Hans News Service Visakhapatnam

Themost popular ‘Swarnapushparchana seva’ at the sacred Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple is set to be performed every Saturday and Sunday, starting May 23.

Announcing this on Friday, Devasthanam Executive Officer Jallepalli Venkata Rao said the decision was taken due to the increasing number of devotees seeking participation in the highly revered ritual.

To ensure convenience for pilgrims, temple authorities have arranged the seva in three batches on Saturdays and Sundays. The first batch will commence at 7.30 am, followed by the second at 9 am and the third at 10.30 am. Earlier, the seva was conducted only on Thursdays.

The ‘Swarnapushparchana seva’, which used to be held in Bhoga Mandapam opposite the sanctum sanctorum, was shifted to Kalyana Mandapam following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, devotees participating in the seva will now receive the rare privilege of darshan inside the sanctum sanctorum. This gains larger significance as regular sanctum darshan for devotees on weekends remained suspended for a while. Temple officials stated that the seva offers devotees a unique spiritual experience, allowing them to personally perform pujas by touching the golden flowers offered to the presiding deity.

Conducted with traditional grandeur in the sanctum sanctorum and Bhoga Mandapam, the ritual will accommodate only 30 to 50 couples in each batch to effectively manage the rush.

In a move aimed at enhancing convenience and transparency, the temple administration has also introduced modern technological facilities for ticket booking.

Devotees can obtain tickets seamlessly by scanning the QR codes installed across the temple premises and availing ‘Mana Mitra’ WhatsApp service through the official AP Temples platform.