No single teacher trained Srinivasa Acharya on his own, so his story cannot be told around just one guru. The sources describe the work being shared. He received formal initiation from one Goswami and deeper education from another. He also had close companionship with two fellow students who would go on to share his life's mission. It is worth being clear about who did what, because popular retellings sometimes mix up diksha (formal initiation) and siksha (instruction).
| Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Diksha guru | Gopala Bhatta Goswami |
| Siksha and philosophical training | Jiva Goswami |
| Title received | "Acharya," given by Jiva Goswami |
| Fellow students under Jiva | Narottama (later Narottama Thakura Mahasaya) and Duhkhi Krishnadasa (later Shyamananda) |
| Deity entrusted to his care | Radha-Damodara, at Jiva Goswami's temple |
Received by Gopala Bhatta Goswami #
When Srinivasa reached Vrindavana, he was grieving the recent deaths of Rupa and Sanatana Goswami. He was received first at Rupa Goswami's Govinda temple and then introduced to Gopala Bhatta Goswami. Gopala Bhatta told him frankly that Rupa and Sanatana had been anxious to meet him and regretted that he had arrived too late. Gopala Bhatta took Srinivasa to his own Radha-Ramana temple, had the Deity bless him, and in time gave him diksha, formal initiation into the chanting of the holy name. Every source agrees on this point, even where the sources differ on other details of the journey. For this reason Gopala Bhatta Goswami is named here as Srinivasa's diksha guru, and the question is not left open. According to the Prema-vilasa, Gopala Bhatta Goswami also revealed to Srinivasa his own eternal identity in Krishna's pastimes. This identity is Mani Manjari, who forever assists Guna Manjari in her close service to Radha and Krishna. Guna Manjari is Gopala Bhatta Goswami's own manjari-svarupa. The same source describes Srinivasa as an incarnation of Mahaprabhu's own ecstasy. This shows the unusual respect that people of his own time had for him, even this early in his stay at Vrindavana.
Educated by Jiva Goswami #
Formal initiation was not the end of Srinivasa's training. Gopala Bhatta sent him on to Jiva Goswami. By then Jiva was recognized as the leading philosopher among the Goswamis still living in Vrindavana. Srinivasa was sent to him for the deeper education in Gaudiya Vaishnava theology, in scripture, and in the method of studying scripture, which his diksha alone did not supply. Jiva took Srinivasa's education so seriously that he personally gave him the care of his own Deities, Sri Sri Radha-Damodara. This was a sign of unusual closeness. According to tradition, one particular moment of scholarship fixed Jiva's opinion of him. Srinivasa explained a difficult verse from Rupa Goswami's Ujjvala-nilamani with real command of the subject. Hearing this, Jiva was so impressed that he gave him the title "Acharya," by which history has known him ever since.
Two Companions, Two Other Titles #
Srinivasa was not the only student Jiva Goswami was training at the time. A young man named Narottama had arrived in Vrindavana about a year earlier. He had already been initiated by Lokanatha Goswami and was sent on to Jiva for further instruction. Jiva now gave him the title Thakura Mahasaya, and he is remembered ever since as Narottama Dasa Thakura. A third student was a young man named Duhkhi Krishnadasa, sent by his own guru Hridaya Chaitanya. Jiva renamed him Shyamananda ("one whose bliss belongs to Shyama," a name for Krishna), and he is remembered as Shyamananda Pandit. The three young men, Srinivasa Acharya, Narottama Dasa Thakura, and Shyamananda Pandit, studied together under Jiva Goswami, and Srinivasa and Narottama also toured the sacred forests of Vraja under the guidance of Raghava Pandita Goswami of Govardhana. By every account, the three became inseparable friends. This friendship was formed here in Vrindavana, in a shared education that came from more than one teacher. The tradition remembers it as the foundation of everything the three of them accomplished afterward in Bengal.
His Diksha-Guru and His Teachers #
Most Gaudiya acharyas carry a single named diksha-guru. For his initiation, Srinivasa Acharya does too: his diksha came from Gopala Bhatta Goswami specifically. But for anything beyond initiation, his record, like that of a small number of other figures, does not fit such a simple picture. The philosophical and scriptural training that made Srinivasa fit to carry the title "Acharya" and to preach with authority in Bengal came largely from Jiva Goswami. It came together with the shared training and companionship of Narottama and Shyamananda. So Gopala Bhatta Goswami is recorded here as the formal diksha guru. The fuller picture of his education, with more than one teacher, is described alongside it. It is not squeezed into a single relationship that would not show it correctly. This training prepared him for a mission: taking the Goswamis' writings out of Vrindavana and into Bengal. That story is told in Carrying the Scriptures to Bengal.
