Today is Guru-purnima and along with it the disappearance day of Srila Sanatana Goswami. Last week, we saw Slovenian devotees at the conference. That day, I had to speak in Hindi to satisfy the devotees, our secretary Pujyapada Tridandi Swami, Bhakti Vigyan Bharati Maharaj spoke in Bengali. The people from Bengal cannot understand Hindi. That is the difficulty. So I announced on that day that I will remember the glories again, for the foreign devotees. Although, our Param Gurudeva, as I have heard from our Gurudev, when he was speaking in Madras Gaudiya Math, he spoke in Bengali. At that time Bengali listeners were there. Afterwards some dignitaries came from the city. Their mother tongue was Tamil. They could not understand Bengali. They could understand English only. Literate persons were there. So our Brahmacharis and Sanyasis approached Srila Prabhupad and requested him to speak in English because there were some local devotees, they would not be able to understand if speaks in Bengali. But our Param Gurudeva still was speaking in Bengali. They approached him repeatedly and requested again but he did not speak in English, he spoke in Bengali only. Afterwards when they (Brahmacharis and Sanyasis) were too much eager, then Srila Prabhupad told them, “I have not heard from my Gurudev that Bhakti can be propagated and transmitted by language, I have not heard this. It can be transmitted by any language, if the listener is sincere.

Because these words are transcendental words, coming from the transcendental realm, they will touch your soul. The soul is also transcendental, whether you understand or not, the vibration itself will create something in your mind and your eternal nature will be manifested, causeless devotion. But if you hear in your own language, very fluently, very nicely, but his (speakers) ego is here in his honor and (if he has) mundane interests for what he is speaking, (if the) ultimate end is something else, not known, then you will not be benefitted, spiritually. You may understand it; but there will be no actual benefit. So I never heard from our Gurudev that, through language, devotion can be transmitted to any other person.” I heard it from our Guru Maharaj that our Param Gurudev used to speak English very well. He is a learned person. Intentionally he did not speak (in English). Only to teach the Bramhacharis that if you have the desire to deliver a good speech and (earn) a good name in this world, your spiritual life will be lost and the end result will be something else. It should be for the satisfaction of Krishna. You have to pray for His grace.

Day before yesterday was Guru-purnima. What is the meaning of Guru-purnima? Full moon day of the month of Ashadh. Ashadh is a Bengali calendar month. Vedvyasa Muni appeared on this day. So the whole of India, even outside India, those who have belief in Sanatana Dharma they perform worship of Vedvyasa Muni everywhere. Vedvyasa Muni appeared on an island, island means Dvipa. His complexion was black, he is known as Krishna Dvaipayana. Krishna means black complexion and Dvaipayana means born in Dvipa, Krishna Dvipa. Vedvyasa means one who has expanded the Vedas or divided the Vedas into four categories. An ordinary person cannot do this. There is power, spiritual power behind him. (He is) Saktyavesh Avatar. That power is given by the Lord to him. He appeared accepting Parashara Rishi, a very powerful Rishi and Satyavati. He dedicated himself to all the spiritual matters and he said to his mother, ‘’I shall not be with you, but whenever you remember me I shall come to you. You are not to contact me by letter or through anybody. If you remember me under any difficult circumstance, I shall understand it and I shall be able to come to you.’’ On that condition, he remained away from his mother and divided the Vedas and wrote 18 Puranas. Also he wrote Vedanta, the most adored scripture of the Gyanis, philosophical aspects you will get. He wrote Mahabharata and Gita, Gita is there within Mahabharata. He is respected by all in India whatever group it may be, Karmi, Gyani, Yogi, Bhakta, everyone. So today’s Tithi is called Guru-purnima. He is worshipped everywhere.

Vedvyasa Muni has got so much power. Something should be spoken about him. He is not an ordinary man. By accepting him as father Dhritrastra, Pandu and Vidur appeared, but Dhritrastra was born blind. During the Kurukshetra war he was there in his house, and out of affection, Vedvyasa Muni imparted power to Sanjay to see everything in the battlefield, the things that are happening there and he used to speak about it to Dhritarastra. An ordinary saint cannot impart such power. By the imparted power of Vedvyasa Muni Sanjay saw everything in the battle field and spoke about Gita to Dhritarastra. At the end of the battle, so many millions were killed. Their women had an extreme experience of grief and separation. Then Vedvyasa Muni told them to not be disheartened. “I will show (you all) your husband and other relatives. See they are alright.” The grief stricken women saw their dead husband and dead relatives. Can any person do this?

But one thing we have to think about is this. After writing so many Granthas (dividing the Vedas, writing Mahabharat and Puranas) he could not get actual bliss in his heart. That you have to understand. To show the world, (He thought) “You worldly people may have some vanity, you are very learned persons. You also study scriptures and you write books. Can you write what I did? I did so much. Human beings they want money. Without money they cannot maintain their family. We cannot do anything. So I wrote Artha-shastra, how to earn money for their benefit. All the human beings, conditioned souls they want their desires to be fulfilled. For that reason, I have written Kama-shastra. How can you fulfill these desires? This body is non-eternal, it has birth, it has death and after death how can you get in this world or in any other world, a good birth, a peaceful birth? For that I wrote Dharma-shastra. Whatever they want I have given them. They should be happy and in return I should also be happy, feel happiness within my heart. But I have no happiness. My mind is not at peace, it is not in peace or in bliss. So much I did for the human beings for their benefit but I myself could not get any actual bliss? Bliss means cessation of disturbances, permanent bliss is in Supreme Lord. I do not know why I have not got it. What is the reason?” Then he went to Badarinarayan and took shelter of his Gurudev Narada, “Kindly show me the path. I did so much for the worldly people. In return I surely must have got peace and bliss, some happiness, but I have not achieved it, what is the reason? I cannot understand.”

“What did you do?”

“I wrote all these things, Dharma-shastra, Artha-shastra, Kama-shastra.”

Then Narada said,

jugupsitaṁ dharma-kṛte 'nuśāsataḥ
svabhāva-raktasya mahān vyatikramaḥ
yad-vākyato dharma itītaraḥ sthito
na manyate tasya nivāraṇaṁ janaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.15)

“Whatever you did was bad, abominable work. All the conditioned souls have got this sort of non-eternal desires with non-eternal ego. They want money, they want their desires to be fulfilled, and they want some material enjoyment in this world and other worlds. This is non-eternal. You have given them trouble, then trouble will come to you in reaction. You cannot get peace. You have not given peace. You have not even given bliss, you have given disturbance. You have instructed them, you have persuaded them for non-eternal things, non-eternal enjoyment. A great wrong you have done.”

“I have also spoken about emancipation, about salvation.”

Then Narada Goswami said, “This is far more dangerous. You have deprived them of getting Krishna-prem for eternal time.”

(Guruji explains) You want to merge yourself with the impersonal formless Brahma. You are committing suicide; to merge yourself into Paramatma, which is further worse than Brahmananda, ‘Brahma-sayujya’. Nobody can get actual Brahma-sayujya without the grace of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is All-powerful, He is the giver. When Chatuhshan performed penance and wanted Brahmananda, but accepting the Supreme Lord as the Supreme, worshipping the Supreme Lord, they prayed for salvation then they got it. Without accepting Him you get zero, nothing. You can get nothing. Here in this world as long as human beings are here with their senses, thinking, feeling and willing, (that is while the soul, which is sachidanand, is present in the body) so you will get help or advice and everything. When the soul leaves from the body then what can you give? Can you give anything? Can a dead body give anything? What can it give? Give one instance where a dead body has given anything. And the Supreme Lord is the cause of all infinite particles, atomic parts, jivas, living beings. As long as that anu sachidananda, atomic part of chidananda exists in the body, so long it will give you and can give satisfaction to others, others can give satisfaction to him. When that leaves your body nobody will touch your body and if they touch they will have to take a bath.

yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante
yena jātāni jīvanti
yat prayanty abhisaṁ-viśanti
tad brahma tad vijijñāsasva
(Taittiriya Upanisad 3.1)

All the jivas are coming from Brahma, not from Abrahma. Nothing can be because of something. These living beings, from where have they come? From inert matter? Without consciousness? If there is no consciousness (in the source) how can consciousness come? If you rub two pieces of wood, fire comes out, emerges. (If someone says,) “Oh there is no fire in wood, it comes because of rubbing (the wood together).” No (it is not like that). Fire is already there. Pancha-mahabhuta, earth, water, fire, air, sky, all are there. By rubbing wood fire appears. Something is coming from nothing, this is not correct. Wrong statement. From the Supreme Lord we have come. We are in the Supreme Lord, we are by the Supreme Lord.

Now Narada Goswami told, “You have done more harm, the highest harm to the living beings by saying about Brahmananda for merging oneself into a formless Brahman or Paramatma. In front of Prem that Brahmananda is nothing. What have you done? You have not spoken about the glories of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is all Bliss, He can take the initiative, He is Sacchidananda, He is All Powerful, All Existence, All Knowledge, All Bliss.”

(Guruji explains) By His grace if He wants to, anybody who takes actual shelter to Him, He will appear. He will not think about the status of a human being, whether they are birds or beasts. The person who takes shelter to Him— daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te We go through Gita, we do not accept Gita. (Then) What is the use of going through Gita? He has got no differentiation—

samo 'haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu
na me dveṣyo 'sti na priyaḥ
ye bhajanti tu māṁ bhaktyā
mayi te teṣu cāpy aham
(Bhagavad Gita 9.29).

“I am equal to all. Even if an animal takes shelter to Me I shall rescue him from Maya.” But if you go by a challenging mood, by taking this human birth where the Supreme Lord has given you the discriminating power between good and bad, right and wrong, eternal and non-eternal, then you will be deprived. You can accept eternal truth. You have to give up the challenging mood, if you do not do this then you will be deprived. Other living beings have got no such discriminating power.

There is one group which are Mayavadi, they say ‘soham, soham, soham’ — I am that Brahman. (They believe) “By soham we become Bhagavan. Bhagavan sometimes becomes Bhagavan. Sometime He is not Bhagavan.” This is not true. Bhagavan is always Bhagavan. (Mayavadi’s think), “Sometimes when he is enveloped by maya He becomes jiva and after practicing soham He becomes Bhagavan.” This is irrational talk. Bhagavan is Absolute. Absolute is Absolute, always Absolute. There cannot be any state of non-existence of the Supreme Lord. With a challenging mood, if you go by your finite intellect, very negligible, finite mental capacity then your whole spiritual life will be destroyed. The knowledge will come through Supreme Lord’s preceptorial channel. It is the only path. There is no other path. If you go with your vanity, with ego, you will remain here all the time in this world. You cannot go there. There is no equal to Him or more than Him. He is Asamurdhva (there is no one equal or higher than Him). Without His grace nobody can cross over birth and death, and the threefold afflictions. You have committed an offence at His Lotus feet. Jiva is part of His potency, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said marginal potency or apara potency. The Supreme Lord is the possessor of the potency. Anything produced by the potency also belongs to the Supreme Lord. I have no hold over my body, this body belongs to Supreme Lord, the astral body (subtle body) belongs to the Supreme Lord, atma belongs to the Supreme Lord. According to Gita, atma comes from the aparaprakriti of the Supreme Lord. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says tatastha-shakti. A philosophical solution. You are a part of the potency, not part of the substance and you have eternal relation. That you have to understand.

All the Vaishnava Acharyas, they have warned us that if you give up this (relation, meaning if you forget this relation) then your whole human life will be futile. tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ divīva cakṣur ātatam. Daily you meditate on this. What is the meaning? The lotus feet of Vishnu are eternal, sadā paśyanti - means always observing. The realized souls, emancipated souls are always observing the lotus feet of Vishnu, they must remain always (eternally) and the observer must be always (eternal). Then always observation can be possible. In Rig Veda it is said, padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ divīva cakṣur ātatam. How to see Him? By a challenging mood? Brahma, he is the creator of the living beings in this world, this universe. He could not recognize Krishna. From where you have come, that you will recognize Krishna and Krishna’s absolute counterpart, the devotees? Impossible. Some say that Brahma made this as a pastime. Brahma, we remember him in our preceptorial channel. Yes, he is our Guru. We always remember. But why has Vedavyasa Muni not written in his book that Brahma had made this pastime? There is some underlying intention behind this. These conditioned souls will misunderstand this. You should understand that Brahma, the creator by his own power, endeavor, he could not get any knowledge of Vrindavan Dham, any knowledge of cowherd boys, any knowledge of Gopa-gopis, Krishna. When Krishna Himself was present, Brahma could not understand. (Vedvyas Muni said,) “To show these to conditioned souls, I do not want to say Brahma made the pastimes and make it less important. You conditioned souls make that sort of mentality of a challenging mood, where is God and what you are?”

When our Parampujyapada Swami Maharaj was there in America one young boy came. He said, “Swamiji, I do not believe God.” Then Swami Maharaj said, “Who has given you the power to say that I do not believe God? How long you can speak like this? How long you will be here? You have got this vanity, when the life will be taken out from the body, can you speak? Your speaking power is given by the Supreme Lord. As you do not want to worship the Supreme Lord and you want to enjoy life He created this universe and all these eighty four lakh species to fulfill your desire and that also He is fulfilling. If you were just alone you could do nothing. How long will you have this vanity?’’ Therefore this challenging mood should be totally removed, if there is any tinge of a challenging mood, you will be deprived from the devotional school of thought, actual spiritually. You will not get this. The Supreme Lord is descending through a preceptorial channel. Our Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Goswami Thakur, will he speak a lie? Bhaktivinoda Thakur, will he speak a lie? For what, they have come? They were sent by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Because these human beings have got no understanding, by their own capacity they cannot understand the writings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Shada Goswamis, Srimad Bhagavatam. So many pseudo sects have cropped up. Nobody understood Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sent Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Goswami Thakur. Now we can speak like this. But when Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Goswami Thakur was present, he performed so much penance here in Mayapur, so much powerful penance. Those persons who went to talk with him to refute his Suddha Bhakti, when they saw him they could not utter a word. When they saw him and heard him they could not say anything. He is not an ordinary person. He is sent by Supreme Lord. Therefore our Param Gurudeva, you will find when starting his sermons, his speeches, he advises us to make obeisances to the preceptorial channel. If you do not believe in him then you will be deprived of your emancipation from this world. By taking shelter to them, go on worshipping, what will you get? You will get (the love of Him) and you will give it to others also. And without that if you go with a challenging mood, with our finite intellect, finite mental capacity, if you go and know Him then God will become finite. He is not finite. He is infinite.

Now, you see, Our Narada Goswami told him, “You have not spoken about Krishna”.

(Vedvyas Muni,) “I spoke about Krishna.”

“Where?”

“In Mahabharata, Gita.”

“There your end (goal) is something else, mukti, emancipation not Krishna. You have to sing the glories of Krishna for Krishna’s sake then you will have attachment to Krishna. If Krishna is satisfied then you will be satisfied. You have written there with the purpose to get emancipation, salvation. But that will not give you peace. You have to sing the glories of Krishna for His satisfaction knowing Him, I am of Him, I am a part of His potency”.

And by getting the grace of His Grace Incarnate form of Krishna, Narada Goswami, who imparted four verses, by that imparted power Vedvyasa Muni saw that (actual reality). He saw everything and after seeing he wrote Srimad Bhagavatam twelve centos (Skandas) by which Krishna was satisfied. Then he had bliss. That (place) is there, in Bhadrinarayana. Badrinarayana temple it is not built by Gaudiya Math. After Badrinarayana, above one thousand feet, there is an ashram. Everybody goes there to make obeisances. It is not built by Gaudiya Math. I have been to that place once with Guru Maharaj. Guru Maharaj sat there and he read Bhagavatam and the six or seven persons that were there, in that cave, a very big cave. After getting peace, Vedavyasa Muni instructed Sukadeva Goswami and Sukadeva Goswami gave up Brahmananda and became Krishna Premi and got Krishna-prem. In Sukartala, where all the Rishi-munis were present, even Agastya Muni who drank anocean, Parashurama one of Dashavatar all were present. All stood up when Sukadev Goswami came and they heard Srimad Bhagavatam from him for seven days. Before Sukadev Goswami’s arrival Pariksit Maharaj was puzzled because the Munis and Rishis assembled there were suggesting to him quite different paths. Then he remembered Krishna and prayed, “I was related with Pandavas. Kindly give me mercy, kindly help me, kindly have grace with me. After some days I shall be killed by a snake bite.” Then He (Krishna) sent Sukadeva Goswami. After listening for seven days, without taking food, without sleeping, can you think about this without taking water for seven days? Sukadeva Goswami is giving Krishna Himself, through transcendental sound, to Pariksit Maharaj and he is accepting. After seven days, transcendental sound, the Supreme Lord appeared in his heart and all the worldly things from the heart were removed. Where is such a speaker, actual speaker? Where is such actual listener, so that one can get the actual good?

Now you see, in this matter we have to think about Sanatan Goswami. Today is Sanatan Goswami’s disappearance day. Because time is short what can be done? Long subject. After writing Bhagavat, Vedvyasa Muni got bliss. By his life he has taught us if you go through Bhagavat, a bonafide Bhagavat and if you are bonafide, you will not be deprived. It is said in the Gita, na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid durgatiṁ tāta gacchati. Krishna is telling, emphatically. If anybody is sincere, he will not be deceived. Krishna has said, he will not be deceived. Krishna will send His own man. He will come and contact the conditioned souls. That preceptorial channel is given by Saraswati Goswami Thakur, Bhaktivinoda Thakur, we should have firm faith in it and believe Him. Give your life for it and see whether you get the actual peace or not. You can see that afterwards. If you give up, you will go to hell, you will come back to this world again. When you become averse to Sri Krishna, nobody will come to help you. His external potency (mahamaya) will envelop you and then you will do something by which you will be enveloped in this world.

Srila Prabhupad has written in his Vaishnava ke’ Kirtan,

tāiduṣṭamana, nirjanabhajana,
pracārichachalekuyogī-vaibhava,
prabhusanātane, paramayatane,
śikṣādilayāhā, cintaseisaba

He has not cited any incident from Bhagavatam or Chaitanya Charitamrita, he has advised to go through the teachings given to Sanatan Goswami by Mahaprabhu with utmost care.

You should hear about Sanatana Goswami, what question he asked to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and what were the teachings given to him. His life is full of teachings. We have to go through his life, it is written by Kavikarnapura, the son of Shivananda Sen. Sanatan Goswami is dearest to Rupa Manjari. Bhaktivinoda Thakur is a Rupanugavara, those who are subservient to Rupa Goswami. Bhaktivinoda Thakur is the best amongst them. In a spiritual sense, Rupa Goswami is Shrestha (superior). Sanatan Goswami, in the worldly sense, is the elder brother of him. But in the spiritual sense, Rupa Goswami is the highest. He is Rupa-manjari. Sanatan Goswami is under him. Sanatan Goswami is Rati-manjari or Lavanga-manjari. Also Sanatan of Chatuhshan entered into him. That is also written. The Chatuhshan were well established in Brahmananda and after getting the scent, aroma of the flowers and other things offered to the feet of Narayana, they gave up Brahmananda and started worshipping Narayana.

Sanatan Goswami when he was there in Maldah, Maldah was the capital at that time, Hussain Shah was the Emperor. He was there in one village called Ramakeli, I had been to that place, and Rupa Goswami and Anupam the younger brother, father of Jiva Goswami, after seeing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu they wanted to renounce the world, they did not want to remain in this world. Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, “No, not now. When I shall go to Vrindavan then you can renounce.” After that when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was travelling to Vrindavan, first Rupa Goswami with Anupam left that place. He was also a big person there with Hussain Shah Emperor. Sanatan Goswami was Prime Minister and our Rupa Goswami was finance minister, a big officer there. He left his position and renounced and after renouncing he met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Allahabad Prayag and he wrote to Sanatan Goswami to come immediately. He mentioned that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is going Vrindavan. He is actually Guru, Rupa Goswami, Rupa Manjari and he is the dearest of him, so Sanatan Goswami has to carry out his order and what did he do? What is written in Chaitanya Charitamrita?

If anybody gets the grace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, even a mean person gets His grace, they can become the introducer of Bhakti-shastra. He can initiate and write Bhakti sastra. It is the first verse, Kaviraja Goswami has written in twentieth chapter of Chaitanya Charitamrita.

Sanatan Goswami was jailed by Hussain Shah the King. When the King went to Orissa to conquer that region, he wanted to take Sanatan Goswami along. Sanatan Goswami was the Prime Minister and he did not want to go. He declined to go so he was sent to prison. At that time he got a letter from Rupa Goswami,

yadu-pateḥ kva gatā mathurā-purī
raghu-pateḥ kva gatottara-kośalā
iti vicintya kuruṣva manaḥ sthiraṁ
na sad idaṁ jagad ity avadhāraya

“Where is Yadupate Krishna now? Where is His Mathura Dham? raghu-pateḥ kva gatottara-kośalā—where is Ayodhya Dham? And Ramachandra? Nothing is permanent in this world. Immediately come. Do not spoil a moment.”

When he had to carry out the orders of his Guru, Rupa Goswami being senior for that reason, Sanatan Goswami what did he do? He spoke to the jailor. The jailor was a Muslim and had offered him service. He spoke to him, “You are jindapir—you are a living saint.” He was not a living saint, but he said so.

“If you release one person from the prison then you will be released. You are jindapir.”

But the jailer was afraid, “No, I cannot do this. When the emperor comes he will kill me. I cannot do this.”

Speaking a lie is not good for a saint but for fulfilling the desire of Rupa Goswami and fulfilling the desire of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he was ready to do anything.

mannimittaṃ kṛtaṃ pāpam api dharmāya kalpate
(Hari-bhakti-vilas 1.110)

The Lord says, “Even if someone does sinful activities for Me, they will be considered as righteous acts.”

Sanatan Goswami was ready to do anything for his satisfaction and he flattered him, spoke many things, excessively like, “You are a great saint” etc. The jailer was not ready to let him go. Then Sanatan Goswami said, “I gave you this job. I was Prime Minister at that time when I engaged you in this job. You should do something in return for me. I gave you some benefit and you should pay me that debt.”

That too a sadhu cannot demand. But here he said, “I have given you this service now you release me from this.”

“No, I cannot do this.”

“I shall give you five thousand gold coins, very valuable things.”

The jailer cannot think about this. To give a bribe is not a good thing, as a sadhu one should not do this. But he is doing it.

“Five thousand.”

“No. You will give me that but when the emperor comes he will kill me. So I cannot do this.”

Then he got about seven thousand gold coins and put them in his hand. There were ten thousand gold coins kept by Rupa Goswami for his release arrangement. By seeing them he the jailer got some sort of greediness to have them.

Then he said, “When Badshah will come to know he will hang me.”

“No, No, No. I shall not remain here, you take me out and say this half truth to him. You say, ‘I took him to Ganges for a bath and he jumped into the Ganges and went away.’ You should not think that I shall remain here. I shall take darveshvesh, I will become ascetic, Muslim ascetic darvesh. I will go to Mecca.”

They do not understand Vrindavan, so he said he will go to Mecca. “So there is no reason for you to be afraid.” Ultimately, he gave in. For fulfilling the desire of his Gurudev and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, what he did, don’t you think! He did everything, it is not good to speak lie, but he did that.

He was released, he went through the villages, not through towns and cities, he is a well-known person and after a long time he came to Patraparvat, one mountain. There was a landowner there. In the day time he was a landowner and in the night time a robber. He has an astrologer and that astrologer told the robber landowner, “Sanatan Goswami has one person with him, Ishan, he has eight valuable gold coins. They thought they should kill them and take those. But Sanatan Goswami was very intelligent, he is not an ordinary person. He has a good grasp of Sanskrit, Arsi, Parsi and Hindi and is a very able man in Government. He was born into a Brahmin family, Bharadwaja family but he has no vanity and for that reason when Rupa Goswami and he were there with the King Hussain Shah tried to persuade him to remain there and continue as a Prime Minister. Sanatan Goswami replied, “No, I shall not go to the assembly. Whatever punishment you want to give you give.” Then he imprisoned him. The King has love for him. He knows that Sanatan Goswami is a very competent person and for that reason he needed him.

Now when Sanatan Goswami thought about the landowner who was helping him, serving him very much, “I am not known to him, he is liking me, he is showing me love so there is some reason behind that. Perhaps my servitor, Ishan has kept something with him.” He asked him, “Ishan, come here. Have you got anything with you?” Then he concealed one gold coin and showed seven gold coins. “Give them to me, why have you brought this? ‘Saṅge kene āniyācha ei kāla-yama’—why have you brought this, this is kāla-yama any moment we may be killed. Give me.” He took them and gave them to the landowner. He said, “Your Ishan has got eight gold coins and he has given seven gold coins only.”

“I do not want this.”

“We had the desire to kill you in the night. We do not want this money, you take the money we shall help you to cross the Ganges. I do not want money.”

Sanatan Goswami is very intelligent. He thought these people are now behaving and are very good but again they may become very bad. For that reason he gave all the gold coins to them. They then crossed the mountain and met Srikant, the husband of his sister. He wanted to take him to his own house.

“No, you have come so stay here for longer time.”

“No. I want to meet Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He is residing in Braja Mandal. He is Krishna Himself.”

Then Srikant gave him a very costly rug, bhotkambal, taking that he came to Varanasi and sat outside the house of Chadrashekhar Vaidya. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said to Chandrashekar Vaidya, “One Vaishnav has come outside. Bring him inside.” He came out and he saw a fakir.

“No, No there is a Muslim fakir.”

“Muslim fakir?”

“Yes”

“You call him.”

“Oh Fakir, our Mahaprabhu wants you”

And fakir went there.

When Sanatan Goswami entered in the house, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ran and embraced him. Sanatan Goswami said, “I am very unholy, stop! You should not touch me.”

Mahaprabhu then said, “I touch you to purify My body in this way.”

After that he was asked by Mahaprabhu to become bhadra, become a gentleman, to shave his mustache etc as he had got beard. The beard and mustache were removed and after taking snan, a bath he came there. But what vastra (cloths), would he wear? He went to Chandrashekar. Chandrashekar gave him one new cloth. “No, I shall not take it.” Then he went to Tapan Mishra. He also brought one new cloth. “No, I want one used cloth, used by you.” Sanatan Goswami as personal associate of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is teaching us. I stay in this Math and if anybody give me used cloth, I do not take it. But here Sanatan Goswami has showed that you should take the remnants of Vaishnavas. From the life of Sanatan Goswami we are to learn so many teachings. There is no end to it. And after taking that used cloth he wore it but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is seeing the very costly bhotkambal, the rug. This is not defeating, “You have got this sort of cloth?” Next day Sanatan Goswmai gave it to a babaji near Ganges, “Take this and give me your cloth.” He has got very bad cloth.

(Sanatan Goswami:) “Give it to me, I shall wear it.”

“You are joking with me.”

“No, no, I am not joking, grace me and give me your cloth.”

There were so many stitches in his garment. “You give me.” After exchanging Sanatan Goswami came to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Mahaprabhu was happy seeing the torn cloth. We belong to that group. He asked this question, ‘Who am I?’ to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to teach the conditioned souls of this whole world. He is an emancipated soul. The first question should be this.

'ke āmi', 'kene āmāya jāre tāpa-traya'
ihā nāhi jāni — 'kemane hita haya'

“Who am I? Why am I burning with the threefold afflictions? What is the object to be attained and what is the way to attain? I cannot even put a question to you. Please tell me everything.”

Then He started speaking. We have heard this when we entered into this Math sixty years before. But yet our Bhakti Siddhant Saraswati Goswami Thakur says, “You should repeatedly read, you have got no foundation. Only you say, you have got no belief. You should go through this, the foundation should be there. Without that if you build the structure, it will fall down.

Now what is the time? What can be done? There are so many things Sanatan Goswami has taught us. He had some scabies, itches, on his body while coming from Vrindavan. For that reason when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to embrace him, he would say, “Do not embrace me, I have got scabies, patra”. But He, Mahaprabhu,w repeatedly embraced him. Because of that he wanted to kill his body during Rathyatra. Then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said to all the devotees what Sanatan Goswami was thinking, “His body is My body, he wants to finish it. He has got no right to do this. His body is My body like this.” He embraced him and all his itching, all sorts of scabies, disappeared.