- vande 'nantādbhutaiśvaryaṁ
- śrī-caitanya-mahāprabhum
- nīco 'pi yat-prasādāt syād
- bhakti-śāstra-pravartakaḥ
- (CC Madhya 20.1)
I offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, by whose mercy even a person in the lowest form of life can find direction in transcendental devotional service to the Lord.
After Lord Caitanya accepted the renounced order of life (sannyāsa), He traveled all over India. During this period He went to Maldah, a district in Bengal. In that area there was a village named Rāmakeli, where two government ministers of the Nawab Hussain Shah's regime lived. These two ministers were named Dabira Khāsa and Sākara Mallika, and they were later to be renamed Sanātana Gosvāmī and Rūpa Gosvāmī. Being inspired by Lord Caitanya, they decided to retire from government service and join His saṅkīrtana movement.
Upon making this decision, the two brothers at once took steps to leave their material engagements, and they appointed two learned brāhmaṇas to perform certain Vedic religious rituals that would enable them to achieve complete freedom for the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa. These preliminary activities are known as puraścaryā. These ritualistic functions demand that three times a day one worships and offers respects to his forefathers, offers oblations to a fire, and respectfully offers food to a learned brāhmaṇa. Five items—time, worship, offering of respect, offering of oblation into the fire and offering of food to a brāhmaṇa—comprise puraścaryā. This and other rituals are mentioned in the hari-bhakti-vilāsa, the authoritative book of directions.
After performing these religious rituals, the younger brother, Sākara Mallika (Rūpa Gosvāmī), returned home with an immense amount of money which he had acquired during his government service. Indeed, the silver and gold coins he brought back filled a large boat. After arriving home, he divided the accumulated wealth first in twain and distributed one part to the brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas. Thus for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he distributed fifty percent of his accumulated wealth to persons engaged in the Supreme Lord's transcendental loving service. Brāhmaṇas are meant to understand the Absolute Truth, and once they understand the truth and actually engage in the loving service of the Lord, they can be called Vaiṣṇavas. Both brāhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas are supposed to be fully engaged in transcendental service, and Rūpa Gosvāmī, considering their important transcendental position, gave them fifty percent of his wealth. The remaining fifty percent was again divided in twain—he distributed one part to his relatives and dependent family members, and the other he kept for personal emergencies.
Such distribution of personal wealth is very instructive for all who desire to be elevated in spiritual knowledge. Generally a person bequeaths all his accumulated wealth to his family members and then retires from family activities in order to make progress in spiritual knowledge. Here, however, we find the behavior of Rūpa Gosvāmī to be exemplary; he gave fifty percent of his wealth for spiritual purposes. This should serve as an example for everyone. The twenty-five percent of his accumulated wealth which he kept for personal emergencies was deposited with a good business firm, since in those days there were no banks. Ten thousand coins were deposited for expenditures incurred by his elder brother, Sanātana Gosvāmī.
At this time Rūpa Gosvāmī received information that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was preparing to proceed to Vṛndāvana from Jagannātha Purī. Rūpa Gosvāmī sent two messengers to get actual information of the Lord's itinerary, and he made his own plans to go to Mathurā to meet the Lord. It appears that Rūpa Gosvāmī got permission to join Lord Caitanya, but Sanātana Gosvāmī did not. Therefore Sanātana Gosvāmī entrusted the responsibilities of his government service to his immediate assistants, and he remained home to study Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. In fact, he even engaged some ten or twenty learned brāhmaṇas and began an intensive study of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam in their company. While he was thus engaged, he submitted sick-leave reports to his employer, the Nawab. However, the ruler was so anxious for Sanātana Gosvāmī's advice in government matters that he suddenly appeared at his house. When the Nawab entered the house where Sanātana Gosvāmī and the brāhmaṇas were assembled, they all stood up to receive him respectfully, and they offered him a place to sit.
"You have submitted sick reports," the Nawab told Sanātana Gosvāmī: "But I sent my physician to see you, and he reported that you have no illness at all. Since I did not know why you were submitting sick reports and not attending to your service, I have personally come to see you. Frankly, I am much perturbed by your behavior. As you know, I completely depend on you and your responsible work in government. I was free to act in other matters because I was depending on you, but if you do not join me, your past devotion will be spoiled. Now, what is your intention? Please tell me."
On hearing this, Sanātana Gosvāmī replied that he was unable to continue work and that it would be very kind of the Nawab to appoint someone else to execute the work that was entrusted to him. Upon hearing this, the Nawab became very angry and said, "Your elder brother lives like a hunter, and if you also retire from the administration, everything will be finished." It was said that the Nawab used to treat Sanātana Gosvāmī like a younger brother. Since the Nawab was principally engaged in conquering different parts of the country and also in hunting, he depended largely on Sanātana Gosvāmī for government administration. Thus he pleaded with him: "If you also retire from government service, how will the administration carry on?"
"You are the governor of Gauḍa," Sanātana Gosvāmī replied very gravely, "and you punish different kinds of criminals in different ways. So you are at liberty to punish anyone according to his activity." By this reply Sanātana Gosvāmī was indicating that since the governor was engaged in hunting animals and in killing men to expand his kingdom, let both of them suffer according to the acts they were performing.
The Nawab was intelligent, and he understood Sanātana Gosvāmī's purpose. He left the house in an angry mood, and shortly afterward he went off to conquer Orissa. He ordered the arrest of Sanātana Gosvāmī and commanded that he be held until he returned. Upon learning that his elder brother had been arrested by the Nawab, Rūpa Gosvāmī sent information that ten thousand coins were being held in the custody of a grocer in Gauḍa (Bengal) and that this money could be used as ransom for his brother. Sanātana also offered five thousand coins to the keeper of the jail in which he was being held in custody. He advised the jailkeeper to gladly accept the five thousand coins from him and let him go because by accepting the money he would not only be materially benefited but would also be acting very righteously by freeing Sanātana for spiritual purposes.
"Of course I can let you go," the jailkeeper replied, "for you have done many services for me, and you are in government service. However, l'm afraid of the Nawab. What will he do when he hears that you are free? l'll have to explain everything to him. How can I accept such a proposal?" Sanātana then invented a story which the jailkeeper might submit to the Nawab—as to how he had escaped—and he raised his offer to ten thousand coins. Greedy to get the money, the jailkeeper agreed to the proposition and let him go. In the meantime, Rūpa Gosvāmī, with his younger brother Śrī Vallabha, had started for Vṛndāvana to meet Caitanya Mahāprabhu.