16.44
prabhu kahe, devera vare tumi--’kavi-vara’
aiche devera vare keho haya ’srutidhara’
SYNONYMS
prabhu—the Lord; kahe—replied; devera—of a superior power; vare—by benediction; tumi—you; kavi-vara—the most elevated poet; aiche—similarly; devera—of the Lord; vare—by the benediction; keho—someone; haya—becomes; sruti-dhara—one who can immediately remember.
The Lord replied, “By the grace of the Lord someone may become a great poet, and similarly by His grace someone else may become a great sruti-dhara who can memorize anything immediately.”
PURPORT
In this connection, sruti-dhara is a very important word.
Sruti means “hearing” and dhara means “one who can capture.” Formerly, before the beginning of Kali-yuga, almost everyone, especially among the intelligent men, the brahmanas, was a sruti-dhara.
As soon as a student heard any of the Vedic wisdom from his master, he would remember it forever.
There was no need to refer to books, and therefore there were no written books in those days.
The spiritual master delivered the Vedic hymns and their explanations to the student, who would then remember them forever, without consulting books.
To become a sruti-dhara, one who can remember simply by hearing, is a great achievement for a student.
In the Bhagavad-gita (10.41) the Lord says:
yad yad vibhutimat sattvam
srimad urjitam eva va
tat tad evavagaccha tvam
mama tejo-’msa-sambhavam “Know that all opulent, beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of My splendor.” (Bg.10.41) As soon as we find anything extraordinary, we should understand that such an extraordinary manifestation is the special grace of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Therefore Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu replied to the champion, Kesava Kasmiri, that just as he was greatly proud of being a favorite devotee of mother Sarasvati, so someone else, like He Himself, being favored by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, could become a sruti-dhara and thus memorize anything immediately simply by hearing it.