Sanatan Goswami:
On the Way to Mahaprabhu

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham, Samadhi-mandir class
13 June 2015

Having escaped from the jail, Sanatan Goswami started walking to Mahaprabhu.

I told it before: when you are going down the proper spiritual path, so many obstacles will come in your spiritual life. You must be patient. You think, "I took initiation so many years ago, but I am not getting the result..." but Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He controls the whole universe, how much can we do for Him? We cannot do anything for Him, we are tiny—we are just an ant, a mosquito. Actually we are even less than that—a mosquito can bite a man and the man will die, but we cannot do anything. Only out of our ego we think we are doing so many things.

Mahaprabhu said,

ভুক্তি-মুক্তি আদি-বাঞ্ছা যদি মনে হয় ।
সাধন করিলেও প্রেম উৎপন্ন না হয় ॥

bhukti-mukti adi-vancha yadi mane haya
sadhana karileo prema utpanna na haya

If one has desires for material enjoyment or liberation in their heart, then even if they practise properly, prem will not become manifest within them.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 19.175

If you have some material desire in your heart, even a little desire for something else, you will not be able to reach your destination.

Sanatan Goswami took with him one of this servants, Ishan, but Ishan had some material desire, he was thinking about himself, "Sanatan Goswami Prabhu is going alone, but he is not taking anything with him. Vrindavan is so far, what will he eat on the way?" He kept some money in his pocket.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also said that from your childhood, or from joining the temple, you think, "Oh, I am a brahmachari, who will take care of me in my old age? Now I am young and I am working, but when I become old, there will be no one to look after me. I should keep something for myself for future." If you keep something, you will suffer so much; but if you do not keep anything and depend only on Krishna, Krishna will take care of you properly. This is what Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur told. You can read Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur's Upadeshamrita, it is written there.

So, Ishan thought, "Sanatan Goswami is going alone, he is not taking anything with him. What will he eat on the way?" and took some money with him. On the way, some dacoits caught them.

What kind of dacoits were they? They were very clever. They stayed with their assistants in a small hut beside the road and had an astrologer who could tell if somebody who was passing the road had money. So, when Sanatan Goswami and Ishan were approaching, the astrologer said, "Prabhu, you know, two people are coming this way. They have some money."

The dacoits caught them and gave them so much nourishment, "Let us massage you with mustard oil," "Let us bring a bucket of water for you to take bath," and so on. They were so nice and hospitable. Sanatan Goswami called Ishan to the side and said,

"Look, they do not know us, why are they so hospitable? There must be some reason. Do you have anything with you?"

"Yes, Prabhu, I have something..."

"What is it?"

"I have seven gold coins."

"Give it, give it! It is visaya, material things!" (Visaya means vis, বিষ, poison.) "Give it to me!"

Sanatan Goswami took the seven coins from his servant and gave it to the dacoits, "Please take this!" The dacoits were surprised, they thought, "We are giving them so much nourishment, showing so much hospitality because our plan is to keep them in our hut for the night, and when they are asleep, we would cut their neck, throw the bodies into the Ganges and take their money. But now, without any reason, they themselves are giving us their money. These people must be great personalities." Seeing such behaviour they changed their minds. They said to Sanatan Goswami,

"No, no, we do not want your money. At first we wanted to kill you for this money, but now we do not want it."

"No, no, take it. We do not want it. We are going to see a great personality, Mahaprabhu. Please, do not reject this money, keep it. If you do not take it and we keep the money with us, some other dacoits can kill me on the way, then we will not be able to meet Mahaprabhu. You will help me so much if you keep it."

The area they were in (Midnapore, Jharkhand) was a dacoits' area, a very bad place. The dacoits took the money, and they continued their way. After a while, Sanatan Goswami asked Ishan, "Ishan, do you have anything else with you?"

"Yes, Prabhu, I told a lie... I have one more gold coin..."

"You cannot go with me. You can sell the gold coin and can maintain yourself with that money. Do not go with me."

Sanatan Goswami did not want bad association. His disciple's character was not good, so he had to leave him.

He continued walking alone. After a while another problem came—more maya. He was sitting in some place, resting, when his relative was passing by and saw him, "Oh, this is my brother!" He quickly came to him and called him to his house, "Look at you, your clothes are so dirty. Come, come, stay at my house!" Sanatan went there, stayed for a few hours and wanted to leave, but his brother started insisting that he had to stay for at least two days. Sanatan understood it was maya, "If I stop for two days, two days will be my loss, I will not get these two days back in my life." He decided to leave.

Before he could leave, his sister-in-law told him, "You are going to Vrindavan, but you have no warm clothes—it will be so cold there and you will get austerity. I want to give you a bhet kambal (ভেট-কম্বল, a gift of a blanket). Please take it, it is a very nice blanket." He did not want to take it, but his sister-in-law was insisting, insisting, so he had to accept it.

He took the blanket and continued his way. After that, he finally came to Tapan Mishra's house where Mahaprabhu was staying...

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Rupa and Sanatan
• First Encounter
• Running Away
• On the way to
Mahaprabhu
• Finishing Visaya

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