Theodicy - Pushti view

Expanding on an earlier article on lila, this article will look at Theodicy from Pushti Marg’s point of view.

आत्मेव आत्म संतुष्ट

Shri Vallabh sees this as the nirdosh lila of the Purushottama within himself.

Shri Narsi Mehta, most famous of all Gujarati saint poets, distills this in a single line -
Brahma lataka kare Bhrama pase.
બ્રહ્મ લટકા કરે બ્રહ્મ પાસે

There is also a very interesting line from the poet saint Narsi Mehta - માંહી પડ્યા તે મહાસુખ પામે, દેખણહારા દાજે રે - ie those who have taken the plunge, get to enjoy it (eg - the pool / river / life / samsara / lila), those who haven't engaged with the action watch and criticize it out of jealousy.

Its the old English say, "You have to be in it to win it." You can't win without "trying it out" and taking the risk of possibly failing.

For this reason, unlike most other sects at the time, Pushti Marg insisted that being a householder was no bar to obtaining divine grace or experiencing ananda. Infact, unlike other sects and other sadhanas, Pushti marg insisted that through seva you can sustain the bliss of ananda throughout the day and engage in the world at the sametime. You can experience God and his divine lila with your eyes wide open. There is no need to meditate or shut yourself in a cold lonely cave. Divine presence can be experienced in the lap of luxury by engaging with the physical world as an extension of the spiritual lila.

If one can see and experience the lila of Krushna in their daily lives, where is the need to study the scriptures and hold your breath ? If the ultimate aim of meditation is ananda, why not experience that ananda in your daily lives ? Why not enjoy the ananda of being with the Lord every single moment of the day !

From the morning till the night, enjoy being with God and suddenly that drudgery of waking up, going to work, doing the daily chores, earning, feeding, caring for the others no longer remains just a means to an end. It IS the end. When God is waking up with you, enjoying the same scented attars as you, wearing the same clothes as you, eating at the same table as you, conversing with you as you drive to and from work, enjoying the same games as your children etc, than life is no longer a drudgery. If you remember that GOD is with you, surely, you will smile and the world will smile with you.

Building on this, Pushti Marg rejects the idea of maya being an illusion and a hindrance in enjoying lila. It accepts maya as a divine facilitator and one that allows all the magic of the world to come alive for us to enjoy. Without maya, the world would be a boring place. God created Maya for the purpose of enjoying lila, we it is incumbent on us to enjoy the maya though seva.

Just as (snake) poison can be processed to become a cure against snake bite, maya can be processed through seva to become our saving grace. Concept of lila makes maya a cure rather than cause of samsara.

Theodicy - Hindu view

Theodicy - Lila aspect

Lila as per Pushti Marg

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