First Period of Devotional Practice (1st Yama Sadhana) Sraddha

Worship at close of night

It starts from Sraddha, firm faith - by serving Supreme Lord Sri Krishna we serve all.

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

With reference to this, Bhakti Vinod Thakur narraes the glories of Harinam. Even the glow of the Holy Name can destroy all sins and worldly entanglement. You will find evidence about the glories of the Holy name from Sri Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu, Dakshin Vibhag.

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' who has got the aptitude to do the Holy Name 'Krishna'. Krishna is the Supreme Redeemer of all redeemers and the Crown of all avataras, 'Avatari', worshiped by realiszd souls. You have to do Krishna Nama, the highest name. But the condition is, with firm faith i.e. to say without deceitfulness. If there is no faith no bhajan can start. Actual faith means without deceitfulness, otherwise it will be only an external show, hypocrisy. And, to start bhajan at the earliest, we may lose this chance of human birth any moment, and with simple hearted-ness. So much emphasis is repeatedly given. Why? Like the glow of the Sun removes darkness and all troubles related to darkness, like wise the glow of the Holy Name entering into the cave of the heart can destroy all sins and all illusions, 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,
prathame prathama śloka bhaja kichu din,
dvitīya ślokete tabe hauta pravīṇ

We should practice Sikshastaka taught by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. If we ignore Sikshastaka you cannot enter into the transcendental highest pastimes of RadhaKrishna in the eight periods. So it is very essential. Everything has been taught here. As I heard from my Guruvarga when first the vow of Kartika Vrata, Damodara Vrata was introduced by our Param Gurudev Bhakti Siddhantha Saraswati Gosvami Thakur, only Sikshastaka was practiced and not lila (kirtans). Subsequently it was introduced. For this reason it is very important, how gradual progress you can get. You have to practice Sikshastaka sincerely, then transcendental pastimes will be revealed.

prathame prathama śloka bhaja kichu din,
dvitīya ślokete tabe hauta pravīṇ
chāri śloke kramaśaḥ bhajana pakkva kara

Gradually you have to practice all these four verses first, very sincerely with concentration, then

pancam ślokete nija siddha deha vara

In the fifth verse you will have the knowledge or realize your realized transcendental form, without that you cannot enter into the transcendental realm with this material body.

ei śloke siddhadehe rādhāpadāśraya

And if you want to enter into the pastimes, to attain realized form to enter into Krishna lila, then you have to shelter of the Absolute Counterpart of Krishna, Complete Spiritual Potency Radharani.

ārambha kariyā krame unnati udaya,
chaya śloka bhajite anartha dure gela,
tabe jāna siddhadehe adhikāra haila

How we can understand whether we have attained our realized state, realized soul, transcendental form, it has been taught in the sixth verse. If there be any ecstatic feelings, eight kinds of ecstatic feelings, 'nayanam galad-asru-dharaya vadanam gadgada-ruddhaya gira, etc' tears will roll down from your eyes, your voice will be choked, horripilations, all these ecstatic feelings will be manifested, then you understand you have got the realized state. Otherwise you cannot enter into the transcendental pastimes of RadhaKrishna.

adhikāra nā labhiyā siddhadeha bhāve,
viparjya buddhi janme śaktira abhāve

If you do not get the eligibility but if you think about the realized state, reverse result you will have. You will become sahajiya. So you should be very careful.

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

We are going to complete this one month vow, so we have to think how much progress we have got.

siddhadeha peye krame bhajana karile

In the realized form you go on worshiping then you can have the taste of bliss of eight periods of transcendental pastimes of RadhaKrishna.

śikṣāṣṭaka cinta kara smaraṇa kīrtan,
krame aṣṭakāla-sevā habe uddīpana,
sakala anartha jābe pābe premadhana

If you want to remove ulterior desires, then how? For that you have to get the taste of the Transcendental Supreme Lord. Even a scent of it will destroy all your desires, material desires. All your efforts will be for the satisfaction of Krishna.

caturvarge phalguprāya habe adarśana

Dharma artha kama moksha (mundane virtue, wealth, sensuous enjoyment and desire for salvataion), even moksha everything will vanish.

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 Caitanya Mahaprabhu has sung the glories of Sri Krishna Sankirtan, RadhaKrishna Sankirtan. By that you can get principal seven attainments, all attainments, namely cleansing of the mind-mirror, extinguishing of the forest fire of birth, death and threefold afflictions; I am doing Harinam but I have got immense miseries, Swamiji I have got no peace of mind, this cannot be. There must be some defect in the votary. First fruit you will get is your mind will be purified, all desires will be removed. When all ulterior desires are removed there cannot be any forest fire of threefold afflictions, it will be extinguished. You are doing Harinam and having extreme suffering, this cannot be. Chanting of the Holy Name Sri Krishna bestows eternal soothing benefit like moonlight, life of spiritual learning i.e. awakening of the real self, increases the ocean of bliss, bestows at every step sweet taste of complete transcendental ambrosia, holy immersion of body-mind-real self – May Sri Krishna Sankirtan 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)

Thinking of Krishna-lila (pastimes of Krishna)

Taking it for granted that you are well-established in the practice of eight verses of Sikshastaka then you are eligible to think about transcendental pastimes of RadhaKrishna, otherwise not. Krishna lila cinta in sanctified mind, transcendental pastimes will be revealed, revelation. It will be by realization, not by material intellect or mental capacity.

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

At the close of the night along with kirtan, you have to meditate on the awakening of RadhaKrishna in the holy grove. Then gradually you will have the taste of the transcendental bliss, this is the devotional scriptural precept. This is the procedure.

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

Now after completing one month vow, then we are not to remember all these pastimes of RadhaKrishna for the eight verses of Sikshastaka, this is not correct, this is not the purpose. You have to remember through out the year. This practice will be fruitful when you remember it through out the year, always. After somehow finishing this, alright we have got free from doing this, this is not the purpose.

Apprehending day break, dawn, Vrnda Devi is very busy to awake RadhaKrishna. For the awakening she has sent the birds first because birds have the capacity to know proper time of dawn and they will start chattering just at the proper time without seeing watch. We may commit mistake but the birds will not commit mistake. In the night you should not awake RadhaKrishna, but at dawn, so all these birds are sent. The birds are not ordinary birds, they are personal associates. Krishna in the form of birds is singing His own glories. Ordinary birds cannot sing. Suk is male parrot and Sarika is female parrot and they are the main singers. And Suk when sings the glories of Krishna the supporters of Krishna or the devotees of Krishna become very much encouraged but the supporters of Radharani become depressed. Then Sarika sings the glories of Radharani more than Krishna. Radharani’s group is satisfied, Krishna’s group is dissatisfied. In this way competition is going on. Suk is singing the glories of Krishna more than Radharani and Sarika sings glories of Radharani more than Krishna. They do this in very sweet voice and along with it, gopis are also singing in very sweet voice. Hearing this automatically RadhaKrishna open Their eyes. There should not be any force. By hearing that sweet singing, Radharani first opens Her eyes. But Krishna is not opening His eyes. When Radharani opens Her eyes, gopis from a distance are seeing. They are guarding throughout the night that there should not be any disturbance in the sleep of RadhaKrishna. When RadhaKrishna are satisfied all satisfaction will come. They are not sleeping there. There is no sleep in transcendental realm. All these primal qualities of the sattva raja tamo, and by tamo guna we have got the tendency to sleep. There is no sattva, raja and tamo guna in transcendental realm. We cannot imagine this. One night if we cannot sleep then our physical body is not able to perform all the periods of transcendental pastimes. May be we need to be admitted to the Hospital. But they, by remaining awake through out night all through the year at a stretch, they take actual rest. Actual rest is there when RadhaKrishna are satisfied, actual bliss, actual rest. We cannot imagine by these material bodies.

Now Radharani opens Her eyes, Then all the gopis think that now we are relieved from the responsibility to awake Krishna, now it is Radharani’s duty to awake Krishna. But Radharani is very much worried because Krishna is not opening His eyes. Now it is high time, You have to wake up. Radharani cannot push Krishna to wake Him up. You will commit offense if you push a Vaishnava forcibly to awake. So Radharani is worried. Why Krishna is not opening His eyes? He is teaching through this pastime that there is another female monkey. Her voice is very harsh. She wants gopis to give her permission so that she can make loud sound and Krishna will awake. But they are not giving her permission. No, no. Such harsh sound we do not want. Repeatedly she is looking to the gopis and Vrnda Devi, give me permission and I can awake Krishna, but they are not giving. Krishna intentionally does not open eyes, why? His attention is on all devotees, may be very insignificant sevak in consideration of devotees, a female monkey is there. But Krishna’s attention is everywhere. No, you have to give permission to her because she is disappointed, she wants to serve, she is a devotee. May be her voice may be harsh, but you have to give her permission. Ultimately they are forced to give. Alright, you may make the sound. And that monkey makes a loud screaming sound, harsh. Krishna immediately opens His eyes. Loud screaming sound cannot not awaken Krishna. Krishna gives scope to that monkey to serve. Monkey is also a devotee. We may think harsh sound. But Krishna likes the sound of a devotee even though it is very harsh.

We have heard from our Gurudev that Bhakti Siddhanth Saraswati Gosvami Thakur wanted to hear from one of his servitors whose voice is not good. We generally prefer sweet voice. No, I want to hear from you. Krishna is attracted by devotion and not by voice.

RadhaKrishna are mutually seeing each other with wistful eyes. It is getting late and They are getting afraid. Being Supreme Lord and Absolute Counter-part of Supreme Lord, Complete Internal Potency is Radharani, They forget Themselves, otherwise there cannot be any pastimes. They run towards Their houses and everything is spiritual there. All doors are closed, but They enter into it. It is not like this in this world. They enter into it and go to Their respective beds to sleep.