TLC 2 (1968)
CHAPTER TWO
Sanatan Goswami
I offer my respeciful obeisances unto Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, by whose mercy even a person in the lowest status of life can find direction in transcendental devotional service to the Lord.
After Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu accepted the renounced order of life, Sannyasa, He travelled all over India. During this period, He went to Maldaha, a district in Bengal, and in that portion of the land there was a village by the name of Ramkeli. Two government ministers of the Nawab Hussain Shah's regime lived there, namely Dabir Khas and Shakar Mallik, later renamed Sanatan Goswami and Rupa Goswami. They had a chance to meet Lord Chaitanya, and after meeting Him they decided that they would retire from the government service and join His Samkirtan movement. The two brothers at once took steps to leave their material engagements, and appointed two learned Brahmins to perform certain Vedic religious rituals in order to achieve complete freedom for the devotional service of Krishna.
These preliminary activities are known as Purascharya. The ritual function of this process is that three times a day one has to worship and offer respects to one's forefathers, offer oblation to the fire, and respectfully offer foodstuffs to a learned Brahmin. Five items; the time, the worship, the offering of respect, the offering of oblation into the fire, and the offering of foodstuffs to a Brahmin; comprise Purascharya. In the Hari Bhakti Vilas, the directional authoritative book, these rituals are mentioned.
After performance of these religious rituals, the younger brother Shakar Mallik (Rupa Goswami), returned to his home with an immense amount of money which he had acquired during his government service. The silver and gold coins he brought back filled a large boat. After arriving home he divided the accumulated wealth first into two, and distributed one part to the Brahmins and Vaishnavas. Thus, for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he distributed fifty per cent of his accumulated wealth to persons engaged in the Supreme Lord's transcendental loving service. The Brahmins are meant to understand the Absolute Truth; and thereafter, when one is actually engaged in the loving service of the Lord, he is called a Vaishnava. Both the Brahmins and the Vaishnavas are supposed to be fully engaged in transcendental service, and Rupa Goswami, considering their important transcendental position, gave them fifty per cent of his wealth. The balance was again divided into two: one part he distributed to his relatives or dependent family members, and the other he kept against personal emergency.
This distribution of personal wealth is very instructive for all who desire to be elevated to the advancement of spiritual knowledge. Generally, a person bequeaths all his accumulated wealth to the family members, and then retires from family activities for progress in spiritual knowledge. But here we find the exemplary behavior of Rupa Goswami: he gave fifty per cent of his wealth for spiritual purposes. This should be the example for every one of us. The twenty-five per cent of his accumulated wealth which he kept against personal emergency he deposited with a good business firm, since in those days there were no banks. Another ten thousand coins were deposited for expenditures by his elder brother, Sanatan Goswami.
Rupa Goswami at this time received information that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was preparing to proceed toward Vrindaban from Jagannath Puri. He sent two messengers to receive actual information of the Lord's itinerary, and he made his own plans to go to Mathura to meet the Lord there. It appears that Rupa Goswami got permission to join Lord Chaitanya, but Sanatan Goswami did not. Therefore, Sanatan Goswami entrusted his responsibility in the government service to his immediate assistants, and he remained at home to study Srimad Bhagwatam.
He engaged some ten or twenty learned Brahmins, and began an intensive study of Srimad Bhagwatam in their company. While he was thus engaged, he submitted sick reports to the Nawab, but the ruler was very anxious for his advice in government matters, and therefore he suddenly appeared one day at Sanatan Goswami's house. The Nawab entered the assembly of Sanatan Goswami and the Brahmins, and out of respect all of them stood up to receive him and they offered him a place to sit. The Nawab said:
"You have submitted sick reports, but I sent my physician to see you, and he reported that you have no illness. I did not know why you were submitting sick reports and not attending to your service, so I have personally come to see you. And I'm much perturbed by your behavior. As you know, I completely depend on you and your responsible work in governing. I was therefore free to act in other matters because I was depending on you, but if you do not join me, your past devotion will be spoiled. Now, what is your intention? Please tell me."
On hearing this, Sanatan Goswami replied that he was unable to work anymore and it would be very kind of the Nawab if he appointed somebody else to execute the work that was entrusted to him. The Nawab became very angry at this and said, "Your elder brother lives like a hunter, and if you also retire from the administration then everything will be finished." It is said that the Nawab used to treat Sanatan Goswami as a younger brother. The Nawab was engaged in conquering different parts of the country, and he was also engaged in hunting, and therefore he depended more or less on Sanatan Goswami for administration; and so he pleaded with him: "If you also retire from the government service, how will the administration be run?" Sanatan Goswami replied very gravely: "You are the governor of Gouda, and you punish different kinds of criminals in different ways. So you are at liberty to punish anyone according to his activity." The purpose of his reply was that the governor was engaged in hunting animals and killing men to expand his kingdom; so let both of them suffer according to the acts they were performing.
The Nawab was intelligent, and he understood Sanatan Goswami's purpose and left the place in an angry mood. Shortly afterward, he went off to conquer Orissa, and ordered the arrest of Sanatan Goswami until he returned.
Rupa Goswami then learned that his elder brother Sanatan had been arrested by the Nawab. He sent information by messenger that the ten thousand coins in Gouda (Bengal) in custody of the Grocer, could be used to release him from the Nawab's detention. Rupa Goswami, with his younger brother whose name was Sri Ballabha, then started for Vrindaban to meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Sanatan offered five thousand coins to the keeper of the jail in which he was being kept in custody. He advised the jailkeeper to gladly accept the five thousand coins from him and let him go, because by accepting such money he would be materially benefitted, and at the same time he would be acting very righteously in freeing Sanatan for spiritual activities.
The custodian replied, "Of course I can let you go, because you have done many services for me and you are in government service. I know that, but I am afraid of the Nawab when he hears that you are free. I'll have to explain. How can I accept such a proposal?" Sanatan gave a story which the custodian might submit to the Nawab—as to how he had escaped—and he then raised his offer to ten thousand coins. The custodian then agreed to the proposition as he was very anxious to get the ten thousand coins. And so he let him go.
Sanatan then proceeded to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He did not go on the open road but travelled instead through the jungles until he arrived at a place in Bihar called Pabda, and rested there in the hotel. The hotel keeper, meanwhile, was informed by an astrologer employed at the hotel that Sanatan Goswami had some gold coins with him, and he wanted to take them from him. And so he spoke with superficial respect: "You just take your rest tonight, and in the morning I shall arrange for you to get out of this jungle trap." Sanatan, however, was suspicious of the behavior of the hotel keeper. and he inquired from his accompanying servant Isan whether he had some money. Isan told him that he had seven gold coins with him. Sanatan did not like the idea of the servant carrying such money. He was angry with him and said, "Why do you carry this death knell on the road?"
Sanatan at once took the seven gold coins and offered them to the hotel keeper; he then requested the hotel keeper to help him through the jungle. He informed him that he was on a special journey for the government and could not travel on the open road, and therefore it would be very kind if the hotel keeper would help him to get over the jungle mountain. The hotel keeper replied, "I understood that you had eight coins with you and I was thinking of killing you to take them. But you are very good, I can understand, and so you don't have to offer me the money. I'll get you out of the hill-tract."
Sanatan replied, "If you don't accept these coins then somebody else will take them from me. Somebody will kill me for them, so better you take them. I offer them to you." The hotel keeper then gave him full assistance and that very night he helped him to get past the hills.
When Sanatan emerged, he requested his servant to go home with the one coin that he had still with him, and he would go on alone. After the departure of his servant, Sanatan felt completely free. With torn clothing and with a water-pot in his hand he began to proceed toward Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. On the way he met his rich brother-in-law who was also in the service of the government, and who offered him an excellent blanket, which Sanatan accepted at his special request. Then he parted from him and went on alone to see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Benares.
When he reached Benares, he understood that the Lord was there and he was very glad. He was informed by people that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was staying at the house of Chandra Sekhar Acharya, and he went there. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was inside the house and He could understand that Sanatan had arrived at the door. He asked Chandra Sekhar to call the man who was sitting at His door, "He is a Vaishnava, a great devotee of the Lord." Chandra Sekhar went out to see the man but he saw no Vaishnava at the door; he saw only a man who appeared to be a mendicant. The Lord then asked to see the mendicant. When Sanatan entered the courtyard of the house, Lord Chaitanya hurriedly came to receive him and embraced him. When the Lord embraced him, Sanatan became overwhelmed with spiritual ecstasy, and he began to say, "My dear Lord, please do not touch me." But both of them embraced each other and began to cry. Seeing Sanatan and Lord Chaitanya acting thus, Chandra Sekhar was struck with wonder. Lord Chaitanya received Sanatan in this way, and asked him to sit down with Him on a bench.
He was touching the body of Sanatan with his hand and Sanatan asked Him, "My dear Lord, please do not touch me." The Lord replied, "I am touching you just for My purification, because you are a great devotee. By your devotional service you can deliver the whole universe for going back to Godhead."
In this connection the Lord quoted a nice verse from Srimad Bhagwatam. The purport of the verse is that a person who is a devotee of Lord Krishna, one hundred per cent engaged in devotional service, is far better than a Brahmin who is learned in all the Vedic literature, but who is not engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. The devotee can purify every place and every thing because he is carrying the Supreme Lord within his heart.
In the Vedic literature it is also stated that the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not recognize even a person who is very learned in all the divisions of the Vedas; but, rather, He likes a person even if born of a low family, provided that person is a devotee. Instead of offering charities to some Brahmin who is not a devotee, if something is offered to a devotee, that offering is accepted by the Lord. In other words, anything offered to the Lord may be given to His devotees. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also quoted from Srimad Bhagwatam that, if a Brahmin, although qualified with the twelve different qualities of a Brahmin, is not a devotee of the Supreme Lord, then he is lower than the lowest of the low—even though born in a high family. A devotee, although born in a Chandala (dogeater) family, can purify his whole family for 100 generations past and future by devotional service, whereas a proud Brahmin cannot even purify himself. It is said in the Hari Bhakti Sudodaya, "O devotee of the Lord, to see you is the perfection of the eyes, to touch your body is the perfection of bodily activities, to glorify your qualities is the perfection of the tongue—because it is very rare to find a pure devotee like you."
The Lord next said to Sanatan that Krishna is very merciful, and is the Deliverer of the fallen soul. "He has saved you from Maharauraba." This Maharauraba, hell, is described in Srimad Bhagwatam. It is for persons who are engaged in killing animals. It is stated there that butchers or animal-eaters go to that hell. Sanatan replied, "I do not know the mercy of Krishna, but I can understand that Your mercy is causeless upon me. You have delivered me from the entanglement of material life."
Then the Lord inquired: "How did you get free from your custody? I understood that you were arrested." Sanatan narrated the whole story of how he was released. Lord Chaitanya then informed him, "I have seen your two brothers, and I have advised them to proceed toward Vrindaban."
Lord Chaitanya now introduced Chandra Sekhar to Sanatan, and there was a pleasant invitation made for Sanatan to dine with him. The Lord requested Chandra Sekhar to take Sanatan to the barber and make him gentle, because Sanatan had grown a long beard which Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not like. He therefore asked Chandra Sekhar to take Sanatan to a bath and get him dean-shaved. He asked him to change his clothes also.
After taking a bath and cleansing himself, Sanatan requested Chandra Sekhar to give him some good cloth. When Lord Chaitanya was informed that Sanatan did not accept new garments, but accepted only some used garments from Chandra Sekhar, He was very glad. The Lord sat down for lunch and asked Chandra Sekhar to keep food for Sanatan. Chandra Sekhar did not offer him food immediately, however, but after the Lord finished His eating there were some remnants of His foodstuff, and that was offered to Sanatan while the Lord went for His rest.
After this, Lord Chaitanya introduced one Maharastrian Brahmin, His devotee, to Sanatan; and that Maharastrian Brahmin invited Sanatan to accept lunch daily at his place, as long as he remained at Benares. Sanatan said, "So long as I remain at Benares, I will beg from door to door; and the Lord will be so good as to accept from you this invitation for daily lunch at the Brahmin's house."
By this behavior of Sanatan Lord Chaitanya was very much pleased; but He noticed the valuable blanket that was given to Sanatan by his brother-in-law while on route to Benares. Although Lord Chaitanya was overlooking the blanket, Sanatan understood that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not approve of such a valuable garment on his body, and he planned to get rid of it. He immediately went to the bank of the Ganges and there saw a mendicant washing an old quilt. Sanatan asked him to trade the old quilt for the valuable blanket. The poor medicant thought that Sanatan was joking with him, so he said, "How is that? You appeared to be a very nice gentleman, but you are mocking me in this unmannerly way."
Sanatan informed him, "I am not joking with you. I am very serious. Will you kindly exchange that torn quilt for this blanket?" Then Sanatan exchanged his blanket for the torn quilt, and he came before the Lord.
The Lord inquired, "Where is your valuable blanket?"
Sanatan informed Him about the exchange at the Ganges of the blanket for the torn quilt. The Lord then loved him for this and He thanked Sanatan: "You are intelligent enough and you have now finished all your attraction for material wealth." In other words, the Lord accepts a person for devotional service only when he is completely free from all materialistic possessions. The Lord said to Sanatan, "It would not look well to become a mendicant and go begging from door to door while at the same time you have such a valuable blanket on your body; it is contradictory, and people would look at it with abhorrence." Sanatan replied to the Lord, "Whatever I am doing to become free from material attachment, it is all Your mercy." The Lord was very much pleased with him, and both of Them discussed spiritual advancement.
Previous to this meeting of Sanatan and Lord Chaitanya, Lord Chaitanya met the householder-devotee, Ramananda Roy. In that meeting, which is discussed in a different chapter, Lord Chaitanya asked Ramananda Roy questions and Ramananda replied as if he were the teacher of the Lord. But in this case Sanatan will put questions to the Lord and the Lord will answer them.
The instruction and teachings of Lord Chaitanya are very important for people in general. He teaches the process of devotional service, which is the constitutional position of every living entity; it is every man's duty to advance in spiritual science. All these things are very nicely discussed in the talks BETWEEN Lord Chaitanya and Sanatan Goswami. At the mercy of Lord Chaitanya Sanatan was able to put questions before Him, and these are replied to properly.
The meeting of Sanatan and Lord Chaitanya teaches us that in order to understand spiritual subject matters, one must approach a Spiritual Master like Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and make submissive enquiries. This is also confirmed in the instruction of the Bhagavad Gita: that one should approach a man of authority, and learn from him about spiritual science.