Srila Sridhar Maharaj:
Appearance and Early Days

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Adhivas of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's appearance
Kolkata—Worldwide, 8 November 2020, part 2

Srila Sridhar Maharaj himself told some of his autobiography, you have it in English. He told there everything very nicely.

When he was a student at a college in Baharampur and was graduating, he always thought about Krishna consciousness and got no time to study. At that time, only 5% of students passed the final exam. All his roommates at the hostel failed the exam, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj passed it. Everyone was very surprised, "Ramendra never reads the textbooks, how did he pass the exam?" After that, they said, "He only says, 'Krishna', 'Krishna,' so Krishna must have given him a good result!" Srila Sridhar Maharaj told it himself later.

The name of Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj's father is Upendra Chandra Bhattacharya. As you all know, his birthpalce is in Hapaniya. His mother's name was Sri Gauri Devi. By the will of the Lord, Upendra Chandra Bhattacharya and Sri Gauri Devi lost their first child, so, when Srila Sridhar Maharaj appeared, he was the eldest son.

How did his parents get this kind of son? There is some history behind it. I read it in Srila Sridhar Maharaj's autobioraphy.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj's previous name is Ramendra Bhattacharya. His aunt named Kumud Kamini (the wife of the elder brother of Srila Sridhar Maharaj's father; she is called jethi-ma in Bengali) was not initiated, but she is a very pious lady and liked to visit many holy places. One time, when she was visiting Vrindavan, Haridwar, Benares, and many other holy places, she went into some temple, perhaps in Vrindavan, and saw some Deities. Later that day, she got a dream at night in which that Deity presented her with a good baby. At that time, Gauri Devi had lost her baby and did not have any children, so that aunty gave that baby to Gauri Devi in the dream. When she came back home to Hapaniya, she told Gauri Devi, "I have got a son from a Deity! He looked very beautiful, with a shaven head, etc. I gave that child to you in that dream." After a short time, Gauri Devi got a baby, a beautiful son whom they called Ramendra Bhattacharya. This is how Srila Sridhar Maharaj appeared.

His aunt never forgot what she saw in the dream, so when she saw Gauri Devi's baby a few months later, she saw that the baby looked just like the baby she had seen in her dream. She was very pleased. She took care of Ramendra Bhattacharya when he was a baby.

After that, Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not stay in his father's house—he went to live with his mother's family because he had to go to a primary school. He was very intelligent and very scholarly from his childhood. Srila Sridhar Maharaj said that he had twice got double promotion at school. It means for example you are studying in the first grade, but you get a double promotion and go to the third grade. The teachers say, "This boy is perfect for the third grade." From his childhood, Srila Sridhar Maharaj was also expect in Sanskrit language. When he grew up a little, he started going to Okarsa High School, situated about two kilometres from Hapaniya.

When Srila Sridhar Maharaj was a young boy, his mother would cook many nice subjis for him, but when Srila Sridhar Maharaj was served his meals, he thought, "I am offering this to my Lord," so he would take it as prasadam and took only the serving he was given, he never took a second helping of rice. Moreover, when his mother served him his meals, she would cry because she cooked so many things, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj always liked to take rice with neem ras (boiled bitter neem leaves) only.

When Srila Sridhar Maharaj was a young boy, he would go to bathe in the Ganges every single day without missing even one day. He would wake up before sunrise and walk three miles (almost five kilometres) to the Ganges and three miles (five kilometres) back. He would bring a lotus flower from a pond and every day offer some Ganges water and a lotus flower to Lord Siva. One time, when Srila Sridhar Maharaj came to Jamalpur (the same place where our Gurudev's mother, Tarangini Devi, offered her son to Lord Siva; we have been to that place many times, there is a Buroraj Deity of Lord Siva there), he came to offer the Ganges water and a lotus flower, and he suddenly saw the Vishva-rupa there (universal form of the Lord).

When Srila Sridhar Maharaj went to Baharampur college, once an astrologer came to see him and he said that Guru Maharaj would be atma-tattva-vit (self-realised), he would be a great preacher of Hari-katha, and he would live in this world for ninety-three years. The astrologer (jyotishi) told these three things, and all three came true.

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