Advaita Acharya – Biography

All over the world the glories of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu are sung. However, without Sri Advaita Acharya Prabhu, also known as Gaur Ana Thakur, He who brought Gaura to this world, there would be no Mahaprabhu. Sri Advaita Acharya was the first among the associates of Lord Chaitanya and He appeared on our earth some 50 &‐ 60 years before Sri Chaitanya's own advent. Sri Advaita Acharya is recognized as a combined incarnation or expansion of Sri Maha Vishnu and Sri Sadashiva, Lord Shiva in Golok dham.

When Sri Advaita Acharya manifested in this world, Srila Madhavendra Puri, Sri Ishwar Puri, Sri Sachi Mata and Sri Jagannath Mishra also made their appearances. Sri Advaita Acharya was a disciple of Srila Madhavendra Puri and forms one of the main figures amongst the Pancatattva – Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhar pandit and Srivasa.

Sri Advaita Acharya studied the Vedas and other scriptures under a scholar named Santacharya in Phullavati village near Santipura, where He was awarded the title Acharya. Before the appearance of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu, all the Vaishnava Devotees in the Navadwip area used to gather at the house of Advaita Acharya. In these meetings, Advaita Acharya preached on the basis of the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam. In the house of Advaita Acharya, the devotees took pleasure in Krishna Katha, worshipping Krishna and chanting the Lord’s names. Sri Advaita Acharya was a spiritual guru and had many followers. Sri Chaitanya’s older brother Vishwarup used to visit Advaita Acharya’s house every day to engage in the chanting and dancing of naam sankirtan. He spent most of his adult life in the town of Shantipur, with his wife and family, where he became the well-respected leader of the small vaishnava community encouraging everyone to follow the path of bhakti – loving service to Sri Krishna.

Seeing all around Him the growing tendency for people to abandon their spiritual practices for the pursuit of wealth and short-lived materialistic gains, Advaita Acharya felt greatly pained. He wondered how the masses would ever be liberated. It is said Advaita Acharya prayed fervently to the Lord for several months–He worshipped His shaligram shilas lovingly with sacred Tulasi leaves and Ganges water calling out aloud to the Lord to manifest and show a way to the worldly people to reach the eternal spiritual abode. In the age of Kali, the Lord will not appear at the call of mere mortals. Knowing this His plenary expansion Sri Maha Vishnu appeared and compelled Sri Krishna Himself to manifest in His most munificent avatar. By the momentum of his spiritual fervour, his loud cries pierced the coverings of the material universe and echoing through the transcendental Vaikunta lokas, reached the ears of Sri Krishna in Goloka. Hearing this urgent cry saturated with devotion, Sri Krishna advented Himself as Sri Krishna Chaitanya in Mayapur, Bengal as the son of Sri Jagannath Mishra and Saci Devi.

The Narasimha shaligram shila and Deities made in the image of Sri Sri Madan-Gopal that were worshiped by Sri Advaita Acarya are still to be found at Santipur in Madan-Gopal Para. The place on the banks of the Ganga where Sri Advaita Acarya worshiped the shaligram shila and called out to the Lord to descend to the world is known today as Babla. A temple has been built in memory of Advaita Acarya's pastimes there.