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Vallabhacharya of sixteenth century.

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Eswar Josyula • August 6, 1995 


Sadagopan writes:

>Eswar Josyula referred to  an Acharya of tha above name as  a >proponent of
Rura
>Sampradhayam. There is a famous Vallabhacharya, who is the founder of >the
Pushti
>Marg  Vaishnava worship of  Lord of Govardhan. He lived between A.D >1478-
1530.
>Lord of Govardhan is known as Sri Nathji.He is the prime  deity for >Pushti
>marfgis.Vallabhacharya built the first  temple for him in Mt. >Govardhan in the
>year A.D 1519.Gaudiya Vaishnavas shared the worship of Sri Nathji at >one time
>?and the split emerged between the two sampradhayas. That sacred deity
>worshipped
>by Vallabha now resides at a small town (Nathdwara), 20 miles  away  >from
>Udaipur as  a result of fear  about Aurangazeb's invasion of the  area >near
>Govardhan .  Vallabha established the Pushtimargi"s way of offering >Seva
instead
>of Puja to Sri Nathji.Seva is performed out of sheer love for the >deity
instead
>of more formal puja. Thus Vallabha is a major figure in a tradition >that has
>thrived in the North.  Hence the Vallabhacharya referred to by Eswar >may be
>another one associated with the Rudra Sampradhayam.

>Sadagopan

No, that is the same Vallabhacraya that I referred to as being from the Rudra
Sampradayam.  Perhaps the name of Visnuswami (of 13th century) is more known as
being the prominent acarya of the Rudra sampradayam.  Vallabcharya was the
disciple of the disciple of Visnuswami.  

The two references of Vallabhcharya as belonging to the Rudra sampradam are:
1.  The spiritual heritage of India by Swami Prabhavananda
2.  The Nectar of Devotion by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

The philosophy of Vallabhcharya is Suddhadvaita that is pure non-dualism.
Another earlier Visnuswami in their line installed the Varadaraja temple in
Kanchi.

The terms pushti marga is explained by Swami Prabhupada.  The persons who are
always engaged in thinking of the Lord as their husband, friend, father and
well-wisher are always worshipable by everyone.  This process of devotional
service which is spontaneous development of love for Krsna is sometimes called
as pushti marga or nourishing path.  

Vallabhacarya of the Rudra Vaisnava samprdaya and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of the
Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya were contemporaries and had mutual admiration for
each other. The relationship of the Gaudiyas to the Srinathji temple in
Nathdwara, Rajasthan is due to Madhvendra Puri who is the guru of the guru of
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.  Madhvendra Puri was the one who revived the deity of
Srinathji from some bushes in Vrndavan and installed on Govardhan hill.  But due
to fear of Moslems, the deity was moved from there.

The great devotee Lilasuka or Bilwamangala who later became Surdas had taken
initiation in the Rudra Sampradayam. There is one interesting incident of Surdas
in Srinathji temple.  Surdas was blind man. He was sitting behind the curtain
with other people, waiting for the Lord to be dressed up and the curtain to be
opened.  Surdas started describing the Lord, the clothes and decorations He was
wearing.  After the curtain was opened the description in the song fit the Lord
exactl!y!

-Eswar