Book on Lord Balaji now in Russian too

Nizampet: ‘Sri Venkateshwara Vrata Kalpam,’ a book penned by TVRK Murthy, has become so popular that it has been translated into 12 languages. Giving its rising popularity, the book has been brought in Russian version by a Russian team led by Irina, the head of Laxmi School of Numerology, Astrology and Palmistry, Russia. It was released during the Cartoon and Logo Exhibition held at Vertex Sadguru Krupa Apartments here on Sunday.

Known as ‘Viswapathi,’ TVRK Murthy, said, “I wrote Sri Venkateshwara Vrata Kalpam in 2005. The book became popular around the world. We printed about 10,000 copies every six months and distributed it free to devotees of Lord Balaji, to read it and lead a happy and prosperous life. Sri Venkateshwara Vrata Kalpam is also translated into 10 regional languages including Tamil, Kannada, Malyam, Telegu, Hindi and Marathi.

It is also brought out in English, Italian and French. I’m very glad that Lord Venkateshwara glory is spreading across continents and a lot of interest is being evinced in knowing about Hinduism and our culture.” He further added, “A few months back, a team led by Irina translated the book into Russian language and is going to present it in Moscow.”

Apart from the book, the exhibition displayed all of TVRK Murthy’s designed logos made for various companies the world over as well as cartoons which he drew for newspaper columns. The exhibition gathered a lot of admirers and fans of TVRK Murthy who thronged the venue to see his remarkable work. His new book ‘Srivari Darsan,’ a book on Tirumala and Lord Sri Venkateshwara, also won acclaim internationally. It was distributed to those who attended the exhibition.

TVRK Murthy, an electrical engineer, served in teaching and industry fields till 1998. He has a keen interest in Vedic Science and has carried out extensive research on the application of Vedic principles in business organisations. ‘Viswapathi’ also contributed cartoons to various newspapers and magazines. His cartoon column ‘SUMFUN’ in Indian Express was very popular from 1984 to 1990. His cartoon collection, ‘SINCERELY YOURS,’ was well admired by renowned personalities of India, including President, Vice-President besides several Union Ministers, Governors and Chief Ministers.

Being an avid devotee of Lord Balaji, he has so far written 25 devotional books, out of which 15 are on Lord Sri Venkateshwara alone. Among his books on Balaji, ‘Sri Venkateshwara Vratha Kalpam’ has become very popular and is among British Library collections in London.Irina said, “It was a great pleasure and honour for us to translate this book into Russian language. It was an amazing journey of translating – every page of it. Honestly, it was very difficult as it took a lot of background knowledge, research and help of Google as we are not very familiar with the concept, to make it readable to our readers. We kept the translation as close to the original as possible.

Last year December we made a trip to India as we wanted to bring the authentic Indian experience into our schools teach Indian traditions and philosophy to our students. While in Hyderabad, we met TVRK Murthy sir and we were much honored to be introduced to him and during that meeting we had the idea of translating the book into Russian to introduce this divine culture to our Russian students, followers and people.”

“Sir helped us a lot during the research journey as he would be available for us day and night to support and guide us to clear all concepts, with religious details, names and places. I feel much honored and happy that I got this chance and to be guided by sir, but I feel I also carry a lot of responsibility for every word that is written in that book. “We have also visited a few temples here to know the culture more closely and we are planning to bring back another batch of our students here so that they get to know how divine and rich Indian culture is,” added Irina.

-Avinash Bhingarde