Pushtimarg on Faith vs. Superstition

The never ending search for illusory stopgap solutions would immediately end if one would but wade beyond the shallow waters of materialistic mysticism and dive deep into the blissful ocean of pure spirituality known as Pushtimarg.

An eclipse (Grahan) is a unique spectacle, a celestial marvel; something quite beyond the human capacity to duplicate artificially. We can give lectures explaining it, submit papers examining it, but we can’t create it.

But for all its astronomical, astrological and religious significance have you ever heard of anyone trying to setup automatic lifelong reminders for it?

I don’t think so. Why even bother in the first place?

But then, I have had my eureka moment having managed to stumble on to a method to do exactly that; not that it gives me any feeling of achievement, though.

I will not be dwelling into the intricacies of an eclipse, but revealing the unfortunate and rather humorous aspect of our belief system, which emerges when we overwhelm our faith with our fears and desires.

So here is how things have come to such an unintended pass.

In meeting with vaishnavs, advertently the topic veers to the ups and downs that they are presently facing in life. There is nothing wrong in discussing that with your Guru. On the contrary, he should be the authority in your life who is able to impart to you appropriate advice without a need to being ‘diplomatic or tactful’.

The problem arises when the ‘seeker’ has already decided the type of answer he would like to receive. For every problem then, the Guru is expected to come up with solutions that are instantaneous, easy and ones that don’t involve any long term commitment.

The restaurant of misguided religiosity should have on its menu varieties of yantra-mantra-tantra ready to be served. The more exotic you serve the better.

The all time favorite being something that one can just wear and start getting results; an amulet or taviz or a charm collectively called a ‘bhojpatra’ by some in Pushtimarg.

This never ending search for such illusory remedies would immediately end if one would but wade beyond the shallow waters of materialistic mysticism and dive deep into the blissful ocean of pure spirituality known as Pushtimarg.

For Mahaprabhuji Shri Vallabhacharya, the founder of Pushtimarg, seeking such a delusory solution goes against the fundamental principle of what He wishes to inculcate in vaishnavs by the means of Seva and Satsang.

He doesn’t want us to base our life on a makeshift foundation of weak assurances.

Any practice which undermines the meaningfulness of the kanthi we wear around our necks, the tilak we apply on our foreheads, the Ashtakshar Maha-mantra we chant or the seva that Shri Thakurji accepts from us, is a chink in the armor of a vaishnav which will make him forever weak and vulnerable to such never ending and misleading suggestions.

That is what is referred to as anyashraya in Pushtimarg.

The ever compassionate Acharya repeatedly advises us

अशक्ये हरि:-एव-अस्ति सर्वम-आश्रयतो भवेत् (वि.धै.आ | 9)

In hopelessness, only Shri Shrinathji is the refuge by which everything occurs. (Vivek Dhairya Ashraya | 9)

Out of our ignorance of the infinite strength and compassion of Gopijan Vallabh Shri Shrijibava arise the doubts which are the root cause of the gut wrenching anxiety that paralyzes us at will.

Shri Mahaprabhuji doesn’t want us sitting around stressed and depressed at every real & imagined difficulty that life throws at us, but instead guides us to immerse ourselves in the unlimited reservoir of strength and divine bliss that lies at the feet of Shri Govardhandharan.

Revealing these as his source of infinite strength, Ashta-Sakha Surdasji sings the glory of the refuge at the feet of Shri Mahaprabhuji in the kirtan,

दृढ इन चरणन् केरो भरोसो…श्री वल्लभ नख-चन्द्र छटा बिन सब जग मांझ अंधेरो…साधन ओर नहीं या कलि में जासुं होत निवेरो…सूर कहा कहे द्विविध आंधरो…बिना मोल को चेरो…दृढ इन चरणन् केरो भरोसो (सूरदासजी, आश्रय पद )

Strengthen your faith in these feet…Without the glow of the moon-nails of Shri Vallabh the whole world would be steeped in darkness…In this kalyug there are no other means by which we can liberate ourselves…What more can Surdas say for he is twofold blind (physically & spiritually) and a worthless servant… Strengthen your faith in these feet (Surdasji, Ashraya pad)

But, aah, sometimes…for all the goodness that you may want to shower on a seeker, he just isn’t willing to accept it. He won’t take no for an answer and on the contrary expects you to wave your hands in the air and miraculously come up with some thingamabob that will solve all his past, present and future problems in a jiffy.

You could go on and on about the futility of misplaced belief and the permanence of faith but all that would be just some more water off a duck’s back.

Things then come to a head because all that denying has made the object of desire all the more precious. He declares that he is ready to compensate me for the ‘parishram’ that I will have to undergo in creating it!

The lure of money got him into trouble in the first place and now he thinks he can just spend some more to get himself out of it.

A person once even went to the extent of quietly slipping in an empty amulet in my side bag. The ‘kind’ soul called afterwards to say that he ‘understood’ that I couldn’t openly accept such a thing in front of other ‘un-enlightened’ beings.

So there I was, smuggling divine contraband, something that I wouldn’t want to be caught dead in. What if the gates of Gaulok opened at that very moment and I was security checked..! I would be stuck here forever.

I have since given up reacting with anger to such situations. Instead I came up with an explanation that I initially thought would be win-win. It would appeal to the misguided psyche of those who just don’t wish to see reason and at the same time free me from the annoying task of saying no all the time.

So when someone was particularly insistent, I would suddenly drop my voice to a whisper and say, “Look, such things must be prepared on request and that too should be done only during the surya grahan (Solar eclipse). Anything I give you now won’t be the ‘real’ thing.”

Now, nobody wants to be saddled with a dud that doesn’t deliver, so that would invariably settle the subject there and then. My reasoning at that time was that since solar eclipses occur so infrequently the issue would be long buried when one finally came along.

Or so I thought.

Shakespeare writes, be stirring as the time, be fire with fire…but the great man forgot to add that fighting fire with fire just adds to the blaze.

Since then, Bhagvad Leela se this year we have had two surya grahans one after the other and I am already being made to pay for my burst of ingenuity; for, as the day approaches – phone calls and messengers start descending on the haveli from those that I thought must have long forgotten. All reminding me that I had better be fulfilling my duties this time!

I stopped giving the excuse long back, but the damage has been done. All that I have managed to do is unwillingly outsource the task of reminding myself of the eclipse to a huge group of very persistent people.

So the reminders continue…

The Shrinathji Tippani on my desk tells me that the next Chandra Grahan is on the 31st of this year and the next Surya Grahan is on the 15th of next month…no, don’t even think about it.

Surdasji’s ashraya kirtan mentioned in the article should be sung after every satsang, Shri Thakurji’s shayan or at least once before going to bed – by everybody in every Pushtimargiya Vaishnav household. It has been a source of infinite strength to generations of vaishnavs. I have included an mp3 file containing the kirtan as a tutorial. (Full credits to the original singers.)

  Dradha In Charanan-Surdasji.mp3 (1.5 MiB, 26,649 hits)

I will be in Braj – Kamvan, Jatipura, Gokul from the 23rd of this month to the 3rd of Jan 2010. Wish you all with a vinanti in the Charan-kamal of Shri Vallabh to fill the coming year with the divine light of Seva and Satsang.

I have received some requests to make my articles available in pdf format so that they can be downloaded and read offline, shared etc.  You can find the link below.

  Pushtimarg on Faith - PDF (702.0 KiB, 1,822 hits)

As always I welcome your feedback and also request you to point out where I missed dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.

Again, wish everybody a happy 2010

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