Srila Sanatana Goswami Bhajan Kutir

This is the spot on the top of Dwadashaditya Tila where Sanatana Goswami performed his bhajana. The word ‘bhajana’ means ‘to chant or meditate’ and ‘kitira’ or ‘kuti’ means a ‘thatched hut’ When Sanatana Goswami first came to Vrindavana, he lived beneath the trees without caring for any shelter. Even when he began worshiping the deity of Madana-mohana, he kept the deity in the crevice of a tree. It was only at a much later date that he or any of the other Goswamis accepted bhajana kutiras. A typical bhajana kutira was made of simple thatched leaves and bamboo canes. When Lord Chaitanya first sent Sanatana Goswami to Vrindavana, he gave him a number of specific tasks to fulfill. In the Chaitanya-charitamrita it is said that Lord Chaitanya told Sanatana, “Your body is My principle instrument for executing many necessary functions. By your body I shall carry out so many tasks. You shall have to ascertain the basic principles of being a devotee, love of Godhead, Vaishnava duties, and Vaishnava characteristics. You will have to explain Krishna’s devotional service, establish centers for cultivating love of Krishna, excavate the lost places of pilgrimage, and teach people how to adopt the renounced order.
Vrindavana is My very own abode and I want to do many things there to preach Krishna consciousness and I have to do this work through your body”. The essence of Lord Chaitanya’s instructions formed the basis for one of Sanatana Goswami’s most celebrated books known as the Hari-bhakti-vilasa. Sanatana Goswami was believed to have been born in the year 1488. He took birth in a saraswata-brahmana family hailing from Karnataka in South India, where his forefathers were known to have been powerful kings in the region. Some of their family members later moved to Bengal and this is where Sanatana and his two younger brothers, Rupa and Shri Vallabha (Anupama), were later born. Sanatana and his brothers were highly educated having studied under the great scholar Vidyavachaspati, the brother of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, and were also highly proficient in Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, and Bengali, and were acknowledged to be amongst the most learned scholars of the day. For this reason, the ruler of Bengal, the Nawab Hussain Shah, after hearing of their reputations as learned men, induced them
to join his government and take up important administrative posts. As no one from the brahmana community was willing to be associated with Muslims for fear of being ostracized, at first the brothers refused, but when Hussain Shah threatened to persecute and kill innocent Hindus if the brothers did not join his government, they agreed not wanting innocent lives lost on their account. They then moved to Ramakeli, the then capital of the kingdom of Bengal that had been conquered by the Muslim invaders in 1486, coming under the control of Hussain Shah, a Satrap of the Delhi Sultinate. Nawab Hussain Shah appointed Sanatana as the Principle Secretary and gave him the title Sakara Malik, and Rupa was appointed as Finance Minister with the title of Dabir Khas. Their youngest brother Shri Vallabha, was given the title of Anupama Malik and was appointed as Superintendent of the Royal Mint. Consequently, the rigid and ultra-orthodox brahmana community immediately ostracized them. As they had long been acknowledged to be great Vaishnavas and also very learned scholars, they continued to have many sincere followers and would also spend long hours engaged in reading the Shrimad Bhagavatam and other Vedic scriptures.
After hearing from their associates about the wonderful activities of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His sankirtana movement, both Rupa and Sanatana resolved in their hearts to surrender themselves to Lord Chaitanya and wrote letters to Him begging for His mercy and imploring Him to save them. Lord Chaitanya, after accepting the sannyasa order in 1510, had moved to Jagannatha Puri in Orissa. After staying at Purl for some months, Lord Chaitanya decided to go on a preaching tour of Bengal and after visiting Navadwipa, He proceeded to Ramakeli where thousands came to greet Him. Rupa and Sanatana accompanied by their younger brother Shri Vallabha eagerly went to meet the Lord and after placing straw between their teeth, very humbly approached Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu immediately falling on the ground like rods before His lotus feet. They then begged the Lord, that as they were the most abominable and fallen persons, having served the Muslim Government, they should be saved first. Lord Chaitanya immediately accepted them as His disciples and gave them their spiritual names. The three brothers immediately decided to retire from government service and join Lord Chaitanya’s sankirtana movement.
Although Rupa and Shri Vallabha managed to leave the service of the government and proceeded to Vrindavana, Sanatana was not so lucky. When Hussain Shah came to know that Sanatana was planning to leave his post, he immediately locked him in jail. When Hussain Shah left on a military campaign to conquer Orissa, Sanatana took the opportunity to bribe the jailer who then released him. Sanatana immediately went to meet Lord Chaitanya at Benares (Varanasi), where he received the Lord’s personal instructions. Lord Chaitanya ordered Sanatana to immediately proceed to Vrindavana to join Rupa and Shri Vallabha, who had gone to Vrindavana sometime earlier. After his arrival in Vrindavana, Sanatana Goswami set about fulfilling the mandate given to him by Lord Chaitanya. He left Vrindavana only once to meet Lord Chaitanya for the last time atjagannatha Purl and then immediately returned. Sanatana Goswami spent the remaining forty two years of his life staying in Vrindavana and performing the important tasks personally given to him by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Srila Sanatana Gosvami spent his last years performing bhajan here on the bank of Manasi-Gaiiga. Just prior to taking up his residence here, he had been living in Vi’ndavana (Dwadas-aditya Tila). After having given his deity Madana Mohan into care of Krishna Das Brahmachari, he came here and engaged in the service of Govardhana. As a daily vow he would per-form Govardhana parikrama. There are two parikrama routes of Govardhana one large (24 miles) and one small (14 miles). We are in the process of performing the short parikrama. But Shrila Sanatana Gosvami would perform the large parikrama. Even at the advanced age of 65 years he would also offer 1108 dandavats (prostrate obeisances) to Govardhana. As well as offering obeisances to any vaisnava he happened to meet, it was his habit to eat only what he got when begging at the houses of the Vrajavasis. Who can fathom the activities of the great devotees of Sri Sri
Kadha-Krsna?
• • •
Shrila Sanatana Gosvami wrote many books giving the rules and reg-ulations for performing devotional service to Lord Krishna by the aspir¬ing devotees. The following list of books were compiled by Sanatana Gosvami: Hari-bhakti-vilas, Brihad-Vaishnava-toshani-tika Darshama tipani (Commentary on the tenth Canto of Shrimad Bhagavatam) Liia-Stava, huhad Bhagavatamrta, Dashama-Charita.
He also toured Vraja extensively and discovered many of the lost pastime places of Radha-Krshpa, as well as establishing the deity of M.ulana-Mohana, who is to be prayed to in the initial stages of devotional
service.
One day while Sanatana Gosvami was moving along on the parikrama path, as he passed Kusum-sarovar, Krshpa Suddenly appeared from bushes and asked Sanatana why he was taking so much trouble at such an advanced age. Sanatana simply smiled and continued to walk. Krishna called out to him, “Oh, old man! You are too old for this.” Sanatana explained to Him that he had taken a vow to do Govardhana parikrama daily. Krishna simply laughed in reply and promptly picked him up, put Him on His shoulder and started off saying “I will carry you!” Sanatana Gosvami stopped Him telling Him that his vow was to walk around Govardhana Hill, and not to be carried. Krishna felt great happiness that His devotee was so determined to please Him by maintaining his devotional vows. But, He also felt great concern for Sanatana’s body, for it had become very weak due to old age, and thus, it was very difficult for him to maintain his physical vows. Out of great loving compassion Krishna at that time placed His foot on a Govardhana Sila, and thus, made an impression in that stone. Krishna requested Sanatana to take that Sila and worship it with Tulasi leaves and water. He also told him that if he performed parikrama around that Sila seven times daily it would be the same as going around Govardhana Hill – thus, his vow would be maintained.
For the rest of his life Sanatana Gosvami worshipped that Sila here at Chakra-tirtha. And after Sanatana Gosvami had disappeared from the vision of the mortal beings, Shrila Jiva Gosvami took that Sila to Vrindavana where it is still kept and worshipped today in the Radha- Damodara temple. So, everyone should take the wonderful opportunity to take his darshana as often as possible and when we become too old or weak to walk around Govardhana Hill, we can pray to Krishna to accept our endeavor and simply walk around that sila seven times.
From this story we can appreciate the loving competition, which takes place between Krishna and His devotees: to see who can serve whom. It is also to be noted that the Govardhana Sila presented to Sanatana was not kept by him in the mood of convenience, so that he could daily perform Govardhana parikrama, but was worshipped by him ;is being non-different to Shri Shri Radha-Krishna. We are also well advised to try and take darsana of that Sila in the mood of taking darsana ol Radha-Krishna. And if we pray sincerely, we will factually see how Krishna has manifested in that form. It also becomes very clear that the worship of Govardhana Sila is meant for the topmost devotees.
Shrila Raghunatha Das Gosvami was personally given Govardhana Sila
to worship by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And in this story we have heard how Lord Krshna gave Govardhana’s intimate service to Shrila Sanatana Gosvami.
One day Lord Shiva noticed that Shrila Sanatana Gosvami was preparing to leave his bhajana kutir for some other place. Lord Shiva immediately took the form of an old Brahman and approached Sanatana Gosvami. Lord Shiva at that time was in great anxiety due to the fear of losing the association of a great pure devotee like Sanatana. Thus he inquired from Sanatana as to the reason why he was leaving. Upon hearing his inquiry, Sanatana informed him that the mosquitoes were a constant source of disturbances. Thus, he was unable to live at this place any longer. When Shiva heard Sanatana’s reason for wishing to shift to another place, his anxiety disappeared immediately and he felt great bliss. He then requested Sanatana to remain at least for one more day and he immediately went and summoned the demigod in charge of mos¬quitoes and informed him that his mosquitoes were disturbing a great devotee of the Lord. Thus, he should order all mosquitoes to imme¬diately leave the area of Chakra-tirtha. After this incident Sanatana was able to perform his bhajana peacefully. Still to this day one hardly ever sees a mosquito here.
The relationship between Sanatana and Lord Shiva was very close and intimate. We will try to understand why; it was a habit of Sanatana to reside, close to Lord Shiva. As we see here his bhajana kutir is right next to Lord Shiva’s temple. When he was living in Kamya-vana he lived next to Kamisvara and while in Nandagrama he resided at the foot of the hill of Nandagrama, which is a form of Lord Shiva. And in Vrindavana for some time he lived next to Gopisvara. And later, when he resided at Dwadasaditya tila in Vrindavana, he would daily alter having performed Govardhana parikrama, go and take darsana of Gopisvara (Lord Shiva). Once while Sanatana was on his way to take darsana, Lord Shiva appeared before him and requested him not to lake so much trouble. When he saw Sanatana was determined to con¬tinue his daily routine, he there and then manifested an identical form to his Gopisvara form and told Sanatana that form now he could woiship him here. The deity of Lord Shiva, which manifested at that lime, is known as Vanakhandi Mahadeva, because he manifested in the middle of the forest. We can have darsana of that deity if we go to Loi B.i/.ir, Vrndavana, above the entrance of that temple is a relief of the (».11«’iidr«i moksa pastime. Advaita Acarya when he visited Vrindavana M.iyed close to Dwadasaditya-tila. That place is known today aslove of God and offering our obeisances, we will slowly proceed with endeavor to satisfy Govardhana.
Coming out of Chakra-tirtha and proceeding to the left, immediatly on our right side we will be able to take darshana of Kfshna-Balarama and Nanda Maharaja. The name of this temple is Nanda Baba temple and it was here that Nanda Maharaj along with Krishna-Balarama spent the night after the completion of Govardhana-puja. The following bodily description is given of Nanda Maharaj in Radha-Krishna Ganodesa-dipika.
Nanda Maharaj delights the residents of Vraja and he is worshipped in all the three worlds. He has a protruding belly, his complexion is the color of sandalwood and he wears garments of a greenish color. His beard is long with white and grey hair and he is tall in structure.
(Text 22,23)
All glories to Nanda Maharaj, who is the master of Vraja-dhama and who out of his compassion is ever willing to benedict the living entities with service to the lotus-feet of his two transcendental sons Shri Shri Krispa-Balarama. Nanda Maharaj ki! – jay a!
Coming out of Nanda Maharaj’s temple and proceeding in the direc¬tion of the parikrama path, immediately on our left is a temple cum house, which is the place where Saubhari rishi had resided after getting married. Now meeting with the parikrama path again we shall proceed to the right keeping Govardhana on our right hand side. Next we will be approaching the all-merciful Sakhi-van which today is known by the name Sakhitra