ata eva namābhāse sarva pāpa vināṣa āra samsara kṣaya
(Sri Bhakti-Rasamrita-Sindhu, Dakshin Part, 1/52)

Therefore, glow of the Holy Name can destroy all sins and our worldly bondages.

taṁ nirvyājam bhaja guṇa-nidhe pāvanaṁ pāvanānāṁ
śraddhā-rajyan-matir atitarām uttamaḥ-śloka-maulim
prodyann antaḥ-karaṇa-kuhare hanta yan-nāma-bhānor
ābhāso ‘pi kṣapayati mahā-pātaka-dhvānta-rāśim

That person who is richly endowed with all good qualities is addressed as guna-nidhe. You should chant the Holy Name of Sri Krishna, Crown of all avataras, worshiped by emancipated realized souls, the Highest Name, Holy Name is Krishna, with firm faith, i.e. to say without deceitfulness. If there is no firm faith then it will be lifeless bhajan. It should be life-full. With firm faith, without deceitfulness, and at the earliest with simple-heartedness. Why? As the glow of the Sun will remove all darkness like that the glow of the Holy Name, so much glory of the chanting of the Holy Name of Sri Krishna, entering into the cave of your heart will destroy all great sins and the cause of all sins, nescience.

parama pāvana kṛṣṇa tānhānra charaṇa,
niskapata śraddhā saha karaha bhajan,
jānra nāma suryābhās antare praveśi,
dhvaṁsa kare mahāpāp andhakārarāśi,
ei śikṣāṣṭake kahe kṛṣṇalīlā-kram,
ihāte bhajan krame līlāra udgam

You want to enter into the transcendental pastimes of RadhaKrishna you have to practice Sikshastaka sincerely. Without that you will not get anything. Eight verses of Sikshastaka, when you are well-established in this then you will have gradual progress in understanding when entering into the transcendental pastimes of RadhaKrishna.

prathame prathama śloka bhaja kichu din,
dvitīya ślokete tabe hauta pravīṇ
chāri śloke kramaśaḥ bhajana pakkva kara,
pañcam ślokete nija siddha deha vara

While going through all these verses taught by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the original Supreme Lord, the combined Sri Sri Radha Krishna with sincerity and praying the grace of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu and Guru-varga, then you will be able to go the holiest transcendental realm.

ei śloke siddhadehe rādhāpadāśraya,
ārambha kariyā krame unnati udaya

Siddha deha, realized form is, you have to be related as servant or maid servant of Radharani, you have take shelter sincerely from the heart. Then you will get entrance into the transcendental pastimes of RadhaKrishna. Gradually you will get progress.

chaya śloka bhajite anartha dure gela,
tabe jāna siddhadehe adhikāra haila

Minutely you must go through the verses then you will understand how you can get progress, one by one. By only reading you will not get so much benefit, if you do not practice it. Think what, why, these verses have been taught.

adhikāra nā labhiyā siddhadeha bhāve,
viparjya buddhi janme śaktira abhāve

If you do not go through this procedure then the result will be reverse. Then you cannot enter into the transcendental realm. With this mundane ego you cannot enter.

sāvdhāne krama dhara yadi siddhi cāo,
sādhura carita dekhi śuddha buddhi pāo,
siddhadeha peye krame bhajana karile,
aṣṭakāla sevāsukha anāyāse mile

It is not known when I shall get the realized form. After getting that then you will be entitled to enter into the transcendental realm.

śikṣāṣṭaka cinta kara smaraṇa kīrtan,
caturvarga phalguprāya habe adarśana

Immediately emphasis has been given about thinking of Sikshastaka, remembrance is assured and also singing about Sikshastaka.

krame aṣṭakāla-sevā habe uddīpana

Gradually eight pastimes of Radhakrishna will be manifested.

sakala anartha jābe pābe premadhana

All ulterior desires and austerities will be removed and you will get the highest objective Krishna prema and all other desires dharma artha kama, moksha, all such desires will vanish.

1st verse of Sri Sikshastaka:

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ
bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ
śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ
vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ
prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ
sarvātma-snapanaṁ
paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṅkīrtanam

Sri Krishna Sankirtan cleanses the mirror of the heart and extinguishes the forest fire of birth, death and threefold afflictions. I am doing Harinam, but Swamiji.. so much suffering. When you do Harinam your mind will be purified, all desires will be removed, mundane desires is the cause of suffering. Then forest fire will be extinguished. While doing Harinam if you have got this sort of suffering means your mind is not purified, sanctified. There are mundane desires. As long as you have those fire of desires then the fire of afflictions will not be extinguished. Chanting of the Holy Name Sri Krishna bestows eternal soothing benefit like moon light, life of spiritual learning i.e. awakening of the real self, increasing the ocean of bliss, bestowing at every step sweet taste of complete transcendental ambrosia, holy immersion and cooling of body, mind and real-self, - be supremely glorified.

saṅkīrtana haite pāpa-saṁsāra-nāśana
citta-śuddhi, sarva-bhakti-sādhana-udgama
kṛṣṇa-premodgama, premāmṛta-āsvādana
kṛṣṇa-prāpti, sevāmṛta-samudre majjana
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 20.13-14)

“By performing congregational chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra, one can destroy the sinful condition of material existence, purify the unclean heart and awaken all varieties of devotional service. The result of chanting is that one awakens his love for Krishna and tastes transcendental bliss. Ultimately, one attains the association of Krishna and engages in His devotional service, as if immersing himself in a great ocean of love.”

Thinking of Krishna-lila (pastimes of Krishna)

Taking it for granted that you are well-established in Sikshastaka, sincerely you have practiced Sikshastaka, then you are entitled to think about the transcendental pastimes of RadhaKrishna.

niśānte kīrtane kuñja-bhaṅga kare dhyāna,
krame krame citta lagne rasera vidhān

At the close of the night along with kirtan, not without kirtan, whatever devotional form you practice it should be with kirtan, otherwise you will not get the actual fruit. While doing kirtan without tenfold offences then you will be eligible to meditate on the awakening of RadhaKrishna in the grove, and gradually you can get, your transcendental mind, not this material mind, can get the taste of the transcendental bliss. This is the devotional scriptural prescript.

rātryante trastavṛnderita bahu-vira-vaibodhitau kirasārī
padyair-hṛdhyair api sukha-śayanād-utthitau tau sakhibhiḥ
dṛṣṭau hṛṣṭau tadātvoditarati-lalitau kakkhaṭīgīḥ saśaṅkau
rādhā-kṛṣṇau satṛṣṇāv api nija-nija dhāmnyāpta talpau smarāmi

Apprehending day break, Vrinda Devi sends Suk-Sarika and other birds to start chirping to awaken RadhaKrishna. Hearing their sweet singing of the glories of RadhaKrishna, first Radharani awakens. Then the gopis feel relieved thinking now our duty is over and the responsibility of awakening Krishna is on Radharani. Gopis also sing in very sweet voice the glories of RadhaKrishna. Competition means singing the glories of Radhakrishna. Very sweet. By hearing that automatically Radharani and Krishna will be awakened. That is their purpose, they do not use harsh words, in very sweet voice you should do. In this way birds are sent. Birds have the capacity to know when there will be day break, dawn. They are not to see the watch but human beings, sometimes they commit mistake even though they have got the capacity to see the watch but they commit mistake by seeing the moonlight at dead of night they think now it is morning, they start performing arati. But birds they know without seeing the watch even when in the summer season Sun rises early and in winter season late. So they understand when there is dawn and at the proper time they awaken and at night you are not to awake Radhakrishna. That is a offence. For that reason birds are engaged. They go and at proper time they start singing and the gopis are also singing.

When Radharani opens Her eyes, she starts thinking what shall I do? what shall I do? It is not proper to disturb any senior or superior vaishnav when they are taking rest. I had done once when I went with Gurudev on prachar. When Gurudev and senior god-brothers were resting I was chanting on my beads in a loud voice. Gurudev called me aside and told, all the vaishnavas are resting and you are making them hear your loud kirtan? This is not correct. Those who are resting they are thinking about the Lord in their own mood. You are showing to them that you are doing lot of bhajan? Go to a far away place and do your chanting, not here. From then on my loud kirtans stopped. At the beginning it was like I am doing Krishna Nama, very good bhajan, and with some sort of pride. We should be very careful that we do not commit any offence to senior vaishnavas. And here Radharani also is very careful, automatically Krishna will open (His eyes). Krishna's attention is on all, everyone, even on the smallest of the small animal. Not that it is just said by Buddha Deva or is stated in the Vedas 'mā hiṁsāt sarvāṇi bhutāni.' It is not applicable only to human beings, none of the animals can be hurt or caused pain. This will be unfavourable in attaining love for Krishna. Where Bhakti makes her appearance in the heart, they cannot hurt even an ant. This quality is manifest in a Sadhu and becomes visible too. So this quality Krishna exhibits. There is one female monkey who also has desire to serve Krishna. But her voice is very harsh, irritable. She pleads can I be of some service? Krishna is not opening His eyes. Please grant me permission so that I can do some sound and awaken Him. No, the sound of your voice is very harsh. Saying no, they do not give her permission. She was sad, depressed. So Krishna intentionally kept His eyes tightly shut, I will not open them. There is no Tamoguna there that like Kumbhakarna Krishna will sleep and sleep for a long time. In this world people call one who sleeps for long like me, Kumbhakarna. There is no tamo guna there, it is just a pastime. When they see it is getting late they are forced to give her permission to make sound. Then she screamed at the top of her voice, made harsh screaming sound waking up all those gopis who were somewhat feeling drowsy and made them all alert, and Krishna also opened His eyes. Here Krishna gave the teaching ' do not neglect any servitor of any qualification '. He may not have any external qualification so much, but you must see the desire of that person to serve in any form. Here they are all transcendental. Monkey is not ordinary monkey. We are doing the work of the birds and the ringing of the bell is done by this monkey 'Dong, dong dong...' and then Krishna will be awakened. And the pujari will do it. Radhakrishna mutually seeing each other with wistful eyes. As it is getting late They run towards Their respective houses and beds to sleep.