Shri Vitthalnathji’s fourth son was the well-known Shri Gokulnathji. He was born in 1551 AD and married Shri parvatiji. He had three sons and a daughter. He worshipped Shri Krishna in His form of Shri Gokulnathji, a four-armed golden Krishna. Shri Gokulnathji was very famous and composed wonderful literature in Braja Bhasa and Sanskrit. The 84 and 252 Vaishnava Acoounts were given to us by Shri Gokulnathji. Today, there are millions of people who continue to worship Shri Gokulnathji. There many books full of his stories and teachings that have been recorded by his followers. He had great respect for his elder brothers.
Once when someone stole his youngest brother’s Krishna svarupa, Madan Mohanji, Shri Gokunathj vowed, “Whoever stole my brother’s Krishna, their lineage will not continue.
When someone mentioned to him, “What if it is your own son?”
Shri Gokulnathji exclaimed, “Then my lineage will not continue.”
It so happened that it was his own son that did the deed and because of Shri Gokulnathji’s curse, for many generations, there were no sons born into his line and very often an Acharya had to be adopted into the fourth seat.
In a will-recorded incident, a sanyasi by the name of Chidrupa convinced Emperor Jahangir to stop all bhaktas from wearing tulasi necklaces and tilaks. Shri Gokulnathji then went to his summer palace in Kashimir and eventually convinced the ruler to remove the edict. |
