Within Pushti Marg, Śuddhādvaita—“pure non-dualism”—functions as the very backbone of its vision of God, world, and soul. It affirms a single, all-encompassing reality: Śrī Krishna, identified with Brahman, whose nature is pure existence-consciousness-bliss. The world and individual souls are not illusory appearances but real manifestations of this one Brahman. In this view, there is no separate, deceptive principle such as an illusory māyā; rather, everything that exists is understood as Krishna’s own power and play. This grants a positive, sacred value to the world and to embodied life, instead of treating them as obstacles to be negated.

On this foundation, the relationship between the soul and Krishna is conceived as both non-dual and genuinely relational. The soul is a real part or aspect of Krishna’s being, inherently divine yet obscured by karma, and thus naturally capable of intimate loving relationship with the Supreme. Liberation is not framed as the dissolution of individuality into an impersonal absolute, but as the soul’s restoration to its true, grace-filled communion with Krishna. Bhakti, expressed as loving service (sevā), becomes not a secondary or provisional path, but the highest expression of non-dual reality: the one Brahman delighting in love with its own manifestations. In this way, Śuddhādvaita provides the theological rationale for Pushti Marg’s emphasis on Krishna’s personal form, his līlā, and the devotee’s ongoing, concrete service.

This philosophical stance also shapes the distinctive ethos of Pushti Marg’s devotional life. Because the world is regarded as a real expression of Krishna, worldly activities—household life, enjoyment of food, music, and beauty—are not rejected but can be sanctified when offered to him in a spirit of sevā. The path is thus centered on divine grace (puṣṭi): liberation is received through Krishna’s favor, awakened and sustained by loving devotion, rather than achieved by asceticism or mere intellectual knowledge. Śuddhādvaita thereby undergirds a tradition in which Krishna is worshiped as the supreme, all-complete reality, the world is cherished as his manifestation, and the devotee’s life is oriented toward continuous, grace-filled service in his living presence.