Born into a Telugu Brahmin family, Vallabha studied Hindu philosophy from early age, then traveled throughout the Indian subcontinent for over 20 years.

Vallabha rejected asceticism and monastic life, suggesting that through loving devotion to the deity Krishna, any householder could achieve salvation.

[6][7] Other Sanskrit texts include Gadādhara Dviveda's Sampradāya-Pradīpa (colophon states A.D. 1552–53, but according to Hawley, actually from the latter half of the 1600s),[8] Muralīdharadāsa's Śrīvallabhācāryacarita (c. 1573), Prabhucaritaciṁtāmaṇi (attributed to Devakīnaṁdana, which is baseless according to Bhatt),[9] and the Gujarati poem Vallabhākhyāna by Gopāladāsa (c. 1580).

[7] According to scholars, life of Vallabha as depicted in traditional sources contains many miracles, supernatural events, and "patently implausible features".

This is due to the fact that these followers instead consider Gokulanātha to be God in human form, with Vallabha and Viṭṭhalanātha only being revered ācāryas.

No single text contains a full biography of Vallabha, and different sources contain inconsistent and contradictory information, likely due to internal fragmentation of the religious community from the 17th to 19th centuries.

[13][14] According to tradition, Vallabha's family were Velanāṭa or Vellanāḍu Telugu Brahmins who belonged to the Bhāradvāja gotra and the Taittirīya branch of the Yajurveda.

[17] According to some sources such as the Śrīvallabhadigvijaya, Vallabha's birth occurred in the forests of Campāraṇya, due to his parents fleeing Vārāṇasī in fear of Muslim invasion.

These sources depict his birth as miraculous, with his parents initially leaving the seemingly still-born infant beneath a śamī tree, before being recalled by a supernatural voice to see Vallabha alive and surrounded by fire.

Vallabha immediately went to Vijayanagara to join the debate, and entered the Vaiṣṇava camp led by Vyāsatīrtha of the Mādhva school.

Vallabha through his erudition and debate skills defeated the Advaita philosophers, and was rewarded by Kr̥ṣṇadevarāya with large amounts of gold (most of which he distributed among Brahmins).

Only later writers such as Gosvāmī Puruṣottama, Yogī Gopeśvara, and Gadādharadāsa link Vallabha's and Lakṣmaṇa Bhaṭṭa's philosophical school to Viṣṇusvāmī.

[24] According to sectarian literature, this debate occurred shortly after Lakṣmaṇa Bhaṭṭa's death in 1490 when Vallabha was only 13 years old;[25] however, Kr̥ṣṇadevarāya only became king of Vijayanagara in 1509.

[25] It is also mentioned in the Sampradāya-Pradīpa, whose narrative is described as "clearly counterfactual" by Hawley who posits the episode was written with for the purpose of furthering the interests of the Puṣṭimārga in the 18th century.

[26] In 1493, Vallabha is said to have had a dream where Kr̥ṣṇa ordered him to go to Govardhana Hill and establish proper service (sevā) to his image (svarūpa) which had appeared there years ago.

When he arrived in Gokula in 1494, Vallabha had a vision where Kr̥ṣṇa appeared before him and bestowed upon him the Brahmasambandha mantra, which was to be used to clean the flaws of a human soul.

Saḍḍu Pāṇḍe had received a vision from Kr̥ṣṇa years earlier that told him a stone that had appeared on Govardhana Hill was his own svarūpa and that he should give offerings to it.

[2][29] Vallabha may have intended to remain a lifelong celibate brahmacārī, but during his second pilgrimage of India between 1501 and 1503, he had gone to Paṁḍḥarapura to view the god Viṭṭhala or Viṭhobā (a form of Kr̥ṣṇa).

Some sectarian sources assert this was because Viṭṭhala wanted to take birth as his son, and others say it was to create a line of descendants to preserve and promote Vallabha's version of bhakti-mārga.

At pilgrimage sites such as Dvārakā, Kannauja, Purī, Mathurā, Gokula, and Govardhana, Vallabha had theological debates and attracted followers and devotees.

He made extensive conversion campaigns in the Gangetic Plain and Gujarat, where he attracted converts from various castes including Bhumihars, Rajputs, Gurjars, Ahirs, Kurmis, and Vaniyas, Bhatias, Kanbis, and Patidars respectively.

For mercantile castes, purity as well as the emphasis on restraint and frugality in daily life elevated their status, while wealth could then be funnelled toward religiously meritorious sevā to Kr̥ṣṇa.

Vallabha asserted that religious disciplines focusing on Vedic sacrifices, temple rituals, puja, meditation, and yoga held limited value.

Vallabha emphasizes that the world is not illusory but as real as Brahman itself, which manifests by temporarily suppressing its attributes of bliss and consciousness.