I I S h r i G ok u l e n d u r J a y a t i I I

II Shri Chhabilaji Vijayate II

n 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 cant create it.

Pushtimarg on faith
Freeing oneself from the quagmire of
Superstition

Goswami Anandbava

But f or all its astron omical, astrological and

religious significance have you e ver heard
of anyone trying to setup automatic lifelong
reminders for it?

Anandbavas Blog on Pushtimarg | www.anandbava.com | email: anandbava@gmail.com

I dont think so. Wh y even bother in the

first place?

appropriate advice without a need to being

diplomatic or tactful.

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.

The problem arise s when the seeker has

already decided the type of answer he
would like to receive .

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 n othing
wrong in discussin g that wit h your Guru.
On the contrary, he should be the authority
in your life who is able to impart to you
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For every problem t hen, the Guru is

expected to come up with solutions that are
instantaneous , easy and ones that dont
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.

Anandbavas Blog on Pushtimarg | www.anandbava.com | email: anandbava@gmail.com

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 Valla bhacharya, 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 doesnt 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, th e tilak we apply on our
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fore heads, 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 compassion ate Acharya repeatedly
advises us
:-- -
(..

| 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

Anandbavas Blog on Pushtimarg | www.anandbava.com | email: anandbava@gmail.com

Shrijibava arise the doubts which are the

root cause of the gut wrenching anxiety that
paralyzes us at will.

Shri Mahaprabhuji doesnt 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
Mahaprabhuj i in the kirtan,

... -

...

...

... ...
( , )

Strengthen your faith in these feet...In this

kalyug there are no other means by which
we can liberate ourselves...Without the glow
of the moon-nails of Shri Vallabh the whole
world would be steeped in darkness.. .What
more can Surdas say for he is twofold blind
(physically & spiritu ally) 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 isnt willing to accept it. He wont
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.

Anandbavas Blog on Pushtimarg | www.anandbava.com | email: anandbava@gmail.com

You could go on and on about the futility of

misplaced belief and the permanence of
faith but all that w ould be just some more
water off a ducks back.
Things then come to a head because all that
denying has made the object o f desire all
the more precious. H e 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
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couldnt openly accept such a thing in fr ont

of other un -enlightened beings.
So there I was, smuggling di vine
contraband, somethi ng that I wouldnt
want to be caught dead in. What if t he
gates of Gaulok opened at t hat very
moment and I was security checked..! I
would be stuck here forever.
I have since given up reacting with anger
to such situations. In stead 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 dont
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

Anandbavas Blog on Pushtimarg | www.anandbava.com | email: anandbava@gmail.com

should be done only during the surya

grahan (Solar eclipse). Anything I give you
now wont be the real thing.
Now, nobody wants to be saddled with a
dud that doesnt 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.

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

Or so I thought.

So the reminders continue...

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 .

The Shrinathji Tippani on my desk tells me

that the next Chandra Grahan is on the 31 s t
of this year and the next Surya Grahan is on
the 15 t h of next month... no, dont even think
about it.

Since then, Bhagvad Leela se this year w e

have had two surya grahans one after the
other and I am already being made to pay
for my burst of inge nuity; f or, as the day
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Anandbavas Blog on Pushtimarg | www.anandbava.com | email: anandbava@gmail.com

Surdasjis ashraya ki rtan mentioned in the

article should be sung after every satsang, Shri
Thakurjis shayan or at least once before goi ng
to bed - by everybody i n every Pushtimargiya
Vaishnav household . It has been a source of
infinite strength to generations of vaishnavs. I
have included an mp3 file containing the ki rtan
as a tutorial . (Full credits to the original
singers.) Click here to download
You can read this arti cle online with any
updates right here
I will be in Braj - Kamvan, Jatipura, Gokul
from the 23 r d of this month to the 3 r d of Jan
2010. Wish you all wi th a vinanti in t he
Charan-kamal of Shri Vallabh to fill the coming
year with the divine li ght of Seva and Satsang.

Anandbavas Blog on Pushtimarg | www.anandbava.com | email: anandbava@gmail.com