Sanatan Goswami
43
When Sanatan emerged, he requested his servant to go home with the one coin that he had still with him, and he would go on alone. After the departure of his servant, Sanatan felt completely free. With torn clothing and with a water-pot in his hand he began to proceed toward Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. On the way he met his rich brother-in-law who was also in the service of the government, and who offered him an excellent blanket, which Sanatan accepted at his special request. Then he parted from him and went on alone to see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Benares.
When he reached Benares, he understood that the Lord was there and he was very glad. He was informed by people that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was staying at the house of Chandra Sekhar Acharya, and he went there. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was inside the house and He could understand that Sanatan had arrived at the door. He asked Chandra Sekhar to call the man who was sitting at His door, “He is a Vaishnava, a great devotee of the Lord.” Chandra Sekhar went out to see the man but he saw no Vaishnava at the door; he saw only a man who appeared to be a mendicant. The Lord then asked to see the mendicant. When Sanatan entered the courtyard of the house, Lord Chaitanya hurriedly came to receive him and embraced him. When the Lord embraced him, Sanatan became overwhelmed with spiritual ecstasy, and he began to say, “My dear Lord, please do not touch me.” But both of them embraced each other and began to cry. Seeing Sanatan and Lord Chaitanya acting thus, Chandra Sekhar was struck with wonder. Lord Chaitanya received Sanatan in this way, and asked him to sit down with Him on a bench.
He was touching the body of Sanatan with his hand and Sanatan asked Him, “My dear Lord, please do not touch me.” The Lord replied, “I am touching you just for My purification, because you are a great devotee. By your devotional service you can deliver the whole universe for going back to Godhead.”
In this connection the Lord quoted a nice verse from  Srimad Bhagwatam . The purport of the verse is that a person who is a devotee of Lord Krishna, one hundred per cent engaged in devotional service, is far better than a Brahmin who is learned in all the Vedic literature, but who is not engaged in the devotional service of the Lord. The devotee can purify every place and every thing because he is carrying the Supreme Lord within his heart.
In the Vedic literature it is also stated that the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not recognize even a person who is very learned in all the divisions of the Vedas; but, rather, He likes a person even if born of a low family, provided that person is a devotee. Instead of offering charities to some Brahmin who is not a devotee, if something is offered to a devotee, that