By Acarya dasa, All-India Padayatra leader
On August 8 the All-India Padayatra reached the town of Nathdwara in the Aravalli hills almost 50km north of Udaipur. Nathdwara is a significant Vaishnavite shrine of the Vallabh sampradaya and is widely known for its Shri Nath ji temple.
The town is one of the nine Dwarakas and the presiding deity there is Sri Shrinathji, a form of Krishna manifested as a seven-year-old child The deity is seen in blackish form with His left hand raised upwards with little finger pointing upwards, His right hand closed in a fist resting on His hip. His eyes glance downward affectionately at His devotees. Shrinathji is a very special and beautiful deity. There is a diamond on the chin of the Lord. The deity is swayambhu (self-manifested, not carved by anyone). As the Lord is the combined form of Radharani and Gopal, He is known as Sri Shrinathji (“Shri” indicates Thayar). The Lord is also known as Banke Bhihari. This vigraham was earlier in Vrindavan near Govardhan giri and is related to one of Sri Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan, namely lifting Govardhan Hill.
A grand welcome in Nathdwara was arranged by the Udaipur devotees headed by Mayapurvasi dasa and Ajay Gauranga dasa. It was our godbrother, well-wisher and supporter Ajay Gauranga’s birthday and he was blessed by darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. Padayatra’s arrival made his day, which was spent with us taking darshan. We also felt we could somehow serve our dear godbrother who is always concerned about us. Later he and Mayapurvasi kindly donated our groceries for a month.
Padayatra stayed in Nathdwara for two days and all the arrangements for our prasadam and accommodation were made by Brihad Rupa dasa, a disciple of Gopal Krishna Maharaja. Just as when padayatra is at Jagannath Puri we honour prasadam from Ananda Bazar, in Nathdwara we received maha prasadam of Lord Shrinathji, which is rarely achieved. We were blessed by the Lord’s mercy to have a peaceful darshan of Shrinathji, the temple usually being full. The pujari gave us darshan of the deity kitchen, 108 garlands, 108 pans and one lakh tulsi which is offered daily to the Lord. All bhogas made for the Lord are cooked in pure ghee. By the mercy of Brihad Rupa we also had darshan of the confidential parts of the temple where the public is not allowed.
While we were at Nathdwara seventy devotees arrived from Bharkawada for darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. They can never forget that Their Lordships enlightened their village and blessed them with devotional life. The Bharkawada devotees continually long for padayatra and darshan of Their Lordships. The head pujari of the temple blessed us all by coming for darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar and was amazed to hear They are the most travelled deities.
We did sankirtan for two days throughout Nathdwara. As it is the land of Shrinathji people were surcharged with devotion and joined us enthusiastically in sankirtan.
Book score: Maha big books 129, small books 328.
