Sri Ananta Das also known as Sisu Ananta was born in Balipatna village, near Bhubaneswara, in 1488. His father’s name was Kapila, and his mother’s Gaura Devi.
In a dream he received from Surya Narayana in Konarak the order to go and meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, so he approached the party and took diksha initiation from Nityananda Prabhu. Sisu Ananta Das resided in Khandagiri, in what is today called Gadi Tapovana Ashram; through his Sadhana he attained mystic powers, and he was able to change his form at will. Usually he would take the form of a little child, hence his name as Sisu. In this form, he became the adopted son of the wife of king Prataparudra, who nursed him. He personally found a Patita pavana (Jagannatha) murti in the Matha in Balia patana. His main disciples were Barang Das, Hamsa Das, and Sisu Das.
Shri Ananta Das, also known as Shishu Ananta Das has composed various devotional literature, e.g., Chumbaka malikā, Nilagiri charita, Hetu Udaya Bhāgabata, Artha Tāreni Prasnottara, Anākāra Samhitā, Bhaktimuktipradāyaka Geetā etc.He wrote the Bhakti mukti daya gita, one of the oldest and most important popular scriptures of Orissa, and other texts like Sisu Deva gita, Artha tarani, Udebhakara, Tirabhakana, a Malika and several bhajan songs. In Udaya bhagavata he describes Lord Jagannatha as the combined form of Radha and Krishna.
Ananta Dasa was also an exponent of the Bhakti or Pure devotion towards The Lord. He asked his devotees to submit their mind and soul to God as a wife submits herself to her husband. This was the way of Bhakti and the method to achieve the consciousness of the supreme God, Vishnu.
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MRIGANKA MAHANTI, EDITOR
