TIRUMALA : The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has decided to introduce ‘Gau Pooja Seva’ for pilgrims who want to worship cows.
The TTD is offering the service for the first time. Pilgrims can offer gau pooja at Alipiri, the entry point of Tirumala hills, before proceeding to the main temple for the darshan of the presiding deity, Lord Sri Venkateswara.
The TTD has earlier established Sri Venkateswara Gosamrakshana Trust to protect cows.
At present, devotees offer prayers at the Goshala managed by the TTD. There are no priests there. The TTD has now identified about three acres of land at Alipiri where about 50 cows will be kept. Tickets will be sold to devotees who want to participate in the Seva.
Devotees believe that Lord Sri Venkateswara has special relationship with cow.
According to ‘Sri Venkatachala Mahathyam’, Lord Brahma became a cow, Lord Siva became a calf and Sri Lakshmi became a Yadava maid. The cow and calf were sold to a Chola king by Sri Lakshmi in a bid to provide milk to meditating Lord Srinivasa in Venkatachalam hills.
Welcoming the TTD’s move, Annadanam Chidambara Sastry, who wrote a book on Gau Pooja, suggested that the devotees should not offer prayers to hybrid varieties like Jersey.
This comes a few days after the Hindu Dharma Prachara Parishad (HDPP), which is part of AP endowment department, conducted a conference on Hindu Dharma. A resolution was adopted to conduct Gau Pooja in all temples across the state.
TD in an official statement on Wednesday said the HDPP will hold Gau Pooja in all the temples located in the two Telugu speaking states on Thursday. The Dharma Prachara Mandali spread across AP and Telangana will ensure that the special prayers are offered to the cow.
HDPP secretary Prayaga Ramakrishna said, “This celestial fete of performing special Poojas to mother cow will be observed in all districts, besides at SV Goshala at Tirupati and Tirumala, Sri Padmavathi temple, and Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple by 11 am on Thursday.”
