Not all forms of devotion believe in penance and renouncing the world. Devdutt Pattanaik writes about the Pushti Marg
Not all forms of devotion believe in penance and renouncing the world. Devdutt Pattanaik writes about the Pushti Marg
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Over time, these shrines faded from public memory until they were rediscovered by acharyas such as Vallabha and Chaitanya during their tours across the holy land of Vraj. These images were placed in the loving care of philosopher-priests known as the goswamis. The most famous of these is the one of Srinathji in Nathdvara near Udaipur, Rajasthan.
To the believer, the idol of Srinathji is svarupa, the living image of the Lord, to be lavished with offerings of raga, bhoga and shringara music, food and adornment. Each day, priests toil lovingly to make sure the Lord wants for nothing. They wake him up to the tune of gentle music, bathe him with perfumed water, feed him the choicest delicacies and bedeck him in rich robes for festivals and feasts.
Such indulgences befit Srinathji, 'the lord of fortune'. He is Vishnu, the celestial patron of worldly life. He is Krishna, the divine partaker of material delight. With his upraised arm, Srinathji holds up the cosmic mountain Govardhana to shield his devotees from universal sorrow; with his angular eyes, he beckons all to enjoy, without restraint, the gift of life.
Once a goswami asked his young students, "How should one worship God?" One replied, "By renouncing the world and fixing my mind on Him." The other replied, "By appreciating worldly beauty and bounty." The goswami smiled and embraced the second student for he had understood the essence of Pushti Marga.
Pushti Marga means realisation of the divine by acknowledging divine grace. It forms the foundation of a Vaishnava cult patronised mainly by the business communities of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Divine grace manifests in the many delightful things life has to offer: food, clothes, music, laughter, colour, beauty.
World-affirmation has always been at the heart of Vaishnava philosophy. Traditionally, however, Vaishnava teachers have insisted on tempering all worldly deeds with devotion (bhakti), detachment (karma) and discernment (gyan). The world, they say, is merely an illusion, a dream that helps one realise the divine.u00a0 Vallabhacharya, an inspired mystic of the fifteenth century, did not accept this cheerless interpretation of maya. To him samsara was not as an intangible mirage. It was Krishna's work-of-art inspired by Radha's beauty. How could anyone distance one's self from this god-given splendour, he wondered.
Vallabha was a Sri Vaishnava Telugu brahmin and he prescribed to the belief that Vishnu's consort Sri, who is the giver of worldly wealth and fortune, is the medium through which the lord can be realised. Vallabha called his interpretation suddha advaita, pure monism. Unmanifest, divinity was lonely and joyless. And so it manifested itself as the colorful cosmos, the rangabhoomi. The abundance of the world is thus an expression of divine delight. He who appreciates this is the rasik or the shaukeen, the connoisseur, a true bhakta.
At the height of his intellectual evolution, Vallabha came upon the idol of Srinathji atop the legendary Mount Govardhana in Vrajabhoomi. The idol became the concrete manifestation of his philosophy. He enshrined the idol in a temple while his eldest son Vittalnath established elaborate rituals that humanised the deity and made him more accessible to the masses.
Thanks largely to Vitthalnathji's efforts, Srinathji 'wakes up', 'eats', 'plays', 'grazes cattle', 'holds court' and even needs be protected from the 'jealous eye'. The highly refined rituals of Pushti Marga have played an important role in consolidating the cult. Devotees barely get a glimpse of the lord during the eight daily darshans, known as jhankis, meaning glimpses. This is meant to remind devotees that the wonders of life do not last forever we must enjoy them while they last and relish their memory when they are gone, never craving in greed, never brooding over loss.u00a0
Disclaimer > This column attempts to explain sacred beliefs in the spirit of genuine and respectful curiosity without claiming any authority on the same.
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