01Pure non-duality, pure grace
His father Lakshmana Bhatta was on pilgrimage when the child was born. Vallabha studied at Kashi, and the sampradaya tells that he won a great debate at the Vijayanagara court in the time of Krishnadevaraya and was bathed in gold there. He wrote the Anubhashya on the Brahma Sutras, the Subodhini on the Bhagavata Purana and sixteen short works, the Shodasha Granthas. He walked the length of Bharat three times, and the places where he read the Bhagavata, the 84 baithaks, are pilgrim spots for his followers.
02Shrinathji and the Ashtachhap
At Govardhan he began the daily seva of Shrinathji, the image of Krishna lifting the hill. Seva in the Pushti Marg follows the day of a child: waking, food, play, rest, with eight darshans. At Gaughat on the Yamuna he accepted the blind singer Surdas as disciple, and his son Vitthalnath later named eight poets, the Ashtachhap, to sing in the temple. In 1672 the image was carried to Mewar for safety and has been at Nathdwara since. Vallabha took jal samadhi in the Ganga at Kashi in 1531.
