Birth
Sri 108 Sri Narayana Teertha Srigalu was born to Sri. Ramachandra and Smt. Janaki Bai in a very strange episode. Story goes like,
Once during H.H. Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar's adoption ceremony, preparations for a royal puja had been made at Nanjanagudu Lord Nanjundeshwara temple.
Even Sri Bheemasenacharya (Court's scholar and grandfather of Srigalu) was present along with his son Ramachandra and daughter-in-law Janaki Bai.
Ramachandra's wife Janaki Bai was pregnant during the time. They were returning to Kalale village after the ceremony on a bullock cart. During the journey Janaki Bai gave birth to a baby boy. The baby showed no signs of life. Thinking that the baby was stillborn, the family members continued their journey with baby wrapped in a cloth and also praying to their family deity LORD SHRINIVASA.
They returned to their home and to their surprise the baby was alive and blissful. 'GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS', prayers to LORD SHRINIVASA was answered. In regards of the above miracle the child went on to be known as Srinivasa.
Brahmacharya
Through childhood days, his father Sri. Ramachandra taught him Mahabharata and Bhagavata. The child could recite Mahabharata, Bhagavata and other granthas with great fluency and extreme clarity catching people's attention and interest. Upon hearing this, H.H. Krishnaraja Wodeyar asked Sri Bheemasenacharya to get Srinivasa to recite Mahabharata Bhagavata in the court. Post the recitation, the king was elated and offered him a job as Jamaidhara in the army and posted him to Shivamogga.
During his posting, he strongly followed "Serving Nation is Serving God", which earned him a great respect and love from his higher officials.
Once, while he was leading the South commanding unit, the unit saw a tiger and was preparing to kill it. He commanded them to lay down their arms and not to attack the tiger as it was not their enemy. The hungry tiger approached the unit. The panicked unit stepped back. Srinivasa looked at the tiger with peace. To everyone's surprise the tiger calmed down and left the place without harming anyone. The startled soldiers were grateful for remaining alive and appreciated Srinivasa for his act of kindness. Though all appreciated Srinivasa, he turned all the credit to the real owner, the GOD himself, demonstrating his devotion.
Gruhastha and Samsara
Srinivasacharya was living in Shivamogga with his parents. Alongside his duties, he used to conduct discourse on Bharatha and other puranas. As he attained proper age, his parents wished to get him married. He got married to Kumari Dwaraka Bai, the second daughter of Sri Raghavendra Rao, a police inspector in Chitradurga.
His martial life continued without any changes to his spiritual life. His wife Dwaraka Bai was very helpful and supporting to him in performing his Dharma. As the time passed by, Dwaraka Bai gave birth to a daughter who was named as Padmavati. With the birth of his daughter, his inclination towards Dharma became much stronger. He started performing ‘Devara Pooje’ in many special ways. He got increasingly involved in ‘Parayana’ and 'Bhajans'.
He got transferred to Chikkamangaluru. Here Dwaraka Bai gave birth to a son. With this happiness, he further increased his devotion towards Dharmic activities. His interest in Dharma Shastras kept increasing day by day. But his official duties were becoming hurdles in performing the Dharmic activities seamlessly. So, he resigned from his duties.
He then moved to Mysuru. There he got completely involved in studying Dharma Shastra. One day, Sagarakatti Mutt seer Sri 108 Sri Pradyumnateertha Srigalu called him and asked him to take Sanyasa. But Srinivasacharya did not agree.
Srinivasacharya went to Tirumakudalu and performed Seva to Sri Shesha Chandrikacharya for 5 days. In the meantime, Mysuru Maharaja called Srinivasacharya back and gave him an important task to be completed in 5 years. On this official duty, Srinivasacharya moved to Bengaluru.
During this time Dwaraka Bai gave birth to another son. Unfortunately after the delivery, Dwaraka Bai passed away. With the demise of his wife, Srinivasacharya felt it to be a God given opportunity to get disconnected from worldly pleasures and devote more on divine aspects.
After a year, Srinivasacharya lost his mother. He sincerely completed the five year task given by the Mysuru Maharaja. After a few days, he lost one of his sons as well and left with five children. None of these incidents could distrub his mind, instead he became much more devoted towards God. He became very determined to get detached from ‘Samsara’ and move towards ‘Sanyasa’.