Vallabhacharya was a Tailang Brahmana. He preached the worship of Vishnu in the form of Krishna. He was born in 1479 in the Telugu country. He visited Mathura, Vrindaban and many other sacred places and finally settled at Benaras.
Vallabhacharya called his system of bhakti, Shuddhavaita. According to him, its God`s grace alone that can lead one to Heaven. When Shri Vallabhacharya was on visit to northwest India, the Lord requested him to come to Mount Govardhan to meet Him. At this time the Lord revealed Himself to Shri Vallabh in form of Shree Nathji. At this time, the Lord hugged Shri Vallabhacharya and gave him sacred mantra "Shree Krishna: Sharnam Mama" to initiate people.
Pushtimarg, the path of divine grace is based on the "Vishudhadvaita" philosophy, initially shown by Shri Vallabhacharya. Shri Vallabh strongly suggested that Lord Shree Krishna is the ultimate God. Thus, Shri Krishna`s blessings alone and only can free humans from the painful cycle of birth and death. Shri Vallabhacharya wrote many books, but many of them are not available today due to lack of proper perseverance. Many important books / articles / padas written by Vallabhacharya and the Acharyas of Vallabhkul are still available and famous in vaishnava society. Yamunashatakam, Navaratnam and many other padas, and Subodhinji book are very important for Vaishnavas to read and understand.
Vallabhacharya taught that there was no distinction between Brahmin and the individual soul and the latter could get rid of bondage by Bhakti. He asked his followers to offer everything in the service of Krishna. According to Vallabha only individuals who have the grace of Krishna can be successful in the path of devotion. He advocated the worship of idols of Krishna. Later the rituals of this sect became very complicated. Many followers of Vallabha composed poems on Krishna in Hindi and thus contributed greatly to the spread of Krishna cult.
Shree Vallabhacharya was of modern thinking and that is why he started Mogul style attire for Shree Nathji. By following Vallabhacharya`s method is an easy path towards the religious journey and since this is proven method why not adopt it as a gift rather than introducing new method which may be not suitable to the luxury of Purushottam.
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