20211101 Sanātana Gosvāmī Meets Lord Caitanya Part 2

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation By His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 1st November 2021 in Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, India

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Today is the compilation of Caitanya līlā book, the chapter today is entitled:

Sanātana Gosvāmī Meets Lord Caitanya Part 2

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.63

mahā-raurava haite tomā karilā uddhāra
kṛpāra samudra kṛṣṇa gambhīra apāra”

Translation: “My dear Sanātana, Kṛṣṇa has saved you from Mahāraurava, life’s deepest hell. He is an ocean of mercy, and His activities are very grave.”

Purport: As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (18.61), īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe ’rjuna tiṣṭhati. Staying within everyone’s heart, Lord Kṛṣṇa works very gravely. No one can understand how He is working, but as soon as the Lord understands the sincere activity of a person in devotional service, He helps him in such a way that the devotee cannot understand how things are happening. If the devotee is determined to serve the Lord, the Lord is always prepared to help him (dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ yena mām upayānti te). Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is telling Sanātana Gosvāmī how merciful the Lord is. Sanātana Gosvāmī was a minister in the service of Nawab Hussain Shah. He was always mixing with materially inclined people, particularly with Muslims, meat-eaters. Although he was in intimate touch with them, by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy he came to find such association distasteful. Therefore he left them. As stated by Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat. Kṛṣṇa enlightened Sanātana Gosvāmī in such a way that he was able to give up his exalted post as minister. Thinking his material position insignificant, Sanātana was prepared to become a mendicant. Appreciating the activities of Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu praised his action and thanked Kṛṣṇa for His mercy upon him.

Jayapatākā Swami:  Lord Caitanya was expressing how opulent life style of a minister was seen by Sanātana Gosvāmī as something most insignificant and he gave that up to come and associate with Lord Caitanya and go to Vṛndāvana to write books and excavate holy places of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.64

sanātanera prabhuke abhinna-kṛṣṇa-jñāna

sanātana kahe,— ‘kṛṣṇa āmi nāhi jāni
āmāra uddhāra-hetu tomāra kṛpā māni’

Translation: Sanātana replied, “I do not know who Kṛṣṇa is. As far as I am concerned, I have been released from prison only by Your mercy.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Sanātana Gosvāmī, he was appreciating the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Actually, Lord Caitanya was acting as his spiritual master and saved him from his material conditioning but actually Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself whether Kṛṣṇa personally releases the devotees from the bondage or He does so through His representative, the result is the same.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.65

prabhura praśnottare nijavṛttānta varṇana

‘kemane chuṭilā’ bali prabhu praśna kailā
ādyopānta saba kathā teṅho śunāilā

Translation: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then asked Sanātana Gosvāmī, “How were you released from prison?” Sanātana then described the story from beginning to end.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya wanted to hear all the details so Sanātana Gosvāmī told Him everything and this was all the Lord’s mercy on him.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.66

prabhūkarttṛka rūpa o anupamera saṁvāda-jñāpana:—

prabhu kahe,—“tomāra dui-bhāi prayāge mililā
rūpa, anupama—duṅhe vṛndāvana gelā”

Translation: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “I met your two brothers, Rūpa and Anupama, at Prayāga. They have now gone to Vṛndāvana.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya informed Sanātana Gosvāmī about his two brother Rūpa and Anupama.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.67

tapana-miśra o candraśekhara-saha sanātanera milana

tapana-miśrere āra candraśekharere
prabhu-ājñāya sanātana mililā doṅhāre

Translation: By the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Sanātana Gosvāmī met both Tapana Miśra and Candraśekhara.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu had introduced Sanātana Gosvāmī to Tapana Miśra and Candraśekhara, he looked like a Muslim mendicant about Lord Caitanya informed all of his actual position.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.68

sanātanake tapana-miśrera nimantraṇa, sanātanake kṣaura-karaṇārtha-prabhura ājñā:—

tapana-miśra tabe tāṅre kailā nimantraṇa
prabhu kahe,—‘kṣaura karāha, yāha, sanātana’

Translation: Tapana Miśra then extended an invitation to Sanātana, and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked Sanātana to go get a shave.

Jayapatākā Swami:  The devotees in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are following Lord Caitanya and they naturally are clean shaven.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.69

candraśekharake sanātanera avaiṣṇava-veṣa tyāga karāiyā vaiṣṇavocita veṣa dhāraṇa karāite ājñā:—

candraśekharere prabhu kahe bolāñā
‘ei veṣa dūra kara, yāha iṅhāre lañā’

Translation: After this, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu called Candraśekhara and asked him to take Sanātana Gosvāmī with him. He also asked him to take away Sanātana’s present dress.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.70

bhadra karāñā tāṅre gaṅgā-snāna karāila
śekhara āniyā tāṅre nūtana vastra dila

Translation: Candraśekhara then made Sanātana Gosvāmī look like a gentleman. He took him to bathe in the Ganges, and afterwards he brought him a new set of clothes.

Purport: The words bhadra karāṣā are significant in this verse. Due to his long hair, mustache and beard, Sanātana Gosvāmī looked like a daraveśa, or hippie. Since Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not like Sanātana Gosvāmī’s hippie features, he immediately asked Candraśekhara to get him shaved clean. If anyone with long hair or a beard wants to join this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement and live with us, he must similarly shave himself clean. The followers of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu consider long hair objectionable.

Sanātana Gosvāmī was saved from a hellish condition (Mahāraurava) by the grace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Mahāraurava is a hell wherein animal killers are placed. In this regard, refer to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.26.10-12).

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Śrīla Prabhupāda is indicating that people who practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be clean shaven and have short hair and should be like a gentlemen and in this way Sanātana Gosvāmī had shaved his head and wore new cloth.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 20.71

candraśekhara pradatta navavastra paridhāne sanātanera asammati

sei vastra sanātana nā kaila aṅgīkāra
śuniyā prabhura mane ānanda apāra

Translation: Candraśekhara offered a new set of garments to Sanātana Gosvāmī, but Sanātana did not accept them. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu heard news of this, He became unlimitedly happy.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, hearing of Sanātana Gosvāmī vairāgya Lord Caitanya was very happy.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka 9.159

Mahārāja Pratāparudra: Then? Then?

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka 9.160

Men bringing news: At that place, I heard a common saying or rumour.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka 9.161

Mahārāja Pratāparudra: What is that?

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka 9.162

Men bringing news: That the Lord will return to Puruṣottama-kṣetra, stay for a few day performing blissful pastimes with Jagannātha, and by His (Jagannātha) words will again go to Vṛndāvana.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka 9.163

Mahārāja Pratāparudra: Will the Lord come just now or later?

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka 9.164

Men bringing news: It will be later. Since, the Lord was last seen alone in Vārānasī. But there is something else I heard.

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka 9.165

Sārvabhauma: What is it?

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka 9.166

Men bringing news: “In the course of time, the transcendental news of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in Vṛndāvana was almost lost. To enunciate explicitly those transcendental pastimes, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu empowered Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī with the nectar of His mercy to carry out this work in Vṛndāvana.”

Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka 9.167

Rāmānanda: That is appropriate.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī received this special service from Lord Caitanya to preserve all the holy places of Kṛṣṇas pastimes. So we see today there are many pastime places which have been excavated by Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī due to the mercy of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Today we see Rādhā-kuṇḍa Śyāma-kuṇḍa, many places, places in Govardhana hill and other place of Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, too many to be declared.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Sanātana Gosvāmī Meets Lord Caitanya Part 2 
Under the section: Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Instructs Sanātana Gosvāmī in the Science of the Absolute Truth