Vallabha’s marriage produced two sons, one of
whom was central in building his sect. While in
the town of Gokula, near Mathura, Vallabha took
the vow to establish his new sect. This new tradi-
tion was all his own, as he had never accepted
anyone as his GURU. The initiatory MANTRA of
his sect was Sri Krishna Sharanam Mama, “Shri
Krishna is my refuge.”
An auspicious miracle soon occurred near
Gokula. An image of Krishna in his pose lift-
ing the mountain Govardhana appeared out of a
cave. It was said that Krishna would only accept
food from the hand of Vallabha. On this spot Val-
labha built a small temple, later supplanted by a
large complex. The temple’s image later had to
be moved to Udaipur in Rajasthan, because of
the Muslim invaders. There it is known as SRI SRI
NAT H J I.
Vallabha now embarked on a journey around
the country that might be described as evan-
gelical. He would debate the proponents of other
systems, sharpen his own principles, and gain fol-
lowers. His message resonated particularly in the
area of Gujarat, thanks to the support of a famous
devotional singer there.
There are many stories of Vallabha’s meeting
with his contemporary SRI CHAITANYA. Both made
the BHAGAVATA PURANA the primary authority and
both took Krishna as the fullest expression of
divinity on Earth. The contrast was between Val-
labha the intellectual, who prescribed worship of
the child Krishna or the cowherd Krishna, and
Chaitanya the ecstatic mystic, who preached “Love
Devotion” based on the relationship between
Krishna and his lover RADHA.
In all Vallabha wrote 17 books in SANSKRIT and
five in medieval Hindi (Braj). All but one of his
Sanskrit “books” were actually brief manuscripts.
His longest book was in Sanskrit, Essays on the
Light of Knowledge, a full exposition of his theol-
ogy. Others of his books in Sanskrit are Vyasa
Sutra Bhashya, Jaimini Sutra Bhasya, Bhagavata
Tika Subodhini, Pushti Pravala Maryada, and Sid-
dhanta Rahasya.
In the last year of his life Vallabha took
vows of renunciation from the world. He wan-
dered as a mendicant for only one year. The
story has it that he plunged into the GANGES
at HANUMAN Ghat in Benares and disappeared
in 1531.
The philosophical system of Sri Vallabhacha-
rya (to call him by his honorific) was technically
called Shuddhadvaita (pure non-dualism). He
did not believe that the world was illusory—all
the universe was Krishna alone. The worldly,
then, is a lower aspect of the divine, but still
an expression of the being of the divinity. In
Vallabha’s system Krishna, as BRAHMAN, or the
ultimate reality, was called Purushottama, the
highest personage.
In practical terms, the Vedanta of Vallabhacha-
rya was similar to that of both RAMANUJA and NIM-
BARKA. God is permanently transcendent; souls
can reach union with God but remain distinct
even in liberation.
Distinctive in Vallabha’s system is the notion
of inherent distinctions among souls. There are
privileged souls who are destined for union with
the divine, and other souls who are destined
for eternal reincarnation without attainment of
liberation (this Vallabha has in common with
Madhva).
His Pushti Marga, or path of grace, is unique.
Pushti literally means “nourishment,” and later
in the sect’s history, this word began to be taken
more literally, and the eating of vast amounts of
PRASADA or sacred food became a sign of the sect.
However, Vallabha seemed to intend “spiritual
nourishment” or “grace.” This effectively means
that human efforts to reach the divine are sec-
ondary; primary are the will and grace of the
divine.
Thus, in terms of the YOGAs of the BHAGAVAD
GITA, the yoga of action (KARMA YOGA), the yoga
of knowledge (JNANA YOGA), and even meditative
yoga (raja yoga) are of almost no importance to
Vallabha. Devotional yoga (BHAKTI YOGA) alone is
enjoined to gain the grace (PUSHTI) of the divine.K 476 Vallabha