In a time beyond age, Gargacharya composes a book called “Garga Samhita.” In the Giriraj Khand of this book, Gargacharya predicts Shrinathji’s Pragatya. Gargacharya says, “After four thousand eight hundred years of Kali Yuga, on the auspicious occasion of Nag Panchami, a beautiful swaroop of Krishna will manifest partially in Vraj Mandal. The Vrajwasis will first discover the Urdhva Bhuja of Krishna’s swaroop in the midst of Goverdhan Parvat. He will reveal His Mukharavind and entire swaroop slowly at the right time.
Krishna had assumed this swaroop to protect the Vrajwasis from Indra’s fury and also to vanquish his pride. So, the Vrajwasis will fondly address this swaroop as Dev Daman, Nag Daman, Shrinathji and Shrijee Bawa.
Shrinathji will always indulge in His leelas on Goverdhan Parvat. So, people from all over the world will flock to do His darshan.” Yes, Gargacharya’s prediction turned out to be absolutely true.
Shrinathji’s Urdhva Bhuja Pragatya
The naïve Vrajwasis lead busy lives but always have Krishna’s name on their lips. They listen in rapt attention when their seniors narrate Krishna’s wondrous leelas. And every Vrajwasi considers Goverdhan Parvat sacred because they know how their Krishna had protected them from Indra’s wrath aeons ago.
Now it so happens that one day a Vrajwasi climbs atop Goverdhan Parvat looking for his missing cow. He stumbles upon a rock. When he closely inspects the rock, he realizes that he is looking at a cupped left palm of some swaroop.
When he discusses this with his village seniors they immediately say, “Let’s not dig deeper into our sacred Goverdhan Parvat. Undoubtedly a divine swaroop dwells within it. Our beloved Krishna will manifest amidst us again at the right time on His own, as He always does.
So the Vrajwasis lovingly bathe just the Urdhva Bhuja with milk, perform pooja and offer milk, butter, and curd as bhog. They intuitively know that they are worshipping some swaroop of Krishna. So, they confide their innermost fears to Krishna’s Urdhva Bhuja. So staunch is their faith in Krishna that they know He will fulfil all their wishes too.
The Vrajwasis worshipped Shrinathji’s Urdhva Bhuja for 70 years. Even today, the Vrajwasis celebrate Nag Panchami with the bhaav of Girirajji.
Shrinathji’s Mukharavind Pragatya
Sadu Pande, a cowherd in Vraj, owns a cow called Ghummar, whose lineage could be traced to a cow that belonged to Nanda’s Goshala. Much to Sadu Pande’s chagrin, Ghummar would climb up Goverdhan Parvat twice in a day and return with an empty udder.
One day, totally exasperated with Ghummar’s strange behaviour, Sadu Pande decides to find out what she was up to. And he is surprised when he sees Ghummar lactating into a crevice near Shrinathji’s Urdhva Bhuja.
Sadu Pande narrates the intriguing experience to the village seniors. The wise seniors say, “Ghummar’s behaviour clearly indicates that something divine dwells within Goverdhan Parvat. Let’s see what Krishna is revealing to us now. And they are overwhelmed with Ananda when they see the beautiful Mukharavind of Shrinathji.
Again, the village elders are content doing the darshan of Shrinathji’s Mukharavind alone. Such was their faith in Krishna that they knew their Krishna would do what He had to in His own way at the right time and place – as usual.
Shrinathji’s message to Vallabhacharya
In keeping with Krishna’s divine plan, Vallabhacharya is born in Champaranya on the day Shrinathji’s Mukharavind is discovered in Goverdhan Parvat. Right from his birth Vallabhacharya is aware of his divine nature and experiences a mystic oneness with Krishna.
When Vallabhacharya was travelling by foot through Jharkhand, Krishna reveals his mystic plan to Vallabhacharya and says, “O Vallabha, you are the Agni swaroop of my Mukharavind. Create awareness in the minds of the naïve Vrajwasis. Dispel their ignorance with your wisdom. I will manifest as the swaroop of Shrinathji along with Swaminiji and my four Yuthadhipatis and assist you in your mission.
Go to Vraj. Now. Unearth my swaroop and initiate my Seva Prakaar there. For I wish to engage in Nitya leelas with Swaminiji, my Yuthadhipatis and the Vrajbhaktas.”
Shrinathji’s And Vallabhacharya’s Pratham Milan
On hearing these words Vallabhacharya goes to Vraj immediately. He reaches Sadu Pande’s house in Anyor village. When Sadu Pande shows him Shrinathji’s Mukharavind, tears of sheer bliss flow down Vallabhacharya’s face. Moments later, Shrinathji walks towards Vallabhacharya wearing his favourite Pitambari clothes and a peacock feather.
Vallabhacharya holds Shrinathji in a tight embrace and says, “O Shrinathji, the unexplainable intense longing and pain of separation that I often experience has now vanished forever. It is as if I have found everything I have been searching for – since time immemorial.”
We Pushti Margiya Vaishnavs call this confluence of divine energies as “Pratham Milan.” Shrinathji looks deeply into Vallabhacharya’s eyes and says, “O Vallabha, establish a temple here and enshrine me in it. Initiate my seva prakaar.”
Shrinathji’s Swaroop Pragatya
Vallabhacharya first ensures that Shrinathji’s entire swaroop is unearthed from Goverdhan Parvat. He then builds a small thatched temple, enshrines Goverdhannathji in it and asks Ramdas Chauhan to perform Shrinathji’s seva. Later on, with Vallabhacharya’s blessings, Pooranmal Khatri builds a big beautiful temple for Shrinathji. Vallabhacharya enshrines Shrinathji’s swaroop in the new temple in Sinhaad village (now known as Nathdwara) on Akshay Tritiya.
Yes, strictly speaking we, Pushti Margiya Vaishnavs should celebrate Shrithanji’s Path Utsav on Akshay Tritiya. But some divine events are so memorable that we can rescript even sacred rituals like Shrinathji’s Path Utsav. Today we celebrate Shrinathji’s Path Utsav on the 7th day of Krishna Paksha of Magh for a special reason.
Something to reflect upon
More often than not, we are extremely focussed on getting our history, geography and facts right. Why do we want to confine an intangible concept like Krishna to an accurate date, time, place and history?
Let’s reflect a little – just a little – on this slice of history alone. What is Krishna trying to tell us? Isn’t he revealing a lovely insight to us through the elderly Vrajwasis? All they did was think of Krishna and his wondrous leelas. Every. Single. Moment.
When they discovered Shrinathji’s Urdhva Bhuja and later on the Mukharavind – they were not eager to unearth the entire swaroop. They continued to offer whatever they could whenever they could with utmost faith to even partial swaroops of their Krishna.
They did not need a particular swaroop or a set of rituals to connect to Krishna. They knew, for sure, that their Krishna was always there with them.
Yes, we are not as devout or as naïve as the Vrajwasis. That is for sure. Maybe having a swaroop or following a set of symbolic rituals is meant for mere manavas like us who are too busy to chant Krishna’s name all the time.
Maybe the intention was that – we would create at least some time to connect to the Krishna that dwells within us through these rituals. But let’s understand the essence behind all these symbolic rituals instead of just blindly following them.
Let’s focus more on connecting to Krishna, in any way we can as often as we can, every day, instead of focussing on performing endless rituals without any bhaav for Krishna. For that will most certainly defeat the purpose of all these wonderful rituals that we follow oh so perfectly.
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