Part 1
-Srinivasa Аcharya parents Gangadhar Bhattacharya & Lakshmi Priya.
-Devotees crying during Mahaprabhu’s sannyasa & hair on head being cut.
-Mahaprabhu blessing Sri Chaitanya das to have a son by name Srinivasa Acharya.
-Janma Lagna & Bodily features tell about a person.
-Srinivasa Acharya learning sastras & visiting different devotess.
-Abhiram Thakur touching Srinivasa Acharya with jaya mangal.
-Srinivasa acharya diksha from Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami & siksha from Srila Jiva Goswami. Diksha guru is Bhagavan rupa & siksha guru is Bhagavan swaroop.
-Shyamananda prabhu learning from Hridaya Chaitanya & Lila of Srimati Radharani making a dot(bindi) on forhead of Shyamananda Prabhu with Her anklet.
-3 main dieties in Gaudiya Vaishnavism & Lila of Radha Ramana manifesting from Saligrama Sila for Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami.
-Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami association with Mahaprabhu.
-Lila of Srinivasa acharya recovering books from Vira Hambira.
-Lila of Sri Ramachandra Kaviraja bringing back his gurudev Srinivasa Acharya from trance by going to spiritual world.
-Guru wants to associate with exalted sishya. Eg of Narottama das Thakur.
PART 2
TRANSCRIPT
Today is very auspicious day, three great personalities appeared, appearance and disappearance day that we are celebrating. Srivasa Acharya’s appearance day, Madhavendra Puripada’s appearance day, Parameshvara Prabhu’s tirobhava tithi. This is Vaishakha Purnima, that people know this day by the name of Vaishakha Purnima. We have also Radha Ramana’s avirbhava tithi appearance day, today is Radha Ramana’s appearance day.
Gangadhara Bhattacharya was Srinivasa’s father’s name. Lakshmi Priya was his wife’s name. On the banks of the Ganga bharati, Sakhindi in the town of… Mahaprabhu’s performing the pastime of Navadvipa lila. To perform his sannyasa-lila He came to Kantakanagara. To see a sannyasa’s pastime, Gangadhara Bhattacharya was also present there. Mahaprabhu’s beautiful hair, everyone with tearful eyes, watched Mahaprabhu’s shaving ceremony. When they were starting to shave Mahaprabhu’s head, everyone was crying.
It was described that when He was being shaved, everybody was crying. The barber himself, he also fell unconscious once or twice. The all-knowing Lord Gaurasundara, said to Govinda. When Chaitanya das reached Nilacha, Mahaprabhu gave His blessings,
vaiśākhī pūrṇimā divā rohiṇī-muhūrta
śubhakṣaṇe lakṣmīpriẏā prasavila putra
Bhakti-ratnakara (Dvitiya taranga, 156)
“You will have a son by the name of Srinivasa.” In Bhakti-ratnakara, it is described, Chaitanya das, by the blessings of Mahaprabhu he achieved, he obtained Srinivasa Acharya. Chaitanya das’s wife, Lakshmi Priya.
Sri Balaram Vipra was Lakshmi Priya’s father’s name.
The great personality present in Lakshmi Priya’s womb was greatly celebrated, glorified. Not to confused with Mahaprabhu’s Lakshmi Priya. Srinivasa Acharya’s father’s name was Chaitanya das, and his father’s name was Gangadhara Bhattacharya. Not to be confused, not Chaitaiya Mahaprabhu’s Lakshmi, no. Mahaprabhu had two wives, Lakshmi Priya, first, thereafter Vishnu Priya. Here, Lakshmi Priya is referring to the wife of Chaitanya das or uh…
In Bhakti-ratnakara, it is described on the Purnima day, gave birth to a son. How the child will be will depend on the ceremony and the marriage arrangement of the couple. Lakshmi Priya’s father, he checked with the astrologer and prepared astrological chart with calculations. It was predicted that a great personality will appear in the month of Vaishakha, on the Purnima day, in the Rohini nakshatra, constellation, in the morning. What kind of person is born will depend on their birth and calculations, some are good, some are not so good. There are 27 constellations. Rohini constellation is believed to be very good, Purnima is very good. Like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He appeared in Purnima. Rohini constellation, His golden complexion very beautiful, very fine shaped nose and long, elongated eyes. Very few people have this.
His arms were below His knees, like Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada. 33 characteristics, according to these characteristics, one can tell how great a personality is going to be. 33 characteristics were all in Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. His arms were long. Gangadhara Bhattacharya was another name for Chaitanya das. He gave charity to the brahmanas, as like at the time of Mahaprabhu’s appearance, so much charity was given. Thereafter, when the child grew up, He was known by the name of Gaura, and He was growing day by day.
His head-shaving ceremony, first hair-shaving ceremony and giving of brahmanical thread, all the varnas have this, apart from the shudras. In some shastras, it is also written that for sudras, this can be done. In all varnas, castes, what age should brahmanas have their sacred ceremony, sacred thread ceremony? From the age of five. In ksetriyas, I have forgotten, but their years prescribed for ksetriyas. So his brahmahnical samskaras are being done and study of scripture, shastras was going on. In a short time, he became expert in all the shastras.
Srinivasa, his father left his body. After, after his father’s disappearance, he performed nama–sankirtana. There are many pastimes described here. Srinivasa Acharya.
śuni īśvarīra icchā haïla dekhite
śrīnivāsa gelena śrī-īśvarī sākṣāte
prema-dhārā netrete bahaẏe nirantara
dharaṇī-loṭāñā kaila praṇati vistara
Bhakti-ratnakara (Chaturtha taranga, 40-41)
In this way, Srinivasa Acharya, took darshana of all the holy places and prayed. He prayed for the, to have the touch of Vishnu Priya, Mahaprabhu’s wife. He touched Vishnu Priya’s lotus feet and blessed him, she blessed him. In Navadvipa, Murari Gupta, Sri, all of these devotees, he had darshana of all of these devotees and walked towards Vrindavan. Abhirama Thakura, and other Vaishnavas, he offered dandavat pranams. Abhirama Thakura especially, when he stayed in his house, there was one whip in the home of Abhirama Thakura.
The whip was called Jaya-Mangala, by touching, by being whipped by that, one would obtain prema. When Srinviasa reached Abhirama Thakura and he was touched by the whip three times, and in that touching he became overcome with prema.
premāveśe punaḥ se cābuka sparśāite
śrī-mālinī-devī āsi dharilena hāte
Bhakti-ratnakara (Chaturtha taranga, 141)
At that time, Malini devi, “Do not touch the whip to him any longer.” In this way, Srinivasa Acharya, he attained Abhrama dasi’s blessings.
Thereafter, he came to Vrindavan and took the shelter of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, and took diksha mantras from him. Gopala Bhatta Gosvami gave him diksha mantras and lived at Radha-kunda, thereafter. Thereafter, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami instructed him “Go to Jiva Gosvamipada and learn Srimad Bhagavat and all the other Gosvami’s literature. Narottama, Shyamananda and Srivasa, these are three different. Narottama took diskha from Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Shyamananda Prabhu from Hrdaya Chaitanya. Srinivasa from Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. Even so, three of them took shelter at Jiva Gosvami’s lotus feet.
Because it is written, diksha guru is the form of the Lord and siksha guru is the svarupa of the Lord, and there is no difference between the svarupa and rupa of the Lord, the form and the identity of the Lord are the same. In the same way, the body of the Lord is transcendental, the Lord is sac-cit-ananda,
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
Brahma-samhita (5.1)
the Lord is saying, “My pastime, My appearance and disappearance are transcendental.” From the outside it looks like He is an ordinary person, but His body is transcendental. There is no difference between the possessor of the body and the body.
In Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu-bindu, Srila Gurudev, he commented, in a very nice way. There is no difference with diksha and siksha guru or, well there is specialities are… it is mentioned in the book. In this way, Shyamananda, Srinivasa, took diksha from mahabhagavat, Manjulali, in Chaitanya’s identity was? Sometimes it is written, maybe he was in sakhya rasa, then some, when he went to Vrindavan, he took shelter of Jiva Gosvami. His name was Dukhi initially, then his name Krishna das, and then Shyamananda. Shyamananda meaning Srimati Radhika, one who gives pleasure to Srimati Radhika.
We speak of this pastime in Vrindavan where he attained the ankle bells of Srimati Radhika. And Srimati Radhika being pleased, She put the mark of the ankle bell onto his forehead and to this day, in this Shyamananda dynasty, when they do tilaka, after that they, they put a mark in between the tilaka. Srinivasa Acharya, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Guna-mani Manjari, he manifested Radha Ramana through his saligrama shila. Today is also His appearance. But who is this Radha Ramana? The three personalities, Thakur, Govinda, Gopinatha, Madana Mohana.
And this fourth is Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Gopala Bhatta Gosvami in Gandaki River he found these saligrama–shilas. In Bhakti-ratnakara book, he was very unhappy, thought, “How can I dress my Thakurajis in the form of shaligram–shila?” With this desire, one day the Thakuraji’s the shaligrama–shilas manifest in the form that He is now. Two arms, three-bend fold, if you see any deity now. You will not see, this that, this Radha Ramana, you will see His two teeth, very beautiful, very attractive and captivating. Shaligrama is present there. When we have this jhanki darshana meaning He comes out of the temple, you can see. What I mean to say is that these three deities of the Gaudiya Thakurs, Govinda, Gopinatha, Madan Mohana, these three come together and become Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
This Gaurahari, in separation, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was very much distressed in separation. When Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was younger, and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was staying in his house, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami used to serve Him. Mahaprabhu was very pleased, after four months of staying there, Gopala, he tried to go with Him. But Mahaprabhu refused, “Your mother and father, they are Vaishnavas, they are brahmanas already, they were from Sri Sampradaya, they began to worship Radha and Krishna. Your mother and father are Vaishnavas, when they leave their body, then you can go to Vrindavana and meet with Rupa and Sanatana and under their shelter you can perform bhajana.”
For this reason, he came to Vrindavan, but he did not have darshana. It is written in Bhakti-ratnakara, he was in separation of Mahaprabhu, this was his condition, in separation of Mahaprabhu. Many Vaishnavas, they say, “These shaligrama in which the three bend form of Radha Ramana is, is actually directly Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.” This is the belief of many Vaishnavas. In this way, Srinivasa Achayra, he took diksha from Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. They learned from Jiva Gosvami. Jiva Gosvami gave him the position of acharya. To see him, it was very inspirational and Jiva Gosvami gave him the position of acharya.
These three personalities, Srinivasa, Narottama and Shyamananda, they studied under Jiva Gosvami. After studying, Jiva Gosvamipada said, “Go and preach.” After studying what do you need to do? You need to preach. With this knowledge, what should we do? We should give in charity. A knowledgeable person is respected in all countries. Whereas a king is only respected in his own country. He many have great opulences, army, etc, military. But he is only worshipped in his own kingdom. Whereas a learned person a saintly person, sadhu, is respected honoured in all countries. There is no comparison between a king and a saintly person.
A learned person can go anywhere, in any country, his glories will be respected. According to Niti-shastra, reading the books of Rupa, Sanatana Gosvami, the six Gosvami’s literature. Raghunatha Bhatta, we do not know that he has written any book. Raghunatha dasa Gosvami of course, but Raghunatha Bhatta no. He used to recite the Srimad Bhagavatam. In Rupa Gosvami’s life story, we read of this. Jiva Gosvamipada, he said to the three, “Go and preach on the basis of these books.” They left with these precious books. There was no bus or other forms of transport during those days. There was only bullock cart. On the back of a bullock cart, they loaded all the books and covered them.
They packed it nicely and wrote on it: Very Precious Treasure is in this. Maharaja was saying yesterday, “Supreme treasure.” What was written? Supreme Treasure. It was written like this when they reached the city or town of Vīrahamvīra, who was a great dacoit, thief, they are thinking, “They are taking such wealth through my town!” They followed them and when they took rest, they stole all of the treasure and ran away. And Narottama, Syamanaanda, Srinivasa, they woke in the morning, the saw everything was gone. They looked everywhere, but could not find.
Thereafter, Shyamananda Prabhu, he went towards Orissa. Narottama das Thakur went, he went towards Manipur. That’s why we see in Manipur there are many devotees and followers of Narottama das Thakur. He preached there extensively. Shyamananda’s followers in Orissa, Srinivasa Acharya, he vowed not to leave that place until he found the books. And he started to recited Srimad Bhagavatam with such a sweet melodious voice, when he reached Gopi-gita or Bhramara-gita in such a sweet voice, everybody was attracted.
And at that time, Vīrahamvīra…time is nearly up, Maharaja, you will speak. What did he do then? Vīrahamvīra, the dacoit, thief, robber, surrendered at the feet of Srinivasa Acharya. It was written that a great treasure, treasure chest, but then we saw there is nothing but pages and pages. Which he returned, then he took shelter at his feet and became his disciple. This has been described. There are many pastimes and his transcendental pastimes which have also been written about. Performing nama–sankritana for seven days continuously, he became in samadhi, his disciple, Narottama, no, Ramachandra Kaviraja was his very dear disciple.
Ramachandra Kaviraja, when he was in samadhi for seven days continuously, he did not realise that he was performing a pastime. At that time, Narottama das Thakura told, “Your spiritual master at the moment is, cannot be disturbed.” Ramachandra Kaviraja, his disciple, then he said, “Okay, my Gurudev is in samadhi. My body and his body, nobody should disturb.” What he did, by his yogic mystic ability, by chanting, he left his gross body and entered the Vraja dhama, in Yamuna and came out, he saw on the other side, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami serving and all the associates were looking for the nose ring of Srimati Radhika.
Where? Which is lost… this is the pastimes of Vraja. This is one of the signs of a chaste lady, a nose ring she was breathing and She lost Her nose ring.How could She go without this nose ring? Everybody, Lalita, Vishaka, they were looking for it. Gurudev, what did they do? They dived into the Yamuna in the beautiful lotus flower, in the just at the..uh middle of the lotus was Srimati Radhika’s beautiful nose ring. Gave it to Gurudev, and Gurudev gave it to Guna Manjari, meaning Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. Rupa Gosvami, Rupa Manjari, gave it to Rupa Manjari and Rupa Manjari gave it to Srimati Radhika.
This has been described by the Vaishnavas, Narottama das Thakur, they were as, he was like his disciple, Narottama das Thakur very humbly, he is still singing that he wants the association of Ramachandra Kaviraja. Even though he was in the position of guru, but this loving affection we can see, although we cannot compare who is guru, who is shishya, this is out of our range, subject matter. For this reason, ‘Je Anilo Prema Dhana Koruna Pracuna’, in this kirtana, who is it being written for?
He is saying for himself, “rāmacandra-saṅga māge narottama-dāsa.” Narottama das Thakur is asking for the association of Ramachandra Kaviraja. Here you can see that guru is so humble, he is aspiring to have the association of a disciple such as Narottama, uh Ramachandra Kaviraja. When this happens, we can feel so much bliss in our heart, like when we speak harikatha in front of a disciple who is equally qualified to listen. Jiva Gosvami was a disciple, it was no less than Rupa Gosvami as Rupa Manjari.
Here we can see such intimate affectionate qualities in the performance of one’s bhajana. Such sweet harikatha, today is the appearance day of Gopala Bhatta Gosvami and also Madhavendra Puripada appearance day, we will have to speak, we will speak in the evening. I am stopping here, time is gone.
vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ