Balseva in Pushti Marg
By Sandipbhai Saha [email protected]Just a response as to why members of Pushti Marga do Bal svarup seva over any other form of Krishna. I think that the answer is somewhat deceptive and not as hard as we would like to think it is. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had already had settled with Gaudiya Vaishnavas in Brindavana with their emphasis on madhurya bhava and Radha as their role model for bhakti. Vallabhacarya had focused, instead, his interest on Gokul and the surrounding area of Mathura and it was there that he settled, as we all know from the Caurasi Vaisnavan ki Varta. When Vallabha had his first vision of Sri Krishna it was as a child and when Srinathaji had appeared to Vallabhacarya at Govardhan again it was in the form of Bala svarupa seva. Since this is the manner in which Srinathji appeared to Vallabha, seva was only supposed to be done to this svarupa of Krishna. It didn't mean that the other svarupas of Krishna were ignored, but because Krishna appeared to Vallabha in the form of a child, this was the precedent for seva.
One gets the sense that Pushti Marga seva was not meant to be a public affair. From the varta sahitya, it is pretty clear that one (who) was to take Brahma Sambandha, was to recieve a svarupa from his guru, learn the principle / form of seva, and do seva at home. This is what Vallabha and Vitthalnatha had intended for their successors. In other words, Pushti Marga seva has always been for both the members of Vallabhakul and for their devotees, ghar seva, meaning seva to be done primarly at home and the seva that was to be performed was bal svarupa seva. Madhurya bhava of the gopis came much later with Vitthalnatha who, from reading Kanthimani Shastri's Kankaroli ka Itihasa, had come under the spell of the Gaudiyas for a while and it was that influence that raised the stature of Svaminiji within Pushti Marga. Ultimately, of course, it is still Yamunaji who holds precedence in Pushti Marga who, according to the siddhanta, is the one who comes rushing to call Krishna when a jiva has taken initiation.
Jai Shri Krishna...
Sandip.
Written as a response to an email from Chetanbhai - '[email protected]'
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