The Four Objectives of Human Life: An Introduction to the Thought and Practice of the Path of Grace, A Commentary on the Chatuh Shloki (Four Verses) of Shri Vallabhacharya by Goswami Shyam Manohar

The sixteenth-century scholar saint Vallabhāchāryawrote a four-versed Sanskrit text titled the Chatuh-shlokī (“Four Verses”), which outlines the four objectives of human life from the perspective of the religious tradition he founded called the Path of Grace (Pushti Mārga). Goswami Shyam Manohar, the most preeminent and prolific scholar in the Path of Grace today, wrote a lengthy commentary in Hindi on the Chatuh-shlokī that serves well as an introduction to the thought and practice of the Path of Grace. This book makes his text available to English readers for the first time. The lengthy commentary by Shyam Manohar Goswami explains and expands on the four human objectives of sacred duty (dharma), wealth (artha), desire (kāma), and liberation (moksha). This work clearly elucidates a system of devotionalism that is resolutely nondual while allowing for a celebration of diversity and relationality. It also underscores the importance of the central practice within the Path of Grace of gharsvarūpa sevā, intimate worshipful interaction with a highly personal form of Krishna with one’s own body and wealth in the private setting of one’s home. This practice culminates in the highest bliss of the love of God.