PREFACE. Jai Shri Krishna!. Introduction

PREFACE

Today, in new generation, our children are mostly studying in English medium. They are not able to read our mother tongue – Gujarati. Naturally, they do not know anything about the principles of Shri Pushti Marg. All vaishnavas are anxiously waiting for the English - Editions of our religious Text.

With the blessings of Pushti Path Darshak Acharya Shrimad Vallabhacharyaji, the sacred text of his important works - Shodash Granthaha - is published in English lo make it easy for those who cannot read Gujarati by Antar Rastriya Pushti Margiya Vaishnav Parishad, Ghatkopar Branch.

We are thankful to well-known author and editor of Pushtimargiya literature, Shri Rameshchandra Nathalal Shah who has voluntarily accepted the on ours task of editing and publishing this edition for us.

We are also thankful to all vaishnavas who have contributed financial toward the publication of this edition as well as in any other way.

Jai Shri Krishna!

| Ghatkopar Branch |

ANTAR RASTRIYA PUSHTI MARGIYA VAISHNAV PARISHAD

Mumbai - 400 086.

Introduction

Shri Mulcnandra Telivala (1887-1927), was a formest scholar and exponent of the Shuddhadvaita brahmavada of Shri Vallabhachapaji. He was possessed or indefatigable energy, indomitable will and unflinching faith in God and the higher values of life and, thouqh he left for heavenly abode at the early age of thirtynine years, he collected manucripts of Vallabhacharyaji's works from various sources, throughly researched them, edited with all the available commentaries, and published them with the financial help from different sources.

But for him, we would have lost most of the valuable works of Acharya due to negligence and indifference. This article is reprinted form – Shuddhadwaita Brahmavada (The complete work of M. T. Teliwala) – published by Anand Prakashan Santhan (Varanasi) in 1980 and edited by Shri Kedarnath Mishra. Which we are grateful to acknowledge here with.

Shrimad Vallabhacharyaji, the great Acharya, Propont of Pushti Marga was born on the 11th day of the dark half of the Chaitra, v. s 1535 (1479 A. D), in the forest of Champa near Raipur. His father was Lakshmana Bhatta, and Yallammagaru was his mother. He was a Telugu Brahmana studying the Taittiriya Sakha of the Black Yajurveda, Vallabha's birth is shrouded in the mysteries of the devotional beliefs of his followers but one thing is certain that his followers believed that he was commissioned by god to inaugurate a great religious revival in India, From the writing of Vallabha which are available now, we can say that this belief was shared by himself also. It is not an uncommon phenomenon in India. Ramanuja, Madhav, Nimbarka, Chaitanya, and several other great teachers did believed in their special missions to the world.

Vallabha's ancestors were Dikshitas, and were devoted to Krishna in the form of Gopala, The svarupa of Madana-mohanaji in the seventh Pithas the one which came to him from his sixth ancestor Yajna Narayana Bhatta. It is possible that Vallabha's father Lakshmana Bhatta and his ancestors were the Upasakas of Gopala according to the cult of Vishnusvamin.

The early years of Vallabha were passed by him with his father at Benares, where he is said to have mastered all the Vedas, six Darshanas, and all schools of Astika and Nastika thinkers. He studied the Shaiva and Vaishnava agamas. When Vallabha was comparatively young, his father died. Vallabha wanted to study the Vaishnava system of Madhva, Ramanuja, Nimbarka and others, and seeing that they were not prevalent there, in orders to have direct knowledge, he is said to have proceeded to the south. Vallabha's desire to go to the south of Indian was very natural. During that time there was the powerful Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara or Vidya-nagara, over which ruled the mighty monarch Krishnadeva-raya, himself a great Vaishnava.

During his time, it seems a convention was held of the representatives of all the existing Sampradayas. The session seems to have been going on when Vallabha visited Vijaya-nagara. The main dispute seems to have been between Vyasa-tirtha, the Madhva, and some representatives of Mayavadins. It seems also clear that the Dvaita philosophy of the Madhva’s could not hold its own against the attacks of Shankaras. At this juncture Vallabha seems to have baffled all by his great learning and powerful arguments. We see no reason to doubt this fact. The author of a recently discovered work Vyasa-yoga-charitam, from Vyasa-raya Matha, does chronicle the fact that Vallabacharya was honoured by the king Krishnadeva-raya under the presidentship of the then famous Madhva Swami Vyasa-tirtha.

Vallabha's position was peculiar. He accepted Advaita pure and simple without the interference of the Mayavada of Shankara; hence all the attacks advanced by Madhva’s and others against Advaita lost their force as against him. His acceptance of 'advaita-purvaka-bhakti' disarmed the opposition of both Vaishnavas and Shankaras.

The position taken up by Vallabha was not all together singular. We believe that Narayana Bhatta, the author of the famous drama Venisamhara, was the follower of a system of philosophy which combined in itself the pure Advaita of the Upanishads and the Bhakti-marga. Whatever that may be, it is certain that Vallabha made a great impression on king Krishnadeva, Vyasa-tirtha and others who were present there. In consequence of this session, the king performed a 'Kanakabhisheka' with hundred mounds of gold. It is said that Vallabha did not accept this gold and began to commence his travels. This abstinence on the part of Vallabha added to the admiration of all those present for him. Vyasa-tirtha, the Madhva, actually requested him to be the head priest of his matha after him. Vyasa-tirtha with king Krishna-deva again approached Vallabha and presented him with a good many valuables. From these presents Vallabha is said to have prepared a golden mekhala set with diamonds, rubies etc., and presented the same to Shri Vitthala in the Vitthala-swami temple at Vijaya-nagar. Ultimately, it appears Vallabha could not conscientiously accept the offer of Vyasa-tirtha, but from this time Vallabha came to be regarded as a great Acharya.

Before this, he seems to have met with great opposition from the Mayavadi Pandits of Benares. In order to silence them forever, Vallabha wrote out a pamphlet in mixed verse and prose and affixed the same to the doors of the Kashi Vishvanatha Temple, with a challenge to Benaras's Pandits to refute the same, if they could. One Upendra was the leader of the opposition. It seems this discussion ended into threats of personal violence, as a consequence of which Vallabha left Benares and moved over to Adel on the opposite bank of the Ganga. This work seems to have created a great stir in the world of scholars then living. It would be rather hazardous to say that the true view of Vyasa can be determined from the statement of the opponents.

Assuming however that it is so, the opponents mention both Parinama and Vivarta as the view of Vyasa. Hence from the statements of opponent Sankhyas and Naiyayikas it is impossible to come to the conclusion that Vyasa teaches Vivarta alone in his Brahma-sutras.

The last days on his life was passed at Adel, where be finished his works which were begun by him during his travels, and served Lord Krishna with the love and devotion of Gopis, and founded his systems on it. At the age of 52 he left his pamsala, joined the Samnyasa ashrama and came to Benaras. For a month he observed fast, and for the last eight day he observed mauna-vrata, and on the end day of the bright half of Asadha Samvat 1587, he left this world in the mid-day – Ashurvyamoh Lila.

Vallabha married one Maha-Lakshmi. By her he had two sons, Gopinatha and Vitthaleshvara. Gopinatha had one son named Purushottam, after whom his line became extinct, Vitthaleshvara lived over seventy years. He had seven sons. During his time the Sampradaya flourished very considerably. Todarmal, Birbal, and Raya: Purushottama seem to have come under his influence. Akbar also presented him with Gokula and Jatipura in Vraja. All the present Goswamis are direct descendants of Vitthaleshvara.

While he was staying in the north of India, Vallabhacharya came into contact with Keshava Kashmiri, the famous Nimbarka scholar and Chaitanya, the Bengal saint. They were both Krusnopashadas, and it seems from sampradayika gathas that their relations were very cordial. Keshava presented his pupil Madhava Bhatta' Kashmiri to Vallabha in Dakshina of Bhagavata-katha-shravana. He became his devout disciple, and during his whole life acted as the scribe of Shri Vallabha. It seems that during Madhava Bhatta's stay with him at Adel, Vallabha composed his numerous works. During that interval Vallabha wrote Purva-mimamsa-bhashya, Brahma-sutra-bhashya, Tattva-dipa-nibandha with his own commentary, Sukshma-tika and Subodhini on Shrimad-bhagavata, and the sixteen Prakarana-grantha giving in brief the essence of his views. It is really unfortunate that only a fragment of his Purva-mimamsa-bhashya is available now.

Anu-bhashya, as we have it now, is not wholly written by him. The last adhyaya and a half of the Bhashya is finished by his son Vitthaleshvara. Sukshma-tika is almost lost. Even Pushti-pravaha-maryada-bheda, one of the minor prakaranas, is not available as a whole. The Bhagavata-subodhini is available only on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 10th and a portion of 11th skandhas. It is possible that Vallabha wrote on all the skandhas. The loss of these valuable works seems to have been due partly to the apathy of his descendants and followers.

During his visit to Vraja, Vallabha set up the shrine of Shri Nathaji on the holy hill Govardhana in a temple built for that purpose by Purna-malla-kshatriya. There Vallabhacharya used to pass his chatur-masa i-e, Asadha shukla eleventh to Kartika shukla eleventh every year. Here he developed the aesthetic side of Vaishnavism by refining and perfecting the mode of worship – Seva-marga. During his stay in Vraja, on the midnight of 11th day of the bright half of Shravana, he says he had holy communion with Lord Krishna, who commanded him. to initiate jivas in his service. This initiation consists of two parts; one is the formula to be repeated by the aspirant before the deity by holding Tulasi-leaves in hand and afterwards placing the same at the feet of the deity through Acharya, and the other part is the effect of the same, on the devotee, by which he becomes the adhikari in the seva-marga of Lord Shrikrushna.

In the introduction to Siddhanta-rahasya we have at length explained the ceremony of initiation and philosophical reasoning on which it was based. A person so initiated was considered to be a member of the Pushtimarga, a path to approach God through his singular grace alone. In " Pushtipravah Maryada" Vallabhacharya tries in distinguish this Pushti-marga from the so called Maryada-marga and Pravaha-marga. By a description of the characteristic featured of these Margas, he tries to bring out the excellence of the Pushti marga as compared with the Maryada and Pravaha. The condition political, social and religious then prevailing in India seem to have made Vallabhacharya very skeptical and nervous as to the future of the Vedamarga or Maryada-marga as he calls it. A vivid picture of this degradation is drawn by him in another of his Prakarana-grantha Krishnashraya. The country surrounding the holy rivers the Yamuna and the Ganga was overrun by Mohammedans. The kingdom of the great Krishnadeva Raya in whose court at Vijaya-nagara Vallabhacharya gained distinction as one of the greatest Acharya then living, was under the perpetual terror of neighboring Mohammedan kingdoms of the Bahamani Dynasty, and its disruption appeared to him to be a question of time. After the death of Krishnadeva Raya, such a time did arrive, and during the regime of weaklings who succeeded Krishnadeva, we find the five Mohammedan kings of the Bahamani Dynasty did combine of overthrow the Hindi Kingdom of Vijaya-nagara and they actually succeeded in destroying the same in 1565 A. D., in the battle of Talikota.

This being the condition of India the very existence of the Vedic civilization seemed to Vallabhacharya to be in peril. Numerous writers before him had painted the picture of Vedic religion in colors which made it difficult, if not impossible, to be recognized. Even then after removing ail the false colors and showing it in true perspective it was a great problem to put the same in practice in an acceptable form, having regard to the disturbed state of society then existing in India. Vallabhacharya seems to have devoted much anxious thought to this problem. The problem before him was two-fold, first he was to present the true pictures of Vedic religion, and secondly how he was to save mankind, degenerated and distracted as it was, on the basis of the same. These questions seem to have troubled him most. He found it impossible to solve this problem through human agency. It was in the moments of holy communion and divine inspiration, that a mode of worship was revealed to Vallabha. Divine grace was the essence of this mode of worship. Hence following ‘posanam tadanugrahah' – (Bha. 1. 10. 4) a sentence in the Bhagavata, he named this mode as Pushti-marga.

The conception of this Pushti-marga was based on a very broad basis Traivarnikas and Non-traivarnikas, males and females can specially be adhikari in this path. The position of the female was.. syaled to an extent unknown to Vedic times. The conceptions of the Highest Deity, human soul, universe etc. were accepted on the basis on the Vedic doctrine of Brahma-vada, but the process of sadhana was based purely on love generated by the singular grace of the Supreme Deity. The Grace Divine was to act in inverse ratio of the individual's attachment to Veda and Loka. The lesser the attachment to Loka and Veda, the deeper became the attachment's in the Supreme Deity. Such love devoid of upadhi and badhi was the lilas of the Divine Grace. Without love the mode of worship was not seva, but a puja. Hence the first requisite was the Grace Divine, which in the turn generated love towards the Supreme Deity and non- attachment towards the allurements of Veda and loka. This could be achieved only by a complete self-surrender to the Supreme Deity.

Hence this vow of 'samarpana, the sadhaka had to take at the time of initiation. Taking, this vow as the beginning, and realization of the Supreme was the end of this Pushti-marga, while the stage between the two ends was to be passed through the process of what are called anuja and vittaja seva. This process gradually eliminates the objectionable features of Ahanta and mamata, and generates a mental attitude in which the presence of the Supreme Deity is always experienced.

To distinguish this Pushti-marga from the Maryada and the Pravaha, Vallabhacharya first explained the existence of these margas. The existence of Bhakti-marga-path of devotion pre-supposes the existence of Pushti which itself is the finest flower of the bhakti-marga. The observance of the Vedic rites and Vedic Jnana moves the existence of Maryada-marga. Those who follow only worldly pursuits are said to follow the Pravaha-marga. The bhajana in Pushti-marga is due to love alone. This bhajana is not based on the injunctions of the Veda, nor on worldly selfishness. Hence the devotee who becomes the recipient of the singular grace of the Supreme Deity gives up his faith (astha) both in Loka and Veda. The soul elect attains his status through Divine Grace alone unfettered by Vedic rules and worldly demands. Such a soul is the specially favoured one and naturally he is considered to have reached the highest stage. the difficulty to reach this stage is emphasized by Krushna in Kasaideva hi bhakto hi yo madbhakta itiranat.

Thus the Pushti-Soul is distinct from the Maryada-Soul as well as Pravaha-Soul. The distinction was first inferred from the fact that the. Pushti-Soul's sole dependence is on the grace of the Supreme Deity, that of Maryada-Soul on Vedic injunction, that of Pravaha-Soul on worldly pursuit. This distinction is due to difference in the mode of creation of each of these Souls. The Highest Deity is sat, chit, ananda. He creates Pravaha-srushti through manas, maryada-srushti through vachas, and Pushti-srushti through kaya or ananda Shri-anga. Pravaha-srushti is sadamsa pradhana, maryada-srushti chidama's pradhana, while Pushti-srushti is anandama's pradhana. The Pushti-Soul is guided by the dictates of love of God, Maryada-Soul by vachas – Words of God spoken in Veda and Pravaha-Soul by the will -manas of Lord. The phala of Pravaha-Soul depends on muleccha – will of God, that of Maryada-Soul on the Vedic words, and that of Pushti-Soul on Purushottama – ananda-kaya. The Pravaha-Soul gets only birth and death, the Maryada-Soul Vedic moksha, and the Pushti-Soul pravesha – entrance in lila-srushti. From this it appears that Vallabhacharya regards the Pushti-Soul as different both from Maryada-Soul and Pravaha Soul. The Pushti-Soul is meant for the service of the svarupa of Lord, and for no other objects. Between Pushti-Soul who has reached the highest Stage and the Supreme Deity there is no taratamya So far as svarupa, avatara, external sign, attributes, action or vigraha except that which is absolutely essential for the perfection of the Divine play. Such a soul being created from kaya (kaya anandah), ananda-svarupa essentially resembles the lord in svarupa. He is like Him atirohta Sacchidananda. Just as the Lord comes down in the world making Sativa as His adhistana or basis, so also has he in this world sattva as his basis. Like the lord has also marks such as kamala, dhvaja, vajra, ankus'a etc. Like the lord he has six gunas aishvarya etc. Shruit's like 'eko'ham, ‘'bahu syam, 'sa.. ekaki na ramate, sa dvityam aicchat.. patisca paint cabhavatam', refer to such a soul. The Pushti- Soul is mukta and shuddha. He is Lila-shrustisha. He is the true recipient of the Divine Grace-Pushti. Avirbhava – manifestation of the Lord is his phala and not moksha.

The Pushti-Soul of this pure type is an extremely rare thing. In the mass we find souls whose inclinations are mixed. Such mixed souls have also their scope in the Divine Fair. Pushti-Souls with Pushti become sarvajna. Pushti-Souls with Pravaha become engrossed in actions pertaining to God, and those with maryada devote themselves to gunas of God while a Pushti-Soul with love alone is rare.

To the Pushti-Soul God manifested is phal in this and the next life. A Pushti-Soul very often becomes subjected to other influences, then he is called Mishra-Pushti-Soul. He does not ultimately suffer even when there is a curse in case of Egotism. He has to suffer for a purpose and when that purpose is served, he also becomes pure. His pari-nishtha being in God alone, the Jaukika and Vedic activities followed by him are without astha. He is placed in that position, so he seems to follow those activities, though his goal is bhagavat-prapatti alone. His vaishnavatva is sahaja – natural, while his other activities are due to the circumstances in which he is somehow placed. A Pushti- Soul having come in Pravaha does not ultimately suffer from the shortcomings of Pravaha; the grace of Lord on which he depends, saves him there also.

After describing the characteristics of a Pushti-Soul, Vallabhacharya describes who are called Sambandhi-Souls. They wander always. They don't really belong to any class, but becomes such on account of their contact with souls of such a class. They are known as charsani. They have no definite inclination. They have their fruits according to their actions.

Pravaha-Souls are described by Krishna in 'Pravrittim. They are of two sorts. One class is known as durjna and other as ajna. The durjnas are real asuras, while ajnas are those who follow durjnas. Thus asuratva of ajna being due to an extraneous cause, may disappear, while the durjnas disappear into maya.

The soul elect is a peculiar soul who though appearing sometimes different, never ceases to be as such. His pramana, prameya, sadhana and phala is Lord Krishna alone. Such a soul may belong to any sex, class, or race, but if he has the requisite prapatti – sole dependence on God, He alone saves him. Such dependence is not possible in the absence of the purest love, and such love is impossible in the absence of the Grace of God. For this reason Vallabhacharya declares that the sine quo none of the adhikari in Pushti Marga is the anugraha of the Supreme Deity.

This article was written as a preface to the edition of Pushtipravahamaryada Granth.

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प ् र ा त ः स ् म र ण