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

First period begins with Sraddha. In the second period, we had remembered, association of devotee-sadhus, taking shelter of pure devotee—bona fide Guru (Spiritual Guide), devotional practice as per direction of Guru, among the various limbs of devotion Nama Sankirtan is the best, topmost, and removal of ulterior desires (anarthas). Anarthas are all desires other than Krsna and Krsna’s satisfaction which are unwanted things and which we consider of significance and necessary. In reality the anarthas are not our requirements. By chanting of the Holy Names all ulterior desires are removed. In the third period, there are no unwanted desires and all the time there is chanting of the Holy Names. This is called ‘Nishta’ fixation of mind on the Object of Worship in all respects. Before that sometimes mind will be engaged in bhajan and sometime to towards material desires, that time there is no ‘nishta’. When he realizes that I have no other requirement than devotional service to Supreme Lord, then his mind gets fixed in the Lord in all respects. That stage is called ‘Nishta’. After nishta comes ‘ruchi.’ when he likes to do bhajan. Prior to this stage, bhajan does not taste good, it tastes bitter. Now a days even medicine are not bitter, they come in capsules. In our childhood the medicines were so bitter and when we have to take we would scream. Child would not want to take it and would cry. Doctor would ask, what the child likes to eat. When said rasagulla, doctor would say eating rasagulla there cannot be any harm, so you can eat rasagulla. But first take the medicine and then eat rasagulla. All right. The child thought if I take the medicine I will get rasagulla. It is not the other way, you eat rasagulla and then take the medicine. So also, in spite of not tasting good we have to continue chanting. Like, when a person has jaundice the Ayurvedic doctor will advise him to drink sugar-cane juice. Though it tastes bitter that is the medicine for the disease. When cured of the disease, the same sugarcane juice will start tasting sweet. ‘syat krsna-nama-caritadi-sitapy avidya-pittopatapta-rasanasya na rocika nu kintv adarad anudinam khalu saiva justa svadvi kramad bhavati tad-gada-mula-hantri’, Srila Rupa Gosvami wrote in Sri Upadeshamrta Verse 7.. Krsna Nama and Krsna’ pastimes are very sweet tasting but it tastes bitter. When the tongue is bitter due to jaundice, the Ayurvedic doctor advises to eat mishri, and the more one takes its water, its sweetness will remove the affliction of jaundice. The medicine has to be taken. Now there is not much taste to hear and sing Sri Krsna’s names, form, qualities and pastimes. This is due to the material disease and we feel material world is good. So one has to listen to and chant Krsna’s names, form, qualities and pastimes and the more one chants his ignorance which is like jaundice that I am this body and bodily needs are my needs, all the bodily relations are mine, is removed. When this jaundice like ignorance is removed then one realizes I am of Krsna and whatever I see in this world is Krsna’s, from Krsna and are in Krsna, they have all emanated from Him and are all for Him and only when Krsna is pleased and happy, I can be happy. When one realizes this then there cannot come any hindrance on his path. So this sequence has been shown. First is firm faith, second is devotional practice in the association of sadhus, removal of ulterior desires, fixation of mind on the Object of Worship and bhajan with taste. (sraddha, bhajan kriya in sadhu sanga, anartha nivritti, nishta, and ruchi).

So Harinama should be performed with taste, ruchi. In Kaliyuga the topmost process prescribed is ‘Hari Nama Sankirtan’. The true worshipper of Harinam has got no other desire except causeless devotion to Sri Krsna. When ulterior desires are there then Nama bhajan is not possible, it will be bhajan to attain that end. We find Nama Kirtan happening everywhere but it will not be of real benefit because they have not realised their realised self (siddha svarupa). They see material benefits as their benefit and in this mood they chant the Names of the Lord. By such a chanting i.e., desiring worldly benefits it will amount to offense against Guru, Vaishnava and the Lord. There are some other offenses to the Holy Name and by doing it one will attain only worldly benefits. Then the living entity will be bound to this world and continue to suffer the cycles of birth and death and threefold afflictions, he will not get the real benefit. So it is said, bhajan should be for the Lord’s pleasure and so the true worshipper of Harinam has no other desire except causeless devotion to Sri Krsna.

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, manpower or worldly knowledge or even salvation ‘mukti’. My only prayer to get causeless one-pointed uninterrupted devotion to You.

Whatever we pray for we will get. We are conditioned souls and have a great drawback that we find faults in others, we find faults in the Supreme Lord, in Sadhus and in Guru, we do not look at ourselves. Lord is sitting inside. Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself says, utter these words from the heart I do not want wealth. We feel afraid to say the words and externally say the words but within the heart we do want wealth. Lord is not ‘bhasha grahi’ He is ‘bhava grahi’. He does not hear your words, He sees your heart, your real mood of prayer. Inside one feels I do need money now, I have to perform daughter’s marriage. Now I do need some five lakh rupees. And after my daughter is married off, then I can say I do not need any money. In this mood if we chant what can Lord give? We do not want Lord. By attaining Lord can there be any want of wealth? Is the Lord poor? Who is Lord? We have no faith in the Lord. He is the Lord of infinite brahmandas. If you become His child then you become the Lord of the infinite brahmandas automatically. A King’s son who got lost was begging on the streets and living. One man knew that the boy is King’s son. He tells him, you are the son of the King, why are you begging on the streets? Your father is the King. He took the boy to his father and the boy became the owner of all the wealth of his father. Supreme Lord is the Lord of all the infinite brahmandas. If you do not want Him and pray for something else, it is foolishness. The reality is we do not have faith that the Lord exists. This is the real problem. We are devoid of real spiritual knowledge. So we beg for other things from the Lord. Lord says, I have been telling this from a long time. I am equal to all. It is not that I grace Prahlad, Druva, Ambarish Maharaj and not you. You speak from the heart, I do not want wealth. I do not want sons, etc, I do not want education, material knowledge(vidya), I do not want salvation(mukti), nor do I want mystic powers (siddhi). May I attain one-pointed causeless devotion to You. Say this and that very moment I will come to you. We do not have strength to say this. This is the fact.

griha dravya sisya pasu dhanya adi dhana

If we do not see all the things of this world in connection with the Lord, then they are all objects of sense gratification (vishay). If we see them in connection with the Lord, then they are not objects of sense gratification. All things belong to the Lord. The owner of this house is Lord, all things in the house is Lord’s, I, my wife, children are all Lord’s. If you live life in relation with Krsna, such a life will not become a cause for your bondage. But forgetting Krsna when we want to enjoy this material world then wife, children, servants, and relatives all become objects of sense gratification. And if we see them in relation with Krsna then they will not be objects of our sense enjoyment, then we see them as objects for the service of the Lord. So, by the association of pure devotees, you have to correct your vision. Now you are enveloped by the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord. You think I am the master, I am the owner. So you want to enjoy everything. For that reason Supreme Lord’s illusory energy has enveloped the living entities and hurdled them down in this world to go through cycles of births and deaths and threefold affliction for that offense. We take shelter to Supreme Lord sincerely from the core of the heart then Supreme Lord will remove that illusion. That external potency is under Him. ‘daivi hi esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te’ (Krsna says in BG 7.14: Translation: This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.) Maya shakti is the external potency of the Lord. If you surrender unto Me, I will deliver you all from the influence of this material nature. This is told not to just the four classes of men, brahmana, kshatriya, vaisya and sudra, to all even animals and birds. Whoever surrenders I liberate him. Lord is equal to all. He will give grace one and not the other, it can not be. So, when surrender to the Lord, Lord will lift the veil of maya and you will see the whole world is all false, like a dream. When the dream is broken you will see it all false. You are dreaming now. Forgetting Lord you are dreaming in this material world. What is the use of dreaming? When Lord lifts the veil of maya, then dream is destroyed. It does not take even a minute. So speak from the heart, surrender from the heart. But we can not call Him from the heart. So Lord had to create this material universe. So many living entities, they do not want to serve Me, they want to enjoy. They cannot enjoy Me. So He created lakhs of species to let the living entities wander in these species and enjoy. Only when one attain human birth, by bestowing discriminating power (viveka) Lord asks him, do you want to come to Me or you still want to enjoy. Human birth is meant for worship of the Supreme Lord, otherwise it is simply wasted.

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 Mid-day Pastimes of Radha-Krsna

A glimpse of idea is given here of 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)

Gopis endeavor and bring about the meeting of Radha-Krsna at mid-day. Radharani possesses love of more than one crore gopis within Her. Radharani is Krsna’s Absolute Internal Potency (Purna Aradhika Shakti). She is Krsna Herself, expanded to serve Krsna. One is accepting seva and one is serving, predominating aspect of the moiety and predominated aspect of the moiety. There is no difference between predominating and predominated. But initially our contact is with the Potency (Shakti) and later with the Holder of the potency (Shaktiman). So in Sanatana dharma the practice is we do not say Narayana Lakshmi, we say Lakshmi Narayan, not Rama Sita but say Sita Rama, not Krsna Radha but say Radha Krsna, first Shakti and then Shaktiman, like how by the grace of the Sunlight we see the Sun.

Radha-Krsna meeting at Radha Kunda is the topmost pastime. Gaudiya Sampradaya holds this as the supreme, topmost among the various pastimes.

vaikuṇṭhāj janito varā madhu-purī tatrāpi rāsotsavād
vṛndāraṇyam udāra-pāṇi-ramaṇāt tatrāpi govardhanaḥ
rādhā-kuṇḍam ihāpi gokula-pateḥ premāmṛtāplāvanāt
kuryād asya virājato giri-taṭe sevāṁ vivekī na kaḥ

Srila Rupa Goswami wrote in Sri Upadeshamrta (Verse 9). In Vaikuntha there is no pastime of Lord’s birth. So the abode of Mathura (Mathura Puri) is superior. And in the Mathura Mandal the forest of Vrndavan is superior because there the festival of rasa dance takes place. Superior to Vrndavan forest is Goverdhana Hill because in its caves Lord performs many transcendental pastimes. Yet superior even to Goverdhana Hill is Sri Radha-kunda where supreme pastimes are performed and so only gopis are entitled to participate in those pastimes. No one else can have entry in those pastimes. Those who are in shanta, dasya, sakhya and even upto vatsalya are not entitled, only gopis can participate who are in madhura rasa.

But it is our great fortune that in this very Kaliyuga, now the 7th manvantara of Kaliyuga is running. In Brahma’s one day there are 14 manvantaras. In this 7th manvantar, in the 28th Chatur-yuga in its Dvapara yuga Nandanandana Krsna appeared. He does not appear in every yuga. He played pastimes with His own associates. He did not give vraja prema to others. But after that very Dvapara yuga, this Kaliyuga has come. One Kaliyuga is 4,32,000 years, double of this is Dvapara yuga, three times is Treta yuga and four times is Satya yuga. All these four yugas put together is the life of one Manu. The life of such 14 Manus is equal to Brahma’s one day and of another 14 Manus is equal to Brahma’s one night. So in the one day of Brahma 28 Manvantaras pass by. Nandanandana Krsna appears only once in a day of Brahma, other incarnations manifest, but Nandanandana Krsna who is ‘Avatari’ the cause of all avatars, does not appear in every age. However in this special yuga He appeared in this Dvapara Yuga. The same Krsna taking the mood of Radharani appears once in the day of Brahma. So She is very magnanimous. Why is She dear to the Lord? She is the most magnanimous than anyone. She has Her attention on all, She has love for everyone. Krsna likes this quality of Hers. She will not leave anyone, will bring all to Krsna. So taking Her magnanimous mood Nandanandana Krsna appeared as Gauranga, inside Krsna and outside Gauranga. And as Gauranga in Kaliyuga He distributed ‘madhur prema’ to everyone which He did not give to anyone even in Dvapara, which is called Kanta prema (mellow of consort-hood), also called gopi-prema. This prema which is very difficult to attain, He distributed it very easily. So when one takes shelter of the lotus feet of Gauranga who is the combined form of Sri Radha-Krsna and call out ‘Ha Gauranga, Ha Gauranga’ then he will attain this rare treasure of ‘prema’. We have taken birth in this special Kaliyuga and so we have take the benefit of it as we cannot know when again such an opportunity will come.

Here, all the ecstatic feelings of highest order including Astasattvik vikar—eight principal ecstatic feelings, thirty three kinds of other subordinate ecstatic feelings—sanchari are manifested in Radha-kunda. In no other pastimes such excellent charmness of sweet ecstatic feelings can be found. Some of them are ‘Utkantha’—supreme eagerness to get contact with the object of love, ‘Vamya’—crookedness of prema, external expression of rudeness, harshness but inside actually just the reverse—which is inexplicable. There innumerable pastimes take place like hearing joking words of Lalita and other sakhis, Radha-Krsna get happiness, swinging ceremony (Jhulan) of Radha-Krsna. The Jhulan which we see had happened in Kamya vana, but in Radha-kunda it occurs every day. Other pastimes are pleasant strolling in the forest (vana-vihar), water sports in ponds and rivers (dola-keli), stealing of flute (vamsi-haran) and other transcendental pastimes take place there. Radha-Krsna are the Objects of Worship and Gopis worship them and no body else can have entry there. We remember such pastimes of Radha-Krsna.