Text 17] The Lord Instructs Srila Rapa Gosvami 253
TRANSLATION

The greedy masters of his clerical and secretarial staff performed the
government duties while Sanatana personally remained home and discussed
revealed scriptures.

PURPORT

Sanatana Gosvami was the minister in charge of the government secretariat,
and his assistants —the undersecretaries and clerks —all belonged to the kayastha
community. Formerly the kdyasthas belonged to the clerical and secretarial staff of
the government, and later if one served in such a post, he was called a kayastha.
Eventually if a person could not identify himself as a brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya or
studra, he used to intoduce himself as a kayastha to get a wealthy and honorable
position. In Bengal it is said that if one cannot give the identity of his caste, he calls
himself a kayastha. On the whole, the kayastha community is a mixture of all
castes, and it especially includes those engaged in clerical or secretarial work. Ma-
terially such people are always busy occupying responsible government posts.

When Sanatana Gosvami was relaxing and feeling inclined to retire from
government service, many kayasthas on his secretarial staff were very eager to oc-
cupy his post. In this regard, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura states that when Sanatana
Gosvami was a government minister and the kdyasthas who assisted him saw that
he was reluctant to continue, they became very expert in their duties. Sanatana
Gosvami was a brahmana belonging to the Sarasvata brahmana community. It is
said that when he resigned, an underworker named Purandara Khan, who was a
kayastha, occupied his post.

TEXT 17
SHI “few Fert fiat reel |
Srtas fata saa ASIzS afaal son
bhattacarya pandita bisa trisa laha
bhagavata vicara karena sabhate vasiya
SYNONYMS

bhattacarya pandita—learned scholars known as bhattacdryas; bisa trisa—
twenty or thirty; Jaid—taking with him; bhagavata vicara—discussion of Srimad-
Bhagavatam; karena—does; sabhate vasiya—sitting in an assembly.

TRANSLATION

Sri Sanatana Gosvami used to discuss Srimad-Bhagavatam in an assembly of

twenty or thirty learned brahmana scholars.
