Pushti Sampradaya

Shri Mathuresho Jayate

Pushti-Bhakti-Marga

(The Devotional Path of Pushti)

Bhagavat defines ‘Pushti’ as under:

Posanam tadanugrahah.

Meaning: ‘Pushti’ means the grace of Bhagavan.

So, Pushti-Marga is a path of dedication, which could be achieved and followed only by the grace of the Bhagavan. Bhagavan is gracious. He bestows his grace upon numerous beings in a number of ways. The Teacher in a school may compel a student to sit at the back, if he is inattentive in his study and is not obedient. But he will gladly accord the front row to that student who learns his lessons attentively and who abides by the commands of the teacher. Similarly, Bhagavan, too, bestows His grace upon beings to more or less extent. Let us not forget here that essentially all the beings are equal for Bhagavan. If the grace of Bhagavan is received unevenly, it is just a part of Bhagavan's Lila (sport). So, Bhagavan specially favours those people who come to his refuge without any sort of selfishness and bestows upon them the benefit of doing his service.

The beings on whom such grace of Bhagavan has been showered, have nothing to worry about their worldly and transcendental life. Bhagavan Himself takes care of Pushti-beings and does all that is in their benefit. Perhaps, for any reason, if such beings are not in position to do the service of Bhagavan, He does create favourable circumstances for them to perform His service conveniently, and does not let them remain aloof from His service. Hence, Shri Vallabhacharya in the Book of Siddhanta-muktavali says:

Anugrahah Pushti-marge niyamakah.

Meaning: The grace of Bhagavan is the sole governing factor for those who are the pedestrians on the path of Pushti, here and hereafter and in seeking after the fruit and the fulfillment of the fruit.

For this reason, the path in which everything of the devotee is accomplished by the grace of Bhagavan is called the Pushti-sect, the path of the Divine Grace. One cannot enter into this path without the grace of Bhagavan. If we say: “Pushti-Marga is the sect of attaining the grace of Bhagavan”, we are mistaken in understanding Pushti-Marga in its true perspective. Having the grace of Bhagavan is the fulfilment of the very first condition for our entering into this sect. What other grace remains to be obtained by the blessed being after he has entered into the Pushti-Marga? Now that he is a blessed follower of Pushti-Marga, the only thing he has to do is the divine service of Bhagavan in order to cultivate the divine grace. The persons about whom it cannot be decided whether they are graced or not should not be allowed to initiate into this sect. Such is the clear-cut dictum of great ancient Acaryas which must be followed by all the Gurus of the Sampradaya. In this way, we have come to understand why the path that is propounded by Shri Vallabhacharya is called the PUSHTI MARGA the Path of Divine Grace. Now we shall discuss what is meant by Pushti-Bhakti-Marga.

We all wish that we may have all happiness and no pain. This kind of our desire or effort to accomplish this goal is called Purusharatha(the object of the human life). We try our level best to fulfil this desire. Some people perform sacrifices, some do the penance and some others go on pilgrimage in order to get rid of all their sins and to obtain salvation. They make efforts to amass wealth in order to obtain the object cherished most by them. But he who is the true-hearted Pushti-Devotee desires to obtain neither the salvation nor even the heavenly kingdom. For him, the divine service of Bhagavan is the only Dharma the only object attainable in his life. Bhagavan Himself is his real wealth. The only longing he feels in his mind is to have the Darshana of Bhagavan and to do the divine service, and he believes that his only salvation lies in keeping himself always firmly attached to Bhagavan. A truehearted devotee forgets all his sorrows in his devotion to Bhagavan and experiences divine bliss. For this reason, this Marga is called the Pushti-Bhakti-Marga, the devotional path of Pushti.

Every religious sect possesses certain peculiar established upholding and criteria. These upholding serve the purpose of sound pillars for the Sampradaya to stand upon. Now let us consider these peculiar established upholdings and criterias of Pushti-Bhakti-Marga.

Lila: Action or sport of Bhagavan without any imperfection or worldliness.