Vallabhacharya was the next great saint of the Krishna cult of Vaishnavism. He was born at Varanasiin 1479. His father Lakshman Bhatt from Telenganga was on a pilgrimage along with his family to Kashi, where his second son Vallabhacharya saw the light of day.

He travelled much and he took his residence in Vrindaban where he started preaching the Krishna cult. He worshipped Lord Krishna under the title of Srinath- ji. Like Kabir and Nanak, he did not consider married life a hindrance to spiritual progress. He was the author of a number of scholarly works in Sanskrit and Brijbhasha.

Vallabhacharya’s philosophy centres round the cenception of one personal and loving God. He believed in the marga (path) of pushti (grace) and bhakti (devotion). He looked upon Sri Krishna as the highest Brahma, purushotama and parmanand (the highest bliss).

According to Vallabhacharya, God can be realized only by the one. He chooses and for this choice one has to practise bhakti. In the expression of pushtimarga, the word marga means path or way and the word pushti means grace of God. Mukti or salvation can be attained by it and in no other way! Devotion or bhakti must be without any object in view and without any desire of fruit. It should be accompanied by love and service.

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Surdas (sixteenth-seventeenth century): No ac­count of the Bhakti movement can be complete without describing the two great Hindupoets, Surdas and Tulsidas. Both were saints of a high order, but not preachers and reformers in the formal sense, and neither of them founded a sect or cult. We have not much information about the principal events of Surdas’s life, not even the dates of his birth and death.

Surdas was the devotee of Lord Krishna and Radha. He believed that salvation can be achieved only through the devotion of Krishna who is Saguna God. Three of his works are very popular.

They are Sur Sarawali, Sahitya Ratna and Sur Sagar. The Sur Sagar, which is said to contain 1, 25,000 verses, is not only saturated with love and devotion, but is also notable for depicting Krishna as a child. Surdas has displayed a masterly knowledge of child psychology and also expressed his sincere devotion to the Al­mighty. Surdas’s works and his stray poems have produced a tremendous impact on the Indian masses.