Second period of Devotional Practice (2nd Yama Sadhana)

Morning Worship:-sādhu saṅge anartha nivṛtti

At first, in this second period we have to associate with bonafide sadhu, taking shelter of bonafide Guru and as per his direction to start bhajan. Amongst all kinds of devotion, Nama Sankirtan is the best by which you can remove all ulterior desires.

Anartha nivritti through bhajan is not the real goal of devotional practice. Things which are anarthas (aprayojaniya vastu) which we otherwise consider as beneficial (prayojaniya vastu), we will be relieved of them.

nāma grahaner kālākāla-vicāra nāhi
nāma sarvaśakti samanvitā

Any place, in any time, in any circumstance you can do Harinam. Harinam is All-powerful.

Second verse:

nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis
tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
etādṛśi tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi
durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ
(2rd Verse of Sri Shikshastaka)

O Supreme Lord! Certainly, there is no doubt that, Your Holy Name can bestow all kinds of eternal welfare to the conditioned souls. So, You have mercifully manifested in this world with Your Principal transcendental Names like Krishna, Govinda, Gopinath, etc. You have appeared in this world in different Names to rescue the fallen souls and You have given all powers in Your Names. And have not imposed any conditions for chanting and remembrance of the Holy Names. O Lord! You are so merciful to the conditioned souls i.e. out of compassion you have made easy for the conditioned souls to remember and chant Holy Names, but due to my tenfold offenses to Harinam it is my greatest misfortune I have got no liking for Holy Name which has been made so easily obtainable.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu is expressing His extreme regret to see the sad plight of the conditioned souls of this world. Everything has been done for their eternal benefit and the easiest way of devotional practice is to only call Him by His Name, the Original Names, you will get everything. I have given all powers to the Name. But in spite of that due to tenfold offenses they have got no liking to do Harinam. Even amongst ourselves we see that stage. We are very interested in external performances, ritualistic performances but for doing Harinam we find no interest. It is a sad plight.

aneka-lokera vāñchā — aneka-prakāra
kṛpāte karila aneka-nāmera pracāra
khāite śuīte yathā tathā nāma laya,
deśa-kāla-niyama nāhi sarvasiddhi haya,
sarvaśakti nāme dila kariyā vibhāga,
āmāra durdaiva nāme nāhi anurāga
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 20.17-19)

Bhakti Vinod Thakur has given evidence from Hari-Bhakti-Vilasa.

ekānta bhaktera mātra kīrtan-smaraṇa,
anya parve ruchi nāhi haya pravartana,
bhāvera sahita haya śrīkṛṣṇa-sevana,
svārasikī-bhāva krame haya uddīpana

A true bonafide devotee who has got one-pointed devotion to Supreme Lord has got liking to do only kirtan and smaran, only chanting of the Holy Name and remembering. Kirtan, i.e. Chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord is the yuga-dharma (the only means of deliverance) of Kali yuga. The process recommended for Satya yuga is meditation(dhyana), for Treta yuga fire sacrifice(yajna) and for Dvapara yuga deity worship (Vigraha puja), and what is the purpose? The purpose is remembrance of Supreme Lord. When there is remembrance of the Lord then bhajan is possible. ‘smartavyah satatam visnur visamartavyo na jatucit’ i.e. to remember Krishna always and to never forget Him. That is the purpose. In Kali yuga remembrance(smaran) is possible only through kirtan. Remembrance is subservient to sravan kirtan. Sravan is effected through kirtan. So it is said that one should develop taste in kirtan because kirtan is even superior to japa, i.e. chanting silently within mind, congregational chanting in Sadhu-sanga i.e. in the association of sadhus.

Seeing the deceitfulness, hypocrisy of solitary worship (nirjana bhajan) Prabhupad wrote one song, ‘Dusta mana! tumi kiser vaishnava? Pratisthar tare, nirjaner ghare, tava ‘hari nama’ kevala ‘kaitava’. He said solitary worship is deceitful when done for acquiring false prestige, name and fame. Only few specially eligible persons can perform solitary worship. ‘kirtana-prabhave, smarana svabhave, se kale bhajana-nirjana sambhava’. Prabhupad says, you utter the name loudly ‘uccaii svare harinama-rava’. That will be more beneficial for your math-vasa. For that reason so much emphasis has been given on this.

ekānta bhaktera mātra kīrtan-smaraṇa,
anya parve ruchi nāhi haya pravartana,
bhāvera sahita haya śrīkṛṣṇa-sevana,
svārasikī-bhāva krame haya uddīpana,
ekānta bhakatera kriyā mudrā rāgodita,
tathāpi sei saba nāhi vidhi viparīta

A pure devotee who has got one-pointed devotion to Lord and has established delightful relation of love with the Lord, his all actions are inspired by pure love and not out of compulsion, force. There is another type of sevak called the lowest sevak (adhama sevak). One such type is called ‘ali’ i.e. honey bee and like a bee which makes humming sound, he always murmurs to himself, grumbles when he is required to serve. Another adham sevak is ‘baan’ like arrow, goes off like an arrow when he is asked to do some service, but does not return to report. Here there are no such sevaks, they are all good servitors. But in Gauhati I saw such sevak. He is a good devotee and stayed with me. But once I sent him to get some stationery from a nearby shop which I needed urgently and he went. It should normally take him some 10 minutes to return, but time was passing 15minutes, 30 minutes, one hr, two hrs, but he did not return at all. Another type is called ‘kimekaka’ who refuses to do anything on his own, says I cannot do it alone. He needs some 10-15 people with him or sometimes more. If another person does the same service he will find faults in them. Another is ‘presita-preshaka’ sevak. Vaishanvas are merciful and give opportunity for seva. One calls his god-brother Nandadulal and asks him to get him a glass of water. Nandadulal calls another ‘Oh Shyamasundar prabhu, please get him a glass of water.’ And Shyamasundar prabhu will entrust the seva to another and finally water does not come at all. You ask the first one what happened, he says I asked so and so, and you call the second and ask and he will give a third person’s name. One does not serve himself and passes the buck to the other. Another type is ‘jyotisakah’ who shows himself as though there is no sevak like him, very intelligent, and always sees to the benefit of the math. But when he is asked to serve he will give forecast. When he sees someone sitting in some corner, eating and sleeping, tells to Gurudev, they have to be sent on prachar. Alright, you may go on prachar. But he did not go. When asked says, this is not the right time to go to villages. When it is harvesting time if we go on prachar we can benefit more. When asked to go on prachar in the city, he does not go, and eats and sleeps. When questioned says, I started to go but found all are running to their offices and thought this is not the right time, I will go in the evening after kirtans. When still in the math in the evening and is questioned, he says I went and came, like this. For serving he gives many excuses. And the most worst among the adhama sevaks is ‘stabdha’. He says, Today there will be feast, Curd rice, kheer, feast and is happily roaming. He does chanting during this time and when Gurudev sees him and tells him today you have to do the cooking, he runs. They do not understand the value of service. Have you understood or not the six kinds of lowest sevaks? (Asks Translator), did you make them understand?

ekānta bhakatera kriyā mudrā rāgodita,
tathāpi sei saba nāhi vidhi vipirīta,
sarva tyāga karile o chārā sukaṭhina,
pratiṣṭhāśātyāge yatna payibe praviṇa,
prabhate gabhīra rātre madhyāhne sandhyāye,
anartha chāriyā lao nāmera āśraya,
ei rūpe kīrtana smaraṇa jei kare,
kṛṣṇa-kṛpā haya śigrha, anāyāse tare

Sadhu sanga is compulsory. Sadhu may not be in saffron cloth. He may be in a household life or ascetic life. Sadhu’s main qualification is there should be exclusive devotion to Supreme Lord. You have to associate with such sadhus and do Krishna Nama. Then all ulterior desires will be removed and your mind will be fixed on the Object of Worship.

prātaḥakāle nityalīlā karibe cintana,
cintite cintite bhāvera haibe sadhana

By singing the glories of Sankirtan, it is said, by Sankirtan you will have remembrance, your heart will be purified and you will get the eligibility to meditate on the pastimes of the Lord. So in Sankirtan, inside the Name, all powers are there.

Morning pastimes of Radha-Krishna:

rādhāṁ snāta-vibhūṣitāṁ vrajapayāhūtāṁ sakhībhiḥ prage
tad-gehe vihitānna-pāka-racanāṁ kṛṣṇāvaśeṣanām
kṛṣṇaṁ buddham avāpta-ḍhenu-sadanaṁ nirvyūḍha-go-dohanaṁ
susnātaṁ kṛta-bhojanaṁ saha-caraistaṁ cātha tāṁ cāśrye
(Govinda-lila-amritam)

RadhaKrishna are our Worshipable Lords. They performed these pastimes and demonstrated to us. The moment Yashoda Devi calls, Radharani immediately gets ready. She takes bath, and dresses Herself in beautiful fine clothes and ornaments that are pleasing to Krishna; target is to propitiate Krishna, not to satisfy the conditioned souls of this world. If our target is that then our bhajan will be lost. Our attention should not be on the conditioned souls, all our actions should only be to propitiate sadhus. Yashoda Devi calls for Radharani and Radharani along with Sakhis presents Herself at Yashoda Mayya’s house and Herself engages in cooking very enthusiastically along with Her sakhis. They come along with Her. Radharani is very merciful and engages all sakhis in seva. She engages even new sevikas in sevas by calling them to Her. It is very favourable and beneficial to approach and serve under Radharani. She has Her attention on all. After cooking is over, Yashoda Devi serves food to Krishna and the remnants of Krishna, Radharani and the gopis honor. It is not correct to eat anything and everything, but only honor prasad. What is not offered to the Lord, or things which cannot be offered to the Lord are not acceptable. We take shelter of such Radharani.

Krishna bestows service to all and satisfies all. Lord is very devoted to His devotees. He makes the pastime of waking up early morning to give happiness to Nanda Baba and Yashoda Mayya. And in this pastime He gives service opportunities to His companions Sakhas too and satisfies them. Then along with Sakhas He goes for milking the cows. After coming back They together take bath and together sit down for breakfast. Yashoda Devi feeds them. I take shelter of such Sri Krishna.