Sri Advaita  
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Bh. Stefaan 
08-02-2020 
 

 
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Incarnation 
Advaita Acharya  

...is an incarnation of  

(1) 

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur has written,  

“Maya has two functions,  

and Maha Vishnu appears in two ways according to those functions.  

-When he is within the material world as creator, he is the universe’s effective cause 
(nimitta-karana) in his form as Vishnu.  

-In the unmanifest material energy (pradhana), appearing in the form of 
Rudra/(Sada?)Shiva, he has a second identity as Advaita.” 

Advaita is an incarnation of Mahavishnu 

-as Advaita because he is none other than Hari,  

-as Acharya because he is the preceptor of devotion. I take shelter of the supreme Lord 
Advaita Acharya who is the incarnation of a Devotee. 

(Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi.1.12-13) 

(2) 

SadaShiva, as Shankaradeva, participated (as cowherd boy himself) in Krishna's 

dancing with Balaram and the cowherd boys. 

(Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 77-80) 

Sadashiva plays two different roles in Vraja,  

-in one he is Shiva himself,  

-in the other, he is a cowherd boy. 

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Advaita's father (Kubera Pandit, a devotee of Nrisingha) wanted (in his old age) a son 
just like (Sada)Siva, so Siva appeared himself  

as Kubera's son, named originally called Kamalaksha (eyes like lotus flowers). His birth 
took place in 1434 AD and he disappeared in the year 1559, at the age of 125 years.  

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(Jahnava Mata’s diksha disciple) Nityananda Das wrote (in his Prema-vilasa) that  

-Advaita’s birthplace is to be found in Shantipur.  

-Advaita studied the Veda and other scriptures with the scholar Shantacharya, who lived 
in the Phullabati section of Shantipur and earned from him the title acharya.  

When his parents (Kubera Pandit and Nabha Devi) disappeared themselves, Advaita (as 
a teenager!) went  

-to Gaya on the pretext of performing the appropriate rituals of mourning, and  

-thence continued on a pilgrimage tour of all of India’s holy places. When he came to 
Vrindavan, he became absorbed in the worship of Krishna, but through his meditation he 
was able to understand that Krishna was about to appear in Nabadwip.  

Advaita Acharya's heart was greatly pained at seeing that the people of the world were 
devoid of any devotion to Vishnu and were as a consequence greatly suffering the pains 
of material life.  

Overwhelmed with compassion, he began to teach the Bhagavad-gita and Bhagavat, 

explaining that the purport of the scriptures was to engage in devotional service to 
Krishna.  

At about the same time, Madhavendra Puri (disciple of Madhvacarya!) was on his way 
to Puri, taking the road through western Bengal. While there, he stopped at Advaita’s 
house in Shantipur. Advaita became convinced to accept Madhavendra Puri as his guru 
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when he saw his devotional ecstasies, even though he himself is an expansion of the 
supreme lord. He underwent this ritual in order to demonstrate to the conditioned souls 
the necessity of accepting a spiritual master.  

Ref. Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 4.110-111: 

Madhavendra Puri arrived in the house of Advaita Acharya. When Advaita saw 
Puripada’s prema, he felt a deep inner joy. So, he took care to receive the mantra from 
him, after which Madhavendra left to continue his voyage to the south. 

At 50, Sri Advaita got married (as advised earlier by Madhavendra Puri). 

Advaita observed  

-that the sinfulness of the age of Kali had reached a disturbing limit and  

-that the world was entirely devoid of devotion to Krishna. He thought that a partial 
incarnation of the lord would not be sufficient to completely bring about the welfare of 
the earth in this state. He thought, “The world will only benefit if the Supreme 
Personality of Godhead himself descends to the earth.”  

So he began to worship Krishna’s lotus feet with Ganges water and tulasi leaves, 
shouting and pleading to the lord to become incarnate. With roars of love 
(prema-hunkara) Advaita showed his desire for the lord of Goloka to descend to the 
earth. 

Ref.  

(Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi.3.107-9): 

He constantly offered water from the Ganges and tulasi manjaris while meditating on 
Krishna’s lotus feet, at the same time calling to Krishna with loud roars. This is the way 
that he caused Krishna to descend. This, then, is the chief reason that Krishna 
Chaitanya became incarnate on this earth. He who is the bridge of justice descends at 
the wish of the devotee. 

(Chaitanya Bhagavat 1.2.81-3) : 

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He constantly served Krishna with great enthusiasm, offering Ganges water and tulasi 
manjaris. Absorbed in thoughts of Krishna, he worshiped him by roaring his name, the 
sound of which filled the entire universe, reaching up to Vaikuntha.  

Lord Krishna heard the sound of these roars of love and made himself visible to 
humanity, for he is controlled by his devotee. 

After the appearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (younger brother of Vishvarupa), Sita 
Devi took Advaita’s permission to come with gifts to Nabadwip from Shantipur to see 
the most wonderful child. When she saw him, she blessed him by placing unhusked rice 
and durva grass on his head. (and she gave him the name "Nimai" 

Even though the Advaita Acharya is God himself,  

he is in this world playing the part of a man in order to teach.  

Advaita Acharya established a tol for teaching Sanskrit in Nabadwip-Mayapur and 

started to engage in a deep study of the scriptures. Every day, Mahaprabhu’s older 
brother Vishvarupa used to go to Advaita’s house after bathing in the Ganges to listen to 
him lecture. When Vishvarupa saw that his parents were starting to make wedding 
plans for him, he quickly left home and took sannyasa (after which he was known by the 
name Shankararanya)  

After Vishvarupa’s abandonment of the hearth, Sachi and Jagannath became afraid that 
Nimai would follow his example and so they put a stop to his education. Later, however, 
(when they heard Nimai speaking sweetly in the mood of Dattatreya), they decided it 
would be better to send him back to school.  

where he became fully absorbed in his studies. 

While Mahaprabhu was still fully devoted to his pastimes as a scholar, his marriage to 
Ballabha’s daughter Lakshmipriya was arranged.  
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In those days, Advaita was holding Bhagavat lectures and kirtan at his house in 
Nabadwip. On one occasion Isvara Puri came to Advaita’s house while on a visit to 
Nabadwip. From his vigorous appearance, Advaita was able to recognize that he was a 
Vaishnava sannyasi. Later, Gauranga also met him. 

When Gauranga returned from Gaya in a changed mood, Advaita, Srivasa and the other 
devotees were overjoyed. 

At a home program (at Srivasa's place), Mahaprabhu revealed (by repeating the words, 
“Naria, Naria”) that Advaita had caused him to descend to the earth by calling him. 

Ref. (Chaitanya Bhagavat 3.9.297-8) 

"It is due to Advaita that I have become incarnate, for Naria’s roars rang in my ears. I 
was lying in the Milk Ocean, but Naria’s roar woke me up and brought me down here." 

As soon as Advaita heard that Mahaprabhu had publicly revealed his divine identity, he 
and Sita Devi immediately set off to meet Him. 

In the company of his wife, he joyfully prostrated himself before the lord, speechless 
before the manifestation of the lord’s divine power. He then worshiped him, using the 
following mantra to do so: 

"namo brahmanyadevaya go-brahmana-hitaya ca..."  

(translation: "I pay my obeisances to Krishna Govinda, the lord of the brahminical 
society, to him who is the source of the cows’ and the Brahmins’ welfare, and who is the 
source of the entire universe’s well-being.") 

Mahaprabhu then commanded Advaita Prabhu to get up and dance. Advaita started to 
dance madly until he was completely intoxicated in a way that astonished all the 
watching devotees. 

These are the Pancha Tattva, who include  

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-Gauranga Mahaprabhu, the form of a devotee;  

-Nityananda Prabhu, who is the bhakta-Svarupa; and  

-Advaita Acharya, the incarnation of the devotee.  

These three are considered to be prabhu-tattva or Vishnu-tattva, the category of the 

lord. (and therefore tulasi leaves are offered to their feet) 

Advaita is an incarnation of Mahavishnu 

-he belongs to the category of Vishnu-tattva,  

but because he took on the mood of a devotee so he is called bhaktavatara, the 

incarnation of a devotee.”  

. 

Hari Das Thakur  

...came to live in the village of Phuliya (staying in a grotto where he was engaged in 
solitary devotional practices. This was after he had spent time preaching the glories of 
the Holy Names). This village is near Shantipur where he would come to associate with 
Advaita Prabhu.  

Advaita used to invite Hari Das to come to his house in Shantipur to take prasad, from 
the plate offered in the shraddha ceremony.: "to feed a great devotee like Hari Das is 
equal to the feeding of millions of Brahmins". 

. 

The Lord Punishes Advaita.  

Ref. Bhaktivinoda Thakur's Amrita-pravaha-bhashya:  

“Advaita Acharya is the godbrother of Mahaprabhu’s guru, Isvara Puri.  

For this reason, Mahaprabhu treated Advaita as his elder and spiritual master, even 
though Advaita considered himself to be Mahaprabhu’s servant.  

Advaita was pained to see Mahaprabhu treat him with such respect, and thought: 
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"Previously Mahaprabhu would honor me. This (Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi 1.12-13) 
made me unhappy, so I thought that if I start giving lectures on the Yoga-vashishtha, 
explaining mukti as the supreme goal of life, the lord would become angry and insult 
me. 

When the Lord caught wind of this, he became extremely angry and went to Shantipur to 
give him a good thrashing. When he was thrashed in this way, Advaita danced for joy, 
saying, “Look. My desires have been fulfilled today! Mahaprabhu was previously miserly 
with me, treating me as his respectful elder. Now he has acted toward me as though I 
were his servant or disciple, by trying to save me from the heresy of mayavada.”  

. 

When Mahaprabhu was saying his goodbyes to the Devotees, he set off to Puri or 
Nilachala to live there at the behest of his mother. Advaita and the residents of 
Navadwip were once again hurled into the ocean of separation from their Lord. These 
events took place in the year 1510. It was probably three more years before the 
Devotees went to Puri during the caturmasya period to visit him there at the time of the 
Rathayatra. 

All of Mahaprabhu’s servants, Advaita, Nityananda, Mukunda, Srivasa, Vidyanidhi, 

Vasudeva and Murari, went every year to meet with the lord, staying in Puri for four 
months. (e.g. cleaning of the Gundicha temple) (Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 
1.255-6) 

. 

Mahaprabhu himself glorified Advaita and described the underlying truth of his nature 
in the following way: 

Advaita Acharya is God Himself. As a result of his association, I have become purified. 
Because there is no one equal to him in devotion to Krishna, nor in knowledge of the 
scriptures, he is called Advaita Acharya. By his mercy, even the mlecchas become 
Devotees of Krishna, who can describe the extent of his powers or his devotion? 

(Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 7.17-9). 

. 
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Advaita’s Riddle 

Advaita gave Jagadananda Pandit a message in the form of a riddle to take back to 
Mahaprabhu. The riddle was comprehensible to no one but Mahaprabhu Himself. The 
message was as follows: 

Tell the Lord that I pay him a million obeisances and that I humbly submit to him the 
following:  

Tell the madman that everyone has gone mad.  

Tell the madman that they are no longer selling rice in the market.  

Tell the madman that the crazies are no longer good for anything. 

Tell the madman that this is what the madman said. 

(Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 19.19-21) 

Bhaktivinoda Thakur explains this riddle in this way: “ 

Tell Mahaprabhu that everyone has become intoxicated with love for Krishna and so in 
the marketplace of love, no one is buying the rice of Krishna prema any longer.  

Tell Mahaprabhu that the crazies (aul) are so intoxicated with love that they are no 
longer involved in their material duties.  

Tell Mahaprabhu that Advaita said this in a state of complete intoxication of prema.  

In short, the message was that  

the purpose for which Mahaprabhu had been called to earth by Advaita had been 
completed.  

Now the Lord may do as He wills.” 

-- 

https://gaudiyahistory.iskcondesiretree.com/advaita-acharya-biography/ 

-- 

VANIPEDIA 
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https://vanipedia.org/wiki/Special:VaniSearch?s=%C5%9Ar%C4%AB+Advaita 

OTHERS 

https://www.purebhakti.com/teachers/bhakti-discourses/26-discourses-2007/891-the-
appearance-day-of-sri-advaita-acarya-1 

http://www.girirajswami.com/?cat=53