Advaita Acharya

Who was Advaita Acharya?

Advaita Acharya, born Kamalaksha Bhattacharya, was a notable disciple and companion of the founder of the Gaudiya Vaishnava sect, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and guru of Haridasa Thakur. He was born at Navagrama-Laur village in the present-day Sylhet District of Bangladesh in 1434, some fifty years before Chaitanya, and spent most of his adult life in the town of Shantipur with his wife and family teaching the philosophy of Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana and promoting Bhakti Yoga.

The ancestry and life of Advaita Acharya are narrated in a number of hagiographical works, which include the Balyalilasutra of Krishnadasa in Sanskrit and the Advaitasutrakadacha of Krishnadasa, the Advaitamangala of Haricharanadasa, the Advaitaprakasha of Ishana Nagara and the Advaitavilasa of Naraharidasa in Bengali. Many of his activities are described in the Chaitanya Charitamrta, the Chaitanya Mangala and the Chaitanya Bhagavata.