Today is the auspicious day of Varuthini Ekadasi on the traditional Hindu calendar. It is also the birthday of the great poet, saint and philosopher Sri Vallabhacharya, who propagated the Pushtimarga Sampradayam of Bhakti.
A short thread on him and his life.
☺🙏
A short thread on him and his life.
☺🙏
Vallabhacharya was born to the pious couple Kambhampati Lakshmana Bhatta and Ellamma, natives of Kakaravada, in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. The couple was on a Theertha Yatra to Kashi and halted outskirts of Raipur in Madhya Pradesh. Vallabhacharya was born there.☺🙏
The couple reached Kashi, where they settled down for a few years. Vallabha was educated here in the Vedas and the Shad Darshanas. From childhood he was attracted towards the concept of Krishna Bhakti. That is what finally consumed him and created his school of thought. ☺🙏
His Bhakti was strengthened when he traveled to Vrindavan. There he had the Darshan of Lord Banke Bihariji and other temples and stayed there for a while. He performed the Govardhana Parikrama several times and decided to settle in Braj Bhoomi. ☺🙏
But this wasn't going to happen immediately. He traveled to Mathura and around those places. He saw hundreds of demolished temples. The locals had lost touch with their own rituals and traditions over centuries. They were helpless. He decided to do something about it.
He churned out ideas from the existing schools of thought like Advaita, Visishtadvaita and Dwaita. He decided this land required spiritual nourishment. He called his new philosophy 'Pushtimarga', or the way of nourishment. Here Krishna Bhakti was the focus. And in simple ways☺️🙏
Vallabhacharya wanted to remain a Brahmachari. But many traditional rituals and practices would not permit that. He required to be a Grihasta. So he finally agreed to marry Mahalakshmi, according to the Telugu Velanadu Brahmin tradition and had two sons. Gopinatha and Vitthala.
Vallabhacharya took several long pilgrimages to different Theertha Kshetras.
He followed strict rules of a pilgrim. No stitched clothes, traveling only barefoot, and living outside a village. Wherever he went he conducted Parayanams of the Shrimad Bhagwata Puranam. ☺️🙏
He followed strict rules of a pilgrim. No stitched clothes, traveling only barefoot, and living outside a village. Wherever he went he conducted Parayanams of the Shrimad Bhagwata Puranam. ☺️🙏
He would narrate the Leelas of Lord Krishna to everyone going beyond the barriers of gender and caste. The 84 places he traveled to are called 'Chaurasi Baithak'.
He also rediscovered and installed the idol of Shrinathji in Nathdwara. He set a new format for worship.
He also rediscovered and installed the idol of Shrinathji in Nathdwara. He set a new format for worship.
Sri Vallabhacharya spread his philosophy of Pushtimarga across the region. His Upanyasams inculcated Bhakti in thousands of people giving them solace. He had four primary disciples – the first was Kumbhandas, then the famous poet Surdas, Krishnadas and Paramanandadas. ☺️🙏
Vallabhacharya traveled to the South several times. Once there was a debate of various schools of philosophy in the court of Sri Krishna Devaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire. He also participated in it and won several arguments. The king performed a 'Kanakabhishekam' for him. ☺️🙏
Being a master of Sanskrit, Vallabhacharya wrote a number of important philosophical works. His 'Anubhashyam' is a commentary on the Brahmasutra Bhashyam.
There are also works like Siddhantamuktavali, Pushtipravahamaryadabhedah, Siddhanta Rahasyam, Bhaktivardhini and others. 🙏
There are also works like Siddhantamuktavali, Pushtipravahamaryadabhedah, Siddhanta Rahasyam, Bhaktivardhini and others. 🙏
Other than the Sodashagrantha or the 16 treatises, one of my personal favourites is the 'Sri Subhodini' which is from the Srimad Bhagawatam. Vallabhacharya's commentary on the love games of lord Krishna is beautiful! Only after Jayadeva's magnum opus! 😍
Vallabhacharya wrote a number of Stotrams in praise of Lord Krishna. Yamunashtakam, Jalabhedastotram and so on.
Listen to Bharat Ratna MS Subbulakshmi rendering his Madhurashtakam. ☺️🙏
Listen to Bharat Ratna MS Subbulakshmi rendering his Madhurashtakam. ☺️🙏
After living for half a century, Vallabhacharya decided to return to Kashi where he lived the life of a Sanyasi for two more years till he decided to take a Jala Samadhi in the holy Ganga at Hanuman Ghat and give up his mortal coil on Ashada Shukla of 1531. He was only 52. 🙏
In 1977, the postal department of the government released a special stamp and FDC on to comomerate the memory of the great philosopher, poet and saint of the Pushtimarga Sampradayam Mahaprabhu Sri Vallabhacharya (1479-1531). ☺️🙏
