Who is venkateswara ?

Lord Venkateswara is the Lord for this kali yug. He is famous with other names like lord balaji and govinda. Lord venkateswara is very kind to help any one who prays to Him for help. To know thyself properly , some of the common principles should be understood clearly. These common things will be complicated when analyze to understand. For example , great gurus, teachers say that you can not do business with God, or can not have a deal with God that you will offer some portion of your unexpected profits to him if He helps you. They strongly discourage this habit and they say it is foolishness to offer that way. But if you see in daily life, the pilgrims and devotees to Tirupathi balaji (Lord venkateswara) are increasing day by day by hundreds and the offerings to Lord venkateswara is raising millions by millions. No other God or temple in the world is getting that much income as Lord Venkateswara do,for the past hundred years. The reason is this: Tirupathi (tirupati) balaji is very famous as aapada mokkula vadu, vaddi kasula vadu, which means that he is the lord who hears to help you in misfortunes, Lord Venkateswara is the lord who likes to take interest, money as a tribute for his help. Normal pundits, normal preachers can not explain how god takes money from devotees. But the cosmic creation is such a wonderful thing that there are many places which human pundits can not explain.

Lord venkateswara has taken loan from the god of riches kubera so much money for his marriage and pledged that he would be paying off the interest on the loan from the collections of tirupati temple. So, if you pray to Him that you will offer some portion of the money from the doubtful deal , you may get it in such a way that it was possible only through his help and grace. So the devotee , who got such a benefit come and secretly drops millions of money in the donation box. This became a regular feature which became common to common man. But, we have to analyze and learn some thing from this. Though religious gurus say this is not possible, Lord venkateswara, or Tirupathi balaji likes to help his devotees in their business deals . This is possible only through the form of Lord venkateswara of Tirupathi and he is pleased when they visit Him and pay off his portion. No body can command God to be like this way or that way. We have to observe what is happening around and learn about His ways.This balaji temple is in Tirupathi, andhra pradesh, India. It is Vatican city of Hindu religion.
The story Of Tirupathi Temple: This i read and heard from some where and i am not sure of the facts. Around 300 AD, the shepherds found a big stone (black granite or so) in the forests of Tirupathi and who ever sits near the stone or on it , used to behave peculiarly and wisely. After some time, they made a sakthi (goddess kali) idol from it and used to worship. But the devotees used to become frenzy when they stand infront of the idol and used to cut many goats as sacrifice. After some decades, the great Hindu sage and saint ramanujacharya came there, saw the situation and wanted to avoid the animal sacrifice there. So, he changed the idol from sakthi to Venkateswara. Since the stone is powerful and divine, when you stand in front of it, even today, you feel the divine vibrations .
That's why the idol is specially worshipped on Friday also, which is very auspicious for sakthi . The idol still have some feminine marks and a ring on His nose. The worshipping methods are highest in standard and as per aagama Shasta (as per definitions in Vedas). He shows a sureway to know thyself , by practical things.