A good question. Actually, many people do believe in Lord Venkateshwara. He is Lord Vishnu Himself plus is the Supreme Lord Himself. Let me explain to you with an example. You were born to your parents. Your parents took care of you, spent time with you, spent their earnings on your studies, made you enjoy your childhood, and made you grow as a successful person. Do you believe in and respect your parents? Yes, you do.
In the same way, Lord Venkateshwara is our mother, our father, and our everything. We can see Him in any relationship. You can call Him a mother, a father, a brother, a friend, a teacher, and Bhagavan. He is everything for us. He has done infinite things for us, which we cannot even think of. More than how much you care for yourself, He cares for you, infinitely more than you.
That’s why He is present everywhere. He is present in each and every atom, and therefore is known as Vishnu. Why? Not just because He enjoys doing so, but because He is present everywhere for us. Even if nobody is watching us, He is watching us always, about what we do, and if you believe in Him, then He would never let you go in the wrong direction, as He, as Krishna, didn’t allow Arjuna to go in the wrong direction.
He is present everywhere to protect us. That’s why He appeared out of the pillar as Narasimha for Prahlada. He is present in all of us, in all our hearts. In the Gayatri Mantra, we say ‘Dhiyo yo nah prachodayaat’. And by this mantra, Lord Suryanarayana is being praised. This Suryanarayana is Bhagavan Vishnu’s roopa, which is present in Lord Surya. Plus, Lord Venkateshwara is Lord Vishnu only. So, both Suryanarayana and Venkateshwara are the same.
So, this Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat means ‘O Bhagavan, inspire my senses.’ So, He is the one who is inspiring your senses. He is present in your heart, making your body function. If He goes away, then the body is nothing but a corpse. He is present in our stomach too as Vaishvanara, thus digesting the food we eat. So, you can see, being within our body only, He does so many things.
He is not some distant ruler sitting on the seven hills judging who does right or who does wrong, or just keeping a grudge with the people who don’t worship Him. He is that compassionate Bhagavan, whom, even if you approach with a clean heart, no matter that you don’t perform any severe austerities, no matter what sins you perform, but only and only if you repent of that sin sincerely and with a clean heart, then that Lord Venkateshwara would lift you and hug you like a mother hugging her baby with love.
That’s why He is known as Venkateshwara. ‘Vem’ in Venkateshwara means paapa. And ‘Kata’ means to destroy. Since Lord Vishnu destroys all the sins, He is known as Venkatesha or Venkateshwara. He is there, sitting and waiting for you to come to Him. He would simply just hug you and would love you like anything. You just need to call Him. He is an ocean of compassion.
If you sleep and sing, He would sit near you and listen. If you sit and praise Him, He would stand and listen to you. If you stand and praise Him, He would dance, and if you dance and praise Him, He would love you a lot more than you might even have imagined. Even if you offer a leaf, a flower, a fruit, and some water, with devotion, then He is pleased.
And as a fruit, He would even give His own abode, Vaikuntha. Isn’t He the same Krishna who, after eating just three handfuls of flattened rice that Sudama brought for Him, gave him the opulence of the heavens and the earth and was about to give Him His own abode, Vaikuntha? That’s why I think people do believe in Lord Venkateshwara. This was my perspective.
For me, as I might have clarified in my previous answers too, Lord Venkateshwara/Lord Krishna/Lord Rama/Lord Vishnu is not some distant God sitting on a throne judging me, but mine. I am His, and He is mine. Yeah, I too make mistakes, and even feel like I don’t deserve His compassion, but then I do explain to myself that if you repent with a clean heart, and that too honestly, then His love won’t be reduced.
He is someone with whom I can talk and share my feelings and my opinion, or even ask questions, like a friend, an elder brother who teaches, cares, and protects me, and never judges me on how I look, how I speak, and loves me always. He never hates anyone, as He is Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, that ‘Nobody is too much dear to me, nor do I hate anybody. But the one who approaches me with devotion, He becomes beloved to me.’ But at the same time, I do worship Him as the Supreme Paramatma.
So, this is why I think I, too, believe in Lord Venkateshwara. Try to know more about Bhagavan and love Him as your own, simultaneously. That’s the real Bhakti. Hope my answer is as expected.
Jay SriRam!
SriRamana Bhuramana Durgaramana Govinda! Govinda! Govinda!
ShriLakshmi Padmavati Sameta ShriVenkatesha Abhinna ShriKrishnarpanamastu!