In the instruction of Lord Chaitanya to Sanatana Goswami we can understand the science of God in the matter of His transcendental form, His opulences, and His devotional service—for everything is being described to Sanatana Goswami by the Lord Himself. At the time Sanatana fell at the feet of the Lord and with great humility asked about his real identity. He spoke as follows:"I am born of a lower family, my associations are all abominable, and I am fallen and the most wretched of mankind. I was suffering in the dark well of material enjoyment, and I never knew the actual goal of my life. I do not know what is beneficial to me although in the ordinary way I am what is known as a great learned man; in fact, I am so much of a fool that I even accept that I am a learned man. You have accepted me as your servant and You have delivered me from the entanglement of material life; now You can tell me what my duty is in this liberated state of life." In other words, we see by this plea that liberation is
not the final word of perfection; there must be activities in liberation. Sanatana clearly asks, "You have saved me from the entanglement of material existence; now after liberation, what is my duty? Kindly explain it to me." Sanatana further inquired "Who am I? Why are the three-fold miseries always giving me trouble? Finally, tell me how I will be relieved from this material entanglement? I do not know how to question about spiritual advancement of life, but I beg that You kindly, mercifully let me know everything that I should know."

This is the process of acceptance of a spiritual master by the disciple. One should approach a spiritual master and humbly submit to him and then inquire from him about one's spiritual progress. The Lord was pleased by Sanatana's submissive behavior and He replied to him as follows: "You are already benedicted by Lord Krishna, therefore you know everything and you are free from all miseries of material existence." The Lord further replied that because Sanatana was in Krishna consciousness, naturally, by the grace of Krishna, he was already conversant with everything, but, "Because you are a humble devotee you are asking Me to confirm what is already realized by you. This is very nice." These are the characteristics of a true devotee. In the Narada Sutra it is said that one who is very serious about developing his Krishna consciousness, by the grace of the Lord, has his desire for understanding Krishna very soon fulfilled. The Lord said, "You are a suitable person for protecting the devotional service of the Lord, therefore it is My duty to instruct you in the science of God, and I will explain to you one of the orders."

It is the duty of a disciple approaching a spiritual master to enquire about his constitutional position. In response to that spiritual process, Sanatana has already asked, "What am I and why am I suffering from threefold miseries?"
The threefold miseries are called adhyatmic, adhibhautic, adhidaivic. Adhyatmic means pertaining to the body and mind, therefore there are two kinds of miseries suffered by the living entity: sometimes he is suffering bodily, and
sometimes he is distressed mentally—both are miseries. We are put into miseries even in the womb of the mother. And there are also many forms of misery that take advantage of our delicate body and give us pain. Miseries
inflicted by other living entities are called adhibhautic. There are many living entities such as bugs born of eggs, that give us miseries while we are sleeping in bed. There are many living entities, like cockroaches, that sometimes give us pain, and there are other living entities born on different kinds of planets, and they also give us miseries. So far as adhidaivic miseries are concerned, they are offered by the demigods from the higher planets. For instance, sometimes we suffer from serious cold weather, sometimes we suffer by the thunderbolt, sometimes earthquakes, tornadoes, droughts and all other natural disasters. So we are always in either of these three kinds of miseries. Sanatana's enquiry was, "What is the position of the living entities? Why are they always put into these three kinds of miseries?" Sanatana has admitted his weakness; although he was known by the mass of people as a great learned man (and actually he was a highly learned scholar in the Sanskrit language)—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 him who is seriously conscious of the material miseries and who wants to get out of them; it is the duty of such a person to approach the spiritual master.