Sixth Period of Devotional Practice (6th Yama Sadhana)

Evening Bhajan—Bhava (Prior stage of prema)

External symptoms of realized state

nayanaṁ galad-aśru-dhārayā
vadanaṁ gadgada-ruddhayā
girā pulakair nicitaṁ vapuḥ kadā
tava nāma-grahaṇe bhaviṣyati
(6th Verse of Sri Shikshastaka)

O Supreme Lord Sri Krishna! When by uttering your Holy Name, my eyes will be adorned with sacred glamour of the rolling down of tears, while uttering, my voice will be choked (will not be able to utter the complete Holy Name, words will be incoherent—not understandable to ordinary persons), the whole body will be horripilated (saturated with thrilling sensation).

I am not in that state now. When it will happen, I do not know. Dhruva Maharaj, crying out continuously, called out Supreme Lord. His mother, Suniti Devi, is vartma-pradarshak-guru — who showed him the path to get the grace of Supreme Lord. She instructed him before he had darshan of Narad Goswami. She told, “You will get Supreme Lord by calling out His Name; He will be pleased and you will get a kingdom greater than your father’s. So call out for the Lotus eyed Hari.”

Dhruva Maharaj took a vow that if Lord appears by repeatedly calling out His Name then only he will come back to his palace otherwise he will leave his body. Seeing him, his mother understood that he will perform devotion but she did not imagine that at the age of five he will leave the world to attain the Supreme Lord.

While instructing him, she cautioned him on one matter. We have to give utmost attention to this particular instruction given to him as we have got this human birth only for performing devotion to the Supreme Lord. And if we die without performing devotion then there is no guarantee that we get our next birth as a human. So we have to think very seriously on this instruction. She told, “I know that you will perform devotion. But you will attain perfection only if you practice devotion without keeping any hostile mentality towards anyone in this world.

māmaṅgalaṁ tāta pareṣu maṁsthā
bhuṅkte jano yat para-duḥkhadas tat
(Srimad Bhagavatam 4.8.17)

There is most valuable and confidential teaching in this two lines. When Dhruva had seen his brother Uttam on the lap of his father, he desired to take the same position in his father’s lap but his step-mother spoke very harsh words to him. She said, “You run away from here; you do not have any right to take this position; your mother is most unfortunate”.

So mother Suniti instructed him, “If you perform devotion keeping anger to your step-mother or anybody else then you will not get eternal good”. Person like me always blame others. I think, “I am all right and all others have defects in them. How will tears come in my eyes? It is impossible. It will not happen merely by delivering a speech. Nobody can deceive God. Mother Suniti instructed Dhruva Maharaj, “Do not blame your step-mother for your afflictions; you would have given sufferings to others in the past as a result of which you are getting the same in return. Your step-mother is just the instrument, she is not the cause. Every living being reaps the fruits of his own action. Do not blame your father or anybody else also.”

If we keep blaming others for our sufferings then never we can think that we can get that ultimate goal, NEVER. It will not happen. One may say, “I have not done any harm to anyone then why am I getting the pain?”

We do not know about our previous lives but Supreme Lord knows everything. We may have done something in of our previous births the result of which we are getting in return. So it is advised to remove all the hostile mentality to anybody from our heart, not a cent of it should be there. If you have hostile mentality to anybody then you will not get rescued; you will not be successful.

Dhruva at once effaced all the hostile mentality from his heart for everyone. We cannot do this. We keep the hostile mentality life long, we cannot simply remove it. It is impossible, God is Omniscient; all knowing. No body can deceive Him. Person like me performing bhajan from past so many years but not a drop of water come out from my eyes. If anytime water is seen in the eyes, it could be because of some eye-disease. Why is water not coming out? It is because of my own offences. There is no love for Supreme Lord. And if you blame others then all your bhajan will be finished. Dhruva has got that power to accept those teachings. He removed all hostile mentality to anybody in this world and called out, “Where is my Lotus-eyed Hari? Where is my lotus-eyed Hari?” Continuously weeping with tears rolling down from his eyes, he called out the Supreme Lord and the Lord became satisfied. We have to understand this.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu played the pastime of hearing life stories of Dhruva and Prahlad hundred times and requested Gadadhar Pandit to read it again and again. He is teaching us.

Oh Krishna! When by uttering Your Holy Name tears will roll down from my eyes, my voice will be choked and the whole body will horripilate? When? When this does not happen, one should understand that there must be some mistake on my part, definitely so. Supreme Lord is equal to one and all, there is no fault in Him. When will by taking the Holy Name my whole body will experience horripilation?

In his Kirtan, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur is mentioning about the eight principal ecstatic feelings. We have listened to the Kirtan many a times but have never deeply contemplated on its meaning. Only by offence-less chanting, we will experience these eight ecstatic symptoms.

prema dhana binā vyārtha daridra jivana
dāsa kari vetana more deha premadhana

When pure love for Supreme Lord has not manifested, then what is the value of this devotional life? It is useless and futile. We ourselves are not happy and because of that we give distress to others. Kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsar are still present in our heart.

Make me your servant and if you want to pay me salary then award me the wealth of Divine Love. I do not pray for the worldly wealth.

Hint of evening pastimes of Sri RadhaKrishna

sāyaṁ rādhāṁ sva-sakhyā nija-ramaṇa-kṛte preṣitāneka-bhojyāṁ
sakhyānīteśa-śeṣāśana mudita hṛdaṁ tāṁ ca taṁ ca vrajendrum
susnātaṁ ramya-veśaṁ gṛham anu-jananḥ lālitaṁ prāpta-goṣṭhaṁ
nirvyūḍho ‘srālidohaṁ svagṛham anu punar bhuktavantaṁ smarāmi
(Govinda-lila-amrita 20/1)

Radharani, sends the good preparations of food cooked by her in the afternoon for Krishna through one confidante (sakhi) to Nandagram in the evening. Sakhi brings those good preparations of food from Javat to Nandagram and offers to Yashoda Devi. Yashoda Devi feeds her child Krishna with great affection and satisfaction. After Krishna’s taking food, the remnant— Prasad, has been brought back by sakhi from Nandagram to Javat and is offered to Radharani. Radharani takes the remnant— Krishna’s Prasad, with great satisfaction. I remember such sweet pastimes of Radharani.

What is the evening pastime of Radharani? In the evening, whatever She had prepared with a great love in the afternoon for Krishna, various dishes like Karpurkeli, Amritakeli, etc., She sends it through one confidante (sakhi) from Javat to Nandagram. Javat is not so near to Nandagram, but in Dham everyone has transcendental body; they serve Krishna by that transcendental body. Even with this material body, in childhood, 70 years back, we used to walk a few miles to go to school. But these days, even walking for a mile is difficult for us. There has been a great change even in the ability of material bodies over a time. Comfort has been given prime importance these days so the habits have changed. It was not like this before. Mahaprabhu Himself had gone to Vrindavan from Jagannath Puri by foot. We need train travel, reserved berth, good facility for eating and drinking, and so many things to be arranged. So things have changed. A surrendered devotee performs all activities for the satisfaction of Krishna and Krishna protects him too.

Here, Sakhi walks from Javat to Nandagram singing the glories of RadhaKrishna. They are not seen so by singing Their glories she tries to reduce her distress. Thus by singing the glories of RadhaKrishna she walks the entire path. Radharani also remembers Krishna. Amongst all the sakhi, She chooses one sakhi who would take the prepared dishes by Her to Krishna. All the sakhi are very anxious to get the service. The sakhi who gets the service gets extremely delighted and blissful and others become morose on being deprived of service. Here in this world it is opposite, one who gets the service becomes unhappy thinking that he only is given service and others not. If someone says to us that you eat properly and take proper rest then we are happy. There in the transcendental world it is not like that. There, they become blissful on getting service.

The sakhi who got the service opportunity comes on the entire path, singing the glories of RadhaKrishna, experiencing the topmost bliss. On reaching Nandagram, she offers obeisance to Yashoda Devi and Nandababa. They both become blissful on seeing her. Nandababa asks her, “What have you brought?” And on listening that she has brought offerings for Krishna, Nandababa becomes more delighted.

The sakhi then tells them, “I am ordinary maid-servant. I am ordered by Radharani to do some service. Can I do some service here?”

She then gets blissful to get various services like washing vessels etc. While serving, washing vessels she gets the glimpse of Krishna. She gets great bliss just by the sight of Krishna, though she does not get to talk to Him. In this way she spent some time there. After Krishna’s taking food, she brings the remnant to Javat. On the way back also she keeps singing the glories of RadhaKrishna throughout. Radharani is waiting anxiously for her to come back. The sakhi then offers the Prasad to Radharani. Radharani takes the remnant—Krishna’s Prasad, with great satisfaction. I remember such sweet pastimes of Radharani.

What are Krishna’s pastime? Yashoda Devi bathes Krishna; by Krishna’s touch she feels happy. By serving Krishna who is All-auspicious, All-blissful, she get immersed in the ocean of happiness and bliss. There is immense happiness in service. Just by the sight of Yashoda, Krishna is happy. In this material world also we derive happiness by service. She bathes Krishna with great love, dresses Him in beautiful garments and adores Him. Shows great affection for the child, for He had taken so much trouble for grazing cows in the forest walking barefoot. Thinking His soft feet are paining after walking on stones and thorns whole day, she massages His feet and pacifies Him. Then asks Him to go to cowshed for milking the cows telling Him, “We are cowherd people, we sell milk and make a living”.

Krishna, “Mother, I will go right now”.

Taking His cowherd friends, He goes to the cowshed. There, the cows are thinking, “When Krishna will come, when Krishna will come”. Cows are extremely happy to see Krishna and out of spontaneous love, they starts giving milk automatically. The cows are always ready to serve Krishna. Krishna returns to the house and gladly takes the food prepared by Radharani with love sent through the sakhi. I remember such sweet pastimes of Krishna in the evening with great adoration.