Nathdwara is ShreeNathji's town located in Rajasthan near Udaipur.
Nathdwara belongs to Dear ShreeNathji, my, who is the latest incarnation of Shree RadhaKrishn. Shri Nathdwara is a very small town built only for the Haveli of ShreeNathji. Many times people just call the town as "ShreeNathji".
View of Nathdwara from Giriraj
Once Shreeji moved from Giriraj Govardhan and settled here the original name of this place, ‘Sinhad' was changed to Nathdwara.
Thakurjee ShreeNathji is Shree RadhaKrishn’s merged Swarup on earth today.
Giriraj Govardhan was His chosen Sthal for Appearance in 1409 AD; where He did loving leela with His bhakts for nearly 250 years. Nathdwara is the place He moved to, from Giriraj Govardhan, nearly 340 years ago and resides till today.
ShreeNathji’s moving to Shri Nathdwara was to complete commitments made to His bhakts, in which the most important is Ajab Kunwari, who belonged to the Royal family of Mewad.
Nathdwara is located in the Rajasmand district on the banks of the river Banaas in Rajasthan. The air connection is from the Udaipur airport. It is around 48 km from Udaipur and is connected by road and train to all the major cities in Rajasthan as well as from all over India.
Bananas river and Govardhan parvat at Nathdwara
Shreeji's town wears a white washed look. There are paintings on every house and wall; it is a very typical look that the entire town of Nathdwara adorns. The roads are all very narrow and ultimately lead one to the centre square, chowk where Shreeji’s Haveli is located. To be able to reach the Haveli is only on foot, as the cars have to be left at least 1\2 km away. The narrow lanes only allow scooters.
A lovely Kadamb tree in the parisar of a home
Narrow roads which all lead to ShreeNathji Haveli from all sides
ShreeNathji’s Haveli is like a Palace where He lives in His Full Form. It is His Home, and all the sevaks and the true devotees know that many with the right bhao have experienced this Divine Presence.
Shreeji’s Presence is total so all acknowledge His living Presence as ‘Himself’ in this Haveli. It is very different from all other Hindu mandirs, as Shree Thakurjee Himself lives here in the most alive form.
Approaching the town I always feel these strong vibrations gripping me with an excitement; Shreeji’s Presence is very welcoming; it feels as if He is present there to welcome us to His town; acting like the perfect host. As soon as I enter deeper in bhao at times I hear this divine sweet child voice inside which echoes,
Shreeji always lovingly tells us,
"तुम लोग मुझसे मिलने आए हो, मैं तुम्हारा ध्यान तो रखूँगा ना"(You’ll have come to meet me, how can I not be there to make your stay Divine).
This is the sweetest voice that could be ever heard; full of loving mischief and playfulness.
ShreeNathji’s most favourite place, His Personal gaushala is situated at Nathuwas, about 3 km from His Haveli. Surrounded by hills it is a very picturesque place; with a lot of open grounds. It was planned and built with the Haveli. It houses about 2000 cows with a staff of 50 gwals to take care of them. (Details in the Gaushala chapter)
Many times I feel Shreeji likes to be away from His mandir, especially when Gurushree is in Nathdwara; and He spends time with us at His gaushala. This I can feel at times when His sweet voice tells us about some incident at His gaushala, and how much He loves being here with His beloved Gomata, as He calls them.
Shreeji is there for granting you the highest of joy and bliss only if you can put aside the mind and join Him in total bhao shuddhi. All Thakurjee wants from you is your bhao, your prem. He gets dressed and stands there eight times a day, every day; only for you, to grant you His darshans.
if our mind is clouded only with the worldly matters, the Divine Love that flows from Shreeji at every darshan fails to catch our not very pure aura and vibrations. The shuddhi (purity) that I have learnt from my Gurushree helps in this; to be able to experience the divine at every moment; especially when standing before ShreeNathji in totality.
Thakurjee works in unknowing ways. To the world it is not visible why some unknown happenings take place in an instant. It can only be through Thakurjee’s leela. They are not understood by us because Thakurjee wishes to keep some leelas secret.
The most important ingredient required for Shreeji’s seva, is bhao (total devotion) and shuddhi (purity); or else we will miss the totality of the Alokik, Alive Presence of ShreeNathji at His mandir which is also His Nij Niwas.
Shri Girirajji bhao at Nathdwara
When establishing ShreeNathji at Nathdwara, it was taken in account that this parvat can represent Giriraj Govardhan, and the Banaas river which flows around will represent Shri Yamunaji.
This was to make sure that our Dear Shreeji Baba will feel close to Vraj Mandal, from where He has come to stay at Nathdwara, for a required number of years. His staying here was to honour a commitment made to His dear bhakt Ajaba, with who Shreeji played chopad every night in the time period of Shri Gusainji.
On the shikhar of this parvat, is located an ancient Shiv mandir. This sthapan was done at the same time when ShreeNathji’s Haveli was built. The parikrama of this Nathdwara Girirajji is 3.5kms. It will take about three hours to complete it.
View of the Bananas river which represents the Yamuna ji, and the par vat which represents the Giriraj Govardhan at Nathdwara
Ancient Shivji mandir on the parvat.
At Rajbhog Darshan, it is believed that sakshat Bhagwan Shivji is seated on the round semicircle before Shreeji, in the Dolti Bari doing ShreeNathji’s Darshans.
Jai ShreeNathji Prabhu
Jai Shree RadheKrishn
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