Shrinathji

Lord Shri Vithalnath Prabhu – The Chief Deity of Dvitiya Ghar or The second Seat……….. .

The History of The Swaroop dates back to the period when Shri Mahaprabhuji stepped out for his PRITHVI PARIKRAMA during which
he visited Pandharpur where Lord Vithalnathji expressed his desire to take birth as his son. So in Samvath 1558, Ashaad
Sood 5, Shri Mahaprabhuji got married and was thereafter blessed with two sons namely : 1. Shri Gopinathji and
2. The Lord Shri Krishna Himself known as Shri Vithalnathji.
Shri Vithalesh Prabhu has seven sons . . . . .
1. Shri Giridharji
2. Shri Govindraiji
3. Shri Balkrishnaji
4. Shri Gokulnathji
5. Shri Raghunathji
6. Shri Yadunathji
7. Shri Ghanshyamji
From the above seven sons, it was the Second son Shri Govindraiji who was the recipient of the present Swaroop of Shri
Vithalnathji (residing now at Nathdwara) and with great love and affection he started performing The Seva and looking
after his personal deity.
Since Shri Govindraiji was the second son, his entire family was known as Dvitiya Ghar or The Second Seat and all his
followers were known as Sevaks of Dvitiya Ghar.

When Shri Vithalnathji was born, a divine celebration took place at their residence in Charnat .
Shri Nandraiji, Shri Yasodaji & all the Gopis and Gwals appeared from a well in the courtyard and a Divine Nand-Mahotsav
(equivalent to Krishna Janma) took place. By the intention of Shri Krishna Himself, a sage arrived with the Swaroop of
Shri Vithalnathj in his hands and informed Shri Vallabhacharya that he had found it in the river Ganga and that Lord
Vithalnathji had expressed his wish that His Swaroop be brought to Charnat on this particular day only.
With great enthusiasm and joy, Shri Vallabhacharya accepted and welcomed the swaroop of Lord Vithalnathji with open arms and
named his son as Shri Vithalnathji after the Swaroop itself. Thus there was a double celebration of great magnitude on
this occassion.

The Swaroop of Shri Vithalnathji was Fair (gaur) as well as Dark (shyam). After performing the Panchamrut Snan ( bathing with
milk, curd, sugar, ghee & honey ) a special Pooja was conducted and the Swaroop was placed on a throne and from then,
till date this is the only Swaroop which has been worshipped exclusively in the Vallabh family . No vaishnav has directly
done any seva for this deity.

As a mark of respect and as per the desire of that Sage,till today, Shri Vithalnathji is worshiped with a shell full of water
(Shankhodak) after the Raajbhog Aarthi, which is not performed in any other Havelis belonging to any of the other House.

Later, Shri Mahaprabhuji proceeded with his son Shri Vithalnathji to Adel and thereafter in Samvath1628, on Fagun sood 7, he
arrived in Shrimad Gokul. In 1637, Shri Vitthalnathji was taken to Kota and then on the invitation of Shri Hariraiji
Mahaprabhu, he arrived in Shrinathdwara. This proves that even before the arrival of Shri Nathji from Jatipura, the
Swaroop of Shri Vithalnathji had arrived at Shrinathdwara.

The Swaroop is standing in its full Purnapurushottam form with : -
Two hand resting on either side of the waist holding a shell in the left hand and a lotus in the right . – Both the Charan
Kamals (feet) are identical, with noopur on one foot, whereas the other one is without a noopur Alongside Shri
Vithalnathji is Shri Yamunaji in the form of Shri Swaminiji with lotuses in both the hands.

Source: “http://www.pushtibhakti.org”