SRI SANATANA GOSVAMI IN PURI

[Patita Pavana das]

19 June 2002, 10 am

Lake Washington, New York, USA

This morning I want to discuss a pastime from Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, Antya-lila Chapter 4, Sanatana Gosvami visits Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri. This grantha is called Sri Caitanya Caritamrta. It is the nectar of carita-the qualities, pastimes and life history of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It has another meaning also-Sri Caitanya Caritamrta is nectar, amrta. Mrta means death, amrta means no death. If anyone will drink this Sri Caitanya Caritamrta, this amrta, they cannot die. They will very easily cross over the ocean of birth and death, and there they will taste nectar. What kind of nectar? Sri Caitanya-caitanya means consciousness. Now we are in darkness. We do not have fully blossoming consciousness (purna vikasita cetana)-that consciousness is only ecstatic love and affection flowing from moment to moment, second to second, always fresh and new. This is called caitanya, pure consciousness. Consciousness of whom? Sri-the word ‘Sri’ indicates Srimati Radhika. If you will drink this Sri Caitanya Caritamrta through the ears, then you will never die. You will become eternal and you can realize full consciousness of Srimati Radhika. This is called Sri Caitanya Caritamrta. Every line, every word, full of deep love, shows us the way to make progress, both externally and internally. This grantha presents all types of maryada, proper behavior, and all types of internal moods in a very wonderful way.


In the chapter that we will discuss today, Kaviraja Gosvami is saying:


vrndavanat punah praptam

sri gaurah sri sanatanam

deha-patad avan snehat

suddham cakre pariksaya

(CC Antya 4.1)


This Sanskrit verse explains: when Sri Sanatana Gosvamipada returned from Vrndavana to Jagannatha Puri, he attained the association of Sri Gaura, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Sanatana Gosvami wanted to commit suicide (deha-patad), but Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, by His affection, purified him. That means that Mahaprabhu took away this idea, and tested him (pariksaya). He examined the character of Sri Sanatana Gosvami.


jaya jaya sri-caitanya jaya nityananda

jayadvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vrnda


nilacala haite rupa gaude yabe gela

mathura haite sanatana nilacala aila


The first time Mahaprabhu tried to go to Vrndavana from Puri was not the first time that He had tried to go to Vrndavana. The first time was from Kattva, after He had taken sannyasa-but on His first attempt to go from Puri, He visited Ramakeli and met Sanatana Gosvamipada for the first time. After that, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu again met Sanatana Gosvamipada when Mahaprabhu was returning from Vrndavana. Following the course of the Yamuna, He came to Prayag and met Rupa Gosvamipada. After that, He continued on and met Sanatana Gosvamipada in Kasi. There, for about 10 or 11 days, He instructed Sanatana Gosvamipada. That is called Sri Sanatana Siksa. After that, Mahaprabhu told Sri Sanatana Gosvamipada to go to Vrndavana, and Mahaprabhu returned to Puri.


Now Sanatana Gosvamipada is coming from Vrndavana to meet again with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Jagannatha Puri after His tour in South India. When Sanatana Gosvamipada was traveling from Vrndavana to Puri, he came through central India, where there is the Jharikhanda forest. Because he had been fasting and had taken some polluted water, he developed a disease called kandu rasa. It is a skin disease that causes weeping sores to erupt all over the body. On his way to Puri, Sanatana Gosvamipada was thinking to himself:


jagannathe gele tanra darsana na paimu

prabhura darsana sada karite narimu


mandira-nikate suni tanra vasa-sthiti

mandira-nikate yaite mora nahi sakti


He was lamenting in his heart, "Now I am going to Puri, but when I get there, what will happen? I won’t be able to have darsana of Jagannatha-deva because I am an outcaste from the Hindu society. And I have heard that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is staying in quarters very close to the Jagannatha Temple, so I can’t go there either, because the servants of Jagannatha-deva are coming back and forth in that area. If they touch me, then it will be an offense on my part because I am low-caste, and now I am covered in sores. I cannot go to Mahaprabhu’s quarters and I cannot have darsana of Jagannatha-deva, so what should I do?"


tate yadi ei deha bhala-sthane diye

duhkha-santi haya ara sad-gati paiye


"This pain that I cannot see Jagannatha-deva and cannot meet with Caitanya Mahaprabhu is unbearable. The only way to get relief is to give up this body. I will wait until the Ratha Yatra festival. When Jagannatha-deva comes out, Mahaprabhu will not be by the Jagannatha temple. He will be on the Grand Road going toward Gundica. I will go there and come before Jagannatha-deva and have His darsana. Then, right in front of Mahaprabhu, I will throw my body under the wheels and give my life there and then. What could be more glorious than to leave this body right before both Jagannatha-deva and Mahaprabhu! Surely I will attain a good destination. This will be a great benediction for me." So he fixed his mind, "This is my plan. I’ll go there and just bide my time until Jagannatha Ratha Yatra day. Then, seeing my Lords, I can leave this world."


In this way, gradually gradually, Sanatana Gosvamipada made his way towards Puri. When he arrived in Puri, he asked the local people for directions. They directed him to the bhajana kutira of Haridasa Thakura at Siddha Bakula. Mahaprabhu had given Haridasa Thakura a place some distance from where He was staying because, being born in a Muslim family, he was not accepted by the Hindu society. Sanatana Gosvamipada went there and offered his pranama to Haridasa Thakura. He knew Sanatana Gosvami so he picked him up and they embraced each other. They were very happy. Then, Haridasa Thakura could see on the face of Sanatana Gosvami an intense eagerness to meet with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Wanting to encourage him, he said, "Mahaprabhu will come here any moment now." Just as he was saying this, Caitanya Mahaprabhu arrived there. He was just coming from the Jagannatha temple where He had taken darsana and had observed the bhoga offering. He was coming to Siddha Bakula to bring Haridasa Thakura some maha-prasadam. As soon as they saw Mahaprabhu, both of them offered pranama at His lotus feet. Haridasa Thakura got up, but Sanatana Gosvami remained prone on the ground. Haridasa Thakura said, "O my Lord, this person is Sanatana." Mahaprabhu was astonished. On the one hand, we know that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu knows everything. And at the same time, to have very intimate loving relations with His devotees, He acts like an ordinary devotee, saying, "Oh, Sanatana has come," as if He was surprised. This is the etiquette-it is the duty of juniors to give pranama to their seniors. You cannot go and embrace your senior devotee; it is not Vaisnava etiquette. You can give pranama to seniors. Then seniors, if they want, can embrace their juniors-it is their prerogative.


When Sanatana Gosvami stood up, Mahaprabhu went to embrace him. But as He reached forward, Sanatana Gosvami was backing off and moving away. He said, "My Lord, don’t touch me. Please don’t touch me. I am very low caste, and what’s more, I am covered with sores." But by force, Mahaprabhu caught Sanatana and tightly embraced him. He thus squished Sanatana’s sores and got the pus all over His body. Horrified, Sanatana Gosvami said, "Oh, no." He wanted to die there and then, unable to bear what had happened. Mahaprabhu introduced Sanatana Gosvami to all the devotees who had come with Him, and Sanatana offered his pranama to all of them. Then Mahaprabhu sat down on a raised place with some devotees also sitting on the same level with Him, while Haridasa Thakura and Sanatana Gosvami sat lower down. Mahaprabhu asked Sanatana Gosvami how he was and exchanged some simple pleasantries with him.


At this time, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu informed Sanatana Gosvami that his brother Anupama had passed away. In this way, they began to discuss what had happened since their last meeting, because Mahaprabhu had met Rupa Gosvami and Anupama first in Prayag. After that He had met Sanatana Gosvami in Kasi. Then He came to Puri, and later, Srila Rupa Gosvamipada joined Him there. When he met with Mahaprabhu, Rupa Gosvami gave Mahaprabhu the news that Sanatana Gosvami’s younger brother Anupama had contracted a disease and had left this world. Sanatana Gosvami did not know this, and Mahaprabhu broke the news to him. He told him that Rupa Gosvami had stayed with Him for ten months, and then He sent him to Vrndavana through Bengal. After that Srila Rupa Gosvamipada never met with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu again for the rest of his life. This is a very hard thing to reconcile. Yet he was Mahaprabhu’s nearest and dearest of all, and they were always associating by heart.


Some days passed in Puri. One day:


eka-dina asi’ prabhu dunhare milila

sanatane acambite kahite lagila

(Cc Antya 4.54)


One day Sanatana Gosvami met with Mahaprabhu. Haridasa Thakura and other devotees were there. Mahaprabhu said to him:


"sanatana, deha-tyage krsna yadi paiye

koti-deha ksaneke tabe chadite pariye


"Hey Sanatana! If I could attain Krsna by committing suicide, then I would certainly give up millions and millions of bodies without a moment’s hesitation.


deha-tyage krsna na pai, paiye bhajane

krsna-praptyera upaya kona nahi ‘bhakti’ vine


"You should know that one cannot attain Krsna simply by giving up the body. Krsna is attainable by bhakti, bhajana. There is no other means to attain Him. Acts of suicide are influenced by the mode of ignorance and a person who is in ignorance and passion, tamas and rajas, cannot understand who Krsna is."


So here, we see, on the one hand, Mahaprabhu acted as if He did not know who Sanatana Gosvami was, this person on the ground before Him offering pranama. And now, He is showing how He knows his heart. Sanatana Gosvami had not told anyone that he was just waiting for Ratha Yatra to come so that he could give up his life. But Mahaprabhu, the Supreme Lord, knows everything. But also, He is playing a role. What role? Role of acarya or sad-guru. Sad-guru is like this. He knows the heart of the disciple. If the disciple will approach the bona fide guru and associate with him, he will see again and again how his gurudeva sees everything in his heart and points to that directly by his words and activities. This is a very wonderful thing.


Sanatana Gosvami was an extraordinary personality. Because he was so intelligent, he had been employed by Nawab Hussein Shah, the Muslim emperor, as his prime minister. At the same time, apart from being materially astute, he had great love for Krsna. Even in his days of being prime minister, in his home gardens he and Rupa had constructed Syama Kunda, Radha Kund and Giriraja Govardhana. There the two of them would always engage in hearing hari katha. When they met with Mahaprabhu, He ordered them to leave their homes, and immediately, they gave up everything.


In his Sad Gosvamyastakam, Srinivasa Acarya wrote: what did the Six Gosvamis do? They left all aristocratic society. They were the associates of the most wealthy and famous persons, and they themselves also had vast wealth and power. Tyaktva turnam asesa-mandala-pati-srenim sada tuccha vat. Tyaktva means ‘they left’. What did they leave? Asesa-mandala-pati-srenim: sreni means the ‘class’; they were in the aristocracy of the mandala-pati, the leaders of society. They had unlimited wealth. Turnam means ‘quickly’-quickly they left this position, their money, their families, everything, without hesitation. They left everything. How? Tuccha vat-they realized that all of these things are insignificant, of no value. Anyway, one day you will have to give up everything-by force. Better to leave by choice. They left everything by choice, and although they were accustomed to a very high class of luxurious life-bhutva dina-ganesakau karunaya kaupina-kanthasritau-they accepted only dor kaupin and kantha, one torn cloth-not more than this. They accepted these things as their only possessions. Why? They were setting an example for us. If we will collect things, the mind will go there; we will remember those things, and attachment will come, material moods will come, so never keep anything, only dor kaupin and one old, torn cloth.


Why did they leave all these things? Gopi-bhava-rasamrtabdhi-lahari-kallola-magnau muhur. They are magnau, immersing themselves, muhur-again and again. Where? Gopi-bhava-rasamrtabdhi-lahari-in the very high waves of the moods of the gopis of Vrndavana. Therefore, they can leave everything very easily. They have no attraction for anything else. Sanatana Gosvami is a very great personality. Among the Six Gosvamis, he is the most senior. In Vrndavana, the Vrajavasis call him ‘bada baba,’ because he is the ‘Big Baba’. In my experience also in Vraja-mandala, when I go here and there and meet with the Vrajavasis, they lovingly ask me, "Bada baba kahan hain? Where is Bada Baba?" But they don’t mean Sanatana Gosvami; they mean Gurudeva!


Everyone loved Sanatana Gosvami. He was very kind and friendly, even to useless and attached persons. He was very patient and made relationships even with them. Why? If anyone will have a friendship with him, and only remember his face, how much it will purify their hearts. So Sanatana Gosvamipada was like this-he was an extraordinary person. Now, coming to Puri, he wanted to give up his life. Why? Because in this body he could not have darsana of Jagannatha-deva. He was thinking on the way that he could not have darsana of Mahaprabhu because Mahaprabhu was living near Jagannatha-deva, so he would not be able to go and see Him. Thus, being bereft of the darsana of Krsna and Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he was ready to give up his life. This also indicates the atmosphere in his heart, his internal mood. You should try to have a mood like this. This is called utkantha, eagerness. Any neophyte devotee in the modes of nature has so many anarthas and material desires. He cannot feel separation, but for those devotees who are fully taking shelter of Krsna-nama, giving up the offenses against nama and being under the guidance of bona fide Guru, gradually sambandha-jnana will come. They can realize something of their relationship with Krsna. At that time, when separation from Krsna becomes unbearable, they will always chant and cry, "O Krsna, where are you?" We want to make progress in this direction-this is bhajana.


Mahaprabhu told Sanatana Gosvami:


na sadhayati mam yogo

na sankhyam dharma uddhava

na svadhyayas tapas tyago

yatha bhaktir mamorjita


This is from Eleventh Canto. Krsna is telling Uddhava, "Hey Uddhava! If you will do astanga yoga (controlling the senses), jnana (study of the Vedas), renunciation, austerity, charity, sannyasa, whatever you do, these things will not control Me. I am only controlled by bhakti." Mahaprabhu was explaining to Sanatana, "You want to give up your body, but this is not among the 64 angas of bhakti." At Kasi, Mahaprabhu had explained to Sanatana Gosvami the 64 angas of bhakti, but killing oneself is not one of them. Krsna is only attained by bhakti. Bhaktya mam abhijanati yavan yas casmi tattvatah (BG 18.55). He can be understood only by devotion. So that which is not devotion will not bring about the desired effect. The first thing that Kaviraja Gosvamipada says in his Sanskrit introduction to this chapter is that Mahaprabhu took away Sanatana Gosvami’s desire to kill himself by being very affectionate to him. Now Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is about to explain to Sanatana Gosvami how he can transform his suicidal tendency into an impetus to become even more deeply absorbed in bhajana. I am saying this because I know that many devotees are also troubled by a semblance of this mood sometimes.


Don’t be in Lake Washington. Come now to Puri and be with Mahaprabhu and Sanatana Gosvami there. Hear how Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is very lovingly giving him very sweet advice. He is telling him:


premi bhakta viyoge cahe deha chadite

preme krsna mile, seha na pare marite


gadhanuragera viyoga na yaya sahana

tate anuraga vanche apana marana


"Hey Sanatana! An advanced devotee of Krsna, due to feelings of separation, sometimes wants to give up his life. But by his feelings of prema, he meets directly with Krsna, and that meeting saves his life." This is actually the process. Tate anuraga vanche apana marana: He is saying here that when a devotee’s love is mature, he laments, "Oh, I should die!" Like Narottama dasa Thakura has sung:


keno va achaya prana ki sukha paiya

narottama dasa keno na gelo mariya


He is praying in so many kirtanas, "Why am I staying alive? What happiness is there for me?" You can see in Prarthana, he says, "Alas! Why was I not born at that time when Mahaprabhu was doing kirtana with Advaita Acarya and Nityananda Prabhu in Navadvipa? Why did I not take part in that kirtana? Alas! Why was I not born at that time when Rupa, Sanatana and Jiva Gosvamis, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami also, would sit down together in any kunja of Vrndavana and speak katha on siddhanta? I have missed those discussions. Why was I not born at that time? Why was I not there when the devotees headed by Haridasa Thakura in Puri would organize a festival? The devotees would cook and have kirtana and have lectures together. Why was I not there? Oh, dik tan, dik tan. Fie on me. Fie on my life. This life is useless." This mood comes to the sincere devotee.


Gurudeva explained that when we sing these kirtanas, first we should remember the personality who is singing the kirtana and give our pranama to him, understanding that now the kirtaniya’s life is in his throat. What does it mean? The soul is in the heart, and when someone is about to die, the prana (the life airs) lift the soul up and the soul comes out. When a Vaisnava is doing kirtana and praying in a grief-stricken, desperate anxiety like this, his prana is in his throat. It means that the the soul has risen up to the throat and that he is on the very brink of leaving his body. We pray that one day we will do kirtana with such intense feelings.


Narottama dasa Thakura is crying and saying, "Why was I not there at that time when Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, Jiva Gosvami would sit down together and discuss siddhanta," and as he is singing, his prana is coming to his throat. And just when his prana is in his throat, quickly Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami and Jiva Gosvami come running to him in his antardasa (internal mood), saying, "Don’t die! Don’t die!" As he meets with them, he is pacified and his soul goes back down. Then, he sings another verse, "Alas! What happened to me? I was not there when Haridasa Thakura would organize a festival in Puri," and again, entering in internal mood, his prana rises to his throat. This time Haridasa Thakura comes, saying, "Don’t leave your life. Don’t give up your life." This is bhajana. When we are singing the kirtanas of Narottama dasa Thakura, actually, I am not singing this kirtana. I am thinking that Narottama Thakura is singing, and I am only hearing his kirtana. By his mercy, some eagerness may come. This eagerness brings about meeting with Krsna. This is our process, our sadhana-our bhakti should be like this.


So now Mahaprabhu, on the pretext of chastizing Sanatana Gosvami because this very mood had come into his heart, wants to give him some drops of nectar from Srimad-Bhagavatam. By these drops of nectar, He is saving Sanatana Gosvami’s life, and also showing him the method of attainment. With great affection, Mahaprabhu tells Sanatana Gosvami:


gadhanuragera viyoga na yaya sahana

tate anuraga vanche apana marana


"One who is deeply in love with Krsna cannot tolerate separation from the Lord. Therefore, such a devotee always desires his own death." Mahaprabhu is giving two examples from Srimad-Bhagavatam. They are very helpful for our bhakti.


yasyanghri-pankaja-rajah-snapanam mahanto

vanchanty uma-patir ivatma-tamo-’pahatyai

yarhy ambujaksa na labheya bhavat-prasadam

jahyam asun vrata-krsan chata-janmabhih syat

(SB 10.52.43)