The Path of Worship

ISHT UPASANA :-: A Branch of Bhakti Movement :-

Although different branches of Bhakti movement of the 16th century had their roots in ancient Vaishnav religious systems, yet many of them sprouted and grew in new forms during the said period. Multi angular development of Indian culture and heritage in the past had also contributed towards structuring of these new forms. Way of worshiping personal deity i.e. "ISHTOPASANA", Which is one of the branches of Bhakti movement, in spite of its being very old religious phenomenon, took a new shape during the period. Such a process of change in belief through persuasion and transformation was not something surprising in an extremely tolerant religious society of India.

Two ways of ISHT UPASANA:-

This new shape of Ishtopasana had considerably expanded by the middle of 17th century. Rasik saint Dhruv das in his Byalis Leela (SIDHANT VICHAR) mentions about two different ways of Upasana. On one hand, the devotees sing the various 'Leelas' of all the incarnations of god with equal faith and with no reservation. Ram, Krishna, Narshingha, Vaman, and other incarnations of the Supreme Being are all worshiped by them equal reverence and faith. On the other side are those devotees who select one of the incarnations of god for their worship and they do it whole-heartedly with utmost one mindedness. Rasik Saint Dhruv Das holds the second way of Upasana comparatively more tasteful and full of love. He described 'ISHT' as beloved (premi). According to him mind of the devotee of the second category should not get attravted to any other 'ISHT' i.e. object of love other than his own and if it does, then this person is not a true devotee of his 'ISHT'.

Raas relished by selfless Sakhees out of the Couple's love sports (prem vihar) is at the top of all the "RAAS":-

Among Ishtopasak, braj Gopees are held in very high esteem. Followers of Chaitanya Sampradaya follow path shown by Braj Gopees. But contrary to this meathod of Ishtopasana, Radha Vallabh Sampradaya found out that the pleasure relished by selfless lalita, Vishakha and other Sakhees, out of love-plays of Radha and Krishna,was of the highest order. A Rasik Saint Dhruv Das, while pointing to thegradation of five Rasopasanas knonw as 'Shant','Dasya' etc. says that the 'Raas' produced by the love sports of the divine couple and relished by lalita and other Sakhees, is the sixth "Raas" and it is the finest and the sweetest of all other five "Raas". The peculiarity of this sixth "Raas" is that the extreme joy produced by the love sports of the divine couple and relished by the Sakhees never diminishes- remains ever in Union and there in not even a shadow of separation between them in this "RAAS".

Defination of Rsik:-

Rasik Saint DHRUV DAS defining a Rasik in "Byalis Leela"( Mana Shiksha Leela) says that Rasik is one of those rare devotees in whose heart the mutul love of the divine couple keeps on shining for ever. Moreover Dhruv Das tries to lay down some rules of conduct of a Rasik. One of these rules being that, Like GYANI (one who follows the path of knowledge), Rasik should not meet or mix with each and every person indiscriminately. In opposition to this, he should have love relation with only those who follow his way of worship. he should not eat or drink in the company of those who are not Rasik. Nor should he eat or drink at public places such as hotels, restaurants,etc. Moreover, whatever they eat or drink must have already been offered to Radha Vallabh Lal. By eating everywhere and with anybody indiscriminately, the Rasik-devotee loses the glow of his Devotion to god and the said rules of conduct are prescribed just to keep his devotion firm and pure.

Radha Vallabh Sampradaya, However, fully understands and appreciated that in pure love there is no room for illiberal views and that pure love cannot remain confined - it must soread out. This Sampradaya is equality minded of the imperative need for having a sense of equality among all human being. Sewak ji, who is known to be the foremost projector of Hit Harivansh Mahaprabhu ji Maharaj's teachings, advised Rasik to Follow their way of worship by having pleasant and affectionate disposition towards one and all.

Another Rasik Ladli Das, in his "SUDHARM BODHENI" writes:

"The great religion of Hit Harivansh or say of love, is that, besides faithfully repeating the name of our Isht (Priya-Priyatam) and hearing the account of their charming love- sports, we should think of and act for the well-being and happiness of all, right from a small insect to the divine Couple (Shyama-Shyam), without any selfish motive." He further says,"unfortunate devotees are those who serve their Isht but speak ill of or do wrong to others. In doing so, they just put the tree on fire while watering its roots."

Selfless Love makes one humble, co-operative, helpful to all and totally dependent on his/her object of Love:-

When love shines in one's heart, his ego and all pride vanishes and he beings to think himself as the lowliest of all. He becomes humble, co-operative and ever helpful to his fellow beings as he sees his Isht in each of them. He has then, full faith in his Isht(Priya-Priytam), does not belive in hard practices of cruel austerities such as too much fasting and torturing the body in any other way and in the traditionally known bad and good effects of stars on human life.

We all know that relationship of servant and master (Das and Swami) between the devotee and his Isht and one-minded devotion and dedication to one's Isht have been the basis of entire Vaishnav worship from time immemorial. This belief is also found expressed in Radha VAllabh Sampradaya's literature. Stanza 240 of 'Shrimad Radha Sudha Nidhi Stotram' is given below as an example wherein Hit Harivansh Mahaprabhu ji Maharaj expresses his absolute dependence on Radha - his Swamini and Isht.

" O ! Shri Radha - the bestower of joy !

I am solely dependent on you

With my pure body, speech and mind,

I live by eating the nectar like remnants

Of food tasted by you,

I hear only the narration

of your acts (love-sports / prem vihar),

Iadore only the dust

of your lotus feet,

I roam in your bowery adobe (Groves of Vrindavan),

i sing only your divine virtues,

And I behold only your lovely form(body)."

Sampradaya's ways of worship (upasana) :-

Lastly, to say, worship (upasana) in Radha Vallabh Sampradaya is channelized in three commonly adopted ways which run concurrently. One is to serve Shri Radha Vallabh Lal who is enshrined in his temple in Vrindavan or to worship Their image Kept at home by following the prescribed method of the Sampradaya. The second is remembering and uttering repeatedly the name of the Isht (Shri Radha Vallabh Lal in their case) or the spell (Mantra) of the Sampradaya and third one is to study again and again the literary works of well known and accomplished Rasik devotees.

Love is God

MESSAGE OF THE SAMPRADAYA

In human Society different stages of Love - from completely selfish love totally selfless love of god - are seen. Truly speaking, love which does not look to the happiness of the 'Loved one' is not worth its name. In Radha Vallabh Sampradaya, manifestation of love in which the happiness of the other is dominant is known as 'Hit' or the benevolent love.

Love is the basis of world peace, happiness and all round progress:

Formation and stability of human society would have been impossible without man looking to the happiness of others. So 'Hit' (benevolent love) forms the basis of peace and happiness in the world. Whenever mutual goodwill and compassion is decreased and self-aggrandizement increases in human beings, when man's thinking and his actions are limited to his self-interest, when he ceases to contribute towards the happiness of others and when he no more respects their sentiments, he is scorched by the flames of dreadful wars resulting in the blockade of his progress. Radha Vallabh Sampradaya, therefore, calls upon people to be true lovers if they really want their own as well as the welfare of the people at large.

There is no other sentiment so good as generous Love. When love dawns in man's heart, narrow mindedness vanishes. Undoubtedly it is narrow mindedness that has created dividing walls between man and man. One should therefore try to become generous so that narrow mindedness does not come in to play any destructive role.

Love serves as a magic potion for curring all ills:

Narrow mindedness breeds intolerance which is of many kinds. For example, a man maybe envious of another person or may get angry with him for the reason that the latter happens to posses more wealth or his views differ from those of the former. Another manifestation of intolerance is seen when he gets agitated by pain or he upset due to loss in business or as a result of unfavorable decision in any court case. Generous nature of love protects a person from all such painful eventualities and keeps him ever happy. As such one has to become a true lover if he or she wants to be happy in life.

Every body acts with a desire to be happy. He feels miserable when happiness evades him best efforts. But this kind of distressing experience is unknown to a generous lover whose mind and actions are directed towards providing happiness to others and who feels happy in their happiness. So, a man must inculcate in himself a strong sense of selfless service to all for getting everlasting happiness.

Like generosity and tolerance, humility is also an innate quality of love. When love is generated in the heart, humbleness also sprouts along with generosity and tolerance. Every religious system is active to keep under control the unbounded ego inherent in man because unrestrained ego has always proved to be destructive for human society. Reorganization of human society deranged by ego has been possible by only love. Accordingly another message of Radha Vallabh Samppradaya is that at if we want to be true lovers, we must shun pride because love and pride can never co-exist just as two swords cannot be shared by a single sheath.

Another innate quality of love is simplicity combined with righteousness. Deceitfulness and righteousness do not go together. People who really love are always upright and simple. Radha Vallabh Sampradaya therefore emphasis the need for human beings to be through simple and upright in their speech and as well as in their deeds by adopting the way of love of god since there is complete simplicity and uprightness where love of god exists. A person whose mind is disturbed and always self-centered, never makes any progress spiritually. This fact is also underlined in the teaching of this Sampradaya. To summarise, a person can not be called a true lover of god unless all the aforesaid qualities of love exist in him. Saint Dhruv Das says that if the attachment to worldly objects is not completely removed from man's heart, he can not be considered a true lover of god in the same way as with the rise of the sun if darkness is not removed, we cannot call it a sun-rise.

Love is God

PREFACE

Save Now

From Vedic times onwards the natural urge in man for spiritual progress has expressed itself through the medium of three paths namely -- the path of knowledge(gyan marg),path of action(Karm marg) and path of emotion(Bhakti marg). IN the long religious history of India we have seen that the founders of various religions have been very sceptical about or even averse to emotions and have discouraged paths of spiritual progress in which emotions play a prominent role. On the other hand, it is also known to us that inspite of all their efforts, with the passage of time, emotions and the paths of spiritual progress based on them, have crept in the systems founded by them. Heenyan - the oldest form of Budhism is, for all purposes, a path of knowledge. But a few Centuries later, we find Mahayan - an offshoot of Budhism coming up with came the emotions playing significant role in its devlopment. Mahayan accepted the theory of Divine Descent (Avtarvada) and with it came the emotional relation with the deity. Heenyan was not popular among the common people but the new form of Budhism (Mahayan) caught hold of the imagination of the masses and seemed to fulfil most of their aspirations.

Parallel to the advent of Mahayan a renaissance was taking place in Hinduism also and naturally, both of them were influencing each other. In the field of philosophy, Mahayan had developed several new systems which seemed to demolish the philosophy based on Upnishads. In the 8th century one of the greatest philosophers of the world - Shankaracharya - was born in South India. He defeated the upholders of Mahayan philosophy by holding direct discussions with them and way for general decline of Budhism in India.

On the other hand, the philosophical system of Shankaracharya was too abstruse and warmth of intimate relation with one's object of worship. According to most of the historians, Alwars in the south, even before the advent of Shankaracharya had been propagating divotion (Bhakti) as the best method of attaining the summum bonum of human life. These great devotees were attached emotionally with different incarnations of Vishnu. So they were called Vaishnavas. Ramanuja, who was born in the lineage of Alwars, gave Bhakti Movement initiated by Alwars the required philosophical base to make it attractive for Sanskrit-knowing savants through out India. The philosophical system developed by him was the first Vaishnav effort in this direction. Madhava, Nimbarka and Vallabha followed him. Through all of them were great devotees and subscribed to Vishnu worship in general, yet in their commentaries on Brahm - sutras they developed philosophical system is known as 'Vishishtadvet', Madhva's 'dvet', Nimbarka's 'Dvetadvet' and Vallabha's 'Sudhadvet'. They all, however opposed "Kewaladvet" (Mayavad) of Shankaracharya as it was placed against the very fundamentals of Bhaktivad.

Vallabha was the last of these Vaishnavacharyas. He was first to substitute Krishna for the word 'Brahm' in his commentary on Brahmsutras. With it he accepted Shrimad Bhagvat as an authority alongwith Brahmsutras, Bhagvadgeeta and Vedas and it proved to be very helpful in spreading the cult of krishna through out India. Through Vallabh too hailed from South India - born in the year 1535(Vikram) or 1478 (A.D.), he lived near Allahabad in U.P. on the bank of the Ganga and his activities were centred in Braj.

Chaitanya was born in the year 1542 (Vikram) or 1485 (A.D.) in Navadeep (west Bangal). He was a consummate devotee. He gave birth to a great Bhakti movement in Bangal. Through he personally came to Vrindavan only once, he advised his followers to make it their centre for propagation of the new movement. Chaitanya, like the Alwars of South India, emphasized the practice of devotion in its purest form without worrying or caring much for its philosophical base. Shrimad Bhagvat is considered by him sole based. His followers have written commentaries on Shrimad Bhagvat as well as some original work on 'Bhakti Rasa'. Sanatan Goswami, Roop Goswami and Jeev Goswami are prominent among those. Gopal Bhatt compiled the first smriti or the memory borne codes of law for Vaishnav. The credit of discovery of several places of krishna - lila in braj goes also to Chaitanya and his followers.

In a well-known Sanskrit verse nearly all the saient features of Chaitanya Sampradaya are outlined beautifully.

Aaradhyo bhagwan brajeshtanyasndhdam vrindavanm,

ramya kachidupasna brajvadhuvargena cha kalpita|

Shrimadbhagvat pramanmmalm premhpumartho mahan,

Shri Chaitanya mahaprbho matmidm ttradaro na parh||

(Shri Vishvanath Chakravarti)

The verse says that, in the doctrine expounded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the main object of worship is Bhagwan Nandnandan (Shri Krishna),Vrindavan is his abode (Dham), the beautiful mode of worship (upasna) is the one that was assumed by Gopees of Braj, the only authrity is Shrimad Bhagvat, and the great object of human puruits in love.

Followers of Chaitanya came from the east in vrindavan which was at that time adecoit - infested area. So they had to live in other places of Braj. The founder of a distinct sect of prema Bhakti - Hit Harivansh ji came down to Vrindavan during the same period from the west. It was he who made Vrindavan inhabitable by bringing about a total change of mind in Narwahan - the leader of decoits then active in Vrindavan at that time had some similarities. But the differences between the doctrine of Chaitanya as outlined in the afore metioned Sanskrit verse and that of Hit Harivansh ji are:--

(i) In Chaitanya Sampradaya love is declared to be the most Innate of the three powers -