Page 177 - Hinduism

doctrine, Vishnu is the only Supreme Being and Bhakti is the primary essential for liberation. Among his great disciples was Purandaradasa, reputed as a social reformer and one of the creators of the Karnataka system of music. Vadiraja, a renowned writer, was another Madhva philosopher.
IX.17 Vaishnavism in the North
One of the most influential Vaisnava cults was founded by Vallabhacharya, a Telugu Brahmin who lived in the 15th century. He migrated to the North and in his numerous works in the North he gave an interpretation of the Vedanta differing from that of Ramanuja, as also of Sankara. He called his doctrine Suddha Advaita, pure non- dualism. The world is real, and not an illusion. God is Nimitta Karana, the causative being. Discarding the Maya theory Vallabhacharya asserts that God cannot be described by negatives but only by his holy and gracious attributes, and is personified in Krishna. He is not only karta, creator, but also bhokta, enjoyer. Though he has no need to assume a bodily form, he often does so to please his devotees. Regarding Bhakti as the chief means of salvation and superior to Jnana (knowledge), Vallabha opposed all kinds of asceticism. The body is the temple of God, he said. The famous Upanishadic precept Tatvamasi was by an ingenious interpretation, modified by Vallabha as Atatvamasi, "That thou art not". Vallabhacharya doctrines were fully interpreted and expounded by his son Vittala.
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