Through the gates of love: Legend of love and war between Goddess Mahalaxmi and Lord Vishnu.

There is a very beautiful legend surrounding this temple which today we fondly call " Shree Ambabai Mahalaxmi Temple Kolhapur".

Once upon a time, up in heaven?in Vaikuntha where Goddess Mahalaxmi was living a beautiful life with her beloved husband Lord Vishnu.

?Lord Vishnu those days was playing the role of Tirupathi Balaji in Tirupathi.?

Just for your information only when any Gods or Goddesses are playing a role of a different person they forget the role of their spouses in their original form. For eg, although Tirupathi Bali is an extension of Lord Vishnu Goddess Mahalaxmi’s beloved husband he wouldn’t remember Goddess Mahalaxmi as his wife he would only know her as Goddess Mahalaxmi.?

That was one minor detail which Goddess Mahalaxmi forgot when one day she got restless to meet her husband who was away to play a role. These days we call it out on a project.?

?Mahalaxmi was feeling rather restless. So she decided to go pay a visit to Tirupathi Balaji.?She had been hearing so much about Tirupathi Balaji, a handsome and powerful god, that she was dying to meet him.?

So, one day she decided to set off on a journey to see him for herself.

When she arrived at the gates of Tirupathi,to her surprise?she was stopped by the guards. "I'm here to see Tirupathi Balaji," she said. "I've come all the way from Vaikuntha just to meet him."

As mentioned earlier everyone knows Goddess Mahalaxmi obviously you would not expect Goddess Mahalaxmi to appear at your step.?

In today’s scenario if Goddess Mahalaxmi appears at your gate your watchman will call the Mental hospital to report a mad woman who is schizophrenic who claims herself to be Goddess Mahalaxmi. Fact of life. Life wasn’t any different back then.?

The guards looked at her sceptically. "We've never heard of you before. How do we know you're not a spy or a thief?" they asked.

Mahalaxmi was insulted. Obviously, She was used to being treated with respect wherever she went. "I am Mahalaxmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity!" she exclaimed. "You should know better than to question me."

The guards were taken aback. They had heard of Mahalaxmi, of course, but they had never seen her before. "Very well," they said. "We'll let you in, but you'll have to wait for an audience with Tirupathi Balaji."

Mahalaxmi waited patiently for hours, but Tirupathi Balaji didn't show up. She began to get impatient. "Where is he?" she asked one of the guards. "I've been waiting for hours!"

The guard shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he's busy."

This was when she decided to take matters in her own hands. After women empowerment. She?

?She stormed into Tirupathi Balaji's chambers, ready to give him a piece of her mind.

But when she saw him, she was speechless.?

Tirupathi Balaji was even more handsome than she had imagined. This part was a bit like a breath of fresh air for me because I thought only humans are like that. Love and Lust have never been an object of partiality either for humans, not Gods.?

He was tall and strong, with broad shoulders and piercing eyes. Even Goddess?Mahalaxmi could not help but felt a flutter in her chest. Was this what love, at first sight, felt like?

Tirupathi Balaji blankly?looked up and saw Mahalaxmi standing there. He “was in his new form. He was totally oblivious to the fact that he is in fact the extension of Lord Vishnu and standing in front of him is no one else but his own wife Goddess Mahalaxmi. He politely asked, Who are you? What “can I do for you,” he asked.

Hearing the strange statement coming from her own husband she felt a sense of denial and pain. Yet she decided to play the game his way.?Mahalaxmi tried to compose herself. "I am Mahalaxmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity," she said. "I've come to meet you."

Those days terms like schizophrenia did not exist. But the problem did exist and people were well aware of it. He thought someone was trying to pull a quick prank on him.?

Hence Tirupathi Balaji didn't seem impressed. "I've heard of you," he said. "But what do you want?"?

Mahalaxmi felt her temper rising. How dare he speak to her like that? "I just wanted to see you for myself," she said. "But it seems like you're not worth the trouble."?

Tirupathi Balaji was taken aback. No one had ever spoken to him like that before. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean that you're not as great as everyone says you are," Mahalaxmi replied. "In fact, I bet I could beat you in a fight any day."

Tirupathi Balaji couldn't believe what he was hearing. This tiny goddess thought she could take him on. He decided to humour her. "Very well," he said. "Let's fight."

And so, the two of them began to battle. Mahalaxmi was quick and nimble, but Tirupathi Balaji was strong and powerful. They fought for hours, but neither one could gain the upper hand.

Finally, Mahalaxmi had had enough. "I'm tired of this," she said. "I'm going to leave."

Why did Tirupathi Balaji not follow Goddess Mahalaxmi after the battle?

It's not that Tirupathi Balaji did not follow Goddess Mahalaxmi after the battle. Well, after their battle, Goddess Mahalaxmi left the temple in a huff, feeling a little disappointed that?

Tirupathi Balaji didn't follow her. She thought that he would surely chase after her, being the powerful and influential God that he was, but he didn't.

Feeling a little rejected, she decided to go back to Vaikuntha, her house in heaven, and tend to her duties.?

But what she didn't know was that Tirupathi Balaji had actually fallen head over heels for her during their battle.?

He was amazed by her strength, wit, and feisty spirit, and couldn't stop thinking about her after she left. He had never met such an amazing woman who was a combination of beauty, strength and power. Her charm seemed to overpower the otherwise shy God that he was. He deliberately?didn’t?pursue her attention aggressively just out of fear of scaring her away.?

So he decided to strategise and plan the perfect moment. Like always that feeling lingered. Both of them took years of planning and waiting for the right moment to arrive.?

Good Bad those days they did not have Life coaches or books to refer to they had to stand and act by their own instincts.?

What Goddess Mahalaxmi was unaware of was that she was not the only burning midnight oil.

Both parties were equally in on it. ?

Tirupathi Balaji was infatuated with Goddess Mahalaxmi.?

What both these love birds didn’t understand was there is nothing like the perfect moment.?

The word perfect itself does not exist even for the Gods. The moment is now or never.?

However, as time passed, Mahalaxmi began to grow restless once again.?

She was tired of waiting for Tirupathi Balaji to make a move, and she missed the excitement of their battle. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands once again.

She left Vaikuntha without telling anyone, and made her way back to Tirupathi, determined to see him again.?

But when she arrived, she found that Tirupathi Balaji was nowhere to be seen.

Feeling a little disheartened, she began to wander around the town, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. But as she walked, she began to realize that she was in a completely different place.

Too bad Google maps did not exist back then so if you are lost you ask a passerby hoping that person would guide you to the right place.?

Confused, she asked a passerby where she was, and was surprised to learn that she had actually ended up in Kolhapur, a different town altogether!

Realizing that she had taken a wrong turn somewhere along the way, Mahalaxmi decided to explore Kolhapur a bit before heading back to Vaikuntha. And that's when she stumbled upon something that would change her life forever.

She saw a beautiful temple that was dedicated to her, and it was located right in the heart of the town. Overcome with emotion, she went inside to take a look.

As she wandered around the temple, admiring the intricate carvings and the beautiful statues, she suddenly heard a voice behind her. It was Tirupathi Balaji!?

There are no statistics to prove this fact so what we say is purely out of experience. Tirupathi Balaji might have set out to go to Vaikunta and must have seen his lady love Her highness Goddess Mahalaxmi take the wrong turn. So to play the hero to his so called damsel in distress he too followed her only to find her in this beautiful temple in Kolhapur dedicated to his lady love.?

He had followed her all the way to Kolhapur, hoping to surprise her with a grand romantic gesture. But when he saw her standing in the temple, he realized that he didn't need anything grand to win her heart.

We don’t know the exact day date or time to confirm this but it definitely wasn’t valentines day at that moment. Because St. Valentine wasn’t born in that era. Nor there was an Archies store selling romantic goodies.?

We don’t know if he went down on his knees to propose to her. He was well aware he didn’t have to do any of those fancy things to woe his lady love because his love for her was eternal and pure and that was enough for her.?

He simply walked up to her, took her hand, and told her how much he loved her.?

Mahalaxmi was overcome with emotion, and she knew in that moment that she had found her true love.

And that's how Goddess Mahalaxmi fought with Tirupathi Balaji, went on to settle in Kolhapur, and found her true love in the end. It just goes to show that sometimes, love can be found in the most unexpected of places.?

Well, even though Goddess Mahalaxmi had finally found her true love in Tirupathi Balaji, she still had her pride.?

She couldn't help but feel a little hurt that Tirupathi Balaji had not followed her when she left the temple after their battle.

Despite his grand romantic gesture, she couldn't shake off the feeling that he had let her down. So, when Tirupathi Balaji asked her to go with him to Tirupathi, she hesitated.

She knew that Tirupathi was a famous pilgrimage site that attracted millions of devotees every year. And while she was proud of Tirupathi Balaji and his popularity, she couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the attention he received.

So, she told Tirupathi Balaji that she would not be able to accompany him to Tirupathi. She said that she had other duties to attend to, and that she needed to return to Vaikuntha.

Tirupathi Balaji was disappointed, but he understood that Mahalaxmi needed some time to herself. He promised to visit her in Vaikuntha whenever he could, and he left for Tirupathi without her.

For a while, Mahalaxmi regretted her decision. She missed Tirupathi Balaji terribly, and she wished that she could be with him in Tirupathi. But she knew that she had to put her pride aside and make things right.

So, she went to Tirupathi to meet Tirupathi Balaji. When she arrived, she saw that Tirupathi Balaji was still as popular as ever. But instead of feeling jealous, she felt a sense of pride.

She realized that Tirupathi Balaji was not just her love, but he was also a beloved deity to millions of people. And that made her happy.

From that day on, she decided to fully embrace her love for Tirupathi Balaji and support him in his mission to bring joy and prosperity to the people of Tirupathi. And even though she never settled in Tirupathi permanently, she would visit often and bask in the love and adoration of Tirupathi's devotees alongside her beloved Tirupathi Balaji.

Click on the link to register for the trip to Shree Ambabai www.recreationalsportz.com/young-timers-travellers-club/