Fifth Period of Devotional Practice

Afternoon Worship - Attachment to Krsna

First comes taste in bhajan and then comes asakti, attachment to Krsna. When will attachment come? With relationship with the Lord. Without relationship (sambandha)with the Lord there cannot be attachment. Relationship does not happen just by speaking from the mouth, it comes by the grace of Guru. For this we have pray to Guru from the heart and when he accepts our prayers then we will have sambandha jnana. Without accepting someone’s relationship can we serve them? You go to someone and say want to serve him. But he says I do not want your service, what can you do? Krsna has many forms. To attain Krsna prema you have to pray to Krsna.

You have to pray to the Lotus Feet of Krsna and say I want to serve You. I am Your eternal servant. You should particularize your Object of Worship. Then Krsna will accept you.

ayi nanda-tanuja kiṅkaraṁ
patitaṁ māṁ viṣame bhavāmbudhau
kṛpayā tava pāda-paṅkaja-
sthita-dhūlī-sadṛśaṁ vicintaya

Oh Nandanandan! Krsna has many forms, Mathuradish Krsna, Dvarakadish Krsna, Kurukshetra Krsna, but here Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says in particular Vrajendranandan, son of Nanda Maharaj. O Nandanandana Sri Krsna, I am Your eternal servant. Nandanandan Krsna is the highest object of love and worship, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says. Forgetting You I have fallen into this terrible ocean of births and deaths. Kindly accept me as Your eternal servant and consider me as a particle of dust of Your Lotus Feet. We have to pray from our heart so that Krsna accept us. If we pray Lord will send His devotee to us and will accept us through the medium of Guru, His devotee. Sadguru will accept you and in turn offer you to the Lord. When Sadguru accepts you, Lord will also accept you, there is no doubt in this. So, to attain the Lotus Feet of the Lord we have to pray. Then Lord if not in person, will come in the form of the devotee and bestow mercy and manifest the feeling in your heart that you are Krsna's eternal servant. Later you will attain Krsna prema.

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 Sri 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

In Her eternal pastimes Radharani returns from Radha-kunda to Javat in the afternoon and engages in preparing various good dishes of different names like Amrtkeli, Karpurkeli, etc. She also takes bath nicely, adorns Herself in beautiful garments with the sole purpose of giving pleasure to Krsna. Topmost servitor of Krsna is Radha, amongst all the sakhis. Then She anxiously waits on the path for the return of Krsna from pasture with the cows and His cowherd friends for Krsna’s darshan. Even when Krsna is standing in front of their eyes, those who have no devotion cannot have His darshan. Kamsa also saw Krsna, Jarasandha also saw, Kalayavan also saw, but they fought with Him. Raja Muchukunda also saw Krsna, saw Him as Supreme Lord Himself. Where there is love Lord appears there. Even when Lord stands in the front, one who has no devotion cannot see Lord, nor can he see a devotee or Guru. On having darshan of Krsna, Radharani is extremely delighted. By darshan of Guru, Sadguru one feels extremely delighted (paramananda). One who has no devotion feels afraid to go before Guru because he cannot act whimsically before Guru and so runs away because he has no eyes of love. Only who has love for Guru can have darshan of Guru. Like this when one gets the grace of Srimati Radharani and Her associates - the gopis, then love for Lord may come and can have darshan of the Lord. We remember such Radharani and pray for Her grace and Her extended forms, gopis.

Krsna is returning from the pastures in great joy along with cows and His cowherd friends. We see Vrndavan dhama is filled with thorns and pricking stones, but when viewed from devotion filled eyes it is very beautiful. We go in parikrama of Navadvip dhama and feel the heat of the Sun under the feet as we walk, find the paths filled with thorns and pricking stones and feel as if we will die. But Srila Bhakti Hrday Van Gosvami Maharaj said Navadvip dhama is very soft, as soft as cotton and very beautiful. So also in Vrndavan Dhama parikrama we feel the thorns pricks. But pure devotees see dhama as transcendental, very beautiful. We cannot describe dhama as described by Srila Bhakti Hrday Van Gosvami Maharaj, we only heard the description by our ears and thought, is dhama so wonderfully beautiful, and we find as though our life is gone.

Here having glimpse of Radharani Krsna is fully satisfied. Radharani is so very service inclined and seeing such a devotee Krsna is pleased. There are other servants (sevak, sevikas), Nanda Maharaj, Yashoda Mayya, who have great love for Him, and Patrak, Raktak, so many devotees and seeing them all Krsna is pleased. There are many devotees serving in parental affection and all of them along with Nanda Baba and Yashoda Mayya are pleased by Krsna’s darshan. They feel very blissful by the meeting after feeling of separation from Him through the day. After that Krsna is cleansed, i.e. given bath. We cannot imagine how much attraction to Krsna they have.