The
story of Srinivasa and Raja Biaham Biya
When Srinivasa Acarya, Dukhi Krsna dasa (later Syamananda Prabhu) and
Narottama dasa Thakur were travelling from Vrndavana to Bengal with books given
to them by Srila Jiva Goswami, they were robbed at night at Visnupura by Raja
Biaham Biya (the thief king). He had his
thieves spying along the road as the party of Vaishnavas came along; he stole
their decorated box when, after stopping for the night and having kirtan, they
went to sleep. His astrologer told him,
before he opened the box, that the contents were priceless. When he opened the box he sae the expensive
cloth covering the books and his heart soared in anticipation. The first thing he saw underneath the cloth
was the writing of Rupa Goswami; just seeing this freed him of all his sins and
purified his heart; he experienced love of God and then lamented that he'd
caused somebody great grief by this theft.
He went to sleep and dreamed a beautiful golden person (more beautiful
than a gold mountain) was laughing at him.
That person said, "This is all a pastime. You will soon meet someone who will make you
exceedingly happy." In the
meantime, Srinivasa was informed by the villagers that the king was a great
theif and that it was he who had stolen the box of books. Srinivasa met one brahmin named Krsna
Ballabh, who became his disciple, along with others. Srinivasa inquired about the king from him,
and KB said, "Oh, he's become a very pious man recently ‑ he daily
hears SB and is always inviting sadhus to read the SB and explain." Srinivasa said, "Sometime I would also
like to go and explain SB to him."
KB said, "Why sometime?
Let's go now." So in the
assembly of the king, Srinivasa appeared, and everyone was impressed with his
character. In a beautiful voice he
recited SB and gave a stunning explanation that nobody had hdeard before. The
king bowed at his feet, wearing a cloth around his neck as a sign of
humility. He became SV's acharya, and the king was most glad to be able to
return the books to him.