Hussain Shah did not release Sanatana from his post as easily as he had released Rupa. When Sanatana insisted on resigning, the Sultan refused and personally tried to persuade him to stay. He even went to visit Sanatana and urged him to join an upcoming military campaign against the neighboring kingdom of Odisha. Sanatana stopped attending court and pretended to be ill. The Sultan was suspicious and sent his own physicians to examine him, and they reported back that Sanatana was in perfect health. When Sanatana continued to refuse the King's summons, Hussain Shah had him thrown into prison.
A Letter from Rupa #
While Sanatana was held in prison in Bengal, word reached him that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had left Jagannatha Puri and set out for Mathura. He also heard that Rupa and Anupama had already decided to meet Him there. This news came in a letter from Rupa, and it pushed Sanatana to act. He went straight to the superintendent of the jail, a Muslim official whom Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita describes bluntly as "a meat-eater," and first appealed to religious principle. Sanatana reminded the jailer of the jailer's own knowledge of the Koran. He also reminded him that anyone who releases a prisoner according to religious principles is himself freed from material bondage by the Lord. When persuasion alone was not enough, Sanatana appealed to plain self-interest and offered him five thousand gold coins. The jailer hesitated, because he was afraid of what the Nawab might do if the truth came out. Sanatana had spent years managing far larger sums as a minister, and he stayed calm. He told the jailer exactly what to say if Hussain Shah returned and asked about his prisoner. The jailer should say that Sanatana had gone to the Ganges, seen the river, simply thrown himself in with his shackles still on, and drowned. Still the jailer was not fully satisfied, and he held out until Sanatana stacked seven thousand gold coins before him. That night, the jailer cut Sanatana's shackles and let him cross the Ganges into the dark.
A Robber Who Chose Not to Rob #
Sanatana could not travel the main roads as a fugitive. So he made his way on foot, day and night, through difficult hill country toward a place called Patada. His only companion was a servant named Ishana, who carried what remained of their money: eight gold coins. At Patada, a landlord took them in. A palmist staying with him had guessed by his art that the strangers carried gold. On the palmist's advice, the landlord began plotting to murder Sanatana and his servant that same night and take the coins. Sanatana sensed something wrong in the landlord's excessive hospitality. Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita remarks, with quiet humour, that these were the instincts of a former royal minister who understood diplomacy. Sanatana quietly asked Ishana how much money remained. Then he walked up to the landlord and offered him seven of the eight coins outright, asking only for safe passage across the hill tract. The landlord's answer is one of the most striking small speeches in the whole narrative: "On this very night I would have killed you and taken your coins. It is very good that you have voluntarily offered them to me. I am now relieved from such a sinful activity... I shall not accept these coins, but I shall get you across that hilly tract of land simply to perform a pious activity." Sanatana insisted that he take the coins anyway. He reasoned that if this man did not take them, someone else along the road certainly would. At last the landlord agreed, and he sent four of his own men to guide them safely through the forest overnight.
Across the Ganges to Varanasi #
Beyond the hills, Sanatana sent Ishana back and went on alone, "covered with a torn quilt," carrying only a waterpot. At last he reached Hajipura. There, by good fortune, he met his own brother-in-law Srikanta. Srikanta was a government official who was then buying horses for the Mughal emperor, with a large sum of money in his charge. Srikanta urged him to rest and dress respectably for a few days. But Sanatana would not stay even a moment, so Srikanta instead gave him a woolen blanket and helped him cross the Ganges one final time. After several more days of travel, Sanatana arrived at Varanasi. He went to the door of Chandrasekhara, a householder devotee with whom Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was then staying. This led to their reunion and to the extraordinary two months of personal instruction told in The Instruction at Varanasi.
