Yadagirigutta, Sri Lakshmi Narsingh Swamy

Last two days of my trip have been crazy surreal thought I would share with you ...
Some of you may know the state of Andhrapradesh has been bifurcated to Seema Andhra and Telangana. Hyderabad is in Telangana and Tirupati the is in Seema Andhra. There are some really awesome spaces in telangana as well. Still untouched and very cool I had a brush with 2 yesterday. We went to a place called Yadagirigutta. Its a temple dedicated to Lord Narsingha the fierce form of Vishnu. Its reverence is like of Tirupati in Seema Andhra. The Telangana government wants to develop the temple as the Tirupati of Telangana. Its about 60 Kms north of Hyderabad. Everything is under construction in terms of roads and the infrastructure..
 
We reached there about 4:30 took an auto from the parking to the temple. Took a puja ticket for 6:30, those of you who know me and temples would know that I started my series of sahasranaams and the long lines of people disappeared in my Ganesh, Vishnu, Lakshmi Narsingha chants. We partook in the pooja came out the other side everything uneventful till we started our journey back in the auto. The driver on the way told us that the government has closed the main shrine for devotees to carry out renovation in the premises. So the temple that we visited is indeed in the same complex but not the main temple. It was a little disappointing but I consoled myself thinking that the whole kshetra is usually charged with the energy of the temple so it doesn’t matter what we did or didn’t do.
 
On the way back it was around 7:30 I saw a set of lights going up a rocky hill as is the topography of the space much like Kishkindha for those of you who have ever been to Hampi. I suggested we take a detour since we still had a little time. It was an absolutely isolated km to the base of the steps that climbed up the steep rocky hillock. It was after sun down, about 8 by the time we reached up. There was only one person there his name Swamy is it a coincidence. He told us this was a very special shrine and only those people who are special get to come here. This was the sleeping abode of the Lord of the Yadagirigutta temple which was visible from the hillock. The lord comes in at about 10.30 or 11pm when the other temple closes. The temple was inside a rock cave, we were already over whelmed to have found it and be there. Considering we didn’t get any darshan in the original temple it was surreal that we had reached the Lords sleeping abode to see him. Swamy made us climb and go up to the jungles on top of the temple where it is believed many ascetics still meditate. There were bananas, oranges and mangoes growing out of nowhere on the rocky hill. It is believed there are also 7 ponds of fresh water of which only 2 are visible. There was also a tree with sacred markings of Om, Chakra and Trishul on a rock face. It was a treacherous climb up bare foot. But very amazing that this man would show us the way to all these secrets at night with no one else around. He told us many stories including how the ground shakes when the Lord arrives in the temple at night. There was a small drizzle hardly noticeable and beautiful breeze blowing I insisted we spend the night there we compromised to staying there till about midnight.
 
I started Vishnu Sahasranaam and saw Swamy gather sticks and light a fire. He made upama on wood fire and we ate alone on top of the hill in the temple. I continued to do chanting intermittently. At around 10 I started the Lakshmi Narsingh sahasranaam when I finished at about 10.30 Swamy suggested I close my eyes and lie down. An old guard had arrived by then and My friend was busy chatting him up for the temple lore. I closed my eyes and lay down for a bit .. Somewhere through that in my half sleep half awake state I felt the whole ground move and shake violently and I saw a blood red image which can only be described as the chakra or the discus of the lord. It had embellishments of very auspicious signs and it kept going round. I knew in my head it was chakra and I saw it for a very long time. My friend woke me up and I got up with my head tied in knots and I couldn’t move at all felt like an electric current of great voltage was flowing through me. It settled in a few and we started making our way down. I had by then already decided that I was going to a few temples around Sholapur the next day. I suggested Swamy come with me to visit these temples since I was going alone. He said he needs the Lord to direct his movements. We were halfway down the steps when he called out to say he changed his mind and that he was indeed going to accompany me for the next few days to the temples.
 
He came down and we made our way to Hyderabad.