WITH ALL THE VISA CONSTRAINTS, ONLY ONE AVENUE THRIVES… INDIA NOW HAS FOUR VISA TEMPLES!!!

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He flew into Sri Lanka when it had no airport or immigration authority, and moved a whole mountain to complete a fig of a task. And so… it is not unnatural that those seeking visas take his blessings… after all…

So for Lord Hanuman it is no challenge to organize visas for his devotees, which for frequent-flying mortals is a forbidding procedure complicated by the monkey business of agents and mystifying forms.

This is how an article in DNA introduced me to the KHADIA TEMPLE in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and the newspaper also informs that it has had a 100% success record (!!!). The article further enlightens…

The devout who throng the shrine swear that their deity guarantees 100% visa approval for any foreign country. 

And they are especially grateful because no processing or consultancy fee is charged. ‘Visa Hanuman’ attends to the needs of dozens of visa aspirants every day.

But his counseling sessions are packed on Saturdays, with nearly 750 people filing their appeals for his consideration.

However, the most “interesting” (!) temple turns out to be where all the High Commissions and the Embassies are located. Right in Delhi.

This temple too is of the Visa God – Hanuman and well, you just need to “check out” the “counselor” at the Temple to decide  (I am talking of the “unusual” priestess) and also hear her out in the video on this link…

A friend of mine who is an Immigration expert was asked whether he can guarantee the visa and in his humorous response he simply shared the photo below with the student.

When I was shared the picture, I decided to do some research on the temple and then came across the video. You do need to see it before your read on…

If West(Gujarat) and North India(Delhi) can boast of their own temples, how can Hyderabad be left out. They actually can take the honors in this blog of having the temple that has been most popular of the all three. Times of India informed…

When President Bush went to Hyderabad to inaugurate a new US consulate I wonder if someone told him the story of Andhra Pradesh’s American visa temple.

In the past few years a Balaji temple in Chilkur village outside Hyderabad has become the pilgrimage destination for US visa-seekers. It has acquired a reputation among the dollar-driven, that the deity here is particularly powerful in granting an American visa.

Typically, an aspiring American visa-seeker visits the temple a few days before his visa interview at the US consulate. During the visit, the devotee goes through the usual rituals of prayer, including three circumambulations of the inner shrine, and makes a vow.

Then, they go off with their documents and dreams to convince the US consulate officer that they are worthy of receiving the visa. If they get their visa, they return to the temple, and fulfil their vow, which is to walk 108 times around the temple.

Before I end the blog, I have just been alerted that there is a fourth visa temple in Chennai… A blogger writes on her blog about the Chennai Visa temple on her blog…

The temple town of Thirumazhisai is about 25 km from Chennai. It is situated on the Tiruvallur High Road and just one Km away from Chennai Bangalore trunk road. There is an Perumal temple. Those who want visa to go abroad can visit and pray for their wishes.

I know that some of my colleagues in my trade must be considering targeted marketing around these temples… Happy thought indeed!!! One more nagging question: If these are the temples, that priestess is the counsellor then, are the entry-clearance-officers(Visa Officers) the new demigods!!!

demigod |ˈdemēˌgäd|noun ( fem. demigoddess |ˈdemēˌgädis| )

a being with partial or lesser divine status, such as a minor deity, the offspring of a god and a mortal, or a mortal raised to divine rank.• a person who is greatly admired or feared.ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: translating Latin semideus .

With the above definition from the dictionary, some will indeed believe so…

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Published by Ravi Lochan Singh

Ravi Lochan Singh is the Managing Director of Global Reach, a company that has been representing leading Universities from around the world for 32+ years. An alumnus of India's The Doon School, Delhi's SRCC and thereafter having completed an MBA from Bond University, Australia; he founded the company in 1991. Ravi has been working with various international bodies across countries in the development of the self-regulatory structures for the industry. His role with AAERI (the one of its kind agent body promoted by the Australian Government Departments) has earned him recognition as a major stakeholder in the education export industry. His blogs on education topics has significant following and his comments on matters of importance pertaining to his sector can ruffle settled notions. The blog is his personal expression and mayn't be read as official statements of organisations that he is associated with.

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13 Comments

  1. .The Chilkur Balaji Temple on the outskirts of Hyderabad is very famous. On the way to this temple we will see many hoardings of consultants offering their expertise and services. The god here is known for “Granting Visas”. Most visa applicant’s, after submitting his visa application, come to this temple and perform 11 pradakshinas. . Having done this, it’s believed that the applicant is granted visa for certain.

    When all logic fails, most turn to the god to seek divine intervention. The complicated visa procedures often confuse students. No wonder they all intervention & blessings from Lord Balaji.

    One good point in this temple is that this is the only temple in India that does not accept any money, does not have any hundi, no privileges for VVIPs and it fought and won a court case to stay out of govt control. Saturday & Sundays its very crowded

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  2. One great Philosopher said “The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one”.

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  3. Interestingly, it is Lord Hanuman(Lord Shiva) in all the three places except Chennai Temple, which is of Lord Vishnu.
    The fact of the matter is that Lord Shiva has been blessing people in it’s various Avatars which can not be understood by any logic. There are numerous examples of people having been cured of cancers and heart blockages overnight, this could be another blessing, which is purely a matter of faith than any thing else. Specially when Nishi writes, that there is ZERO money involved, what else would you like to call than just “ASTHA”. Unfortunately, the “Tarkshastri” in the video is talking about Lord Hanuman visiting only Sri Lanka, when there was no Visa regulations. They will never ever understand the power of Prayers. I remember our Guruji, saying that when you visit such holy places, “Keep your shoes and Brains outside the temple” then only you can experience these Chamatkars. They do happen all around us. Any Doubts!!!!!!!!

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    1. I actually found the video very amusing. The priestess sounded more like an EATC qualified counsellor (!!!) than a priestess… I used to believe somehow that Hanuman temples cannot have female priests… Anyways, whether it is AASTHA ya CHAMATKAR, it seems to be the only resort for some… We should have them as associate members to AAERI now… What say you?

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  4. Let me tell you one real chamatkar that I experienced about Chilkur Balaji Temple. In 2002 one of my student gave his agricultural pass books for some valuation purpose, I kept it somewhere and forgot. When the student came to me and asked for the passbooks, I argued with him that he did not give me originals. So, the poor guy went to Balaji temple and prayed to him and asked for the pass books, which he did not tell me. The same night I got a dream at around 2 am that the books are lying underneath some papers and I woke up the very moment and went there to find the books lying beneath. The next day when I told the student that I found the books in my dream then he told me about his visit to Balaji temple and his prayer. Believe it or not but chamatkar’s happen.

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      1. The prayer has to come from within with honesty and purity. You can choose any form of GOD or Avatar because you need something in front of you to talk to.

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    1. When there is belief it is been always portrayed as insult to intelligence, when we used to write board exam in school time we used to pray each and every temple and used to bow our head while going to school does it refer to insult to intelligence . In the same manner if people are not achieving their desired goal even after doing lot of hardwork and pain and once they get annoyed they go to God and pray so that their work is done because he is the only one who can help him does it also refers to insult to intelligence .

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