Second period of Devotional Practice (2nd Yama Sadhana)

Morning Worship: sādhu saṅge anartha nivṛtti

In the second yama sadhan, this procedure has been shown: Association of devotee-sadhus, taking shelter of bonafide Guru, and as per direction of the Guru to start bhajan and by doing bhajan all ulterior desires will be removed. This is the second period of spiritual practice, second stage.

nāma grahaner kālākāla-vicāra nāhi
nāma sarvaśakti samanvitā

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

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 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, Madanmohan, etc. You have bestowed all powers to these Names. You have not imposed any restriction of time, space, rules and regulations for utterance 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 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 great regret that in spite of making it so easy, I have got no aptitude to do Harinam.

aneka-lokera vāñchā — aneka-prakāra
kṛpāte karila aneka-nāmera pracāra
khāite śuīte yathā tathā nāma laya,
deśa-kāla-niyama nāhi sarvasiddhi haya
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 20.17-18)

Always you can do Harinam. While eating, while sleeping or while moving, every where, you can do even in the lavatory without mala.

sarvaśakti nāme dila kariyā vibhāga,
āmāra durdaiva nāme nāhi anurāga
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 20.19)

So easy it has been made. But, my great misfortune is that I have no inclination to do Harinam.

ekānta bhaktera mātra kīrtan-smaraṇa,
anya parve ruchi nāhi haya pravartana

It is said giving reference from Hari-bhakti-vilasa, Kirtan is the foremost and by kirtan all other limbs of devotional practice are accomplished, only by kirtan and along with it remembrance (smaran) too. Without remembrance bhajan is not possible. So if kirtan is performed for any other purpose, it is not bhajan and so added smaran to kirtan. 'Kaliyuga kevala nama adhara sumira sumira nara utarahi para. Why ‘sumira’ is repeated twice, there should be remembrance too.

We heard about this in Kolkata math. A devotee came to the math to perform bhajan. He would not join for kirtans, but would come and sit only for prasadam. When was asked why he is not joining kirtans, he said my head spins when I hear kirtans, and when taking prasadam I feel good. Not like this. This is a disease.

ekānta bhaktera mātra kīrtan-smaraṇa,
anya parve ruchi nāhi haya pravartana

A pure devotee who has got one-pointed devotion to Lord has got liking only for kirtana-smarana, and he cannot be persuaded to change his taste to any other form of devotion.

bhāvera sahita haya śrīkṛṣṇa-sevana,
svārasikī-bhāva krame haya uddīpana

When one serves Krishna with delightful relation (stayi-bhava) such service is inspired by pure love and no force, no pursuance is needed and the service is automatically accomplished. This is because of the relation. In the material world we see such instances. I remember an instance I witnessed as a child. Mother was ill and she was advised rest. Father told she needs to take full bed rest and should not get up even to use lavatory. We, I and my sisters were roaming around without a worry not bothering which pant or frock we were wearing. But mother was troubled thinking there is no one to care for my children, no one to change their clothes. She got down from her bed, helped us wear fresh clothes, and sat down with a soap bar to wash our soiled clothes. How is this possible for one who is lying on bed? This is love! In love a mother does not care for all these troubles.

We have got no liking to serve Vishnu and Vaishnav, why, we have got no relation with them, love relation. When there is love relation, without serving them we cannot remain. We will have natural aptitude to serve. But we have got no relation with them. That is the main cause.

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

They may even perform actions which may seem to be against regulated devotion, but their service gives pleasure to the Lord and the devotees. All their attention is on the Lord. Lord can instruct them to serve rightly, but even in a wrong manner one can serve Lord and please Him, this only the pure devotees know because they have great love for the Lord. Ordinary devotees do not know this. ‘tathapi sei saba nahi vidhi viparita’. The rule (vidhi) is to please the Lord, to please Guru.

sarva tyāga karile o chārā sukaṭhina,
pratiṣṭhāśātyāge yatna payibe praviṇa

We can give up everything, but it is very difficult to give up desire for name and fame. 'Sukathina' means almost impossible, to give up name and fame, the last snare of maya. If you cannot conquer it you cannot have progress in devotional practice.

prabhate gabhīra rātre madhyāhne sandhyāye,
anartha chāriyā lao nāmera āśraya

That means always, always you should do Harinam without ulterior desires.

ei rūpe kīrtana smaraṇa jei kare,
kṛṣṇa-kṛpā haya śigrha, anāyāse tare

Only by making sound you will not get the objective. The purpose you have to understand. In this way you have to do Harinam giving up all ulterior desires. With one pointed devotion if you do kirtan smaran then Krishna will think, His personal associates will think, Gurudev will think that he is sincere, he wants something and they will come at our back. Then we will be rescued.

śraddhā kari’ sādhu sange kṛṣṇa-nāma laye,
anartha sakala jāye niṣṭhā upajaye

When all those desires will be removed then you shall have concentration of mind, fixation of mind to the Object of Worship.

prātaḥakāle nityalīlā karibe cintana,
cintite cintite bhāvera haibe sadhana

Only by thinking thinking you will get. Your mind is somewhere else and you are sitting here thinking Oh it is getting late, it is getting late. I have got some other practices. What to do, I am a householder. I have come here and I have committed a mistake by coming here. Swamiji is going on, going on, going on. His mind is somewhere else. By that he is not staying here. There should be thinking, thinking of all the pastimes along with Sikshastaka kirtans.

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
(Sri Govinda-lilamrta)

These are eternal pastimes and all that we are seeing here in this world in non-eternal relations, what we are doing actually they have got no existence at all. It seems that we have got direct connection, but these are all perishable, temporary, nothing will go with us.

In the morning, being called by Yashoda Devi, Radharani comes along with Her confidentes (sakhis) from Javat to Nandagram. Yashoda Devi thinks, by eating the food prepared by Radharani my darling son's life span will increase and so invites Radharani. And Radharani is also having great eagerness to serve. So, early morning taking bath comes along with Her sakhis dressing and decorating Herself in beautiful clothes and ornaments, not to show to others but to bring pleasure to Sri Krishna. Her purpose is to give pleasure to Krishna and we cannot understand this.

We had heard from our Guru Maharaj one instance. Srila Gosvami Maharaj is a senior god-brother of our Guru Maharaj. He is a sannyasi. Prabhupad, his Gurudev called him and told him that you cannot do prachar by going to London in these worn out and faded clothes. What should I do? Get him one big coat and he made him wear the coat. He thinks, I came giving up family life and I am made to wear such a big coat. What to do? Not these sandals (paduka), remove them. (Prabhupad) Said, get him good shoes, people there do not respect those who do not wear shoes, they all wear shoes. Got him good shoes, and made him wear them. He got worried and thought what is happening to me, I am doomed!! You have to go like this and do prachar there. He gave him japamala, tulasi mala after chanting on them. What to do? What ever Gurudev orders, I have to follow. So he went on prachar. Seeing all this, another sannyasi thought I also can do like this. I also go for collections, I will get even more costlier coat for me, and buy a very good pair of shoes and wear. He bought coat also and shoes also and wore them. Prabhupad saw this and said he is doomed!! because he gave up his slippers. To one he said like this and to the other he made him wear coat. He wears them, not out of his own will, but because Gurudev told for prachar it is needed, so it is ok and so he wore them. But the other sannyasi did not understand the mood behind the acceptance and thought I am also sannyasi, if I also wear costly shoes I will get more devotion. His line of thinking is this. Brainless! He has no attention towards his service to the Lord and the devotees, if he had attention to it he would have understood. So Prabhupad said so.

So here Radharani’s all endeavors are to please Krishna and not for Her own pleasure or to show to others. Thinking Krishna will be pleased, She comes to cook along with Her sakhis. And those who are new sevikas they remain far away from the group and are disheartened thinking oh we will not get any chance for seva. Radharani has Her attention on all and calls for the new sevika and asks her to wash vessels. In this manner She gives chance for seva to all. She cooks there with great love and after Krishna eats, Radharani honors His remnant prasad with great satisfaction. But for prasad She will not eat anything. And there are Her friends, the gopis also. This is Radharani’s pastimes. In this pastime She cooks and all the time serves and also honors remnants.

And Krishna gives pleasure to all, not that He will give pleasure to kanta-rasa devotees only and not others, it is not so. They are all His personal associates. There are Yashoda mata Nanda Maharaj and sakhas too, He gives pleasure to all. Now, Krishna awakes. We have heard about His various pastimes written in Govinda lilamrta, but we have no eligibility to speak. Krishna gets up and seeing His sakhas by His side He sleeps again. His pastimes are beyond our comprehension, and we think like this Yashoda Mayya is illiterate. And finally when He wakes up, Yashoda Mayya Nanda Baba are very happy that our child has got up. Sakhas also are happy because they have been trying to wake Him up for quite sometime and the Sakhas are not aware of His night pastimes. That is why He is performing pastimes like normal human beings do. Then He goes along with Sakhas for milking the cows. Sakhas are so very attached to Krishna that they do not leave Him at all. When they do not see Him, they cry calling out ‘Kannaih, Kannaih, Come here, let us have bath.’ They take bath together and sit down for breakfast together. And Yashoda Devi feeds them all.