Srinivas Acharya appeared in the village of Cakhandi, which lies just north of Agradvipa in the district of Nadiya. He appeared by accepting Gangadhara Bhattacharya and Lakshmipriya as his parents. The devotees named Gangadhar as ‘Chaitanya Das'. When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was taking Sanyas at Katwa, his beautiful hair was being shaved off as a ritual. Seeing this, all the devotees cried for the whole day and night. Gangadhara was overcome with grief and began to cry constantly while calling out the names “Ha Chaitanya! Ha Chaitanya!” When other devotees saw him intoxicated in Divine Love for Mahaprabhu, they nicknamed him Chaitanya Das, a name which stayed with him for the rest of his life.

Mahaprabhu went to Purushottam Dham after accepting Sanyas. He desired to go to Vrindavan but Nityanand Prabhu tricked Him back towards Navadvipa. He knew that Mahaprabhu would ask small children on the way to show Him the direction of Vrindavan as He would mistake those children as Vrajavasis. So Nityanand Prabhu told the boys that when Mahaprabhu asks them the way towards Vrindavan, they should show Him the path that leads towards Shantipura.

So after taking Sanyas, Mahaprabhu left for Vrindavan calling out ‘Krishna!Krishna!’ On His way, He saw cows and children. Seeing them reminded Him of Vrindavan so He asked the children, “Which is the path that leads to Vrindavan?” But the children showed Him the path towards Shantipura as instructed by Nityanand Prabhu. Following their words He went towards the Ganga. He mistook the river Ganga to be the Jamuna and He felt great bliss. Over there He saw Advaita Acharya. Mahaprabhu started thinking, “Advaita Acharya is staying in Shantipura, how come he is here?”

He then said to Advaita Acharya, “Is this place not Vrindavan? Is this river not the Jamuna?”

Actually the western side of the Ganga River is also called Jamuna. In this way He met all the devotees again after accepting Sanyas. Later Mahaprabhu again went to Purushottam Dham immersing the devotees of Bengal in an ocean of grief.

Chaitanya Das was devoid of any material desires, but one day he suddenly felt a strong wish to have a son and told this to his wife, Lakshmipriya. He and his wife started wondering, “We desire to perform Bhajan. How could such a desire arose in his heart?” They finally decided to go to Mahaprabhu in Purushottam Dham and reveal to Him their desire.

In those days people used to travel to Purushottam Dham on foot. It was not so easy. Even Mahaprabhu used to travel on foot. When they reached Purushottam Dham, they went to Mahaprabhu who was surrounded by devotees. Even before they could speak anything, Mahaprabhu said, “Chaitanya Das and his wife desire to have a son. The child will resemble Me, like My second self and will be named Srinivas.”

So Srinivas was the second self of Mahaprabhu. He appeared accepting Chaitanya Das and Lakshmipriya as his parents. He was a tall, golden-complexioned divine person.

In Vrindavan, Srila Jiva Goswami ordered Srinivas Acharya, Narottam Das Thakur and Dukhi Krishnadas (Shyamananda Prabhu) to carry all the hand-written manuscripts of the Goswamis to Bengal. Those books, which were hand-written, were very precious and rare. They were written on leaves. Carrying those manuscripts, Srinivas, Narottama and Syamananda arrived at a Hindu kingdom called Bana Vishnupura (in West Bengal). There the books were stolen by the king of that kingdom who in actuality was a dacoit.

Srinivas, Narottam and Shyamananda felt relief on entering that Hindu kingdom and thought that they were risk-free there. They were unaware of the fact that the king of that place behaved like a king in the daytime and a robber at night. Before the three arrived in Bana Vishnupur, the king was foretold by an astrologer that a lot of wealth will soon reach his kingdom and that he should rob that wealth. Those books were wrapped up in a large cloth. The king mistook the cloth bag containing the books to be his desired wealth and, on seeing an opportunity, he stole the bag. But when he opened the bag he saw that it contained mere manuscripts and thus he felt dejected. When Srinivas, Narottama and Syamananda woke up they saw that all their books were missing and thus they started crying, becoming utterly despondent. Both Narottam and Shyamananda were then sent to certain places for specific reasons and Srinivas continued to stay there to try and find the books. Someone informed Srinivas that he doubted that the king himself stole the books along with those who were with him.

The king used to hear Srimad Bhagavatam everyday and at night he used to carry out robberies. Srinivas arrived at the place where Srimad Bhagavatam was being read. On seeing his tall, golden-complexioned divine form all became astounded. Even the king became astonished on seeing him but he did not say anything. Srinivas sat down to hear. When the reader of Bhagavatam gave some wrong explanation of devotional principles, Srinivas corrected it. The king then asked him if he could explain Srimad Bhagavatam and Srinivas said he will. The actual intention of Srinivas was only to retrieve the books from the king. In this way Srinivas started reading Srimad Bhagavatam to the king and his audience. On hearing from Srinivas, the heart of king and all his family members and associates were purified and they all became his disciples. But in spite of all this, Srinivas knew no whereabouts of the books. He became morose and locked himself in a room. When his disciples saw him in such a state, they became worried. They started telling to each other, “Our Gurudev is crying so much!!! Maybe we didn’t serve him nicely and committed offense at his feet.” All of them became very afraid to see Srinivas like this. Finally the king apologized to Srinivas and asked him the reason behind his sorrow. When Srinivas told him the cause of his sadness the king immediately handed him the cloth bag which contained the books. Srinivas became jubilant on seeing the priceless books he had been searching for such a long time.

Srinivas accepted Gopal Bhatta Goswami (one among the six Goswamis) as his Gurudeva. During Vraja-mandal parikrama when our Gurudeva visited the Samadhi of Gopal Bhatta Goswami he used to recite the sada-goswami-ashtakam written by Srinivas Acharya.

sańkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ kālāvasānī-kṛtau
nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau cātyanta-dīnau ca yau
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-guṇa-smṛter madhurimānandena sammohitau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvamis, namely Sri Rupa Gosvami, Sri Sanatana Gosvami, Sri Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami, and Sri Gopal Bhatta Gosvami, who were engaged in chanting the holy names of the Lord and bowing down in a scheduled measurement. In this way they utilized their valuable lives and in executing these devotional activities they conquered over eating and sleeping and were always meek and humble enchanted by remembering the transcendental qualities of the Lord.”

So, on today’s Tithi I pay my innumerable prostrated obeisances at the lotus feet of Srinivas Acharya and pray for his causeless mercy. He is the second self of Mahaprabhu and has the power to rescue all. Though we have not seen him, we have seen our Guruji who has appeared in the same preceptorial channel as Srinivas. So, on today’s Tithi I pay innumerable prostrated obeisances at the lotus feet of my Gurudeva and pray for his causeless mercy. May he forgive all the offenses that I have committed to him whether knowingly or unknowingly and bestow upon me the service of his object of worship, namely Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Radha-Krishna.