(This chapter gives information regarding the life of Shri Gusainji - Shri Vitthalnathji, the son of Shri Vallabh)
Childhood Interest in Sewa Influence on Kings Travel Literary works Vaarta prasangs
Shri Gusainji was the younger son of Shri Mahaprabhuji.His real name was Shri Vitthalnathji.He was born in 1515 A.D. at Charnat near Varanasi.It was Shri Gusainji who, after Shri Mahaprabhuji, captained the boat of Pushtimarg.He propogated Pushtimarg in such a way that we can say that it is Shri Gusainji who is responsible for the way we see this marg.
From his very chidhood he showed the qualities of a divine being.There is a story in which Shri Gusainji argued with Shri Navneetpriyaji (Shri Mahaprabhuji's thakorji) himself when he was a toddler.It is also known that once Lord Shiva himself (dressed as a brahmin) had come for the Darshan of Shri Gusainji when he was a small child.He was given his Yagyopavit & Brahmasambandh by Shri Mahaprabhuji on the auspicious day of "Ram Navami" at Varanasi.He was well versed in many fields such as the Four vedas, Astrology & medical knowledge.Shri Gusainji wrote the "Rajbhog Arti Arya" when he was only nine years old.
Shri Gusainji was very fond of good clothes & ornaments.It was he who started the various shringars that we see in Pushtimarg today.Shri Gusainji also started the manoraths such as chhappan bhog etc.Whenever Shrinathji wanted anything he would tell so to Shri Gusainji who would promptly fulfuill his slightest wish.Once Shri Gusainji was seperated from Shrinathji for 6 months (see the varta of Krishnadasji Adhikari in 84 vaishnavas).During this period Shri Gusainji used to write prayers to Shrinathji daily which are popularly known as the Nav Vigyaptis.
Many kings of that time were greatly influenced by Shri Gusainji and were his devotees.Kings such as Birbal, Todarmal and Mansingh, Tansen and Taj bibi were Shri Gusainji's sevaks and had taken brahmasambandh from him.Apart from this Emperor Akbar was greatly impressed by Shri Gusainji and had given the land rights of Gokul to Shri Gusainji.Akbar had also announced that no one should stop the cows of Shri Gusainji from grazing in any part of Vraj.It was Akbar who had given the Vallabhkula the name "Goswami", which still continues to this day.As many as 27 kings were the devotees of Shri Vitthalesh (Shri Gusainji).Many other persons had also come to Shri Gusainji's feet on account of his influence on their kings.
There are as many as 28 bethaks (a place where he had stayed for at least 7 days and had done the path of Bhagwatji) of Shri Gusainji throughout India. He used to come to Gujarat on a regular basis for the darshan of Shri Ranchodraiji in Dwarka. It was a rule that Shri Gusainji would give brahmasambandh to at least 2 jivas (living beings) everyday or else he would not take food.From all the vaishnavas of Shri Gusainji 252 vaishnavas stand out (though the total number of vaishnavas who came to Shri Gusainji's feet is in thousands), their lives are described in the famous book "252 vaishnav varta" which has been published time and again in Hindi & Gujarati languages.
During his lifetime Shri Gusainji wrote many works in Sanskrit and vrajbhasha, among these he has written various commentaries on the gita such as (1) commentary on the first chapter (adhyaya) of the gita (2) Gita Tatparya (3) Gita hetu & (4) Nyasaadesh Vritti.Shri Gusainji had great respect for his father - Shri Mahaprabhuji and so he had written the grantha Sarvottamstotram in which 108 names of Shri Mahaprabhuji have been given.Apart from these he also wrote the Vallabhaashtak and Sfritkrishnapremamratam stotras to sing the praise of Shri Mahaprabhuji which show the vast respect he had for his father/guru.He has also written as many as nine more stotras in Sanskrit language.Shri Gusainji had good command on Vrajbhasha and has written innumerable kirtans in this language.
When the Ganga pooji (a ritual which is done after a child is born) after Shri Gusainji's birth was held all the ladies went to take a bath in the holy river Ganga.On reaching the shores of the river Shri Gusainji started crying and so his mother was forced to sit down and feed him.As soon as she sat down the water of Shri Gangaji started to rise.The water of the river kept on rising till it had touched Shri Gusainji's feet.As soon as the water touched Shri Gusainji's feet Shri Gangaji, dressed as a beautiful lady, came out of the water with a garland of flowers and put the garland round Shri Gusainji's neck.After doing this the lady vanished and the water subsided.
Once Lachbai, the queen of Dholka, a devotee of Shri Gusainji sent her minister Rajbahadur to Ahmedabad to see Shri Gusainji.On reaching he gave Lachbai's message to Shri Gusainji that she was very worried about the situation of her people who were dying because of a great famine.On hearing this Shri Gusainji gave Rajbahadur a piece of prasadi supari (beetlenut) and told him that rain would come soon to Dholka.As soon as Rajbahadur reached Dholka there was heavy rainfall in the whole region.
Once emperor Akbar presented a Parasmani (a precious stone which was capable of producing certain ounces of gold daily) to Shri Gusainji.Shri Gusainji dropped the mani into Shri Yamunaji.On seeing this Akbar was shocked and demanded that the mani be returned to him.On hearing this Shri Gusainji put his hand into Shri Yamunaji and took out many identical parasmanis from the water.He told Akbar to choose and take the mani which he had given to Shri Gusainji.Akbar was spellbound on seeing this.