Sanatan Goswami's
Madan Mohan

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
19 December 2010

Many years ago Vrindavan was all forest, a jungle, so Sanatan Goswami would every day go begging to Mathura.

Once, he went to a house where there lived a husband and a wife. They had been married for maybe twelve-fourteen years but did not have any children. They prayed at so many places, to so many demigods, tried so many things, so many astrologers, but still they did not get any children. When Sanatan Goswami came to their house, he said,

"You are such a nice family, you are such nice, good devotees, but why is it that your house is blank, why are there no children?"

"Prabhu, we have gone everywhere, but still no children come to us..."

"Why do you go everywhere? You live right here in Mathura! Krishna is in Mathura, He was born in Mathura—it is an extremely high place. Why do you not pray to Krishna?"

"Prabhu, we do not know anything... But we only know you—we think you are a great sadhu, please give us some mercy that we can get a baby."

"OK, Krishna is merciful. You can pray to Krishna, and Krishna will give you a child soon."

"His name will be Madan"

Soon after that, at last a baby came to the wife's womb and within a year the baby was born. From time to time Sanatan Goswami went there to see how the baby was growing, how things were. He also gave the name to the child. When the wife was pregnant, the couple asked him, "If it is a son, what will be his name?" and Sanatan Goswami replied, "Your son's name will be Madan." It happened to be a son.

The mother was always very affectionate to Madan—after twelve-fourteen years of marriage at last a baby came, she loved him very much. Sanatan Goswami was very affectionate to him too, and the boy also was very affectionate to Sanatan Goswami. Sometimes he would come and climb on Sanatan Goswami's shoulder, sometimes he would pull his sikha, sometimes pulled his beard, and so on.

"Why do you not go with him?"

One time, Sanatan Goswami went begging and came to that house very tired. He walked from Vrindavan to Mathura, do you know how many kilometres it is? Every day he walked from Vrindavan to Mathura and back, from Mathura to Vrindavan; he did not stay there for the night. So, that day when he came to the family, the boy began to disturb him so much. It was Kartik month, and Sanatan Goswami had a big beard. Madan started pulling his beard, but his mother saw this and said,

"Madan, why are you disturbing this babaji sadhu so much? He has come on foot from so far, he is very tired and wants to rest, and you are disturbing him so much..."

"No, no, no," said Sanatan Goswami, "He is not disturbing me, I like him."

"OK, then you can take him," and turning to her son she said, "Madan, you can go. Every time he comes, you start disturbing him, why do you not go and stay with him then? You can go."

Then she became busy with cooking something, and Sanatan Goswami woke up and quickly ran away. Suddenly, half way to Vrindavan, when he was crossing the Yamuna, he heard the sound of nupur (ankle bells). He was surprised, "What is this sound?" Then he saw that Madan was following him!

"Hey, Madan! You have come?!"

"Yes, I have! Mother said, 'Go with the sadhu.' You heard her say that, and she said to you also, 'Take him,' that is why I have come to you."

"No, no, no! Your mother will be crying! She will go mad!"

"No. Mother said, 'Stay with him,' and I will stay with you."

"A-re, go!"

"No, I will not go, I will stay with you!"

Saksad Vrajendra-nandan

In the meantime the mother began to wonder, "Where has my son gone?" She searched and search for him everywhere, and somebody told her, "Yes, I saw he was following a sadhu." The mother ran towards Vrindavan and on the way saw Sanatan Goswami. Seeing her running to them, Sanatan Goswami said to Madan,

"Hey, you see? Your mother is coming!"

"Madan, Madan!" his mother cried.

"No," said Madan, "You told me to go with the sadhu and stay with him! I will stay with him, I will not stay with you!"

"No, no, no, I was joking! I was joking with you!"

"No, no joking, I will stay with him!"

Then the mother tried to catch him, but she could not—Madan Mohan ran so fast that she could not catch him. She ran behind him, sweating so much, and suddenly she managed to catch him, but as soon as she caught him, he became a Deity, a vigraha! ("Vigraha na Tumi, saksad Vrajendra-nandan! You are not a Deity, You are Vrajendra-nandan Himself!")

The mother tried to lift Him—He was just a small boy—but the stone Deity was too heavy. When Sanatan Goswami, an old man, picked Him up and took Him on his shoulder, at that time the Deity was not heavy—when with His devotee, Krishna becomes light.

So, Sanatan Goswami took Him in his arms and put him under a tree. He thought, "Now what?" Sanatan Goswami had a big problem—a Deity has come, what is going to do?

Vigraha, nigraha, galagraha

You know Gurudev's expression, "Vigraha, nigraha, galagraha." Gurudev said that the vigraha first becomes a nigraha, then a galagraha. It means that when you buy a vigraha ('deity'), it becomes a nigraha ('confinement, burden') because you cannot worship it properly, you make many offences; then you can neither throw the Deity away nor give it to anybody, and it becomes a big problem, galagraha ('a throttling').

That is why Gurudev always told the devotees not to make so many Deities, and not to keep a Deity in your house because you have to go out, you have to go to the market, you have to come to India—you leave your house, but who will give food to the Deity? Gurudev always told not to make so many vigrahas, it is very difficult.

Madan Mohan's bhog

So, Sanatan Goswami thought, "What am I going to do now? Every day I do madhukori, I receive some chapati and eat it, but now I cannot—for the Deity I have to make something myself. I cannot give the Deity others' food... It is a big problem!" So, he went begging. He went house to house, but could not get anything. In Vrindavan, you usually come and say, "Jaya Radhe!" and people give some prepared chapati, some aloo dum (subji), but no one will give you flour or some other ingredients.

He tried so much, and after so many places he finally got some flour in the afternoon. He came back and realised that he had no utensils for cooking. What did he do? He took some water, mixed it with the flour, and flattened it with his hands. Then he took some tree leaves, burnt them and put the chapatis into the fire. After a while he took them out—some chapatis came out not cooked, some chapatis were fully burnt—and gave them to the Lord, to Madan, "Madan! Every day You have been taking so much chhana (paneer), curd, but today You will have to take burnt rotis." Madan replied, "No problem, you can give Me burnt rotis, I will eat them." But when He tasted them, He cried, "Oh, no salt! Hey, give Me some salt!"

"Where am I to get You salt? Go! Go to Your mother! Get out of here!"

"No, no, no, please do not kick Me out! I will stay with you," Madan Mohan felt guilty and started to eat, "I will eat without salt, no problem."

He ate everything Sanatan Goswami had given him. Then He asked, "Where will I sleep?"

"Hey, I told you I sleep under a tree. Go to Your mother, You have a good house there, a nice bed and everything else. Go there! Go!"

"No, I will stay with you!

"OK..."

"Can I make My house Myself?" asked Madan after a while.

"That you can do... It is up to You, what You make or not make is Your business."

Krishna arranges His accommodation

That same night, a merchant's barge (বজরা, Beng. bajra) got stuck in the Yamuna's soil and could not move. It was a big barge that sold different things. At that time, there were not so many shops in Vrindavan, and usually a merchant would bring all vegetables and groceries in his boat and would sell them from the boat. People would come and buy what they needed. So, a barge means like a big shop in a boat. So, that day a big barge got stuck in the Yamuna.

The next day many people came and tried to push it, but it did not move. Later at night, Madan Mohan came to the ship. Krishna had to arrange something—He came to the merchant in a dream and said, "Your barge can move. There is one sadhu called Sanatan Goswami who lives up at Dvadasaditya-tila under a tree, go to that sadhu and if he comes and touches the boat, it will move immediately."

The next day the merchant came to Sanatan Goswami and asked him, "Prabhu, my big barge has stuck in the Yamuna and does not move. We tried so much, but without any success. Could you please come there?" Sanatan Goswami was surprised, "What will I go there for? What is my duty there? I am an old man, I have no strength! You have tried so many things, you brought many men, they pulled and nothing happened, how do you think I can move it?" The merchant did not give up, "No, Prabhu, please come..." Sanatan Goswami came there and as soon as he touched the barge, it moved. The merchant came to Sanatan Goswami and asked him humbly,

"Prabhu, can I make you a house?"

"No, I am very happy living under the tree, I do not want any house," answered Sanatan Goswami.

"If not for you, can I make a house for your Madan Mohan then? He lives under a tree..."

"As you wish you can do, that is up to you," said Sanatan Goswami.

So, the merchant made a temple for Madan Mohan. Do you understand now who made the temple?

Truth and untruth

ঈশ্বরঃ পরমঃ কৃষ্ণঃ সচ্চিদানন্দবিগ্রহঃ ।
অনাদিরাদির্গোবিন্দঃ সর্ব্বকারণকারণম্ ॥

isvarah paramah krsnah sach-chid-ananda-vigrahah
anadir adir govindah sarva-karana-karanam

"Krishna, who is known as Govinda, is the supreme controller. He has an eternal, blissful, spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin, for He is the prime cause of all causes."

(Sri Brahma-samhita, 5.1)

Krishna is the cause of all causes. He gives everything, He does everything, but, "Ahankare matta haina, Nitai-pada pasariya, asatyere satya kori mani (অহঙ্কারে মত্ত হৈঞা নিতাই-পদ পাসরিয়া অসত্যেরে সত্য করি' মানি). Maddened with ego, forgetting Nitai's feet, I accept untruth as truth." It is only our false ego, actually we cannot do anything.

So, we must understand, we must think how to practise a spiritual life, how to fulfil Gurudev's desire. So many problems will come—even in Sanatan Goswami's time, even Raghunath Das Goswami's time, even in Rupa Goswami's time so many things happened, the king even put Sanatan Goswami in jail! It is correct or not? Then? What is the problem? Even if you go to jail, you can go and preach there.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!
Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay!

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