Afternoon worship—Attachment to Krishna

Now we have come up to the stage of attachment for the Lord. We first have to examine ourselves on whether we have got attachment to the Lord or not. Devotional service begins after we shall have the knowledge of our relation with Krishna. By forgetting Supreme Lord we have drowned in the terrible ocean of births and deaths. So we should pray to Supreme Lord; Lord is merciful. If you go to the conditioned souls of this world and request him to accept you as a servitor, he may not accept if it is not in his interest. But Supreme Lord Krishna is All Merciful. If you submit your prayer, ask Him to accept you as his servant, He will accept.

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ
patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau
kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-
sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

O Nandanandan, in spite of my being Your eternal servant, due to predicament of my own deeds, I am drowned in the terrible ocean of births and deaths. Out of compassion kindly think me as dust particle of your Lotus Feet.

In reality, we have no intelligence. This material world is like a dream. After 80 lakh births, we have got this human birth. Supreme Lord has given wisdom to understand what is good and what is bad. If we do not use the wisdom to perform devotion, then it is our misfortunate. We should pray to the Lord, “I have fallen in this material ocean of births and deaths. But You are merciful, please forgive all my offences and accept me as Your servant. You consider me as a particle of dust of Your Lotus Feet.”

tomāra nitya-dāsa mui, tomā pāsariyā
paḍiyāchoṅ bhavārṇave māyā-baddha haṣā
kṛpā kari’ kara more pada-dhūli-sama
tomāra sevaka karoṅ tomāra sevana

Indication of afternoon eternal pastimes of RadhaKrishna:

śrī rādhām prāpta-gehāṁ nija-ramaṇa-kṛte klṛpta nānopahārām
susnātāṁ ramya-veśāṁ priya-mukha-kamalāloka-pūrṇa-pramodām
śrī kṛṣṇaṁ caivāparāhṇe vrajam anucalitaṁ dhenu-vṛindair vayasyai
śrī rādhāloka-tṛptaṁ pitṛ-mukha-militaṁ mātṛ-mṛṣṭaṁ smarāmi
(Govinda-lila-amritam 19/1)

I remember such Srimati Radharani who has returned from Radhakunda to Javat in the afternoon and is engaged for preparing various good dishes of different names—‘Amritakeli’, ‘Karpurkeli’ etc. for presentation to beloved Sri Krishna. Radharani also takes bath nicely, dresses Herself with good garments, to satisfy Sri Krishna and very anxiously waits on the path for the return of Krishna from pasture and is extremely delighted to see the Lotus Face of Sri Krishna [It is to be very carefully noted here that whatever Radharani is doing is not to satisfy her or to satisfy other persons, her ultimate target is to satisfy Krishna and Krishna alone. Means is justified by the end.]

Where there is service there is no difficulty. Supreme Lord and His devotees both are worshipable. Worship means fulfilling the desires of the object of worship; I have no desire of my own. In this world it is the opposite; we have different desires so there is fight everywhere even in houses. There is fight between brother and brother, brother and sister, father and son, husband and wife etc. because of different demands and pride of being an enjoyer. So this world is a place of forest fire. There, in the spiritual world, there is no fire. Everyone see others as their worshipable. No one considers oneself as an enjoyer; getting service there brings happiness. Supreme Lord also serves devotees and devotees serve Him. Supreme Lord’s target is to give happiness to devotee and devotees target is to give happiness to the Lord, nothing for the self.

Sri Krishna comes back with cows and cowherd boys. Brahmaji says, “Though, we (demigods) are the presiding deities of the senses, we do not have transcendental eyes by which we can have darshan of Lord’s such pastimes. The cowherd boys and devotees have transcendental senses. Though, we do not have eligibility, even being falsely proud of being the presiding deities of the senses, we get enchanted and attracted just by Krishna’s walking there. So, what to say of happiness and bliss obtained by those who are personally present in the transcendental realm and are part of such pastimes?”

Krishna then meets Nanda Maharaj and Yashoda Devi and all others, also by seeing Radharani on the way Krishna is very pleased. Yashoda Devi out of affection embraces and cleanses Krishna. I remember such Krishna in the afternoon.