Mid-day worship (Madhyana Kalia bhajan)- Bhajan with taste (ruchi bhajan)

In the third period you come upto nishta. At the beginning Sraddha, in second Yam Bhakti Vinod Thakur wrote, Sadhusanga. One who is a pure devotee (ananya bhakta), who is sadhu is called Guru. There is no difference between a pure devotee and a sadhu. By taking shelter of the Guru engage in devotional service under his instructions, his guidance. All desires other than devotion to Supreme Lord are called anarthas. 'Artha' the real wealth is Supreme Lord, Absolute Complete Reality (Purna Vastu). Upanisads say, 'yasmin prapte sarvam idam praptam bhavati, yasmin vijnate sarvam idam vijnatam bhavati tad vijijnasasva tad eva brahma'. Till one attains Complete Reality, there remains incompleteness. So, all desires other than attainment of the Purna Vastu, go away by engaging in devotional service. All these are called ‘anarthas’, that which in reality are unwanted, but are considered essential. When we are established in this stage, then we come to the stage of nishta, 'nainantarmayi' internal vision. No unwanted desires remain and the entire the time mind is fixed on the Object of Worship.

After nishta, next comes is ruchi. At the beginning we engage in devotional service like we are taking medicine. Now the medicines come in capsule form. Earlier times medicines used to be very bitter, and when we show reluctance in taking medicine we are shown rasagulla, saying 'Take, take. If you take medicine you will get one rasagulla.' Then we say, give, give. So we take medicine for rasagulla, in this way. Nowadays medicines are in capsule form, made easy for children. So nobody wants to take bitter medicines at first, so also practice of devotion in the beginning. But later when it starts tasting good, feeling good, that is stage when one enters fourth yam sadhan.

nāma sādhakera ahaituki kṛṣṇa bhakti binā anya kāmanā nahi.

In mid-day pastimes we come up to worship, we come up to ruchi i.e. worship of Supreme Lord with taste. And just before that in the third period we come up to the fixation of the mind to the Object of Worship, nishta.

nāma sādhakera ahaituki kṛṣṇa bhakti binā anya kāmanā nahi.

Here it is said in advance that a Harinam Sadhak having other ulterior desires cannot proceed in his real sadhan, he will not remain a Nama sadhak as the purpose of his sadhan will become fulfillment of other desires.

Professional chanters i.e. those who chant for getting mundane benefits, actually their aim is something else, not Supreme Lord. Supreme Lord is Absolute, is for Himself and by Himself. So, if you do anything which is not for Him, then He will not appear. It will be something else. You are doing Harinam, but not for Hari's sake. You are doing something of these mundane things, then Hari will not come. For that reason, he is not a Nama sadhak who has other desires, other goals. And till we have this mundane ego that I am this body, the desire for non-eternal material things (asat-trsna) will remain, it will not go. But in the sadhaka stage realizing one's short-comings, drawbacks, if one prays in a humble mood for the mercy of Guru and Vaishnavas whenever he gets such an opportunity, he will get their mercy because mercy naturally flows to the humble. If there is pride, everything is lost. We will lose everything immediately at that moment. And, if I think I shall have this improvement towards this devotional attainment, realization, it is impossible, it will be finished when it is not firm, and Supreme Lord will not come there. So we should be very careful about this. Without the grace of a pure devotee, a bona-fide devotee, no enslaved jiva can have the knowledge that I am of Krsna, I am of Him, without the persons who have got that knowledge, realization in them, then they can impart it to others.

There should not be any other desire, those who actually perform Harinama, only exclusive devotion. Exclusive aim of life is satisfaction of Krishna. That should be the only aim, then he will be Nama sadhak.

So, here in the 4th Verse Caitanya Mahaprabhu has cautioned us 'Do not blame Me. You do not want Me.' Praying to Lord means desiring His service. Praying to Guru means begging for 'Guru-seva'. Guru is not one whom we enjoy, want to enjoy, he is not our object of sense-enjoyment. Praying to Vaishnavas means desiring their service, wanting to serve them, because through seva we get their association. 'So say these words from the core of the heart. Do not make any false accusations on Me. I am equal to all. 'samo aham sarva-bhutesu na me dvesyo asti na priyah' I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. Those who want Me, they get Me, and who do not want Me, they do not get Me. I am bhavagrahi Janardhan, not bhasha grahi. He does not simply hear the words, He sees the mood, the inner heart's desires of His devotees.

A man comes to the temple and pays lot of obeisances, lot of worship. Then says, my daughter's marriage has been fixed. I am in need of five lakhs of rupees. I have one lakh rupees on hand. So I offer You two hundred rupees and You please give me four lakh rupees. After my daughter is married off, then I will perform bhajan.' Our appeals are like this, offering two hundred rupees and demanding four lakhs. Mostly such type of people come to the temple. This is not bhajan, not devotional service to the Lord.

So Mahaprabhu says,

na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ
kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye
mama janmani janmanīśvare
bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukḥ tvayi
(4rd Verse of Sri Shikshastaka)

To utter these words from the core of the heart is very difficult, even I cannot utter. I have no earnings. What I have is all that came from begging alms. From the earnings of others I have built math mandir and later say I am the owner, land-lord, even me. I do not feel ashamed to feel pride in the building that has been built from earnings of others. Are you not ashamed in this? A sensible person will be ashamed that I am not earning money, it is earned by others. Maya is like this and she is accompanying us. It is not so easy, if one can say from the heart he will attain I this very moment. Supreme Lord is equal to all. Say from the heart, 'Hey Jagadish, I do not want wealth.' Not to go hither thither within the heart. Say, I do not want wealth, from heart. Heart is agonized. Without wealth how can life go on? Is not the Supreme Lord the Protector and the Maintainer of all? When you do not accept the Lord as the Protector and the Maintainer, then devotion 'bhakti' has not awakened in the heart at all. A non-surrendered person’s any activity is not 'bhakti. One of the limbs of sharanagati is that the Supreme Lord is the only Protector and Maintainer. If you have not such faith, then devotional service has not begun at all, and this applies to every one.

Therefore, here it is said, 'Hey Jagadish, I do not want wealth'. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is telling, ‘Say this, and then you can blame Me’. Caitanya Mahaprabhu who is Supreme Lord Himself says, Hey Jagadish, I do not want wealth. Ok. 'I do not want manpower, wife, sons, anything. Ok. I do not want more education, any liberation, siddhis, (yogic attainments) etc. OK, what do you want? ‘Birth after birth may I have one-pointed devotion to You.’ Ok, You take it. He will give right away. But will we take it instantly? Next when will that chance come again I do not know, after thousands of births or after one million births, I do not know. I may repeat the word, but from the heart it is very difficult to say, very difficult. But if you can say from the heart then immediately you will get. He is impartial. He has got no partiality.

“Hey Jagadish, I do not want wealth, I do not want manpower, I do not want erudition, education, I do not want even liberation. I pray that birth after birth may I have causeless devotion to You, desireless (nishkama) and uninterrupted (vyavadan rahita) bhakti to You.” Let it be so!! If you all bless me it will come to me also. I blame myself that I have so many desires inside me, I have lived so many years in the math, if the desires do not go now then when will they go, after death?

gṛha dravya śiṣya paśu dhānya ādi dhana
strī putra dāsa dāsī kuṭumbādi jana
kāvya alaṅkāra ādi sundarī kavitā
pārthiva-viṣaya madhye e saba vāratā

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur has elaborated in detail here. There are a whole lot of things we beg from the Lord other than Lord Himself. A devotee may be in household life (grhasta ashram). Ambarish Maharaj is not a materialist; Durvasa Rsi played a pastime to exhibit to the world the glories of Ambarish Maharaj. There is teaching in his pastimes, and we have to accept that. He was such a great sannyasi, but he also failed to understand Ambarish. Even as a householder, he had absolutely no attachment to his kingdom and wealth. Lord Narayana says, he gave up his life and all his wealth for Me, how can I leave him? From external vision he is a householder. In his connection it is said, krishnera samsara kara chadi anachar jive daya Krishna nama sarva dharma sara’. Externally it is seen everything is there, wealth, house, wife, children, but everything is Krishna’s. I am only His sevak/sevika, like this.

ei saba pāibāra āśā nāhi kari
śuddha-bhakti deha more kṛṣṇa kṛpā kari
premera svabhāva yāṅhā premera sambandha
sei māne kṛṣṇe mora nāhi bhakti-gandha

Indication of Mid-day pastimes of Sri Sri Radha Krishna:

A glimpse of idea has been given here about the mid-day pastimes of Sri Sri Radha Krishna.

madhyāhne ‘nyonya saṁgodita vividha-vikārādi-bhūṣāpramugdhau
vāmyotkaṇṭhātilolau smaramakha lalitā dyāli-narmāptaśātau
dolāraṇyāmbu-vaṁśī-hṛti-rati-madhupānārka-pūjādi-līlau
rādhā-kṛṣṇau satṛṣṇau parijana-ghaṭayā sevyamānau smarāmi
(Sri Govinda-lilamrta)

Our Param Gurudev (Srila Bhakti Siddhanth Saraswati Gosvami Thakur Prabhupad) in advance cautioned through his writing that Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur himself would remember all these verses. He compiled them (in Sri Bhajana Rahasya), he did not compose them, he gave the explanations of them. He used to relish the verses incessantly overwhelmed with trancendental Divine Loving pastimes of Sri Sri Radhakrishna, and has thus shown a few hints about his own mode of worship as an instance to his own devoted followers.

In this there is mention of Mid-day pastimes – Radhakunda lila. Radhakunda is 'Sarvottam, pavitratama stana’ supreme, topmost, supremely pure place to attain Krishna prema where all are always ready to perform any service to attain Krishna prema. Only madhur rasa sevikas have entry here, not a place for sakhya rasa and not at all for vatsalya rasa. There is some compatibility of sakhya rasa with madhur rasa, but still they have no entry. It is only for the gopis and foremost, chief among them is Sri Radharani. How can a conditioned soul like me who is bound by lust, etc can remember these pastimes?

vaikuṇṭhāj janito varā madhu-purī tatrāpi rāsotsavād
vṛndāraṇyam udāra-pāṇi-ramaṇāt tatrāpi govardhanaḥ
rādhā-kuṇḍam ihāpi gokula-pateḥ premāmṛtāplāvanāt
kuryād asya virājato giri-taṭe sevāṁ vivekī na kaḥ

Srila Rupa Goswami wrote in Sri Upadeshamrta (Verse 9). So Prabhupad asked us to remember Sri Sikshastaka and Sri Upadeshamrta. So following his instructions, orders every year we remember Sri Sikshastaka and Sri Upadeshamrta. He specially mentioned it in his pragbandha.

In Vaikunta there is Narayan, superior to that place is Madhupuri (Mathura) because Krishna appeared, played birth pastimes there, bestowing seva in vatsalya rasa in Mathura dhama. So superior to Vaikunta is Mathura dham. In Vaikunta there is shanta, dasya and sakhya rasa in reverence mood (Gaurav bhav) is preserved, held high up. Mathura is superior to Vaikunta, because vatsalya rasa (parental affection mood) is manifest here, even though some opulent mood prevails. After killing Kamsa, also after killing Chanur Mustik, when Krishna Balaram come to meet their parents, Vasudeva and Devaki they think Oh.. This child is not ours. He is Supreme Lord. He has killed great wrestlers Chanur Mustik, the mad elephant and also Kamsa. Thinking thus when Krishna offers pranams the parents also did pranams in return. But in Vraja there is difference. In Vraja, Nanda Maharaj told Krishna, bring me my sandals and when Krishna lifts it with great effort Nanda Maharaj thinks Oh this little boy, how he is acting? He who lifted Goverdhan so easily, how can he have difficulty in lifting sandals? And when sees Krishna bring them keeping them upon his head thinks my son is good. He has feeling that Krishna is his son. Their mood is 'my son, my friend, my dearmost, like this' (mora putra, mora sakha, mora pranatha) and their object of love is Krishna. In Vaidhi bhakti Krishna is not the Supreme, it is Vasudeva Krishna. And here it is Nandanandana Krishna. So Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught us to worship Nandanandana Krishna in madhurya rasa. So, more than Vaikunta, Mathura puri is superior. So Vasudeva takes Vasudeva Krishna who joins Nandanandana Krishna and he returns back with Yoga maya. Nandanandana Krishna is ‘Avatari’, the origin of all incarnations.

Still more superior (sresta), important in Mathura Mandal is Vrindavan Rasa stali, because of Rasotsava pastimes there. And superior to Vrindavan is Goverdhan where supreme pastimes took place, more supreme than Vrindavan. There is Radhakunda in Vrindavan the banks of which are called 'premamrta plavanat'. How can conditioned souls like us who are blinded by lust can understand where even pure devotees like Narada Goswami, mentioned in the separate verse i.e. 11th verse, who is dear devotee. Even he has no entry who is our Guru whom we remember in our Guru Parampara. Therefore even vatsalya rasa sevaks have no entry there, then what can persons like me who are full of desires understand? Still, it is said ‘krsna-bhakti-rasa-bhavita matih kriyatam yadi kuto api labhyate tatra laulyam api mulyam ekalam janma-koti-sukrtair na labhyate’. By no means i.e. not by hundreds and thousands of lives sukritis, we can get such pure love like the Vrajvasis unless we have intense greed (lalasa) to serve Krishna like them in the form of son, friend or as consort, and we attain the association of Raganuga or Ragatmika bhaktas. We will get association of Raganuga bhakas. Ragatmika devotees are those who are nitya parshad (eternal associates), in their association such desires may arise. There is some place (chance) if we have got that kind of desire, intense desire I want to serve Krishna, then you utter the name of Gauranga with firm faith. Gauranga Mahaprabhu has appeared in this kaliyuga to distribute that prema to all, anarpita carim, this madhura rasa seva to each and every one. We have taken birth in this kaliyuga when Gauranga Mahaprabhu has appeared. This will not happen in other kaliyugas. This is special kaliyuga after Dwapara yuga when Nandanandana Krishna appeared in the 28th Chaturyuga of 7th Manvantara. This kaliyuga has special significance. Just by calling Gauranga, Gauranga and in heart remembering Radhakrishna, very easily, very naturally one can attain that which seems difficult to attain. It is not difficult at all.

At mid-day pastimes Radha-Krishna in each other’s company are beautifully decorated with ecstatic feelings of the highest order including eight principal ecstatic feelings and subordinate ecstatic feelings (Astasattvika –vikar and sanchari bhavas like vamya, utkantha atishaya laulya chanchal and trishna). Their pleasure is enhanced by the joking words of Lalitha and other gopis, Also, there are innumerable pastimes like swinging festival, pleasant strolling in the forest, water sports in ponds and rivers, stealing of flute and other transcendental amorous pastimes, drinking of sweet honey, worship of Sun-God etc. While Radha and Krishna are thus engrossed in these transcendental pastimes, they are served by the gopis. I remember such pastimes of Sri Sri Radha-Krishna.