also included in this form of God, that’s why there is a tradition of dressing Balaji in both male and female clothes. Balaji is decorated daily with dhoti below and saree above.