Guest guest Posted May 4, 2003 Report Share Posted May 4, 2003 > Can anyone tell me the relation between Vallabha bhatta and Vallabha > Acarya of Pusti marga fame. > > Vallabha father-in-law of Lord Caitanya, Vallabha who offered Lord > Caitanya his tika on Bhagavatam and Vallabha who took initiation (?) from > Gadadhara Pandita and Vallabha who started Pustis. > > Could use an answer toute suite (pronto). >From www.veda.harekrsna.cz/library/gvaa-y.zip (This compilation of Vaishnava biographies was allegedly done by O.B.L. Kapoor (Godbrother of Srila Prabhupada). Main sources are three works - GPC, CCU, and GVA. GVA is the famous Gaudiya Vaishnava Abhidhana by Haridasa Dasa of Haribol Kutir (Navadvipa). Author of CCU, Caitanya-Caritera Upadana, is Bengali scholar Biman Bihari Majumdar. GPC I can't unfortunately identify. It could be Gaura-parsada-caritavali but I have no more info on it.) 21. VALLABHA ACARYA/VALLABHA BHATTA GVA,GPC,CCU 22. VALLABHACARYA CCU 22. VALLABHACARYA GVA 23. VALLABHA DASA GVA 24. VALLABHA DASA GVA 25. VALLABHA DASA GVA 26. VALLABHA DEVI GVA 27. VALLABHA MAJUMDAR GVA 28. VALLABHA MISRA GVA 29. VALLABHA RANGAVATI --- 30. VALLABHA SENA GVA,CCU 31. VALLABHA THAKURA GVA 21.VALLABHA ACARYA/VALLABHA BHATTA: He was the founder of the Vallabi sampradaya. In his past incarnation he was born as Sukadeva (GGD 110). In his earlier days he was a follower of Visnusvami of the Rudra sampradaya. His Sripata is at Andhra Pradesh. His father was Laksmana Bhatta. Laksmana Bhatta lived at Hanumanghat in Kasi. When he heard a rumor that Kasi was going to be attacked by Muslims, Laksmana fled to his native place along with his wife, who was seven months pregnant. Along the way, in Champaranya in Madhya Pradesh, Vallabha was born in 1479 A.D. As a child Vallabha studied Vaisnava theology under Madhavendra Yati at Kasi. During a pilgrimage to South India he went to his maternal uncles' house in Vijayanagara. There, at the royal court, he met the great teacher Sri Vyasatirtha. Vallabha refuted Mayavada there and established Suddhadvaitavada, which inspired the king to perform "Kanakabhiseka" of Vallabha and awarded him the title of "Acarya". Vallabha continued to travel and preach on three victory tours throughout all of India. During his second tour he married at Kasi. Finding it improper to lead the life of a householder at Kasi, Vallabha settled at Adaila village. In the course of his pilgrimage, Vallabha established a temple on top of Govardhana hill in Vraja, with the help of his trader-disciple Purnamalla. Afterwards, he defeated all the Mayavadi sannyasis at Pancagangaghat in Kosi. He then made a new residence in Gokula. In the temple at Govardhana he installed the Gopala Deity which belonged to Madhavendrapuri. In 1510 A.D. he and his wife moved to the village of Adaila, where his first son, Gopinatha, was born. His second son, Vitthalanatha was born at Caranadri in 1515 A.D. Returning to Adaila he completed the commentary of the tenth canto of Srimad Bhagavatam and began the eleventh canto. When Lord Caitanya visited Vrndavana, He met Vallabha Bhatta at Adaila village. Vallabhacarya brought Lord Caitanya to his home and served Him and His followers warmly. Vallabha made the Lord sit on the special Deity-seat and presented the Lord with a new set of upper body cloth and a waist-band (CC. 2.19) After this Vallabhacarya went to South India to preach and finally reached Puri. There he met Lord Caitanya daily and by the arrangement of the Lord, his pride was humbled. On one occasion at Puri, Vallabha asked Advaita Prabhu, "Since you consider Lord Krsna your husband how come you chant His name?" Lord Caitanya answered, "The command of the husband is supreme. Our husband has directed us to repeat His name aloud constantly." On another occasion Vallabha said that he did not accept Sridhara Swami's commentary of Srimad Bhagavatam. Lord Caitanya replied, "He who does not acknowledge "Swami" (double meaning of swami, i.e. husband and Sridhara Swami) is a prostitute." Vallabha Acarya took spiritual initiation from Gadadhara Pandita. At some point Vallabha gave up the worship of Balagopala and became devoted to Yugala-upasana. Vallabha's disciples, however, followed the old tradition of worship. Vallabha placed his son, Vitthalesvara, at the feet of Lord Caitanya. In 1531 A.D. Vallabha died at Hanumanghat in Kasi (Sakhanirnayamrta 56. Vallabha's sampradaya hold that he wrote about eighty-four books. The following are some of the well known titles: Brahmasutrabhasya, Bhagavatatika-suvodhini, Tattvarthadipanivandha, Sodasagrantha, Siksasloka, Srutigita, Mathura-mahatmya, Madhurastaka, Purusottamanamasahasra, Parivrdhastaka, Nandakumarastaka, Pancasloki, Gayatribhasya, etc. Vallabha held that Bhaktimarga was of two types; Maryada (Vaidhi) and Pusti (Raganuga). (CC. 2.1.249, Vaisnava Vandana of Jiva Gosvami 253) The following is from GPC. He was born in 1499 A.D. on the 11th day of the black fortnight in the month of Vaisaka. His father's name was Sri Laksmana Bhatta and his mother was Sri Sallamagaru. They were Bhradvaja brahmans of Andhra. Sri Laksmana Bhatta lived in Kasi which is where Vallabacarya studied. Within a very short period he became well versed in scriptures. After his marriage he stayed permanently in the village of Adail in Prayaga. On his way to Sri Vrndavana, Mahaprabhu reached Prayaga. He expressed ecstatic feelings of love there and as a result all the people of that place were overwhelmed with intense feelings of devotion. Prayaga was never flooded by the rivers Ganga and Yamuna but Sri Gaurasundara, by dint of his divine love, flooded the whole of Prayaga. When Sri Vallavacarya heard how Mahaprabhu had influenced the people by His noble activities, he came to meet the Lord. Vallavacarya witnessed the extraordinary beauty of Mahaprabhu from a distance and could at once recognize that He was not an ordinary being. He offered his regard to Mahaprabhu and in a jovial mood Mahaprabhu embraced him warmly. Prabhu understood that Vallavacarya was a parama Bhagavata, thus they relished speaking together about Krsna and both of them became overwhelmed with deep feelings of love. Mahaprabhu controlled His ecstacy as he understood that Vallavacarya was a worshiper following Vatsalya bhava. Vallavacarya was charmed by the Lord's ecstatic behavior. Around that time Sri Rupa and Anupama came to have darsana of the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu, who introduced them to Vallavacarya. Sri Rupa and Anupama glorified Vallavacarya. He was deeply moved by their Vaisnava attitude and was about to embrace them. But the two brothers humbly cautioned him that they were untouchable. Acarya was astonished and said, "You are the best of all. Lord Krsna remains with you, as you are always chanting the holy name of Krsna." In order to test Acarya, Prabhu purposely said, "You come from a highly respectable religious family, and they are low-caste people, do not touch them." But again Vallavacarya protested. Hearing Vallavacarya's protests, the Lord became very pleased. Vallavacarya invited Mahaprabhu and His companions to his house. Mahaprabhu agreed and along with his followers proceeded in a boat towards Vallavacarya's house. However, while crossing the Yamuna the Lord saw the blue black color of the river. Becoming mad with ecstasy, He wanted to dive in the water. With great difficulty the Lord's associates managed to restrain the Lord. They helped the Lord to take His bath and at last brought Him to the house of Vallavacarya. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu arrived at his home, Vallavacarya, being greatly pleased, offered the Lord a nice sitting place and personally washed His feet. Vallavacarya and his family members then sprinkled that water over their heads. They then offered the Lord new underwear and outer garments. Vallavacarya worshiped the Lord with great pomp, offering scents, incense, flowers and lamps, and with great respect and care he arranged for Prabhu's lunch. Thus Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was offeredlunch with great love and affection. Thereafter, the brothers Rupa and Anupama Gosvami were also offered food. Vallavacarya first offered the remnants of the Lord's food to Sri Rupa and then to Krsnadasa. The Lord was then given spices to purify his mouth. Afterwards he was offered a bed to rest on and Vallavacarya himself massaged His legs. While Vallavacarya was massaging Him, the Lord urged him to take prasada. After taking prasada, he again returned to the lotus feet of the Lord. (CC. Madhya) By that time Raghupati Upadhaya arrived, and Mahaprabhu was anxious to listen to him perform kirtana. Raghupati Upadhaya was a Trihuta Pandita and a great Bhagavata. When he began describing Lord Krsna, Sri Mahaprabhu's heart filled with intense feelings of love and the Lord embraced him emotionally. Vallavacarya was overwhelmed by the Lord's display of love, and immediately brought forward his two sons and made them fall down at the Lord's lotus feet. Upon hearing of Mahaprabhu's arrival, all the villagers came to meet Him. Simply be seeing Him, they all became devotees of Krsna. Each of the brahmanas of the village were eager to invite the Lord to their home, but Vallavacarya forbade them to do so. He then decided not to keep Prabhu in Adail because the Lord had jumped into the river Yamuna in ecstatic love. Therefore he decided to take him to Prayaga. Vallavacarya said, "If anyone likes, he can go to Prayaga and extend invitations to the Lord there." In this way he took the Lord with him and started for Prayaga. As in previous years, the devotees from Gauda arrived at Nilacala just prior to the Ratha yatra festival. By this time Vallava Bhatta also reached Nilacala and met Mahaprabhu. He offered his respects to Prabhu and the latter embraced him with love. Mahaprabhu received him with much honor and then Vallava Bhatta in a most humble manner said, "Lord Jagannatha has fulfilled my long cherished desire to see You. Whoever happens to meet You is really fortunate. Those who have watched You, can easily realize that there is hardly any difference between you and the Almighty. Whoever remembers You will be purified. The fundamental religious system in the age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of Krsna. Unless empowered by Krsna, one cannot propagate the sankirtana movement. You have spread the sankirtana movement of Krsna consciousness. Therefore it is evident that you have the same power as Lord Krsna. There is no question about it. You have manifested the holy name of Krsna throughout the world. Anyone who sees you is immediately absorbed in ecstatic love of Krsna. Without being especially empowered by Krsna, one cannot manifest ecstatic love of Krsna, as Krsna is the only one who can give ecstatic love. That is the verdict of all revealed scriptures. (CC. Antya) In this way Vallava Bhatta paid great respect to Mahaprabhu. But Mahaprabhu said, "I am a Mayavadi sannyasi! I do not know the essence of worshiping Krsna." Then one by one He introduced all His associates to Vallavacarya; "This is Sri Advaita Acarya. He is just like God. His constant company has given Me great upliftment. By his mercy many fallen souls have been transformed into staunch devotees. Here is Sri Nityananda Prabhu Avadhuta. He is the possessor of divine spirit and His strongpassion for Lord Krsna has detached him from the materialistic world. This is Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, a professor of philosophy, who is an empowered preacher. This is Ramananda Raya, he is the embodiment of love for Krsna." Knowing that Vallavacarya's heart was full of pride, Sri Mahaprabhu spoke these words, hinting at how one can learn about devotional service. Hearing these descriptions, Vallavacarya became desirous of meeting all those devotees. Then Mahaprabhu said, "Some of them live in Gauda, some in Orissa and others in various different places. At present everybody has arrived here to witness the Ratha yatra. You will find them all here." Then Vallava Bhatta earnestly requested Mahaprabhu to visit his house for lunch. On another day when Mahaprabhu was taking rest along with Advaita Acarya, Sri Nityananda, Sri Ramananda Raya, Sri Sarvabhauma Pandita and Svarupa Damodara, at that time Sri Vallavacarya arrived and finding all the Vaisnavas there, became astonished. Bhatta then brought a huge amount of prasada and fed them all. On the day of the Ratha yatra Vallava Bhatta was full of joy as he witnessed the enchanting dance of Mahaprabhu in the midst of the kirtana surrounded by swarms of people. After the festival the devotees from Gauda departed, but Vallava remained in Puri. One day he approached the Lord wanting to read the notes on the Bhagavata which he had composed. But Prabhu said, "I am not entitled to listen to the commentary of Bhagavata, I must simply chant the holy name of Krsna. Even though chanting throughout the day and night, still I cannot complete the prescribed number of rounds, so where is the time to listen to Bhagavata?" Vallava Bhatta said, "I have derived many meanings of the name of Krsna." But Mahaprabhu replied, "I do not know any other name of Krsna other than Syamasundara and Yasodanandana." Seeing that his attempt was a failure Vallava Bhatta gave up and went home feeling very sad. Nevertheless, he persisted in his hopes and decided to approach the other devotees in this regard. However, when he requested other devotees to listen to his commentary, they all refused to do so, knowing that Mahaprabhu had no interest in hearing it. At last, with a heavy heart he went to Sri Gadadhara Pandita and after many requests convinced him to listen to his writings. Gadadhara Pandita was a very simple and good-hearted devotee. Since Vallavacarya was a highly respected personality, Gadadhara did not dare to refuse his request, although he personally had no interest in listening to Vallavacarya's commentary and knew that Mahaprabhu disapproved of it. Thus he allowed Vallavacarya to speak, but fixed his mind only on the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Everyday Vallavacarya would visit the devotee and present various arguments before them, which were refuted by Advaita Acarya and others. Thus he failed miserably to establish his own angle of vision and thus became very depressed. One day Vallava Bhatta the Lord, "If Krsna is like the husband and the devotees are like His Prakrti (wife), why, being the wives, do the devotees utter the name of Krsna--the husband?" Prabhu said, "Vallava, you do not understand true religion. The religion of the wife is to obey her husband, so if the husband asks her to utter his name, a devoted wife should carry out his order by chanting his name." Hearing these words Vallava Bhatta became silent. (CC. Antya) Another day Vallava Bhatta came amongst the devotees and declared that he did not accept the commentary of Sridhara Swami on the Bhagavatam. Mahaprabhu then said that he who did not believe in the Bhagavata was like a prostitute. That night Vallavacarya began to think that perhaps he had committed an offence to the Lord, as Prabhu was no longer merciful towards him as he used to be previously. Thus, the following morning he went before the Lord and humbly presented himself at the feet of the Lord saying, "I am a fool because I wanted to show my knowledge in front of You. But you are the Supreme Lord Himself,thus you showered Your mercy upon me by cutting down my pride." Then Prabhu said, "No one can refute Sridhara Swami's commentary on the Bhagavata as he is directly empowered by the Lord to explain the sastra. Thus you should follow Sridhara Swami, and in order to have mental peace and happiness always chant the holy name of Lord Krsna. Then very soon you will get His mercy." Vallava Bhatta replied, "If You will be so kind to me, please accept another invitation for lunch at my place." For the betterment of the entire society, Mahaprabhu rectified Vallabha Bhatta, and through him, preached to the world. Mahaprabhu and his associates again visited Vallava's house and took prasada, much to the delight of Sri Vallavacarya. Though he had previously worshiped the Deity of Balagopala, he later became interested in worshiping the Kisore Gopala Deity of Gadadhara Pandita. With the permission of Mahaprabhu, Vallava took initiation from Sri Gadadhara Pandita in the Kisore Kr sna mantra (CC. Antya) In 1531 A.D., in the month of Asadha, in the bright fortnight Vallavacarya breathed his last. He was Sukadeva in Krsna lila. He was the founder of the Vallavacari sampradaya. Upendranarayana Sinha refuses to accept that the Vallava Bhatta mentioned in CC. is the same person as Vallavacarya, the founder of the Vallavacari sampradaya (Visnupriya Gauranga Patrika 5.7.257). But since Kavi Karnapura calls him Sukadeva and it is known that Vallavacarya wrote the Suvodhini commentary of Bhagavata, it is quite likely that they were the same person. Greerson commits a serious error by considering Vallava Bhatta to be the Vallavacarya who was Laksmi's father (J.R.A.S. 1909 P. 610). No social relationship ever took place between brahmans of the South and those who belonged to the Vaidika line from Bengal. Right now there is no conflict between the Vallavacari sampradaya and the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya. On the occasion of the fourth annual festival celebrated on 12 Caitra 1331 B.S. by "Pustimergiya Vaisnava Sangha" at Clive Street, Calcutta, Om Visnupada Srila Paramhansa Thakura, the Gurudeva of Gaudiya Matha was invited and he delivered a discourse there (Gaudiya 3.32.14). 22.VALLABHACARYA: He was the father of Sri Laksmipriya devi, the first wife of Mahaprabhu. He was Janaka in Krsna lila. (Murari 1.9.6, Caitanyacandrodayanataka 3.6, CBh. 1.7.73, CC. 2.1.249, Vaisnava Vandana of Jiva 115-6, Devaki-40, Vrnda-39) (See 28. VALLABHA MISRA) 22.VALLABHACARYA: He was the author of Krsnamangala (See also "Madhavacarya"). (Premavilasa 20) 23.VALLABHA DASA He was the great-grandson of Vamsivadana Thakura, an associate of Lord Gauranga. Vallabha (alias Rajavallabha) was a contemporary of Narottama Thakura. He wrote the book Vamsivilasa narrating the biography of Vamsivadana Thakura. Two other brothers of Vallabha dasa were also Vaisnava devotees. 24.VALLABHA DASA: He was the disciple of Hemalata devi, daughter of Srinivasa Acarya. He belonged to Sripata Gosvamigrama. (Karnananda 1) 25.VALLABHA DASA: There were about four or five Vaisnava poets bearing this name. It is practically impossible to ascertain who among these composed which poem. 26.VALLABHA DEVI: She was a resident of Vraja and the wife of Damodaracarya. The Deity Madanamohana was served in their house. They were extremely friendly with Sanatana Gosvami. (See also "Damodara Caube") 27.VALLABHA MAJUMDAR: He was a brahmana by caste and disciple of Ramacandra Kaviraja. (Premavilasa 20, Karnananda 2) 28.VALLABHA MISRA: He was the father of Laksmipriya, the first wife of Lord Caitanya. In his past incarnations he was Janaka of Mithila and Bhismaka, the King of Vidarbha. (GGD. 44) 29.VALLABHA RANGAVATI: He was a resident of Kasi. 30.VALLABHA SENA: He was an ardent devotee from Kancisali and was related to Sivananda Sena. (CC. 1.10.63, CCNataka 8. 33, Vaisnava Vandana of Dev. 115-6) 31.VALLABHA THAKURA: He was a disciple of Srinivasa Acarya and was known as Krsnavallabha Thakura. (See "Krsnavallabha Thakura") -- Hope this helps. Your servant, bh. Jan www.veda.harekrsna.cz (Bhakti-yoga Vedic Encyclopedia Vedic Library) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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