The three pillars of Pushtimarg are
1)Raag(Traditional Haveli Music),
2)Bhog(Pure Vegetarian Food Offerings excluding Onion,Garlic,Cabbage and
Root Vegetables), and,
3)Vastra&Shringar(Dressing up the deity with
beautiful clothes,headwear and jewellery adornments).
All the above three
are included in the daily "seva"(ritual service) which all Pushtimarg
following Vaishnavs offer their "Thakurji"(Personal Krishna Deity) and all
have been traditionally prscribed by Goswami Shri Vitthalnathji also called
Gusainji(Vallabhacharya's younger son) almost five hundred years ago. The
Music,Food and Adornment offerings vary daily according to the season, day
and time of day; and this is the main reason why this path so colourful and
alive compared to any other Vaishnav cult. Seva is the most important way to
attain "Pushti" in Pushtimarg and has been prescribed by Mahaprabhuji Shri
Vallabhacharyaji as the basic tenet; and all principles and tenets of
Shuddhadvaita Vaishnavism stem out from there
Shri Vallabahcharya on the next day taught the same Mantra to his first
disciple Shri Damodardas Harsani along with the principles of Pushtimarga.
This was how Pushtimarga was established.
To understand Pushtibhakti better, let us now have an overview of its
features :-
It is spontaneous, selfless & motiveless love for God. It is based on pure
love for God. It is expressed only through service of God - "Seva". It is
love after realising God's true nature. The knowledge gained is not a means
of liberation. Liberation, is considered secondary to the enjoyment of God's
bliss. Its aim is God's happiness. No caste, greed, color, sex or age
becomes the criteria, the only criteria is God's Grace. It does not know any
boundaries, be it time, place or anything else. It does not require a
devotee to give up a householder's life. In fact, one can serve Him better,
by being a householder. All the worldly desires are diverted towards God,
they are then not required to be suppressed. World is not looked down upon
but is treated as God's creation and thus as real as God himself. Shri
Krishna is the supreme God, all the other deities reside in his form.
Therefore total faith is placed in Shri Krishna alone. In the state of
liberation the entity of the devotee merges into God's blissful form, but in
Bhakti (especially Pushti bhakti) the devotee does not seek liberation but
he enjoys God's bliss by participating in it as a separate divine entity.