Jivan Chakravarti's Pastime (2)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Tarakeshwar area, evening programme
13 February 2021, part 4
Translated from Bengali

...When Siva Thakur came to Jivan Chakravarti in a dream and asked what he wanted, Jivan Chakravarti said, "I want money to get my daughter married. She has grown big now, and I have no money to arrange her marriage." Then, Siva Thakur said to him, "I do not have wealth. Go to Vrindavan: there is a sadhu, Sanatan Goswami, there, he has extremely valuable wealth."

Do you know who Sanatan Goswami is? He is part of our Guru-varga. Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatan Goswami take the highest position in our line. They lived in Ramkeli, Malda district, and used to serve as ministers in the Muslim government of the emperor Hussein Shah, who ruled the area at that time. One of them was the treasurer, and the other one was the administrator in the government. Rupa Goswami's former name was Dabir Khas, and Sanatan Goswami's former name was Sarkar Mallik. In Dvapar-yuga, they were gopis, Sri Rupa Manjari and Sri Lavanga Manjari, from Vrindavan, and in Kali-yuga, they became associates of Mahaprabhu. They met with Mahaprabhu and gave up their minister jobs. When Sanatan Goswami told the emperor, "Give my job to somebody else, I will not work anymore," the emperor put Sanatan Goswami in prison, prohibiting him to leave. After some time, when the emperor went to Odisha, Sanatan Goswami bribed the guard and escaped prison. In the end, Sanatan and Rupa stayed in Vrindavan. We always say:

জয় রূপ সনাতন ভট্ট রঘুনাথ ।
শ্রীজীব গোপালভট্ট দাস রঘুনাথ ॥

jaya rupa, sanatana, bhatta-raghunatha
sri jiva, gopala-bhatta, dasa-raghunatha

"All glory to Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatan Goswami, Srila Raghunath Bhatta Goswami, Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami, and Srila Raghunath Das Goswami!"

These six goswamis are part of our Guru parampara. All of them stayed in Vrindavan...

So, Siva Thakur told Jivan Chakravarti to go to this Sanatan Goswami. In those days, there were no trains, so Jivan Chakravarti walked for a long time to Vrindavan. When he came there, he asked somebody, "Where does Sanatan Goswami stay?" and he was told that he was staying on the hill of Dvadasatila. He went to Dvadasatila and asked:

"Prabhu, can you tell me where Sanatan Goswami stays?"

"I am Sanatan Goswami!"

"Oh, you?" said Jivan Chakravarti, puzzled at the sight of Sanatan Goswami.

"Why? Is there any problem? Who has sent you to me?"

"Lord Siva has sent me to you."

"Lord Siva?? Why?"

"For wealth."

"Where will I get wealth?" asked Sanatan Goswami. "I drink water from a clay pot and eat from a clay plate. Where will I get wealth?" [Sanatan Goswami's lifestyle was such that he would take two rotis a day—he would collect it as alms or sometimes make rotis himself anyhow, burning it in fire, and offer them to the Lord.]

Jivan Chakravarti was puzzled. He thought, "I am also thinking where this man will have wealth from. I at least have some dishes at home, but he has nothing." So, he said to Sanatan Goswami, "All right, I am going then."

"All right," said Sanatan Goswami, but then he suddenly remembered something and called out to Jivan Chakravarti, "Hey, wait! Wait! Come, listen, listen!"

Jivan Chakravarti came back and "Have you called me?"

"Yes, I have remembered! One day, when I went to bathe in the Yamuna, I found a touchstone. I threw it somewhere in the sand when I found it. Go there, you can try to find it. You will get a lot of money then."

Do you know what a touchstone is? If you take a piece of iron and touch this stone to it, the iron will turn into gold.

So, Jivan Chakravarti went to the Yamuna and started looking for it, but he did not find it. He came back to Sanatan Goswami, and Sanatan Goswami said, "All right, let us go together." Sanatan Goswami found that touchstone and gave it to Jivan Chakravarti. Jivan Chakravarti had a amulet (tabiz) on his arm, and when he touched the touchstone to it, the amulet became golden. He took the stone and went away. On the way, he thought, "This sadhu found this touchstone, but he threw it away into the sand. He must have something more than this then!" (When you have something very valuable, you can easily throw less valuable things away.) So, Jivan Chakravarti again came back to Sanatan Goswami.

"What is it?" asked Sanatan Goswami. "You have got your touchstone, you can go home now."

"No, I just thought of something... I am bowing at your holy feet and begging you for a drop of that sort of wealth having got which you do not see any value in a jewel [যে ধনে হইয়া ধনী মণিরে মান না মণি তাহারি খানিক মাগি আমি নতশিরে, Rabindranath Tagore]."

"Oh, you want this wealth? Do you want to have it, Jivan? Then, you must throw away this 'wealth' that you have in your hand."

Jivan Chakravarti threw the touchstone in the Yamuna. Have you heard the name of Shah Jahan, who built Taj Mahal? He found that touchstone later. Many people tried to find it, but they were not destined to find it, so they searched to no avail. However, when Shah Jahan dropped his ship's chain in the water nearby, it turned into gold and he found the stone.

So, what happened after that?

Sanatan Goswami said, "Stretch out your hand and take this mala. Chant the Holy Name on it."

You will think, "How did his daughter get married?" She did, she got a good husband. The Lord arranged everything. Jivan Chakravarti did not have to go back to his house—the Lord arranged everything. When the Lord arranges everything, you do not have to do anything. You must remember these things.

— : • : —

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