Vallabhacharya of sixteenth century.

[Guest guest]

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