Vilakku / Venkitachalapathy Pooja

This pooja has been traditionally done once every year in my parent's home for many years; since the time of my grand parents. But sadly, it had been discontinued for the last 4 - 5 years. This year, my parents decided to conduct it again and I have never wanted to attend a Pooja so much. Must be the seeker in me felt the need to absorb more positive energy, or was it that I wanted to meet as many members of my family? Anyway, any pooja is a festival!

This pooja is dedicated to Balaji / Venkitachalapathy and his consort MahaLakshmi. We invoke HIM to our home and he stays on in the light / fire of the lamp, until HE ascends and leaves to HIS home in Vaikundam / Tirupathy.

The preparation for the pooja starts when the date is fixed. Tiruvonam is the preferred star and Saturday is the preferred day. If both come together - excellent. October 28, 2017 was one such day.
Once the date is fixed, all relatives were invited.

Since we decided to cook the food for all the invitees at home and not order from a caterer, the vessels were 'sourced' and cleaned. We were expecting more than 25 persons and it would be traditional 'daawat' / feast called Sadya. The number of dishes in any toned down sadya is 10! But we womenfolk were super excited and we allowed ourselves one luxury; the help of a cook (Vijaya mami).

I went home the day before the pooja with some heavy duty vessels I had in hand to see that my home (especially the store, kitchen and pooja room) was overflowing with provisions, vegetables and pooja vessels! Ghee / clarified butter seemed to have been bought in bulk. It was needed for the pooja and cooking.

The cook arrived at 3 pm and it started!

She made some of the things for the pooja, while our own 'family cooking stalwarts' took over another section. Jaggery coated banana chips / sharkara upperi, savory banana chips, ghee soaked Mysurpa, maaladoo were made and sealed and stacked in the pooja room away from greedy hands. Vegetables were cut, coconuts grated, spice powders ground and by 7.30; things whirred down.

My mother washed and cleaned the new cloth which would form the wick the next day. It had to get super-dry.

Time for dinner. Men were getting hungry from watching TV and all the political talk!

After the tables were cleared, the cleaned lamps and the pedestal and all other pooja vessels were decorated.

The night was still young for my mom and aunts. They decided that this sleep-over was not be wasted and they laughed away for quite some time. You should have heard them! Worse than school girls...It was so nice to see them so relaxed before the day of 'solid' work!
And yes, they converted the bedroom into some sort of a dorm.

The next day started very early. By 5 am all were up and the bathroom was the sought after place. By the time I was up at 6 am; all were clean....and glowing and energized. The cook too had arrived.

Time for work...

Kolam drawn...

Flowers plucked.

Breakfast served. All made by the ladies of the house (read:not the cook)

Flowers cleaned.

Thoranam - string of mango leaves - put up.

Rice washed and dried for the wick.

While all this was happening ....the kitchen was a whirlwind of activity. I pride myself to be a good cook and I was relegated to the role of the mixer-operator and a lowly errand girl. 😃
The cooker was whistling, things were boiling, mustard was spluttering....there was a steady stream of sounds and smells emanating from this back area of the house.

Guests started arriving and the coffee / tea kitchen was opened.

All ladies were offered a small string of jasmine flowers.

By 10 am, the kolam dried and the Purohit / pandit / vadhyar arrived.

He started his work almost immediately.
He started making the cloth wick with rice inside. More the rice used to make the wick, lesser time it burns.

He made a small Ganesha / Ganapathy with some wet turmeric.

Does the 'kumkuma cheppu' / kumkum container not look cute?

Time to start the functions!!

My mother lights the lamp in our traditional attire - podavai.

Even I wore the podavai!

Then came vigneshwara pooja. We prayed to the turmeric idol to remove all obstacles and after seeking HIS permission, we all applied this turmeric on our forehead.

Now the actual worship of MahaVishnu starts.

We need to invoke HIM to come home and be in the wick as fire, spreading light and HIS blessings.

Photo below has been taken after the initial rounds of Vishnu sahasranama archanai.

Then the rest of us joined my parents in doing the archanai.

Those who came in late, also offered flowers.

This was how it looked after all of us did Archanai while chanting Vishnu ashtoram, Krishna ashtoram and Lakshmi ashtoram.

We said Vishnu Sahsranamam again and the air was reverberating with energy.

Now it was time to offer God food.
While the mysurpa, chips, jaggery uperi, maaladoo and vadai were easily brought forward...

......the ladies rushed to the kitchen to serve the sadya on the banana leaf.

This was placed in front of the deity.

My mother purified the food with some ghee ...This is called 'ostaranam'.

Then my father offered everything to HIM.

Fire is supposed to be the messenger or post man. Agni Deva takes our offering to the desired God in HIS heavenly abode.

By the time we cleaned the place where the food had been placed...the stool had a banana leaf with some cow-dung on it.

Time to move Venkitachalapathy from the ground to HIS pedestal.

We all did 3 circumbulation / pradakshinam following my parents...

And they placed HIM on the pedestal. 

Then we all took turns pouring ghee into the vessel.

All 25 + of us poured ghee into the vessel. Now HE was not to be touched or moved. This flame was a part of HIM.

My father's eldest brother's wife is a singer and she sang a beautiful bhajan at around this time.
Then it was time to seek the blessings of the elders and the priests.
My parents are holding open their 'angavasthra' (second piece of clothing) and his elder brother and the priests bless them by showering them with 'akshadai' (turmeric colored rice)

Now my parents gift the priests who were kind enough to conduct the pooja.

The pooja draws to a close when the aarathy is taken and mangalam is sung. This is to remove all the bad omens and evil eyes from the couple.

Time for food!
Sadya time...

Each home has a different menu for this function. In our home we usually serve 2 chitrannas (flavored rice); but since the function was on a Saturday; we added til rice to the usual lemon rice and coconut rice.

While many sat on the floor, some found it difficult and they were served on a table.

After food....
you could either sit around and catch up.....

or find a quiet corner to get some much-needed sleep!!

Then it was time to say Bye-bye....

All the ladies were offered kumkum and a parting gift bag; which contained - betel leaf, betel nuts, banana, coconut, turmeric root, some money (₹101), a small gift and a bag of goodies.

What happens to the flame?

It continues to burn and when the ghee reduces sufficiently, we know God is ready to ascend. Tirupathi is on a hill top, so we call this - malai eral or climbing of the mountain.

At that time we sing bhajans, show another deeparadhana and do pradakshina.

See....He is almost ready for 'malai eral'.

He has reached. "malai eriyachu".

The next morning, all the flowers are cleared and we shift this wick to the pooja room.

Then we break it up and apply this ash on our forehead.

This is the vilakku Pooja we had at home.
I hope you enjoyed reading about it. It is beautiful small pooja.

Alamelu Manga samedha, Sri Venkitachalapathaye...Namo Namah.

Govinda! Govinda!

Let Lord Balaji and Goddess Mahalakshmi bless us all.