India's 'visa temple' bestows tickets to the American dream

Some gods grant riches and others good luck, but one deity in India offers a much less nebulous fortune to his devotees: tickets to a new life in the United States.

More than 1,000 Hindu faithful visit the Chilkur Balaji temple each day in the belief that the divine presence inside can bless worshippers with a successful visa application.

Those seeking a shot at the American Dream are instructed to pray for their permission to travel abroad, and to return to give thanks when they receive it.

"Every single member of my family who is in the US has come here," Satwika Kondadasula told AFP while walking around the temple's sanctum.

The 22-year-old said that moving to New York was a longstanding dream. She will head there this week to start her master's degree and says she has the deity Balaji in part to thank.

"I got the visa because of my capability of course, but I have luck of god as well," she said. "I definitely believe coming here really helped me out."

Balaji is considered an incarnation of Vishnu, one of the key gods of the Hindu pantheon known for upholding the cosmic order of the universe.

The temple bearing his name on the outskirts of Hyderabad was not always known as a conduit for international travel.

Its elderly priest C.S. Gopalakrishna discovered in 1984 that water spontaneously appeared before a shrine to the god when he walked around the perimeter of the temple's sanctum 11 times.

Source : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/latest-updates/indias-visa-temple-bestows-tickets-to-the-american-dream/articleshow/112128189.cms