18 Feb Advaita Acarya story for children

When I talk to children about Advaita Acarya, I talk the most about how he called Lord Caitanya to appear in this world. It is a very nice introductory story into the appearance pastimes of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda that we are going to celebrate in February and March.

Here is the short and simplified story about Lord Sri Advaita Prabhu that you can read or narrate to your little ones, and invoke the mood for Gaura Purnima celebrations ahead of us. At the end of this article, you will find the button to download the PDF story printable for FREE.

Advaita Acarya invites Lord Caitanya to appear

Five hundred years ago, in the city of Navadvipa in West Bengal, there lived a devotee named Advaita Prabhu. He had long white hair and a long white beard and was very wise. Every day he gave lectures from the scriptures, and all the devotees from the area were coming to hear them. His house was a place of joy and happiness, filled with the sounds of constant chanting of the holy names of God. Because of his great wisdom, compassion, and proper conduct, he bore the honorary title of “acarya,” and was known as Advaita Acarya.

Although he was always content with himself, Advaita Acarya was sad about the unhappy people around him. He saw that people are greedy and always eager to satisfy only themselves. He saw how often they quarrel, speak lies and bad words to each other. Above all, he saw that they knew nothing about the pure devotional service of Lord Krishna. Advaita Acarya knew that people without devotional service to God cannot attain true happiness and the ultimate goal of life. So he was constantly thinking about how to help them and bring them closer to that goal.

After deep reflection, Advaita Acarya concluded, “People have now fallen so deeply into ignorance because of the influence of the age of Kali, that only God can save them personally. I shall call Him to come down on Earth to save the fallen souls of the age of Kali!”

Thus Advaita Prabhu sat down on the bank of the river Ganges and began to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the form of a shalagrama shila, offering Him the leaves of the Tulasi plant and the water of the river Ganges. He knew that the Lord will be pleased by this simple offering because there is nothing more sacred in this world than the Tulasi plant and river Ganges, who represent the Goddess of all plants and the Goddess of all rivers. Advaita Acarya would cry in ecstasy and call loudly the name of the Lord: Hari! Hari! In this way, He was perfectly worshiping Lord Krishna. And His loud call reached Shvetadvip.

Lord Vishnu was sleeping comfortably in His abode on the planet Shvetadvip when something woke Him from His sleep. His wife, Lakshmi Devi, asked in surprise, “My Lord, what happened? What tore You from the comfort of Your sleep?”.

Lord Vishnu replied, “I have heard the call of My dear devotee who I cannot ignore. I must begin to prepare to go to Earth, to save the fallen souls of the age of Kali. I am going to spread the chanting of the Holy Names that will stop the suffering of all living beings, and I will enjoy the sankirtana pastimes in the company of My confidential associates.”

Thus Advaita Acarya invited Lord Krishna to come to the material world as Kali yuga avatar – Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and flood the whole world with the love of Godhead!