Shrinath ji Temple (Nathdwara)

A cow from Shri Krishna’s herad, climbs the Govardhan Hill and drops her milk on top of a mysterious black arm on the top of the hill. Everyday, in the after noon, she continues to lag behind the rest of her herd to perform her ritual over the protruding arm. Her owner, unaware of her devotion begins t wonder why the cow’s milk giving capacity has reduced. One day he follows her and discovers her secret rite with ShreeNathji. The year marked is 1409 and ShreeNath’s appearance upon the hill seizes the attention of the local brajvasis. They are amazed that whatever they desire is given to them. For this they only need to pray to the raised arm.

The story of ShreeNathji is the amazing history of His worship, travels and lilas. ShreeNathji's manifestation and the subsequent developments were originally revealed by Shri Gokulnathji, the grandson of Shri Mahaprabhuji Vallabhacharya who appeared in India in the year 1479 on exactly the same day that ShreeNathji’s face appeared from hill. ShreeNathji stayed on the Govardhan Hill for as long as Shri Mahaprabhu, his son Shri Gusainji and his seven sons lived on the earth. Shri Gokulnathji was Shri Guisainji’s illustrious fourth son and composed an ocean of devotional literature mostly in Sanskrit and Braja language. The portion of this text the reveals ShreeNathji’s travels from the Govardhan Hill to Mevar all occurred after the lifetime of Shri Gokulnathji.

The “lila” of ShreeNathji is a subtle mixture of the spiritual and material worlds. Wherever ShreeNathji appears false distinctions are removed. This is the non-dualist vision of Shri Maha-prabhuji Vallabhacharya who saw everything as Krishna and nothing but Krishna. He went on to explain what ShreeNathji manifested in form. The wisdom that is required to enter into the realm of ShreeNathji has been laid down by Shri Mahaprabhuji, the incarnation of ShreeNathji’s face.