This hymn was composed by Sri Vallabhacharya, the founder of the Pushti Marg Vaishnavas. A brief life sketch of Sri Vallabhacharya by Swami Shivananda is available at: www.dlshq.org/s...
An English transliteration of this hymn is found at: www.shrinathdha...
A Devanagari script version is found at: prramamurthy193...
This hymn is like Sri Achyutashtakam by Sri Adya Shankaracharya which is descriptive in nature, yet the philosophy is unmistakably clear and simply stated.
Advaita (non-dualism) Vedanta as explained by Sri Adya Shankaracharya has seen four Vaishnava dissenting schools of thought so far. One of them, the Vishishta-advaita school started by Sri Ramanuja of Tamil Nadu, is centred around Sri Vishnu as the Absolute. The other three schools centre around Sri Krishna as the Absolute. Two of these three agree on advaita, non-dualism. These two are the Dvaita-advaita school founded by Sri Nimbarkacharya of Andhra Pradesh and the Shuddha-advaita school founded by Sri Vallabhacharya, also of Andhra Pradesh. The dvaita (dualism) school established by Sri Ananda Tirtha (popularly known as Sri Madhavacharya) of Karnataka is at the farthest end of the spectrum. The Gaudiya Vaishnavas are a branch of the dvaita school. Gaud is a region in Bengal and hence the name.
Common to all the dissenters is the presence of a specific Form. None of the inheritors of Sri Adya Shankaracharya stopped or moulded the dissenters or in any way encouraged/ supported others to do so. Persecution/repression happened when Advaita Vedanta was not understood by those who claimed to follow it, such as those who tried to kill the extremely compassionate Sri Ramanuja.
This freedom to interpret the scriptures and own experiences is what makes available a rich variety of philosophical schools to choose from for the seeker who reaches 'Hindu' thought by birth or any other means. It is said that the choice is made as per one's own needs, understanding and level of maturity: emotional, rational and spiritual. Therefore, none of the schools are looked down upon and the spirit of one upmanship is absent. The differences of interpretation comes from different answers to 3 questions: What is real? What is unreal? What is the relationship between the real and unreal? In other words, the difference is about how God, the Creation and the relationship between them is perceived.
Sri Nandakumarashtakam brings to the singer an experience of deep joy and unshakeable knowledge. The two main themes of this extremely lyrical hymn are the childhood activities of Sri Krishna and description of His appearance.
More on Pushti Marg is available at: en.wikipedia.or...
A good collection of info & links is also available at: shyamdas.com/
The famous Ashtachap poets (8 gems) lived their lives around Sri Vallabhacharya. Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Meerabai and Tulsidas were their contemporaries. This major wave of Vaishnava bhakti (devotion) swept along the banks of Yamuna and Ganga when Akbar ruled Hindustan: current Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and India. Akbar's chief queen was a Hindu princess and therefore his heirs belong more to India than his ancestors who came from Persia. Akbar had met many of these saints, either by inviting them to his court or as part of their audience in disguise. The Ashtachap poets composed in Braj bhasha (language of Braj) and sang in the majestic and sonorous Dhrupad style. Braj is the land tract associated with Sri Krishna's childhood activities and is partly in current Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Surdas, the blind poet, is the most famous among the Ashtachap saints and Pandit Jasraj, the best known singer of Haveli sangeet today.
The images are downloads from the web, many of them from www.krishna.com/.
5 сен 2024
