Madhyahna kalia bhajan - Mid-day worship – Worship with taste (Ruchi Bhajan)

This is the stage when bhajan is performed with taste, i.e. with liking. In Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu Purva Vibhaga Bhakti is defined as ‘Sarvopadi vinir-muktam tat-paratvena nirmalam hrshikena hrshikesha sevanam bhaktir uccyate’. So, at first one should be completely free from all kinds of upadis i.e. designations of this world, not just muktam, nirmuktam, it is said vinir-muktam i.e. not even a trace of material designation should be there. By our actions (karma) we get one kind of designation, title. I am not a doctor, but I studied the course and became a doctor, a lawyer, or a college professor. This is my title, upadi. Because of my past actions (karma) I am born as brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya, sudra, in a particular caste. So like this there are various kinds of material egos like I am of Punjab. By such pride, bhakti cannot be performed. I am from Bengal, I am of India, I am of America, or say I am of this world, even with such thinking bhakti cannot be performed. So it is not said muktam, nir-muktam, but vinirmuktam because there should be even a scent of these designations. Then one can perform bhakti. Bhakti is not possible if I am to consider myself as a member of some political party, or of this country, or of particular region speaking particular language, all these kinds of false egos, vanity of this world are all unholy. The whole of this Universe up to Satya-loka are all unholy. Even if I am to think I am of this Universe, bhakti is not possible. One has to give up every kind of false ego of this world. It is very difficult for a conditioned soul to attain such a stage, so how taste in bhajan will come? There is gross mistake in the basic foundation itself. ‘Sarvopadi vinir-muktam’ is to give up every kind of false ego of this world, also of material gross body and subtle body, of the three material qualities and even a scent of it. But even after giving up this, bhakti is not possible. ‘tat paratvena nirmalam’ I am of the Supreme Lord who is All-Good, then one becomes pure, holy. ‘hrshikena hrshikesha sevanam bhaktir uccyate’ then with the senses when I serve the Lord of the senses for His satisfaction, then it is called Bhakti.

All material egos you have to efface from the heart. There should not be any kind of material ego. If you can efface these material egos, yet there will not be bhakti. Jnanis also give up their material egos, by that they cannot become bhaktas, a devotee. What I am? I am of Krsna, Krsna is All-Good, Mangal, All-Good. If I become of Krsna, then I become holy, mangal, then I am eligible to serve Krsna. Before that, we perform with the sense organs that we have. Supreme Lord is the owner of everything. I belong to Him. He is to be served by all sense organs. Sense organs belong to Supreme Lord, and this body, subtle body, everything belongs to Supreme Lord. How I can become of Krsna? By my own endeavor? No. So, where from taste (for bhajan) will come? Sukhdev Gosvami tells to Parikshit Maharaj, ‘na tatha hy aghavan rajan puyeta tapa-adibhih yatha krsnarpita-pranas tat-purusa-nisevaya’ (SB 6.1.16). A sinful person cannot purify himself by the processes of Jnana kanda, practice of austerities, control of senses, mind, etc as much by dedicating oneself, surrendering oneself to the Lord. Just uttering the words I am dedicating myself to Krsna, ‘krsnarpita pranas’ will not do. How can one realize that my gross body, subtle body, atma, everything is Lord’s? It is possible only by associating with the pure devotee, tat-purusa, Lord’s personal associate (nija-jana). In reality if you found such a person, a suddha bhakta, a pure devotee who has got this realization, not intellectual knowledge, that I am of Krsna, that sharanagati you can get by the grace of a suddha bhakta. If by previous good impressions of good deeds which I might have done for the service of guru, vaishnav, Bhagavan, if those good impressions are there then by Lord’s desire I may get the company of a Suddha bhakta. One should get the association of such Suddha Bhaktas who say from the heart I am of Krsna. Like, there is no necessity to tell parents to love their child, there is no need for them to go to school to learn this, it comes naturally to them, this is my child. Even Krsna says those who think of Me like this then I am of Him, I am under his control. It is very difficult to understand. ‘mora putra, mora sakha, mora prananath’ how can we say like that? Krsna is my son, my friend, He is my husband, my life’s soul, highest realization, Krsnadas Kaviraj Gosvami has written in Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta. In such high moods taste will surely be there and the eagerness to serve will always be on the rise that even a moment’s separation from service would seem like an epoch (Yuga).

So it is written here, ‘nama sadhakera ahaituki krishna bhakti vina anya kamana nahi' meaning he is cent percent established in his nama-sadhana. He has absolutely no other desires other than service of the Lord. He has so much attachment for the Lord that even a moment’s distance will make him suffer separation grief.

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

O Supreme Lord! I do not want wealth. In this manner they pray, those who have the knowledge that I am of Krsna.and has loving relationship with Krsna. So they do not desire to snatch things by force ‘rasa-varjaa raso apy asya paraa danova nivartate’ Even a scent of higher taste attained in service of Krsna finishes all the attachments and hankerings for lower material things of the world. ‘Phalena phala-karanam anumiyate’ -- by the fruit we can understand whether or not we have come in contact with Krsna. We can examine ourselves. Through our prayers if we have even a scent of our relationship with the Lord, we will not have taste for any sort of material enjoyments of this world. If this fruit has not come, then what we are practicing is not bhakti at all, not real bhakti. We are doing, but we are doing outward practice. But when it will be from the very core of the heart then the fruit we can get. By the fruit we can understand whether we have our progress in bhajan or not, we can examine ourselves.

O Supreme Lord! I do not want wealth, man-power. They can easily say this because Krsna is their wealth and Krsna is their associate. But I am telling about our position, we feel we do need some amount of money. I do not want salvation, emancipation. Here. My only prayer is to get causeless one-pointed uninterrupted devotion to You, birth after birth.

This procedure has been shown to the conditioned souls who have come to this world becoming averse to Krsna. So, it has been advised to pray like this. When you pray, Lord who is All-powerful (Sarva-shaktiman), Lord does not force, compel by which the conscious principle (chetan) of the living entity will become inert (achetan) and then has only one path to follow because it is inert. If you try to hit a small housefly, it is free to escape by flying here and there. So, Lord does not interfere in the relative independence given to the infinitesimal conscious principle (anu-chetan), by which the Lord will not benefit nor the living entity. So keeping the independence of the living entity in tact, Lord advises to voluntarily take shelter of My lotus feet and whatever you pray, say from the core of your heart. Say, please forgive and forget whatever offenses I have committed to You till date, and give me shelter at Your lotus feet. You have to utter these words crying repentantly. We do cry but for all material things of the world, Lord give me this, that, give me money, get my daughter married off, but we do not want Lord. Then why He will come? So Vamsidas Babaji Maharaj said in one word. He was residing in Navadvip Dhama. When he sees a peepal tree he takes it to be Vamsi-vata and he will not leave the place and camp there saying this is dhama, Vamsi-vata. The temple for his deities is his jhola (cloth shoulder bag). In one jhola Nitai Gauranga will reside and in another jhola Radha-Krsna. What is the depth of his devotion that he kept and carried the Lords in his jhola and we worship the deities in the temple. He is Paramahamsa and when he feels like would bring out Nitai Gauranga and offer them bhog. When visiting Babaji people would bring offerings of fruits, vegetables, etc and it would accumulate so much, but he would not notice it at all. But suddenly one fine day he would distribute them to all present. A person came to Babaji Maharaj from Navadvip and asked ‘Babaji Maharaj, How can I attain Lord? I have great desire to attain Lord. How can I have darshan of the Lord?’ He murmured these words within himself and Babaji Maharaj did not take notice of him. Babaji Maharaj remained engrossed in his bhajan and was silent, giving the questioner no answer. Every day the man would come, offer pranams and ask the same question. One day Babaji Maharaj became merciful and asked what do you want. He repeated his question, I want to find God. Then babaji Maharaj answered in one word ‘CRY’. He did not give any scriptural verses. Just one word ‘CRY’. We cry for this material world, do we cry for the Lord?

gṛha dravya śiṣya paśu dhānya ādi dhana
strī putra dāsa dāsī kuṭumbādi jana
kāvya alaṅkāra ādi sundarī kavitā
pārthiva-viṣaya madhye e saba vāratā
ei saba pāibāra āśā nāhi kari
śuddha-bhakti deha more kṛṣṇa kṛpā kari

We care for the body and our family for the purpose of our own sense-enjoyment and so it becomes the cause for our bondage in this world. All the objects of senses are of the Lord. When seeing them in relation to the Lord and utilizing them in the service of the Lord and accepting the remnants then it be life of dedication to Krsna, ‘krsnera samsara kara chadi anacar jive-daya krsna-nama--sarva-dharma sara.’ (Translation: Giving up all sinful activities, carry on your worldly duties only in relation to Lord Krsna. The showing of compassion to other souls by loudly chanting the holy name of Krsna is the essence of all forms of religion.) If you are making disciples, it will be bhakti if you do that as seva for the Lord. If one makes disciples for his own material benefit then it is ‘vishay’, it is not bhakti.

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 Midday Pastimes of Radha-Krsna

A hint has been given here about the mid-day pastimes of Radha Krsna.

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)

At the mid-day pastimes at Radha-kunda the gopis are present there, but the specialty of the transcendental love of the gopis is, they do not want direct contact with Krsna, but they want to make union of Radharani with krsna because Radha’s prema for Krsna is the highest and Krsna gets greatest pleasure in the association of Radharani. The gopis do not worry about their own pleasure, so their endeavor is to make the union of Krsna with Radharani. Thus when both Radha-Krsna are pleased, gopis who are the expansions of Radharani become happy automatically. By direct contact, association with Krsna one may attain pleasure but not as much as when one approaches Him through His devotee. So they endeavor for the union of Radha-Krsna. By such union when innumerable ecstatic feelings manifest like an ocean of bliss and are beyond imagination. You cannot comprehend it by our mind, intellect, sense organs, it is beyond our comprehension. Directly they do not want company, they try to satisfy Krsna, to satisfy Radharani. For that reason their only endeavor is to make their union. By that both become so much happy, they attain highest transcendental happiness, so much ecstatic feelings and when that vibration comes to them, they are more happy. After their meeting Astasattvik vikar—eight principal ecstatic feelings, thirty three kinds of other subordinate ecstatic feelings—sanchari—all kinds of highest transcendental ecstatic feelings are manifested in Radha-kunda. We never have experienced such feelings, but it has been written here so that on hearing we may develop some greed (lalasa), for that reason Bhakti Vinod Thakur says let them read, though are ineligible. We are living in this material world and suffering so much, to give us some sort of greed to know there exists such a transcendental realm and aspire for it. ‘tatra laulyam api mulyam ekalam janma-koti-sukritair na labhyate’ Pure devotional service cannot be had even by pious activity in hundreds and thousands of live. It can be attained only by paying one price, i.e. intense greed to obtain it. So to think about it, he has given us some hints and has not spoken more on the subject. Though we have no eligibility, still our Guru-varga introduced this to give us some sort of impetus in bhajan. If we do not hear at all about them then what will be our position? Even from other relations we get happiness, not that it is not at all there, but it is partial.

The characteristics of santa bhaktas are ‘krsna nishta, trishna tyaga’ i.e. unflinching faith in Krsna and cessation of all desires which are not connected with Krsna. They are peaceful by nature. Examples of this stage are: Yamuna, flute, trees, etc. They are fully dedicated to Krsna, but they do not go to serve Him of their own accord. Krsna will come to them and take their service. There is bliss in this stage which is much more than that is in Brahmananda. We may say there is Shanta rasa in Brahmananda and the examples are Caturshan, the four Kumaras who are in Shanta rasa. Between Shanta Rasa devotees and the impersonalists (nirvisesha nirakara vadis) who desire to merge in the effulgence of the Lord there is gulf of difference as between sky and the earth. Without Lord’s grace Brahmananda cannot be attained, and there is worship of the Lord in Brahmananda also. Here Caturshan have faith in the transcendental form of the Lord, but their goal is Brahmananda. Sukhdev Gosvami is also in Brahmananda, but it is not that he does not believe in the Form of the Lord. The impersonalists who do not regard Lord’s form, after long penance even if they reach the stage of brahmananda, they have a fall down because they do not have Protector and Maintainer, i.e. they have not taken support and shelter of the Lotus Feet of the Lord. There is difference in Shanta rasa also. In Vrndavan the bliss the shanta rasa devotees experience is so immense and has no comparison with the Brahmananda, so much so that if we get it we will simply get stuck there and not move further. Now we say, devotion to Narayana is in the mood of opulence and so gopis say ‘Namo Narayanaya’ when they see Narayana and move on further. We have had no darshan of Narayana, still even if we are to get a scent of Narayana we will be stuck, we cannot move further. We are ignorant and simply utter the words. If we have darshan of Varaha Deva, Matsa Bhagavan (boar and fish incarnation of the Lord), then also finished, we will simply get attracted to them. Here, we have not seen, just taking the names of the gopis, cows and say like that and roam. Those who have no experience of other mellows, the gopis who are in the highest stage of transcendental mellows towards Krsna, so they uttered ‘Namo Naryayanaya’ and moved on, which others cannot do.

In dasya rasa (in the mood of servitude) Raktaka, Patraka, Citrak, etc they personally go to serve Krsna. The more the association, contact with Krsna in service, the more is the attachment and more is the bliss experienced. ‘jei rasa sei sresta’ In whichever mellow one is serving he experiences it as the best. But when observed from a neutral point of view there is difference. In dasya rasa the characterstics of both shanta and dasya are present and are ‘krsna nishta, trishna tyaga and seva’. Like by Patraka, Citrak, etc. Seva is there in relation to Naryana also. There is bliss in seva. Lord Ramachandra also has sevaks. But Sri Nandanandana Krsna’s sevaks do not have the mood of awe and reverence for Krsna nor do they expect reverence for themselves as like Narayana, Ramachandra’s sevaks are revered. Krsna does not like the mood of reverence and awe much, but love. Raktaka, Patraka, Citrak serve Him by massaging oil on His body. And when Krsna becomes impatient (chanchal) they give Him a slap! Do Narayana’s sevaks, Ramachandra’s sevaks can do this? So there is gradations in sevaks too, there is sweetness in Krsna’s sevaks. They serve Krsna for His satisfaction only. Krsna is also greatly pleased and obliged to receive their love.

In sakhya rasa (in the mood of friendship) there is dasya mixed with the confidence of fraternity (vishrambha) instead of awe and reverence (gaurav). In Vaikunta there is gaurav sakhya and here there is Vishrambha sakhya where he considers himself Krsna’s equal. When Lord wished to lift Goverdhan, He stopped the worship of Indra and told Nanda Maharaj and other gopas that we are in the protection and shelter of Goverdhan, so worship Goverdhan. By this Indra became furious, I will see Him, this cowherd boy stopped my worship, I will finish Him. He began showering heavy rain on Vraja with rain drops as thick as elephant’s trunk as during the time of devastation (pralaya) as if to drown the whole of Vraja. Then everybody got to know Indra is very angry. Now what to do? They only know Krsna and so they called Him taking His name. Krsna told do not worry, you all come to Me. All Vraja vasis left their homes with their possessions loaded on bullock-carts and came to Paita Gram which is 6 Kms away from Goverdhan. Krsna told them there is one way I can rescue you all, i.e. I will lift Goverdhan like an umbrella, His hand will serve like a stick and Goverdhan covering like an umbrella. Now I will lift (Krsna says). (Sakhas say) No, Your hands are very tender, soft, and this is a mountain and all will be injured, crushed. To test His strength, they tell there is a Kadamba tree (paita kadamba), a big tree, show us if You can uproot it. And Krsna uprooted the tree and threw it away. Oh! What is this! Wonderful. Ok, Ok! You can do it. But let us dress You nicely so that You can easily lift Goverdhan like a wrestler. Then Goverdhan was 64 miles, and now it is 7 miles, because of Pulastya Muni’s curse it is gradually reducing in size every day.

Devotees cheer : Giriraj Dharan ki Jai!!

All sakhas were afraid, if Goverdhan collapses everyone will be crushed. So they held up their sticks for extra support. Where can we find such friendship mood? In Vatsalya rasa (mood of parenthood affection) they consider krsna small, young, they control Him, they think of His welfare always, they bless Him. They do not see Him as Lord. And they have more attachment, affection than the friends. Parents have more affection for their son. But a son cannot tell all matters to his parents, also parents can fully open their heart to the son. But a chaste wife does not keep any secrets from her husband and shares everything with him. And in reciprocation the husband also opens his heart to her. Such relationships of conjugal love are there (svakiya and parakiya) and in that mood they serve Krsna in innumerable ways. From a neutral point of view the differences can be seen. And also ‘jei rasa sei sresta’ i.e. in whichever mellow one is situated and is serving he feels it is the best.

Our Parama Pujyapad Krsnadas Babaji Maharaj being in sakhya rasa (friendship mood) would feel separation and while doing kirtans tears would well up in his eyes, I saw. He would never put down his mrdanga through out the whole of parikrama whereas we would give up after some kirtans for an hour or so, but his mrdanga was always on his shoulders.

Thus all the gopis served their Worshipable Lords Radha-Krsna at Radha kunda and we remember Them.