Sanatan Goswami 45

devotee, to Sanatan; and that Maharastrian Brahmin invited Sanatan to accept
lunch daily at his place, as long as he remained at Benares. Sanatan said, “So
long as I remain at Benares, I will beg from door to door; and the Lord will
be so good as to accept from you this invitation for daily lunch at the Brah-
min’s house.”

By this behavior of Sanatan Lord Chaitanya was very much pleased; but
He noticed the valuable blanket that was given to Sanatan by his brother-
in-law while on route to Benares. Although Lord Chaitanya was overlooking
the blanket, Sanatan understood that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu did not
approve of such a valuable garment on his body, and he planned to get rid
of it. He immediately went to the bank of the Ganges and there saw a mendicant
washing an old quilt. Sanatan asked him to trade the old quilt for the valuable
blanket. The poor medicant thought that Sanatan was joking with him, so
he said, “How is that? You appeared to be a very nice gentleman, but you are
mocking me in this unmannerly way.”

Sanatan informed him, “I am not joking with you. I am very serious.
Will you kindly exchange that torn quilt for this blanket?” Then Sanatan
exchanged his blanket for the torn quilt, and he came before the Lord.

The Lord inquired, “Where is your valuable blanket?”

Sanatan informed Him about the exchange at the Ganges of the blanket
for the torn quilt. The Lord then loved him for this and He thanked Sanatan:
“You are intelligent enough and you have now finished all your attraction
for material wealth.” In other words, the Lord accepts a person for devotional
service only when he is completely free from all materialistic possessions.
The Lord said to Sanatan, “It would not look well to become a mendicant
and go begging from door to door while at the same time you have such a
valuable blanket on your body; it is contradictory, and people would look
at it with abhorrence.” Sanatan replied to the Lord, “Whatever I am doing
to become free from material attachment, it is all Your mercy.” The Lord
was very much pleased with him, and both of Them discussed spiritual
advancement.

Previous to this meeting of Sanatan and Lord Chaitanya, Lord Chaitanya
met the householder-devotee, Ramananda Roy. In that meeting, which is
discussed in a different chapter, Lord Chaitanya asked Ramananda Roy
questions and Ramananda replied as if he were the teacher of the Lord.
But in this case Sanatan will put questions to the Lord and the Lord will answer
them.

The instruction and teachings of Lord Chaitanya are very important for
