Sanatana Goswami: Encyclopedia - Sanatana Goswami

Sanatana Goswami

Sanatana Goswami (1488-1558 CE) was one of the principle followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1456-1533 CE) and the author of a number of works in the Bhakti tradition of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

Sanatana Goswami - Sanatana’s Birth and Early Years

Sanatana, or Amara as he was named at birth, was born in Jessore in East Bengal (present day Bangladesh) in 1488 as the son of Mukunda, the private secretary of the Sultan of Bengal, Jalaluddin Fateh Shah (ruled 1481-1487 CE). Sanatana was the eldest son of Mukunda and his younger brothers were Santosha (Rupa Goswami) and Srivallabha (Anupama).

Sanatana and his brothers studied Nyaya (rhetortic) and Vedanta from the famous logician Vasudeva Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. They also studied under the brother of Sarvabhauma, Madhusudana Vidyavacaspati, whom Sanatana took initiation from in his childhood.

On the death of his father, Sanatana was forced to take up the post of Sakara Mallika (treasurer) to the new ruler of Bengal, Alauddin Hussein Shah (ruled 1493-1519 CE), while his brother Rupa was given the post of Dabir-i-khas (private secretary).

Sanatana Goswami - First meeting With Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Sanatana and Rupa received land from the government for their personal use in Fatehbad where they built a huge palace. They also built several beautiful mansions at Ramakeli. It was at Ramakeli in 1510 that Sanatana and his two brothers met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for the first time. After meeting them, Chaitanya gave them the names Rupa, Sanatana and Anupama. Due to this meeting, the brothers decided to renounce the world and join Chaitanya and his entourage. Rupa resigned from his post, but Sanatana’s resignation was refused by the Sultan. Sanatana stopped coming to court and feigned sickness. However, when the Sultan sent his personal physicians to treat Sanatana, they returned to him and reported that Sanatana was in perfctly good health. The Sultan personally visited Sanatana and tried to convince him to continue to render his govenmental duties and accompany him on a military campaign against the neighnoring state of Orissa. Upon Sanatana’s refusal, Hussein Shah had him thrown into prison for insubordination.

While in prison, Sanatana received a letter from his brother Rupa telling him that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had left Puri to go to Vrindavana and that Rupa and Anupama had decided to meet him there. Sanatana managed to bribe the jailer with money that Rupa had sent to Sanatana for emergencies. Sanatana then crossed the Ganges River and made his way towards Vrindavana.

Sanatana Goswami - Sanatana Meets Chaitanya in Benares

Sanatana made his way to Vrindavana via Benares, but discovered that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had already left Vrindavana and was actually residing in Benares at present. After meeting with Sanatana, Chaitanya imparted instructions to him pertaining to sambandha-jnana (knowledge of the self and ones relationship with God). Through his teachings to Sanatana, Chaitanya taught that the constitutaional identity of each soul is to be an eternal servant of God. Chaitanya also explained his teachings to Sanatana by summarizing them in three categories – sambandha (ones relationship with Godhead), abhidheya (the method to revive that relationship) and prayojana (the ultimate attainment of the supreme goal of life). After instrucing Sanatana in the sambandha aspect of Gaudiya Vaishnava theology, he instructed him to go to Vrindavana where he visited the sites that were connected to Krishna’s pastimes.

After travelling to Puri to meet Chaitanya once more. Here, he received four direct instructions from Chaitanya –

1) To write books teaching pure devotion to Krishna

2) To discover and excavate the places in Vrindavana where Krishna had his pastimes.

3) To establish the service of the deity of Krishna in Vrindavana

4) To compile a book establishing the proper behavior for devotees of Krishna in order to create the foundations of a Vaishnava society.

Sanatana Goswami - Sanatana in Vrindavana

Sanatana Goswami returned to Vrindavana where he enagaged himself in searching out the various holy spots there. He also established the worship of the Deity of Madana-mohana. Soon after discovering the Deity, a rich officer in the Moghul army named Krishna Dasa Kapura built a temple for Madana-mohan and this later became one of the seven principle temples of Vrindavana.

Sanatana Goswami passed away in the year 1558 CE. His samadhi (tomb) is located next to the Madana-mohana temple in Vrindavana.

Sanatana Goswami - Sanatana Goswami’s Literary Works

Sanatana Goswami wrote four important books in Sanskrit on Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy.

• Brihat-bhagavtamrita (Skt. Great nectar of the Lord’s devotees)

This work of 2,500 verses is divided into two parts. The first section explains the ontological hierarchy of the devotees of Krishna. The second section deals with the souls journey to the eternal realm of Krishna. Both sections are narrated as stories and are imbued with many esoteric aspects of Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy. Sanatana also wrote his own commentary to this book.

• Hari-bhakti-vilasa (Skt.Performance of Devotion to Hari)

This book was a joint work between Sanatana Goswami and Gopala Bhatta Goswami. Hari-bhakti-vilasa was compiled on the order of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and deals with the rituals and conduct of Gaudiya Vaisnavas. Sanatana also wrote an auto-commentary to Hari-bhakti Vilasa.

• Krishna-lila-stava (Skt. Glorification of the Pastimes of Krishna)

Krishna-lila-stava comprises of 432 verses tracing Krishna’s pastimes from the beginning of the 10th Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam. This book is also sometiems referred to as the Dasama-charita.

• Brihad Vaishnava Toshani (Skt. That which brings Great Joy to the Devotees of Krishna)

The Brihad Vaishnava Toshani is Sanatana’s extensive commentary on the Tenth Canto of the Bhagavata Purana. This commentary is also known as the Dasama-tipanni.

Sanatana Goswami - Bibliography

• Tirtha, Swami B.B., Sri Caitanya and His Associates, 2002, Mandala Publishing, San Francisco. ISBN #1-886069-28-X

• Mahayogi, Swami B.V., Lives of the Saints, translated from Gaura Parsada Citravali, unpublished work.

• Bhakti-ratnakara (Bengali), Narahari Chakravarti, Pub. By Gaudiya Mission, Kolkata, 1986.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Sanatana Goswami", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki