Importance of devotees

In every shrine, the Lord demonstrates His concern for those with bhakti towards Him. In Tirumala, Lord Srinivasa showed His love for Kurumbarutha Nambi. Nambi was a potter who made a clay idol of Lord Srinivasa and offered flowers of clay to the idol. The Lord preferred Nambi’s clay flowers to the golden ones offered by King Thondaiman. This love for the humblest of His devotees is the most important facet of Lord Srinivasa, said Akkarakkani Srinidhi in a discourse.

As for Lord Varadaraja of Kanchipuram, He came out of the sacrificial fire. But His greatness lies in the fact that He spoke with Tirukacchi Nambi, something the Lord never does in the archa (idol) form.

The Selva Pillai idol of Melkote is said to have been worshipped by Lord Krishna Himself. But its significance lies in the love of the Lord for a child devotee. Sucarita was a resident of Melkote and his four-year-old son was greatly attached to the deity of the Melkote temple. 

One day, Sucarita’s mother gave the child a delicacy she had prepared. The child began to eat and then it remembered the idol in the temple. The child thought that since the Lord had no parents, there was no one to offer Him such delicacies. So it took whatever was left of the dish and offered it to the deity in the temple! Other devotees wondered how the child could offer something half eaten to the Lord. But the Lord told them that they should not scold the child for, the child’s act pleased Him.

Thus in all three cases, the importance of the respective temples lies in the fact that the Lord revealed His love for His devotees.