In plain words
would yield to no hardship. Then he himself began the sacrifices. After that this Gaṇapati Bhaṭlu performed 32 Soma sacrifices. His grandfather 31, his father 27, he himself 32 Soma sacrifices: all these together came to 90. He waited, wondering on what day these hundred sacrifices would be completed. He took up an unbroken vow, wondering when Kṛṣṇa would be born in our family line. Meanwhile Gaṇapati Bhaṭlu died. His son, Vallabha Bhaṭlu, began. Poor man, he could perform only five. Little by little, circumstances dwindled. Poor souls, because this whole family went on performing sacrifices and rites, their property and possessions dwindled away. There was no other strength or means left. So he performed five sacrifices. He stopped there. His son, Lakṣmaṇa Bhaṭlu, performed five sacrifices again. Having performed these five sacrifices and so completed the hundred, he set out for Kāśī, taking his wife Yallammā with him. In Kāśī he must give food to the poor. Resolving to serve all the Brāhmaṇas, he went to Kāśī. Having gone to Kāśī, he stayed on there for two years, poor man. Then Yallammā conceived. Meanwhile news arose that the Muslims would fall upon the city of Kāśī and lay it waste. In this situation, thinking it hard to stay in this city of Kāśī with a woman, Lakṣmaṇa Bhaṭlu set out to return to his own village on foot. Because of this fear, and because she walked back with great strain, she miscarried on the way. She looked. Wondering what it was, she tore her sari, wrapped it in the cloth, placed it on an aśvattha tree and came away. Unable to walk on, and being very weak, they lay down in a rest house. Kṛṣṇa came in a dream. 'Ellammā! Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭlū! Why did you leave Me here and come away?' So He asked. 'Go at once and bring Me,' He said. The moment they heard this news, joy brimmed over. At daybreak the two went to the aśvattha tree. The little boy was waving his hands and legs and laughing away. They took up that child. They came back again. He was the boon Kṛṣṇa had granted. Thinking, 'It will be good to give my father's name,' he named the boy Vallabhācārya. In the old days, Dīkṣitulu meant those who had achieved through dīkṣā; so they were called Dīkṣitulu. Yajñanārāyaṇa Dīkṣituḍu. Gaṅgādhara Dīkṣituḍu: so they went on taking such names. After that they went on taking Bhaṭlu as the name: Gaṇapati Bhaṭlu, Vallabha Bhaṭlu. Ācārya means one who practises and gives Ānanda to all. God is the one who does each thing Himself and shows it to others. That is precisely why they named him Vallabhācārya. They took Vallabhācārya and came to the village. That little boy drew everyone to him. From children to the old, everyone longed