Fifth Period of Devotional Practice

Afternoon Worship - Attachment to Krsna

To enable us to think ourselves whether we are developing attachment to Krsna and to know how much we are progressing in our spiritual practice, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur has given us a provision here. By performing bhajan with taste(ruci) one will develop attachment to Krsna (Krsna asakti). If we do not have taste for Krsna bhajan then how can attachment come about? By Nama sadhana one should realize one’s constitutional form (svarupa jnana) and one’s relationship with Krsna, then there will be love and attachment to Krsna.

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, forgetting You I have fallen in the ocean of births and deaths. This is the reason, the cause for unhappiness and distress is due to forgetfulness of the All Blissful Supreme Lord who is Purna Sacidananda, All-Existence, All-Knowledge and All-Bliss. This is the root cause. We think when wealth is equally distributed among all, all will be happy.

Sri Vishvambharnath Pandey, Governor of Orissa, came for the inauguration of Sankirtan Hall of our Math at Puri. Hearing his words I was very much satisfied. He had proposed to speak for ten minutes but he spoke for forty-five minutes. His secretary got worried as to what is happening. He said, I had been abroad, to Switzerland Stockholm and seeing the country and its people I was surprised. I thought they are in heaven. There was no scarcity of anything. Everyone is equally wealthy, educated and prosperous. An Indian cannot even imagine of this. Everyone has good house of his own, no housing problem. For children good nursing and education facilities are provided by the Government, no worry for parents in that regard. Everyone is treated equally. No problems regarding housing, education, food, no adulteration in food and eatables. Here in India in Kolkata I was advised to take juice of gourd (lauki) and I some how drank a glass of it and I fell ill, could not sleep either in the day or night and had to face severe stomach upset. Then we learnt that the gourd is injected with some chemical for its quick growth. Like this we have food problem, one feels afraid to even eat it. What to say, here even milk is adulterated, such milk we get. There is no such adulteration there, no employment problem. Sri Vishvambharnath Pandey in admiration said to the residents that we cannot imagine these things in India, you are all residing in heaven and are happy. Then one of the residents said ‘Pandey Saheb, perhaps you are here for the first time. By seeing our external opulence you are very appreciative of our life here. But no body is as unhappy as us in this world.’ Hearing this, his head started reeling. He said, your all problems are solved. ‘So what? We have the highest number of suicide cases in our country and also divorce cases. Today marriage and tomorrow divorce is the norm. No body has any good relations with others. So we are always anxious when someone, father or mother, son or daughter will commit suicide. We are all burning in fire.’ He said, I was thinking we are inferior, but seeing their condition I was shocked. I remembered our Saints’ (Rsi Munis) words. By living this way we will not be happy. Supreme Lord is Happiness Personified (Sukh Svarupa). We have to turn our attention to Him.

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 Radha-Krsna

A hint has been given here about the eternal afternoon pastimes of Radha-Krsna.

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

Srimati Radharani returns from Radha-kund to Javat to her house in the afternoon and prepares various kinds of good dishes of different names – ‘Amrtkeli, Karpurkeli’ etc. and also presentation. She also takes bath nicely, not for Her own pleasure but for Krsna’s pleasure. She does not perform any activity for Her pleasure, all for Krsna’s pleasure. Also She dresses Herself with good clothes to satisfy Krsna and waits anxiously on the path for Krsna’s arrival from pastures along with cowherd boys. As He comes She is extremely delighted to see His Lotus Face. This is the pastime of Radharani. We have to remember such Radharani in the afternoon.

Unless there is devotion one cannot have the darshan of the Lord. Supreme Lord gives happiness to cows and also cowherd boys. It may seem that the cowherd boys are going through troubles wandering in the fields, forest and thorny paths. But Brahma in his prayers says, Krsna’s wanderings with cowherd boys in the pastures ordinary people cannot understand. We, demi-gods are presiding deities of material senses of the living beings, but still have material senses by which we cannot enjoy/relish. If we feel such great bliss through material senses seeing wanderings of Krsna with cowherd boys, then those who relish pastimes with the Lord with transcendental senses, how blissful they may be, we cannot imagine. Only by transcendental senses one can enjoy/relish Lord’s pastimes.

And when Krsna returns from the pastures with cowherd friends, He has darshan of Radharani and is satisfied. There is nothing material there, everything is transcendental. Even the trees there are transcendental, nothing material and everything is full of bliss. Krsna meets Nanda Maharaj, Yashoda Devi, and all other father-like milk-men and mother-like milk-women. All have been in the great feeling of separation from Krsna since morning when He leaves to the forest for cow herding and return back unhappy after seeing Him off. They cannot live without Krsna’s darshan even for a moment and feel great separation pain. And when He returns everyone feels happy. Nanda Maharaj, Yashoda Mayya all are happy. How fortunate they are, how much love they have for Krsna, and how happy they are, we ordinary mortal beings of this world cannot understand. Brahma says, we are not so fortunate. Yashoda Devi cleanses Krsna. I remember such Krsna in the afternoon.