As a child he had spontaneous trances. For example, he used to sit on the lap of his father and sit with the chinmudra in a posture of meditation. At other times, when his father was teaching a class, he used to look at the book as if he was reading and comprehending it. At age four, Seshadri received his nickname, 'Golden Hand' (Tamil: Thanga Kai). One day Seshadri and his mother stopped at a shop full of bronze castings of the Gods. While at the shop the young lad picked up a statue of Krishna and asked his mother to buy it so he could perform Krishna puja. The trader, thinking that the radiant child himself resembled the Lord Krishna, gave the idol and refused payment. The next day the trader proclaimed the boy to be most lucky as the whole consignment of 1,000 statues (because of the young boy's touch), had been sold in one day, as against his usual sales until then wherein he was barely able to sell 1-2 idols.