Srila Srinivas Acharya’s blessed fate.

By Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj

When Sriman Mahaprabhu was in Puri, Padmanabha Bhattacharya went to see Him with his wife. Mahaprabhu told him that he would have a son who will be a very great devotee and his name will be Srinivas. Padmanabha Bhattacharya returned home and soon Srinivas was born, a beautiful boy and natural scholar. Padmanabha Bhattacharya passed away when Srinivas was very young. At that time, Srinivas automatically thought of Sri Chaitanyadev and Nityananda, and Their Pastimes surged within him.

When he was about fifteen years old, Srinivas came to see the birthplace of Sri Chaitanyadev in Nabadwip. He sat near the Lord’s house at a bathing ghat on the Ganges. Visnu Priya Devi came there to bathe at that time and found this beautiful boy. She saw that he had some sort of likeness of Mahaprabhu, but that he was sitting there unsure of himself and his life. Visnu Priya Devi felt pity for the boy, took him to her home, and fed him.

Thereafter, Srinivas went to meet Mahaprabhu. He started for Puri, and when he had gone three-fourths of the way there, he heard that Sri Chaitanyadev had left the world. What was he to do? He went ahead, and he met Gadadhar Pandit there at the Tota Gopinath Temple. Gadadhar Pandit embraced him and said, “I have been waiting for you, Srinivas. My Lord has ordered me to teach you Srimad Bhagavatam. You will become an an unprecedented lecturer and explain Bhagavatam to the whole of Bengal. My book, however, is half washed away by tears. You won’t be able to read it. You’ll need to get a fresh book. Go to Sri Khanda, mention my name, secure a copy of Bhagavatam, and return. Then I shall teach you.”

Srinivas Acharya went back to Bengal, collected a copy of Bhagavatam from Sri Khanda, and again started for Puri. When he reached there, he heard that Gadadhar Pandit had left. He was disappointed. He thought, “I am such a distressed soul. Wherever I go, the object of my search is removed just before I reach it. Mahaprabhu and Gadadhar Pandit have given me hope, but who will teach me Bhagavatam now? What an ill-fate I have.” What was he to do? He began to read Bhagavatam, and, automatically, he found that everything was rushing to him. Gadadhar Pandit’s will was there.

Source

Spoken on 24 November 1982.