Advaita Acharya's Compassion.

Tomorrow we celebrate the festival day of Sri Advaita Acharya, an important figure in the lives of the Gaudiya-Vaishnavas. Please read about him here:

“In the age of Kali*, intelligent people perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead, who constantly sings the names of Krishna. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krishna Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.”


This verse from Srimad Bhagavatam, predicts the arrival of Sri Chaitanya with His close companions; His mission: to introduce the chanting of Krishna’s sacred names, as the easiest and most potent method of self-realisation; a special “remedy” for the difficult age of Kali*.

Advaita Acharya was one of the close companions who helped Lord Chaitanya spread His message “to every town and village”. In fact, he plays a particularly important role in bringing this about:

Advaita Acharya was born in Bengal in 1434, fifty years before the advent of Sri Chaitanya. 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 brahmana community. At Shantipur, he taught the philosophy of Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, encouraging everyone to follow the path of bhakti – loving service to Sri Krishna.

As time went by, however, Advaita Acharya became increasingly saddened as he saw the growing tendency for people to abandon their spiritual practices for materialistic goals – the pursuit of wealth and the medieaval equivalents of sex, drugs, rock and roll. He saw clearly that this would lead to a dysfunctional society of unhappy individuals, and after due thought, concluded that the only solution was to beg the Supreme Lord to come Himself, and attract people back to the joyfulness of spiritual life.

Advaita Acharya prayed fervently to the Lord for several months – it is said that he cried out loudly and worshipped the Lord with sacred tulasi leaves and Ganges water. At the end of thirteen months, at an eclipse of the full moon, the Acharya’s prayers were answered; Sri Chaitanya advented in the district of Mayapur in Bengal, as the son of Mother Sachi and as he grew up, brought about a spiritual revolution with His sankirtan movement. Srila Prabhupada introduced that same movement to the western world in the twentieth century to many thousands of satisfied "customers".

Many of Advaita Acharya’s activities are described in the books, Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta and Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata. On his feast day, Gaudiya-Vaishnavas enjoy reading and discussing these “pastimes”, and remember Advaita Acharya with gratitude, for taking such compassion on the people of our age.

* The age of Kali is our present age. According to traditional sources time moves in cycles, the greatest of which are the four Ages - Satya, Treta, Dwarpa and finally Kali - "the age of quarrel and hypocrisy". They correspond to the Golden, Silver, Bronze and Iron ages of Greek philosophy.