Mission to Vrindavana and Sanatana Goswami

Jagadananda Pandita's bond with Sanatana Goswami led to two of the most memorable episodes in his life. In one, Jagadananda traveled a long way to see Sanatana. In the other, Jagadananda gave Sanatana some advice that Sanatana had not asked for. He gave it with the best intentions, but Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu openly corrected him for it. Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita tells both stories in full. Read together, they say as much about Vaishnava etiquette as they do about Jagadananda himself.

Asking, Again and Again, to Go #

Jagadananda had wanted to see Vrindavana for a long time before Mahaprabhu agreed to it. The time when permission finally came was not an accident. It came soon after the disappointment of the refused quilt and pillow, described in The Mother's Love for the Lord. Jagadananda was still privately upset that his bedding had been turned down, and he asked to go to Mathura instead. Mahaprabhu saw through it immediately: "If you are angry with Me when you go to Mathura, you will merely become a beggar and criticize Me." Jagadananda kept asking anyway. He insisted that his wish to see Vrindavana went back much further than any recent disappointment. When the Lord still refused, Jagadananda asked Svarupa Damodara Goswami to speak to the Lord for him. Svarupa Damodara's appeal worked. Mahaprabhu granted permission, embraced Jagadananda, and sent him off with detailed, almost fatherly instructions. He was to travel carefully beyond Varanasi, where bandits target lone Bengalis. He was to stay with Sanatana Goswami and not leave his side. He was to visit all twelve forests of Vraja but not remain there long. Above all, he was not to climb Govardhana Hill to see the Deity of Gopala. Jagadananda was also asked to carry a private message. It said that Mahaprabhu intended to visit Vrindavana again Himself, and that Sanatana should start preparing a place for Him to stay.

Two Months With Sanatana Goswami #

Jagadananda traveled on foot. Along the way he met Tapana Mishra and Chandrashekhara Acharya in Varanasi, and then he reached Mathura and Sanatana Goswami. The two of them toured all twelve forests of Vrindavana together. Then they stayed for a while in Gokula, sharing Sanatana's cave, while Sanatana begged alms door to door. Jagadananda was not used to eating only plain begged wheat, so he did not follow that practice. He cooked rice for himself at a nearby temple instead. One day Jagadananda invited Sanatana to eat. Sanatana arrived wearing a reddish cloth around his head, which another sannyasi, Mukunda Sarasvati, had given him. For a moment Jagadananda thought it was a gift from Mahaprabhu, and he was overcome with emotion. When he learned that it was not, he became so angry that he reached for a cooking pot. He demanded to know how someone so close to the Lord could wear a cloth from anyone else. Sanatana's reply turned the scolding into praise: "My purpose in binding my head with the cloth has now been fulfilled because I have personally seen your uncommon love for Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu... I shall give it to a stranger." After two months, the separation from Mahaprabhu became too hard to bear any longer, and the two men parted. Sanatana sent Jagadananda home with sand from the site of Krishna's rasa dance, a stone from Govardhana Hill, a garland of small conchshells, and a bundle of dried, ripe pilu fruits for the Lord.

A Public Correction Over Etiquette #

The second episode happened earlier, during Sanatana Goswami's time at Puri, before the Vrindavana journey described above. At that time Sanatana had long-lasting sores from an old illness. They caused him real distress every time Mahaprabhu embraced him, because he feared that the fluid from the sores touching the Lord's body was itself an offense. Sanatana was troubled and unsure what to do, so he asked Jagadananda for advice. Jagadananda told him plainly to return to Vrindavana once the Ratha-yatra festival was over. When Mahaprabhu learned that Sanatana meant to leave on Jagadananda's advice, He became openly angry with Jagadananda: "Jaga is only a new boy, but he has become so proud that he thinks himself competent to advise a person like you... In affairs of spiritual advancement and even in ordinary dealings, you are on the level of his spiritual master. Yet not knowing his own value, he dares to advise you." Sanatana himself calmed the situation. He fell at the Lord's feet and said he now understood how fortunate Jagadananda was to be scolded in such a close, personal way. He said that his own more formal, respectful treatment from Mahaprabhu was like being given "the bitter juice of nimba and nisinda" next to the nectar Jagadananda received. Once Mahaprabhu had made His point about etiquette, He explained Himself directly: "Please do not think that Jagadananda is more dear to Me than you. However, I cannot tolerate transgressions of the standard etiquette."

Srila Prabhupada returned to this same episode centuries later in a 1973 lecture at Mayapur. He used it to show that even Mahaprabhu's most confidential associates were expected to respect seniority and correct conduct within the Vaishnava community. This episode also helps us understand the warmth of the later cloth episode above. By the time the two of them were laughing together in Sanatana's cave at Gokula, the lesson about etiquette had clearly not harmed their friendship at all.