Shree Yamunaji Utsav
What it is
Shri Yamunaji is the sacred river of Vraj, worshipped in Pushtimarg not as a symbol but as a living, divine person — Prabhu's own consort in the leela, ever-present beside Shrinathji's seva. Tradition holds that when Shri Vallabhacharya first arrived at her banks in Gokul, at Thakurani Ghat, she appeared to him and showed him the ghats herself; recognising her, he praised her in the Yamunashtakam, the eight verses that are still sung in Pushtimarg havelis and homes every day as part of daily seva.
Her name is carried into daily life: water offered in seva, and water for a Vaishnav's own use, is traditionally understood as Yamunaji's own water, not merely water.
Why we observe it
Very little in Pushtimarg is more constantly present than Shri Yamunaji, precisely because she is not confined to one utsav: she is invoked at the start of seva, present in the Yamunashtakam sung daily, and central to the swing celebrations of Thakurani Teej and Hindola, where she sits beside Prabhu on the hindola itself. Her utsav is the one day set aside to give her the full, dedicated attention she otherwise lends to every other day.
A Vaishnav keeping Shri Yamunaji Utsav does well to simply sing the Yamunashtakam with real attention rather than as habit, and to remember that her water and her presence run quietly through seva every single day, not only on the day named for her.