Srinivasa Govinda

About three and half decades ago, back in the 90's, my grandmother used to take me to Tirumala almost every other year. She was a great devotee of Lord Venkateshwara and she used to visit every year and sometimes more than once in a year. Typically, we will take a bus to Tirupati and then one more bus to Tirumala, which will drop us off as soon as we climb the hill, right in the beginning itself. And then a long walk towards the temple roads where we had a bunch of lodging accommodations.

So this long walk from the bus-stand to the lodge was filled with street vendors selling several stuff. My granny always used to get me something, a toy car or a toy ring or some such thing but what moved me the most was this song of Srinivasa Govinda, Venkataramana Govinda pretty much in every alternate shop. They had this on and on, the whole day, the whole year. It was so soothing and wonderful to listen, kind of transported me to a different plane altogether. Although I wanted a cassette of that song, I never asked for it nor got one myself later on.

Thanks to Youtube several years later, it became easy to access this song and for many years, sometimes even now, our Sundays start off with this song. Thankfully my wife & daughter likes it too, so it is like a divine way to start off the day. 

When we visited Tirumala last year on our birthday, there was a live performance of this song going on right in front of the temple which was being telecasted live on TTD TV. It was a fantastic rendition (starts from 48th minute here), and we were lucky to be there right in front, from beginning till end, participating all the way through, singing along with the crowd around us. A satsang or bhajan, as one may call it, but it felt so good, so purifying. 

It reminded me of my earliest days in Tirumala, walking on those streets, hearing this song and now being in front of the temple, singing along in a satsang-bhajan. It was like I had come a full cycle...