Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, “My dear Sanātana, please hear from Me. Kṛṣṇa is very merciful, and He is the deliverer of all fallen souls. (62) “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.” (63) 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.” (64) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then asked Sanātana Gosvāmī, “How were you released from prison?” Sanātana then described the story from beginning to end. (65) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “I met your two brothers, Rūpa and Anupama, at Prayāga. They have now gone to Vṛndāvana.” (66) By the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Sanātana Gosvāmī met both Tapana Miśra and Candraśekhara. (67)
Tapana Miśra then extended an invitation to Sanātana, and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked Sanātana to go get a shave. (68) 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. (69) 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. (70) 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. (71) After bathing at noon, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to the house of Tapana Miśra for lunch. He took Sanātana Gosvāmī with Him. (72)
After washing His feet, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sat down for lunch. He asked Tapana Miśra to supply Sanātana Gosvāmī lunch also. (73) Tapana Miśra then said, “Sanātana has some duty to perform; therefore he cannot accept lunch now. At the conclusion of the meal, I shall supply Sanātana with some remnants.” (74) After eating, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu took rest for a while. Tapana Miśra then gave Sanātana Gosvāmī the remnants of food left by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. (75) When Tapana Miśra offered Sanātana Gosvāmī a new cloth, he did not accept it. Instead, he spoke as follows. (76) “If you want to give me some cloth according to your desire, please give me an old cloth you have used.” (77) When Tapana Miśra gave Sanātana Gosvāmī a used dhotī, Sanātana immediately tore it into pieces to make two sets of outer cloth and underwear. (78) When Caitanya Mahāprabhu introduced the Maharashtrian brāhmaṇa to Sanātana, the brāhmaṇa immediately invited Sanātana Gosvāmī for full meals. (79)
The brāhmaṇa said, “My dear Sanātana, as long as you remain at Kāśī, please accept lunch at my place.” (80) Sanātana replied, “I shall practice the process of mādhukarī. Why should I accept full meals in the house of a brāhmaṇa?” (81) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu felt unlimited happiness to observe Sanātana Gosvāmī’s strict following of the principles of sannyāsa. However, He repeatedly glanced at the woolen blanket Sanātana Gosvāmī was wearing. (82) Because Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was repeatedly glancing at this valuable woolen blanket, Sanātana Gosvāmī could understand that the Lord did not approve of it. He then began to consider a way to give it up. (83) Thinking in this way, Sanātana went to the bank of the Ganges to bathe. While there, he saw that a mendicant from Bengal had washed his quilt and spread it out to dry. (84) Sanātana Gosvāmī then told the Bengali mendicant, “My dear brother, please do me a favor. Trade me your quilt for this woolen blanket.” (85)
The mendicant replied, “Sir, you are a respectable gentleman. Why are you joking with me? Why would you trade your valuable blanket for my torn quilt?” (86) Sanātana said, “I am not joking; I am speaking the truth. Kindly take this blanket in exchange for your torn quilt.” (87) Saying this, Sanātana Gosvāmī exchanged the blanket for the quilt. He then returned to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu with the quilt on his shoulder. (88) When Sanātana Gosvāmī returned, the Lord asked, “Where is your woolen blanket?” Sanātana Gosvāmī then narrated the whole story to the Lord. (89) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then said, “I have already deliberately considered this matter. Since Lord Kṛṣṇa is very merciful, He has nullified your attachment for material things. Why should Kṛṣṇa allow you to maintain a last bit of material attachment? After vanquishing a disease, a good physician does not allow any of the disease to remain. (90-91)
“It is contradictory to practice mādhukarī and at the same time wear a valuable blanket. One loses his spiritual strength by doing this, and one will also become an object of jokes.” (92) Sanātana Gosvāmī replied, “The Supreme Personality of Godhead has saved me from the sinful life of material existence. By His desire, my last piece of material attraction is now gone.” (93) Being pleased with Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu bestowed His causeless mercy upon him. By the Lord’s mercy, Sanātana Gosvāmī received the spiritual strength to inquire from Him. (94) Formerly, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had asked Rāmānanda Rāya spiritual questions, and by the Lord’s causeless mercy, Rāmānanda Rāya could properly reply. Now, by the Lord’s mercy, Sanātana Gosvāmī questioned the Lord, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu personally supplied the truth. (95-96) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, personally told Sanātana Gosvāmī about Lord Kṛṣṇa’s real identity. He also told him about the Lord’s conjugal love, His personal opulence and the mellows of devotional service. All these truths were explained to Sanātana Gosvāmī by the Lord Himself out of His causeless mercy. (97)
Putting a straw in his mouth and bowing down, Sanātana Gosvāmī clasped the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and humbly spoke as follows. (98) Sanātana Gosvāmī said, “I was born in a low family, and my associates are all low- class men. I myself am fallen and am the lowest of men. Indeed, I have passed my whole life fallen in the well of sinful materialism. (99) “I do not know what is beneficial for me or what is detrimental. Nonetheless, in ordinary dealings people consider me a learned scholar, and I am also thinking of myself as such. (100) “Out of Your causeless mercy, You have delivered me from the materialistic path. Now, by the same causeless mercy, please tell me what my duty is. (101) “Who am I? Why do the threefold miseries always give me trouble? If I do not know this, how can I be benefited? (102)
“Actually I do not know how to inquire about the goal of life and the process for obtaining it. Being merciful upon me, please explain all these truths.” (103) Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “Lord Kṛṣṇa has bestowed His full mercy upon you so that all these things are known to you. For you, the threefold miseries certainly do not exist. (104) “Since you possess Lord Kṛṣṇa’s potency, you certainly know these things. However, it is the nature of a sādhu to inquire. Although he knows these things, the sādhu inquires for the sake of strictness. (105) “‘Those who are eager to awaken their spiritual consciousness and who thus have unflinching, undeviated intelligence certainly attain the desired goal of life very soon.’ (106) “You are fit to propagate the cult of devotional service. Therefore gradually hear all the truths about it from Me. I shall tell you about them. (107)
“It is the living entity’s constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular particle of sunshine or fire. Kṛṣṇa has three varieties of energy. (108-109) “‘Just as the illumination of a fire, which is situated in one place, is spread all over, the energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Parabrahman, are spread all over this universe.’ (110) “Lord Kṛṣṇa naturally has three energetic transformations, and these are known as the spiritual potency, the living entity potency and the illusory potency. (111) “‘Originally, Kṛṣṇa’s energy is spiritual, and the energy known as the living entity is also spiritual. However, there is another energy, called illusion, which consists of fruitive activity. That is the Lord’s third potency.’ (112)
“‘All the creative energies, which are inconceivable to a common man, exist in the Supreme Absolute Truth. These inconceivable energies act in the process of creation, maintenance and annihilation. O chief of the ascetics, just as there are two energies possessed by fire—namely heat and light— these inconceivable creative energies are the natural characteristics of the Absolute Truth.’ (113) “‘O King, the kṣetra- jña- śakti is the living entity. Although he has the facility to live in either the material or the spiritual world, he suffers the threefold miseries of material existence because he is influenced by the avidyā [nescience] potency, which covers his constitutional position. (114) “‘This living entity, covered by the influence of nescience, exists in different forms in the material condition. O King, he is thus proportionately freed from the influence of the material energy, to greater or lesser degrees.’ (115) “‘Besides these inferior energies, O mighty- armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature.’ (116)
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