Hansadutta das - Memories of Srila Prabhupada

I was disappointed. I thought, "Oh." Not only was my name still the same, it just had the suffix 'dutta,' but my last name also remained the same because it got the prefix, 'adhi.' I was Hansadutta das Adhikari, and I was disappointed. After the initiation I thought, "I should find out what my name means." I went to Prabhupada and asked, "Swamiji, what does my name mean?" Prabhupada said, "I don't know."

I was bewildered. I really wanted to know what my name meant. I said, "Swamiji, is there some place where I can find the meaning of this name?" He said, "Yes." That's all he said. I wandered away but I was determined, so a third time I approached Prabhupada. I said, "In which book can I find the meaning of this name?" He said, "In Srimad-Bhagavatam." In those days Srimad-Bhagavatam was a big book even though it was only three volumes as compared to the many we have today. So I let it go. But years later in Montreal, Prabhupada was musing over different devotees' names. He casually said, "Oh, Sivananda means such-and-such, Krishna das means such-and-such ..." and he was going like that. I thought, "Here is my opportunity." I said, "Prabhupada, who is Hansadutta?" He said, "You are." For some reason, Prabhupada simply wasn't going to tell me what my name meant. That was a curious incident.