ShriMahaPrabhuji-Tavasmi

DHARM (RELIGION) PUSHTIMARG

ShriMahaPrabhuji © COPYRIGHTED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF TAVASMI INC.- 1 -

Hasmukh Shah ([email protected])

'KRISHNA-SWAROOP' - Shrimad Vallabhacharya MahaPrabhuji

Shrimad VallabhaCharyaji – Shri Vallabh - is popularly known as Shri MahaPrabhuji.

He is the Spiritual Guru, A Mystic, A Philosopher and the last prominent Scholar(Acharya) of Hinduism.He is The Guru of Pushti-Bhakti-Marg, the devotional tradition of Hinduism.

ShriVallabh is 'Krishna-Swaroop'.…meansShriVallabh is Bhagwan ShriKrishna-Like.…meansShriVallabh is pure, absoluteBliss ("Anand"),just like Bhagwan ShriKrishna.…meansShriVallabh can bestow a gift of Blissto his most dedicated, selfless disciples,just as Bhagwan ShriKrishna does.…meansShriVallabh is a manifestation of Krishna.…meansShriVallabh is always with us just likeBhagwan ShriKrishna.

ShriVallabh appeared on the earth with specific purpose…..

to bring Bhagwan ShriKrishna's beloved devotees (Pushti-Souls) to Himby reestablishing their relationship with Him

to demonstrate a way of experiencing Bhagwan ShriKrishna's divine Loveby offering Love-Devotion to Bhagwan ShriKrishna

to institutionalize Pushti-Bhakt-Marg to unveil the hidden true meaning of Shrimad Bhagvat

ShriVallabh is the only Guru of PushtiMarg.ShriVallabh is The Guru who reestablishes Pushti-soul's relationship with BhagwanShriKrishna by initiating one with "Brahm-Sambandh Mantra".



ShriVallabh's descendents are known as "GuruDwar" – A Gateway to GuruShriVallabh. They initiate Vaishnavs with Brahm-Sambandh Mantra on behalf ofShriVallabh.

ShriMahaPrabhuji – The Life

He appeared on the earth on the night of theeleventh day of the second half of the month ofChaitrain the Vikram Samvat (Hindu Year) 1535 (1479AD), in a forest called Champaranya (now in thestate of ChhattishGadh in India).

He stayed on the earth for about 52 years until1531 AD.

His father was Shri Laxman Bhatt and his motherwas Shri Illamagaru.

Laxman Bhatt was a scholar of Hindu scriptures Hewas originally from a town called Kankarvad that isnow in the state of Andhra-Pradesh in south-eastIndia. Laxman Bhatt’s Great-Great Grandfather waspromised by Bhagwan ShriKrishna that he would beborn in his family if the family successfully performs 100 Soma-Yagna (a Vedicritual). Laxman Bhatt completed last five of the 100 Soma-Yagna and Shri Vallabh –an incarnation of Bhagwan ShriKrishna – was born as his son.

ShriVallabh was a child prodigy. By the time he was eleven he learned all thescriptures of Hinduism. He was honored with a title of ‘Bal Saraswati’ – A littleGoddess of Knowledge.

Commencing his pilgrimage at a very young age of eleven, ShriVallabh traveledthree times around India. He visited all the holy places and learned about variousother religions then being practiced in India.

The few devotees always accompanied ShriVallabh included Shri DamodardasHarsaniji, Shri Krishnadas Meghan and others.

During his life time, ShriVallabh won many debates but always distributed his winsamong needy Brahmins and other people.

The most famous debate ShriVallabh won was in the great city of VijayNagar.Hundreds of religious scholars from different faiths and philosophies – Shaivs,Shakts, Vaishnavs etc -- of Sanatan Vedic Dharm(Hinduism) were invited by the king of VijayNagar for the great debate. 13-yearyoung ShriVallabh satisfied hundreds of questions the debaters asked andestablished the supremacy of his philosophy of Pure Non-Dualism (Shuddha-AdvaitVaad).



ShriVallabh was offered the greatest honor of 'Kanakabhishek' -- a ritualisticbathing with gold-silver mixed purified water from various pious rivers of the holyplaces of India.

All the debaters and the hundreds of other Brahmins and needy people werepleasantly surprised when ShriVallabh asked to distribute his wins of millionsamong them.

The debate established ShriVallabh as The Most Prominent Acharya at the time. Italso established him as a simple, selfless, egoless and dedicated devotee ofKrishna.

ShriMahaPrabhuji -- The Bethaks

During his travels (pilgrimage), ShriVallabh always preferred to stay on theoutskirts of a town. He loved to be in the natural environment as it gave him anopportunity to meditate peacefully and to immerse himself in Krishna-Sewa.

Many a times, ShriVallabh would be inspired to give a 7-day discourse on hisfavorite scripture – The Shrimad Bhagvat. Shrimad Bhagvat is a scripture that talksabout The Bhagwan (God), The Bhakts (Devotees) and The Bhakti (Devotion). Thisis the reason ShriVallabh loved to recite ShriMad Bhagavt whenever he was inspiredto do so.

The places where he recited ShrimadBhagvat came to be know as"ShriMahaPrabhuji Bethak". There are84 such Bethaks have been identified.Some of the 84 Bethaks are in suchremote and difficult-to-reach placesthat one wonders what painsShriVallabh must have taken to be inthose places. Each Bethak has its owninspiring story that guides

Vaishnavs even today.

These Bethaks are places of pilgrimage for Vaishnavs. The most prominent Bethakis The Champaranya Bethak. It is the place where ShriVallabh appeared (born) andrevisited later to recite Shrimad Bhagvat.

PushtiMarg Initiation – Brahm-Sambandh Mantra

This re-establishment of soul’s relationship with Bhagwan ShriKrishna is carriedout by administering The Brahm-Sambandh Mantra to the individualsouls.

This Mantra was given to MahaPrabhu Shrimad Vallabhacharyaji byShriKrishna-ShriNathji Himself at midnight on the eleventh day (Ekadashi) of thefirst half of the month of Shravan in the Hindu year 1549 (1493 AD).



The day is known as "Pavitra-Ekadashi"and is celebrated as the Day whenPushtiMarg was born. On this day, PushtiGurus and Vaishnavs offer "Pavitra"to ShriNathji Prabhu.

Shri DamodarDas Harsaniji was the firstvaishnav to be initiated into PushtiMarg byreceiving Brahm-Sambandh from ShriMahaPrabhuji. Upon receiving initiation,Shri Harsaniji offered a "Pavitra" to hisGuru ShriVallabh. The day is known as"Pavitra Barash". On this day, vaishnavs

offer "Pavita" to Shri Vallabh and his descendents who have initiated them intoPushtiMarg.

The Meaning of The Brahm-Sambandh Mantra

It has been ages since I have separated from ShriKrishna. I do not experience theanguish of separation from Him. Such as I am, I willingly dedicate my Body, mySenses, my LifeForce, my AntahKaran (Mind + Intellect + Ego + Consciousness)and their attributes, my spouse, my home, my children, my relatives/friends, mywealth, this world & the other world that I call mine, my conscience andeverything else I call mine to ShriKrishna.I am your servant.Krishna, I am Yours ! Krishna, I am Yours ! Krishna, I am Yours ! “

ShriVallabh's First Meeting with ShriNathji atop Mount ShriGirirajji

On the 12th day of the first half (“Sud”) of the month of Shravan in Vikram-Samvat1549, ShriVallabh, with His five disciples, came to a VrajVaasi called Sadu Pande’shome in the village of Anyor near Mount Giriraj (Govardhan). Sadu Pande and hisfamily, including his lovely daughter Naro, welcomed them in their modest home.ShriVallabh explained to Sadu Pande and other Vrajvaasis that he was there tomeet their Mountain God Devdaman.

Next morning, Shri Vallabh askedpermission from ShriGirirajji to climb upthe Mount Giriraj. When He reached halfway, Devdaman (ShriNathji) came outand started running towards ShriVallabh.

They lovingly embraced each other.It was their first face-to-face meeting.

This meeting is popularly known as“Pratham Milan”.



Gods showered flowers on them. The birds – peacocks, parrots, doves – startedsinging merrily. Monkeys started jumping in joy. Cows showed their happiness byloving their calves. The atmosphere was filled with sweet-smelling fragrance offlowers that the slowing moving winds spread all around.

Mother Nature wholeheartedly celebrated the “Pratham Milan”.

When ShriVallabh met ShriNathji for the first time, He became ecstatic with joy andwas overwhelmed with His love for ShriNathji. ShriVallabh was spellbound byShriNathji’s charismatic, enchanting personality that He started singing a songpraising ShriNathji’s irresistible beauty.

The song came to be known as“Madhura-shtakam”.

Madhura means Charming, Lovely, DivineAshtakam means A song with eight versesMadhurashtakam means A song of eight verses about

ShriNathji-ShriKrishna’s charming loveliness

ShriMahaPrabhuji's "Aasur-Vyamoh Leela"

We, the mortals, take birth and die. As long as we harbor desires and do everythingin our power to fulfill them, we continue to go through the cycle of birth and death.

ShriMahaPrabhuji is not mortal like us. He is Bhagwan ShriKrishna-like.So, he does not take birth or die, like us.

Just like Bhagwan ShriKrishna, ShriMahaPrabhuji always exist.

ShriVallabh's appearance ("Pragatya")means thatwe, the mortals, can see-hear him.

ShriVallabh's disappearance ("Tirobhav")means thatwe, the mortals, can not see-hear him.

Consider an example of the Stars in thesky. During the day, we can not see thestars and during the night we can seethem. Our inability to see stars does notmean that the stars do not exist.

Stars seem to appear and disappear even though they always exist.

Similarly,ShriVallabh seems to appear and disappear even though he always exist.

ShriMahaPrabhuji appeared on the earth to do Bhagwan ShriKrishna's work andwhen Bhagwan ShriKrishna asked him leave earth, ShriVallabh disappeared.



ShriVallabh's apparent disappearance from earth is known as "Aasur-Vyamoh-Leela".

"Aasur" means non-Pushti-souls."Vyamoh" means to trick someone to believe otherwise.

Thus, for all non-Pushti-souls, ShriVallabh seemed to disappeareven thoughShriVallabh always exist for all Pushti-souls.

For a Vaishnav, it takes complete unconditional submission to, total unselfishdedication to, and absolute faith in ShriVallabh; to see-hear-experience ShriVallabhanywhere, anytime.

ShriVallabh's Philosophy of Pure-Non-Dualism

Non-Dualism (“Advait”) means Oneness.Pure-Non-Dualism (“Shuddha-Advait”) means AbsoluteOneness.

Based on his understanding of Hindu scriptures -- TheVedas, The BrhmaSutras, The Bhagvad Geeta and ShrimadBhagvat -- ShriVallabh evolved the philosophy of“Shuddhadwait”.

ShriVallabh established that the Universe (“Jagat”) as wellas all the animate and inanimate objects (“Jeev”) are not

different from The Supreme Being – Bhgawan ShriKrishna.

They are one in the sense that the universe and the objects are part of ShriKrishna.

ShriKrishna exists in each of the objects in the entire universeandall the objects of the universe are contained within ShriKrishna.

Also,Since Bhagwan ShriKrishna is Real (The Truth),The universe and the objects within are Real.

In ShriVallabh’s time there was a very widespread theory in Hinduism thatBhagwan is Real (The Truth),but the universe and its objects, created by Bhagwan,are Un-Real (False – An Illusion).

This theory meant that the objects we see and feel in our daily life – the trees, themountains, the birds, the animals, the people and even ourselves – are all Un-Real(an Illusion).As our daily experience is different, it is impossible to accept such a theory and soShriVallabh proved the theory to be wrong and baseless.



He proved thatBhagwan ShriKrishna created the universe and all its objects from Himself.Meaning all objects are part of ShriKrishna.

Now, if Bhagwan ShriKrishna is RealThen any object created out of Him has to be Real.Thus, Bhawan ShriKrishna, The Universe, The objects are all Real.

The only issue is thatwe can easily see/feel/touch/hear/smell the objects of the universebut we can not easily see/feel/hear/experience Bhagwan ShriKrishnaunless He decides to give us an ability to see/feel/hear/experience Him.

ShriVallabh's PushtiMarg

PushtiMarg is a practical application of Philosophy of Pure-Non-Dualism.

PushtiMarg means …….

Pushti Sustenance, Support, Encouragement(provided by ShriKrishna-ShriNathji to aVaishnav)

Marg Path, Method

PushtiMarg is The Path of Grace… That promises that devotees’ efforts shall

be sustained by ShriNathji Himself.

PushtiMarg is The Path of Love-Devotion… To completely surrender to ShriNathji. To have total faith in ShriNathji. To offer selfless love and devotion only to ShriNathji

without seeking anything but His Love. To experience the Bliss of ShriKrishna’s love.

PushtiMarg shows the way of practicing Love-Devotion for ShriKrishna.

Shri Vallabh's 84 Vaishnavs

ShriVallabh initiated many worthy individuals into PushtiMarg, irrespective of theircaste, creed, race.

Eighty four of these Vaishnavs are prominent and stories about them have beendocumented in order to guide the generations of Vaishnavs for centuries.

These "84-Vaishnav-Varta", forming the backbone of Vaishnav code-of-conduct, arebeing read, understood and followed by millions of Vaishnavs for ages.

These 84-Vaishanv-stories are a must-read for every Vaishnav.



Why people were attracted to PushtiMarg?

Before ShriVallabh, the many paths of devotion, paths ofKnowledge and paths of Action discriminated against womenand shudras (people doing laborer's work and at the bottomof social structure of India).

The women and the shudras had no path available to them fortheir spiritual upliftment.

ShriVallabh showed the way of Love-Devotion for ShriKrishnaand invited women and shudras to follow the path. This was arevolutionary step for ShriVallabh to take in those days andtimes. ShriVallabh took the support of Shrimad Bhagvat anddemonstrated that Gopis – the women of Vraj – offered theirpure love to ShriKrishna and in return experienced the bliss of ShriKrishna's divinelove.

He also demonstrated that it is possible for anyone with selfless dedication anddemand-less love for ShriKrishna can experience ShriKrishna's divine love anytime,anywhere.

This universality of ShriVallabh's PushtiMarg attracted people to him and his way.

His many disciples included women, shudras, muslims along with Brahmins, rajputsand vaishyas.

‘Shodash Granth’ – The Sixteen Books

ShriVallabh has written extensively on Hindu scriptures including the mostauthentic commentary on Shrimad Bhagvat, known as "Shri Subodhiniji".

For guiding Vaishnavs on the Path of Love-Devotion, Shri Vallabh wrote thefollowing sixteen books during his lifetime.

It is an obligation for a Vaishnav to study and understand these sixteen books andassimilate its teaching in his/her life.

No. Granth – The Book Theme01 Yamunashtak In Praise of Shri Yamunaji02 Baal-Bodh Explaining Various Paths of Liberation (Moksh)03 Siddhant-Muktavali Introducing PushtiBhaktiMarg Philosophy04 Pushti-Pravah-Maryada Analysis of different types of Devotees05 Siddhant-Rahasya Obligations of a Vaishnav after initiation in

PushtiBhaktiMarg by Brahm-Sambandh06 Nav-Ratna Solution to the doubts/worries/uncertainties on the

Path of Love-Devotion07 Antah-Karan-Prabodh Addressing one’s own Consciousness



08 Vivek-Dhairya-Aashrya Learning the virtues of Discernment, Patience, andRefuge

09 Krishnashray Total Faith in ShriKrishna is the only Salvation10 Chatuh-Shloki Pursuits of a Vaishnav Life11 Bhakti-Vardhini Strengthening Love-Devotion for Krishna12 Jal-Bhed Analysis of different kinds of Preachers13 Panch-Padya Analysis of different kinds of Devotee Listeners14 Sanyas-Nirnaya Renunciation in the Path of Love-Devotion15 Nirodh-Lakshan Redirecting feelings-thoughts-attention towards

Krishna16 Sewa-Phal Results of Krishna-Sewa

PushtiMarg's Devotee-Poet-AshtaSakha Shri Surdasjisays in his "Ashray-Pad":

Dhradh in charanan kero bharonso … Dhradh in charanan keroShri Vallabh nakh chandra chhataa bin … sab jag manz andhero

Saadhan aur nahi ya kali mein … ja so hoy nibero‘Sur’ kaha kahe dvi-vidh aandharo … bina mol ko chero

-----------------------------------------------------------------I have an unwavering & absolute faith in my Spiritual Guru Shri Vallabh

without whose presence, total darkness (of ignorance) would prevail in the world.In this darkest of the times (Kali-Yug) what other means we have but

An unwavering & absolute faith in Him.I, ‘Surdas’, state that I am blind in two ways.

I am blind as I can not see the world AndI am blind as I can not see any difference between

ShriNathji, the God & ShriVallabh, The Guru. I offer my unconditional servitudeto them.

ShriMahaPrabhuji-Tavasmi

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