The Baithakji is situated on the banks of river Machchhu.
This Baithakji has an interesting history. In 1788 (Vikram Samvant 1845), Goswami Shri Bachha Maharaj arrived with his wife Shri Rukmaniji in Gondal. Their unborn child came into his dream and commanded the couple to go to Morbi. The couple followed the commandment and went to Morbi, where their child was born, who was named Shri Jivanji. At the age of just fourteen months old Shri Jivanji, commanded his mother to create a chariot and let it run without any charioteer. Where the chariot stopped, the Baithakji was manifested. Some of the Baithakji’s of Shri Mahaprabhuji are famous since the time He first visited them. Others, like Morbi, manifested afterwards like this by the grace of Shri Krishna.
Shri Mahaprabhuji arrived in Morbi and stayed near the river for a few days. He said to Shri Krishnadas Meghan, “This city was named after the King Mayurdhwaj during the ancient time of Pandavs. This King was the great follower of truthfulness and he was a devotee of the Bhagavad too. At this place, Lord Shri Krishna also came with Arjuna. So, at such a holy place, we will do Shri Bhagavat Purana.”
During His stay, two Pushkara Brahmin brothers living in this village, named Bala and Bada, came to have darshan of Shri Mahaprabhuji. They were both divine souls of previous Lila and therefore Shri Mahaprabhuji gave them darshan as a form of his Purn Purushottam. Due to this darshan, all their senses became pure. They said, “Maharaj, we have been wandering in this materialistic world for a long time. Please, give us salvation.” Shri Mahaprabhuji on hearing this commanded them to take a bath, gave them ‘Naam Nivedan Mantra’ and made his sevakas. Shri Mahaprabhuji changed both their names from Bala and Bada to Shri Bal Krushnadas and Badrayandas respectively. Their story is famous in the book of ‘84 Vaishnava Varta’. Shri Mahaprabhuji taught them the ways of Pushtimarg. They also requested to be allowed to do the Seva of the Lord and Shri Mahaprabhuji allowed them the Seva of Shri BalKrishna Lalji.
This incident explains to us the different forms of divine lives. Shri Mahaprabhuji and many other Goswami Balaks gave salvation to many divine souls. Shri Lalu Bhattji has explained to us about the types of the divine lives in the book ‘Siddhant Rahasya’ that, the divine lives are of three types:
• perfect type
• average type
• inferior type
Shri Mahaprabhuji has explained about all these three types of lives in the book ‘Navratna’. The lives who could do the Darshan of the supernatural forms (the God) in the first attempt are called the perfect divine lives. The lives who came to the debate on the Shastras with Shri Mahaprabhuji and then they understood the supernatural form of Shri Mahaprabhuji and took his shelter are called the average type lives. The lives who just became Vaishnavas hereditary without understanding any forms of the God and came under the God’s shelter are the inferior type lives. But, all these types of lives are accepted by the God through Shri Mahaprabhuji.
In 1979, the Machchhu dam burst and flooded the Baithakji and the surrounding 30-40km of land. The damaged Baithakji was reconstructed by various Goswami Balaks and Saurashtra Vaishnavas with the help of ‘Shri Pushtimargiy Vaishnava Sankat Sahay Samiti’ running the ‘Shri Vallabh Memorial Trust’. A whole new Baithakji was re-constructed with all modern the facilities.
