12.17
pancama varsera balaka kahe siddhantera sara
suniya paila acarya santosa apara
SYNONYMS
pancama—five; varsera—years; balaka—small boy; kahe—says; siddhantera—conclusive; sara—essence; suniya—hearing; paila—got; acarya—Advaita Acarya; santosa—satisfaction; apara—very much.
When Advaita Acarya heard this statement from His five-year-old son Acyutananda, He felt great satisfaction because of his conclusive judgment.
PURPORT
Commenting on verses 13 through 17, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura gives an extensive description of the descendants of Advaita Acarya.
The Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya-khanda, Chapter One, states that Acyutananda was the eldest son of Advaita Acarya.
The Sanskrit book Advaita-carita states, “Advaita Acarya Prabhu had three sons, named Acyuta, Krsna Misra and Gopala dasa, all born of the womb of His wife, Sitadevi, who were devotees of Lord Caitanya.
Advaita Acarya also had three more sons, whose names were Balarama, Svarupa and Jagadisa.
Thus there were six sons of Advaita Acarya.” Among the six sons, three were strict followers of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and of these three, Acyutananda was the eldest.
Advaita Prabhu married in the beginning of the fifteenth century sakabda (late fifteenth century A.D.).
When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to visit the village of Ramakeli while going from Jagannatha Puri to Vrndavana during the sakabda years 1433 and 1434 (A.D 1512 and 1513), Acyutananda was only five years old.
The Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya-khanda, Fourth Chapter, describes Acyutananda at that time as panca-varsa vayasa madhura digambara, “only five years old and standing naked.” Therefore it is to be concluded that Acyutananda was born sometime in the year 1428 (A.D 1507).
Before the birth of Acyutananda, Advaita Prabhu’s wife, Sitadevi, came to see Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu at His birth.
Thus it is not impossible that she had the other three sons by Advaita within the twenty-one years between 1407 and 1428 sakabda (A.D 1486 and 1507).
In an unauthorized book of the name Sitadvaita-carita, published in Bengali in the unauthorized newspaper Nityananda-dayini in 1792 sakabda (A.D 1871), it is mentioned that Acyutananda was a class friend of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
According to Caitanya-bhagavata, this statement is not at all valid.
When Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted the renounced order of sannyasa, He came to the house of Advaita Prabhu at Santipura in the year 1431 sakabda (A.D 1510).
At that time, as stated in Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya-khanda, Chapter One, Acyutananda was only three years old.
The Caitanya-bhagavata further states that the naked child, the son of Advaita Prabhu, immediately came and fell down at the lotus feet of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
The Lord immediately took him on His lap, although he was not very clean, having dust all over his body.
Lord Caitanya said, “My dear Acyuta, Advaita Acarya is My father, and thus we are brothers.” Before Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited His spiritual forms during His residence at Navadvipa, He asked Sri Rama Pandita, Srivasa Thakura’s brother, to go to Santipura and bring back Advaita Acarya.
Acyutananda joined his father at that time.
It is said, advaitera tanaya ’acyutananda’ nama parama-balaka, seho kande avirama.
Acyutananda also joined in crying in transcendental bliss.
Again, when Lord Caitanya beat Advaita Acarya for explaining Srimad-Bhagavatam from an impersonalist viewpoint opposed to the principles of bhakti-yoga, Acyutananda was also present.
Therefore all these incidents must have occurred only two or three years before Lord Caitanya accepted the sannyasa order.
In the Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya-khanda, Chapter One, it is stated that Acyutananda, the son of Advaita Acarya, offered his obeisances to the Lord.
Therefore it should be concluded that from the very beginning of his life Acyutananda was a great devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
There is no information that Acyutananda ever married, but he is described as the biggest branch of the Advaita Acarya family.
From a book named Sakha-nirnayamrta it is understood that Acyutananda was a disciple of Gadadhara and that he took shelter of Lord Caitanya in Jagannatha Puri and engaged in devotional service.
The Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter Ten, states that Acyutananda, the son of Advaita Acarya, lived in Jagannatha Puri, taking shelter of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Gadadhara Pandita, in the last years of his life, also lived with Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Jagannatha Puri.
There is no doubt, therefore, that Acyutananda was a disciple of Pandita Gadadhara.
In the accounts of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s dancing in front of the car during the Ratha-yatra festival, Acyutananda’s name is to be found many times.
It is stated that in the party of Advaita Acarya from Santipura, Acyutananda was dancing and others were singing.
At that time the boy was only six years old.
The Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, compiled by Sri Kavi-karnapura, has described Acyutananda as a disciple of Gadadhara Pandita and a great and dear devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
According to the opinion of some, he was an incarnation of Karttikeya, the son of Lord Siva, and according to others he was formerly the gopi named Acyuta.
The Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika has supported both these opinions.
Another book, Narottama-vilasa, compiled by Sri Narahari dasa, mentions Acyutananda’s presence during the festival at Khetari.
According to Sri Narahari dasa, during the last days of his life Acyutananda stayed in his house at Santipura, but during the presence of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu he lived at Jagannatha Puri with Gadadhara Pandita.
Of the six sons of Advaita Acarya, three—Acyutananda, Krsna Misra and Gopala dasa—lived faithfully in the service of Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Since Acyutananda did not accept a wife, he had no issue.
The second son of Advaita Acarya, Krsna Misra, had two sons, Raghunatha Cakravarti and Dola-govinda.
The descendants of Raghunatha still live in Santipura in the neighborhoods of Madana-gopala-pada, Ganakara, Mrjapura and Kumarakhali.
Dola-govinda had three sons, namely, Canda, Kandarpa and Gopinatha.
The descendants of Kandarpa live in Maldah in the village Jikabadi.
Gopinatha had three sons, Srivallabha, Pranavallabha and Kesava.
The descendants of Srivallabha live in the villages known as Masiyadara (Mahisadera), Damukadiya and Candipura.
There is a genealogical table for the family of Sri Vallabha beginning from his eldest son, Ganga-narayana.
The descendants of Sri Vallabha’s youngest son, Ramagopala, still live in Damukadiya, Candipura, Solamari, and so on.
The descendants of Pranavallabha and Kesava live in Uthali.
The son of Pranavallabha was Ratnesvara, and his son was Krsnarama, whose youngest son was Laksmi-narayana.
His son was Navakisora, and Navakisora’s second son was Ramamohana, whose eldest son was Jagabandhu and whose third son, Viracandra, accepted the sannyasa order and established a Deity of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Katwa.
These two sons of Ramamohana were known as Bada Prabhu and Chota Prabhu, and they inaugurated the circumambulation of Navadvipa-dhama.
One may refer to the Vaisnava-manjusa for the complete genealogical table of Advaita Prabhu in the line of Krsna Misra.