Teachings to Sanatan Goswami
49
So far as  adhidaivic  miseries are concerned, they originate with the demigods from the higher planets. For instance, sometimes we suffer from serious cold weather, sometimes we suffer from the thunderbolt, sometimes from earthquakes, tornadoes, droughts and other natural disasters. So we are always suffering one or another of these three kinds of miseries.
Sanatan's enquiry was: "What is the position of the living entities? Why are they always undergoing these three kinds of miseries?" Sanatan has admitted his weakness: although he was known by the mass of people as a greatly learned man (and actually he was a highly learned Sanskrit scholar)—and although he accepted the designation of a very learned man given him by the mass of people, yet he did not actually know what his constitutional position was, and why he was subjected to the threefold miseries.
The necessity of approaching a spiritual master is not a fashion, but is for he who is seriously conscious of the material miseries, and who wants to be free of them. It is the duty of such a person to approach the spiritual master. We find similar circumstances in the  Bhagavad Gita : When Arjuna was perplexed by so many problems involving whether to fight or not, he accepted Lord Krishna as his Spiritual Master. There also it was a case of the Supreme Spiritual Master instructing Arjuna about the constitutional position of the living entity.
In the  Bhagavad Gita  we are informed that the constitutional nature of the individual entity is spirit soul: he is not matter. Therefore, as spirit soul, he is part and parcel of the Supreme Soul, the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead. We also learn that it is the duty of the spirit soul to surrender; for only then can he be happy. The last instruction of the  Bhagavad Gita  is that the spirit soul is to surrender completely unto the Supreme Soul, Krishna, and in that way realize happiness.
Here, also, Lord Chaitanya, in answering the questions of Sanatan, repeats the same truth; but without giving him information about the spirit soul which is already described in the  Gita . He begins from the point where Krishna ended His instruction. It is accepted by great devotees that Lord Chaitanya is Krishna Himself. And from the point where He ended His instruction in the  Gita , He now begins His instruction again, to Sanatan. The Lord said to Sanatan:
"Your constitutional position is that you are pure living soul. This material body is not the identity of your real self, neither is your mind your real identity, nor your intelligence, nor is false ego the real identity of the self. Your identity is that you are the eternal servitor of the Supreme Lord, Krishna. Your posi-