1. Foreword
I have read through the manuscript of ‘Love is God’ by Shri Lalita Charan Goswami. Shri
Goswami is an authority on the philosophy of Divine Love propounded by the founder of
the Devotional Cult-Radha Vallabh and has a number of important works in Hindi to his
credit. The present monograph in English is another feather to his cap. It is written in a
fine literary style and will certainly appeal to readers with a devotional bent of mind who
are not quite conversant with Hindi language.
Preface
From Vedic times onwards the natural urge in man blur spiritual progress has expressed
itself through the medium of three paths namely - the path of knowledge, path of action
and path of emotion (Gyan Marg, Karm Marg and Bhakti Marg). In the long religious
history of India we have seen that the founders of various religions have been very
skeptical about or even averse to emotions and have discouraged paths of spiritual
progress in which emotions play a prominent role. On the other hand, it is also known to
us that in spite of all their efforts, with the passage of time, emotions and the paths of
spiritual progress based on them, have crept in the systems founded by them. Kenyan -
the oldest form of Buddhism is, for all purposes, a path of knowledge. But a few Centuries
later, we find Mahayana - an offshoot of Buddhism coming up with emotions playing
significant role in its development. Mahayana accepted the theory of Divine Descent
(Antiradar) and with it came the emotional relation with the deity. Kenyan was not
popular among the common people but the new form of Buddhism (Mahayana) caught
hold of the imagination of the masses and seemed to fulfill most of their aspirations.
Parallel to the advent of Mahayana a renaissance was taking place in Hinduism also and
naturally, both of them were influencing each other. In the field of philosophy, Mahayana
had developed several new systems which seemed to demolish the philosophy based Of
Upanishads. In the 8th century one of the greatest’ philosophers of the world -
Shankaracharya - was born in South India. He defeated the upholders of Mahayana
philosophy by holding direct discussions with them and made way for general decline of
Buddhism in India.
On the other hand, the philosophical system of Shankaracharya was too abstruse and
lacked the warmth of intimate relation with one’s object of worship. According to most of
the historians, Alwars in the South, even before the advent of Shankaracharya had been
propagating devotion (Bhakti) as the best method of attaining the summum bonum of
human life. These great devotees were attached emotionally with different incarnations of
Vishnu. So they were called Vaishnavas. Ramanuja, who was horn in the lineage of
Alwars, gave Bhakti movement initiated by Alwars the required philosophical base to make
it attractive for Sanskritknowing savants through out India. The philosophical system
developed by him was the first Vaishnav effort in this direction. Madhava, Nimbarka and
Vallabha followed him. Though all of them were great devotees and subscribed to Vishnu
worship in general, yet in their commentaries on Brahm-sutras they developed
philosophical systems different from each other - Ramanuja’ s system is known as
Vishishtadvet’, Madhavas Dvet’, Nimbarka’s ‘Dvetadvet’ and Vallabha’s Sudhadvet’. They

2. all, however opposed ‘Kewaladvet’ (Mayavad) of Shankaracharya as it was placed against
the very fundamentals of Bhaktivad.
Vallabha was the last of these Vaishnavacharyas. He was first to substitute Krishna for the
word ‘Brahm’ in his commentary on Brahmsutras. With it he accepted Shrimad Bhagvat as
an authority alongwith Brahmsutras, Bhagvadgeeta and Vedas and ii proved to be very
helpful in spreading the cult of Krishna through out India. Though Vallabh too hailed from
South India - horn in the year 1535 (Vikram) or 1478 (A.D), he lived near Allahabad in
UP. on the hank of the Ganges and his activities were centred in Braj.
Chaitanya was born in the year 1542 (Vikram) or 1485 (A.D) in Navadeep, (West Bengal).
He was a consummate devotee. He gave birth to a great Bhakti movement in Bengal.
Though he personally came to Vrindavana only once, he advised his followers to make it
their centre for propagation of the new movement. Chaitanya, like the Alwars of South
India, emphasized the practice of devotion in its purest form without worrying or caring
much for its philosophical base. Shrimad Bhagvata is considered by him sole authority on
which the whole gamut of his worship (Upasana) is based. His followers have written
commentaries on Shrimad Bhagvata as well as some original works on ‘Bhakti Rasa’.
Sanatan Goswami, Roop Goswami and Jeev Goswami are prominent among those. Gopal
Bhatt compiled the first smriti or the memory- borne codes of law for Vaishnavas. The
credit of discovery of several places of Krishna-leela in Braj goes also to Chaitanya and his
followers.
In a well-known Sanskrit verse nearly all the salient features ol Chaitanya Sampradaya
are outlined beautifully. The verse says that, in the doctrine expounded by Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu, the main object of worship is Bhagwan Nandnandan (Shri Krishna),
Vrindavana is his abode (Dham), the beautiful mode of worship (Upasana) is the one that
was assumed by Gopees of Braj, the only authority is Shrimad Bhagvata, and the great
object of human pursuits in love.
Followers of Chaitanya came from the east in Vrindavana which was at that time a decoit-
infested area. So they had to live in other places of Braj. The founder of a distinct sect of
Prema Bhakti - Hit-harivansh came down to Vrindavana during the same period from the
west. it was he who made Vrindavana inhabitable by bringing about a total change of
mind in Narwahan - the leader of decoits then active in the area. Both these doctrines of
Prema-Bhakti which converged in Vrindavana at that time had some similarities. But the
difkrences between the doctrine of chaitanya as outlined in the atre metioned Sanskrit
verse and that of Hit-harivansh are:
(i) In haitanya Sampradaya love is declared to be the most innate of the three powers -
Aalhadini, Sandhini and Samvit of the Supreme Being or Bhagwan. Naturally, therefore,
the whole structure of their doctrine is based on these three attributes of Bhagwan i.e.
Krishna or Nandnandan and He is their main object of worship. On (he other hand, in the
opinion of Shri Hit-harivansh’s Radha Vallahh Sampradaya Love is God and these energies
of Bhagwan are quite foreign to the psychological composition of love which is essentially
composed of three components namely (a) lover (b) beloved and (c) relation between the
lover and the beloved commonly known as love. The doctrinal sturcture of Radha Vallabh
Sapradaya is built on this distinctive psychological approach to love and accordingly their

3. object of worship is not only Nandnandan hut it is the divine couple comprising
Nandnandan (Krishna) and Vrishbhanunandnj (Radha) as Bhogta and Bhogya.
(ii) Another distinctive feature of Radha Vallabh Sampradaya is its view-point about
‘Leela’. For Speedy spiritual progress, followers of this Sampradaya believe that
concentration of mind on a well-defined point is very necessary. According to them,
Krishna’s leelas, as they are many in number and varied involving innumerable characters
and places, do not help humam mind concentrate on an exclusive point. Moreover, in
some leela we find Krishna displaying his super human powers to his parents, friends and
Gopees. They all are amazed, confused and frustrated too at the sight of it and begin to
doubt whether it was proper for them to claim intimacy with such an omnipotent person.
To achieve its objective of providing a single point concentration, Radha Vallabh
Sampradaya presents only one leela i.e. Prem Leela of Radha and Krishna. This Prem
Leela has its own distinctive feature, namely (a) in these leelas the object of love is Radha
instead of Krishna who is the centre of attraction in all the leelas as depicted in Shrimad
Bhagvata and other puranas (b) Leelas of Radha and Krishna as narrated in various
Puranas were enacted within a limited frame of time and space. As a result of this, both of
them had to experience separation as well as reunion at different times. But leelas of
Radha and Krishna are introduced by Hit-harivansh and his followers as being performed
in present time and that present is pointed out to be eternal one. To underline this idea,
most of Hitacharya’s Braj Bhasha Verses begin with the word ‘AAJ’ (today). These
transcendental leelas of the divine couple with the supremacy of Radha are called ‘Nitya
Vihara’.
(iii) The most charming form of worship of the divine couple Radha-Krishna, is initiated by
Sakhees who are personification, pure and simple, of the selfless love i.e. relation existing
between the said couple.
(Vi)Hitacharya is unique in declaring that Love is God (not that God is love) and Radha
and Krishna are its embodiments or personified forms. This shows that the concept of love
and love sports as presented by Hitacharya in his writings is different from that of
Shrimad Bhagvata. Followers of Radha Vallabh Sampradaya, therefor, have to depenJ
completely on Hitacharya’s Braj Bhasha and sanskrit works and these writings are
invariably considered as final authority for them. For traditional shape of Bhakti i.e.
Navdha Bhakti, however, Shrimad Bhagvata is considered in this Sampradaya to be the
preparatory authority and it can be categorically stated that the concept of Hitacharya
does not come into conflict with that of Shrimad Bhagvata.
(V) Love is not only the object of human pursuits but it is ‘God’ Himself. In this small book
we have tried to give a short exposition of the religious system established by Radha
Vallabh Sampradaya on the concept ‘Love is God’. We hope the readers will find it not only
thought provoking but also of great spiritual value.
Contents
1 Foreword
2 Preface v-x
3 The Founder 1-7
4 Object of adoration 8-14,

4. 5 Love Sports (Prem-Vihar) 15 - 19
6 Shri Krishna 20 - 22
7 shri radha 23 - 26
8 Vrindavana 27 - 31
9 Sakhi Or Sehchari 32 - 33
10 The Path Of Worship 34 - 38
11 Message Of The Sampradaya 39 - 41