Shrinathji Temple, Nathdwara — Attraction in Rajasthan

Vajranabha, Lord Krishna’s great-grandson, installed this Deity 5,000 years ago. The same Deity (known then as Gopal) was worshiped by MadhavendraPuri in Vrindavan. Rana Raj Singh of Mewar brought Sri Nathji to Nathdwararound 1669.

The story of how Gopalji was discovered is described in the CaitanyaCaritamrita. It was MadhvendraPuri who came to Govardhan Hill and, after he went around the hill andbegan preparing for the evening rest near GovindaKund, a local cowherd boy visited him with apot of milk. The beautiful boy made SrilaMadhavendraPuri forget his hunger and thirst.MadhavendraPuri asked the boy how he knew he was fasting, and the boy replied that he resided in this vil­lage and in his village no one fasts.

Madhvendra Puri

That night in a dream the boy lead Madhavendra to a bush and explained that he was in the bush and suffered from severe cold, heat, rain, and wind. So Madhavendra was thus instructed to find the deity with the help of the local villagers. Gopalaji had been hidden in the bushes and was discovered by Madhavendrapuri.

After the deity's installation, a structure was made for Him on top of Govardhan Hill. The deity of Gopalaji stands with His left arm raised in the air in the pose Krishna took when He lifted Govardhan Hill as an umbrella to protect the local residents from the fierce rains sent by the demigod Indra.

Gopala Deity

Many people came to the place, named Jatipura (meaning "the home of the Yati or jati –the Sanyasi monk" in reference to MadhavendraPuri), to see and worship Gopalaji. Then a member of the royal family constructed a temple for the deity. After some time, the deity appeared in a dream and ordered Madhavendra to go to JagannathaPuri to get sandalwood, which could be used to cool the deity who was still feeling hot from being in the ground for so many years. So Madhavendra left Jatipura to perform this service.When Madhavendra arrived in Remuna, north of JagannathaPuri, he stopped at the temple of Gopinatha. Here the priests offer a thick sweet milk preparation (Amritakeli) to the deity. Madhavendra wanted to try some to understand how to prepare it so he could make it to offer his own deity in Vrindavan. Because of his desire to taste the food that was offered to the deity, he felt that he was a great offender and left the temple. That night the deity spoke to the temple priest in a dream and explained that He had hidden a cup of sweet rice behind His dress, and the priest should getit and find MadhavendraPuri to give it tohim. The priest than went and found the cup of sweet rice behind the deity's dress. Tak­ing the cup, the priest went and called out for Madhavendra until he found him. Madhavendra became spiritually ecstatic to receive the prasadam. After that, the deity in Remuna became known as Ksira-chora-Gopinatha, or Gopinatha who stole the sweet rice.

Gopinath

After this Madhavendra went to JagannathaPuri and got about eight pounds of san­dalwood and some camphor for his deity in Jatipura. On his way back, he again stopped to see Gopinatha at Remuna. That night his deity,Gopalaji, appeared to him in adream and explained that there was no difference between His body and the body of Gopinathain Remuna. Therefore, smearing the sandalwood on the body of Gopinatha would be the same as smearing it on the body of Gopalaji and His body would be cooled. So Madhav­endra did this every day untilall the sandalwood and camphor was finished. A few monthslater MadhavendraPurileft this world and his Samadhi tomb is located in Remuna a few minutes away from the Ksira-cora-Gopinatha temple.

After the disappearance of MadhavendraPurifrom this world, the worship of Lord Gopalaji at Jatipura was taken over by SrilaVallabhacarya, who had been initiated in thedisciplic succession coming from Sri Vishnuswami.It was during this time that Gopalaji started being called Sri Nathji by the devotees.

Land of Mewar from Jatipur

As with otherdeities who were moved from Vrindavana to escape the fanatic Muslim Aurangzeb's destruction of Hindu temples, Lord Sri Nathji...

"Once, in his wanderings, Śrī Mādhavendra Purī came to Vraja. He is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s grand spiritual master and Śrī Īśvara Purī’s spiritual master. Vraja-prema is difficult to obtain even for Brahmā and other demigods, but it has been distributed freely in the world by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Mādhavendra Purīpāda is the seed or sprout of that prema-kalpataru, or desire-tree that bestows divine transcendental love. He was a renunciant who followed ayācaka-vṛtti, which means he never begged food from anyone. One day, he was performing bhajana near Govinda-kuṇḍa in Govardhana, in a secluded place surrounded by lush, green trees and creepers. For two or three days, he was so absorbed in his bhajana that he was even unconscious of his own body. On the third day, at midday, a cowherd boy whose complexion was darkish blue (śyāma) arrived there, carrying a pot of milk in his hand. The boy said, “Bābā, nobody remains hungry in Vraja. My mother saw you as she passed by, carrying water from the well. She understood that you are hungry and thirsty, so she has sent this milk for you. I am going now to herd the cows. When I return, I will collect the pot.” Saying this, the boy quickly left. Purījī pondered the sweet talk, pleasant behaviour and beauty of that boy. “In my whole life, I have never seen such a beautiful boy,” he thought. He completed his bhajana, offered the milk to his worshipful deity and then drank it. The unequalled taste and fragrance of the milk made Purījī ecstatic. He became overwhelmed with love of God, but could apply no concentration to his bhajana. With tear-filled eyes, he began waiting for that śyāma-complexioned boy to return. Night fell but the boy did not come. During early hours of the morning he dozed off a little and saw that boy return. “I am Gopāla, the son of Vrajarāja Nanda,” He said. “My other name is Śrī Nāthajī. Mahārāja Vajranābha installed Me near here on the top of Girirāja. Long ago, in fear of the barbarians, the priests taking care of Me hid Me under the earth in a nearby valley of Govardhana. I have been thirsty and hungry for many days and am feeling so hot. I have been waiting for you for a long time, thinking, ‘When will Mādhavendra take Me from here and serve Me?’ ” Saying this, the boy indicated His hiding place and disappeared. In the morning, when Purījī narrated this incident to the villagers, they dug at the place specified in the dream and found Gopālajī. This made Purī Gosvāmī and the Vrajavāsīs jubilant. An altar was built on top of the hill by erecting three vertical stones in three directions and placing a horizontal slab across them. Gopālajī was seated on that throne and for many days He received a splendid bathing ceremony with abundant milk, yoghurt, clarified butter, sugar and honey. The Vrajavāsīs offered annakūṭa, which means an offering of mounds of grains like dāland rice, and kaḍhī, pūrī, kacauḍī and many other delicious preparations. The neighbouring people,especially the wealthy merchants of Mathurā, participated in the festival by body, mind and wealth. After serving Gopālajī like this for some time, Mādhavendra Purī, on the order of Śrī Nāthajī, turned over the responsibility of the worship to his disciples and went to Jagannātha Purī to procure malayana-candana, or sandalwood from the Malaya Hills, for Him. This village is currently named Jatīpurā after him, as the word jatī(or yatī) means renunciant. This incident has been described vividly in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Nowadays, Śrī Nāthajī presides in Śrī Nāthadvāra in Rājasthāna. Due to the atrocities of the fanatic Mughal ruler Aurangzeb, the king of Jaipura brought the deities of Vṛndāvana, such as Śrī Govinda, Śrī Gopīnātha and Śrī Madana-mohana, to his kingdom in Rājasthāna.

Excerpt from the book 'Sri Vraja-mandal Parikrama' by Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana...

We visited this temple as part of our Rajasthan tour by private taxi from Delhi. We came to this place from Pushkar. Ajmer to Nathdwara took us about 5 hours on NH 8. We left Pushkar at about 8.30 in the morning and reached Nathdwara at about 1.30 P.M.We looked for Hotel Gokul but since it had a bar we checked into Yatri mangala as advised by the counter clerk.After resting and freshening up we decided to go to the temple for 3.15 P.M. darsan.Our driver dropped us near the statue of Bhagat Singh and asked us to call him once our darsan was over.So we walked past rows of shops selling pooja items, bangles and knick knacks and sweetmeats asking people the way to the temple gate. We reached a closed gate which said Moti Mahal where devotees were waiting to enter. We saw someone who looked like a priest and asked him if he could arrange darsan.He wanted Rs.100 each and we agreed.We expected to be taken near the Deity but after showing us a short cut to enter he disappeared.The crowds were huge and men and women were sent in alternatively.We got a glimpse of Sri Nathji with His captivating Eyes . This seva is called 'Uthanpan' or the waking up after afternoon nap. It lasts for just 15 minutes. Men holding long cloths were hitting us softly on our necks to make us move out and make way for the devotees following us.We followed the crowds to the adjoining room where we saw Baby Krishna in a cradle surrounded by golden and silver toys like peacocks,cows , rattles etc. This Lord is called Navanita Priya. Being tired after the long journey and the jostling crowds we sat near the prasada stall and chanted Krishna slokas and bajans. We were surprised to see the priest calling us for darsan . This time we were taken close to the Deity and got to see Krishna holding His little Finger high up and was dressed in series of necklaces of varied sizes but what caught our attention was the nosering and we remembered 'Naasagre Navamouthikam' . Though this darsan was longer than the first we longed to see Him again.As we came out we saw two men pulling vigorously at the pankha, they were offering fan services for Krishna .We made some offerings there and bought a huge ladoo at the prasada stall.As we looked around we saw devotees carrying cut fruits ,rose petals and sweets.Near Navaneetapriya we saw two women holding a saree and rocking a baby.We went to the main gate and waited it to open .As we made our way inside we saw many musicians playing on different instruments but could not hear anything. All we could see were several coloured turbans and musical instruments.After resting for sometime we went for the next darsan.This time we saw Harathi darsan and inspite of the crowds we had a good darsan.We came out and bought tiny pearl necklaces crowns etc for our Gopala at home. We saw heaps of fruits and vegetables piled up and came to know that we could offer it for SriNath.Next morning we planned to come to the temple at 3.00 A.M.A lot of devotees were assembled there and were chanting 'Sri Krishna sharanam mama'. An old woman told us about how looking at different parts of Krishna protected us in different ways.She gave us a paper containing the verses and took Rs.20 as dakshina.Once the door opened everyone ran together and i had no hope of getting darsan but to our amazement He accorded darsan at one point of time and we got to see SriNath wearing a red cloth on His shoulder and a single strand of pearls.It was a satisfying sight and we came out satisfied and made our way out crossing rows of vendors selling dhoklas tea and other eats.We saw women with bundles of grass urging us to feed the cows. We bought 2 bundles fed two cows then had a cup of tea and headed towards our hotel to pack up and leave...