Basic Concept & some terms and terminology

 

According to the Shudhadvait philosophy of Maha-Prabhu Shri Vallabhacharyaji, the entire universe is part and parcel of the Sachidanand - the eternally omnipresent and blissful Lord. By this definition, the Lord and His creation are one and the same. Hence, the "joy" and bliss associated with the Lord are ever present in His creation. The only reason why we do not all "feel" or experience this joy, bliss and completeness, is because we have forgotten our true nature - that of being one with the universal Lord. As a result, we do not appreciate that we too are a part of the eternal Venu-geeta of the Lord and we too are part of the "Rakhilam Madhuram" that Shri Vallabhacharya sings about in the Madhurastakam.

 

Rudra Marg   Because Shri Vallabh cried when he realized the pain and pleasure of his separation from his beloved Lord Shri Krshna.  Also because God Rudra (Shiva) is the originator of this marg.

Pushti Marg   Because the Lord is accessible only through His own 'grace' (pushti). The Lord cannot be attained by a given formula - He is attainable only if He wants to be attained !  Also because this sadhana enriches and nourishes (pushti) the soul.

Shuddha-Advaita    Pure Monism where there is no difference between the creator and the created.  God is everywhere and in everything in the universe.  God and the universe are one!

Bhrahmavada   Brahman, the source and cause of all that is in the Universe, IS the universe. Purest form of monism anywhere, in any religion. Uniquely, this is the only philosophy that states, categorically, that everything, absolutely everything, is perfect just the way it is.  Everything is imbibed with the sprite of the Lord and as the Lord is eternally perfect, everything is perfect !

Haveli pushti marg place of worship is seen as a divine mansion and hence called a "haveli".

Raag can mean affection and music.

Bhog food offered to the deity in Pushti Marg Haveli is called bhog.

Saj and Shringar are the soft furnishings, decorations and jewellery that are used in the inner sanctum of the Haveli.

Bhav are emotions and feelings we have and how they manifest in our seva of the Thakorji

Seva is the service we willingly and lovingly offer to our deity (Thakorji)

Thakorji is the honorific name we give to the deity we worship.

Vallabh-kul are the descendents of Shri Vallabhacharya, founder of Pushti Marg.

Baithak is a sacred place where Shri Vallabh or one of his descendents sat and gave lecture on our sacred scriptures.

Uttsav is a festival celebrated on one of the holy days.

Vartas are a collection of some incidences from the lives of vaishnavs who were converted by Shri Vallabh and Shri Vitthalnathji.

This is my understanding of the basic concepts of Pushti Marg.  Please consult other sources, including your guru, for more details.  There is an FAQ on this site that will also help answer some of your questions.  If you have any other questions, please feel free to mail me at the address below.

Please Note - On this site I have used spellings as I would pronounce the words. This is different to how the official rules of transliteration say it should be written. However, if I go by the 'rules', I find that many people outside India can't pronounce the word correctly. As majority of my readers are from out-side India, I am caught in a quandry and will continue to use my current 'phonetic' approach till I find a better alternative.

Krushna  = He who attracts
Krishna = This is the spelling that is most popular for writing Shri Krushna.
Krsna = Official rules of transliteration spell the name with dots under r and s.

In different languages and diatlects of India, Shri Krushna's name is pronounced slightly differently. Krushna and hence I am taking the pronounciation most familiar to me.

Sanskrit is a very precise language.  Every phonetic nuance has an expression in this most structured of languages. One should be very careful of writing and pronouncing Sanskrit words.  Even a slight mis-pronunciation can alter the meaning of the word. 
During the time the Europeans were translating the Hindu texts, a hodge podge of Europeanised pronunciations were organised into a system called "transliteration".  Though mostly successful with the regional languages, it has some problems with Sanskrit. 
One of the most central points of conflicts occurs with male/ female adjectives.  The name of the Lord Krushna is a case in point. 

 

� Bhagwat Shah

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