Second period of Devotional Practice (2nd Yama Sadhana)

Morning Worship: Sadhusange Anartha nivrtti

In the first period we have started from Sraddha. Without faith bhajan does not begin at all. Firm faith should be there, by serving Supreme Lord we serve all. You pour water at the root of the tree the whole tree is nourished. Without pouring water at the root if you sprinkle water to different parts those parts will not be nourished. This is the original qualification of a sadhu.

In Second period gradual procedure or progress, you have to associate with Sadhu. Who is a sadhu, one in a saffron cloth? No. Sadhu may be in household life or saffron cloth. But he must have one-pointed devotion to Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. ‘mayy ananya bhavena bhaktim kurvanti ye drdam’. This is the life of sadhu. If this life comes other concomitant qualities we can see as a result of this ananya bhakti, one-pointed devotion. Sadhu sanga – association of such sadhus is necessary. Caitanya Mahaprabhu established five principal forms of devotion. But He has started from Sadhu sanga. Without sadhu-sanga we cannot perform any devotional form. And a pure devotee is also a bona-fide Guru. Taking shelter of a bona-fide Guru, suddha bhakta and as per his direction you have to perform devotional forms, particularly Nama Sankirtan in this Kali yuga. By doing Nama Sankirtan sincerely without tenfold offenses, other desires, motives will be removed, they are anartha. Because of the misconception of the Self we have non-eternal desires. Those desires are the obstacle in getting the highest objective, Krishna prema. For that reason if we worship taking shelter of a suddha bhakta, Sad-guru sincerely all the ulterior desires will be removed. This we have to practice in the second period of devotional practice. Only by saying you will not get. You have to practically do it.

nāma grahaner kālākāla-vicāra nāhi
nāma sarvaśakti samanvitā

Any time, in any place, in any circumstance you can do Harinama. Name is All-powerful. Repeatedly we are hearing that by uttering the Holy Name you will get everything.

Second Verse of Sikshastaka:

nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis
tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
etādṛśi tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi
durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ
(2rd Verse of Sri Shikshastaka)

Caitanya Mahaprabhu in spite of being the Supreme Personality of Godhead is giving us teaching taking the mood of topmost devotee Srimati Radharani. O Supreme Lord! Your Holy Name bestows all kinds of eternal welfare to the conditioned souls. By uttering the Holy Name you will get all eternal welfare and not to do any other form of spiritual practice. By doing Harinam, the Name Himself, certainly you will get all eternal welfare. For that reason Supreme Lord descends in this world in various Original Names, Principal Names, not secondary names in connection with the material world, from Goloka Vrndavan Krishna, Govinda, Gopinath, Madanmohan like this. And all powers have been given to the Names. And there is no restriction, anywhere any place one can chant the Holy Names of the Lord. Human beings of this Kali yuga are busy, they have got so many drawbacks, they are unable to perform other forms of spiritual practice, meditation, oblation, worship of deities, etc. For them it is prescribed to do Harinam. You can call your child, you can call your father, mother, can you not call Supreme Lord? All the demon boys, small boys of 4-5 years age they said to Prahlad Maharaj, we have got no knowledge of Supreme Lord, He is so big, how we can worship, very difficult. ‘na hy acyutam prinayato bahv-ayaso asuratmajah atmatvat sarva-bhutanam siddhatvad iha sarvatah’ (SB 7.6.19). No it is not difficult to please, to worship Supreme Lord. It is very easy. It may be difficult in this world, wife takes so much trouble through day and night yet she cannot satisfy her husband, husband cannot satisfy his wife, parents cannot satisfy their children, children cannot satisfy parents, except only by motherly affection, of course even there they think of some material interest. But it is very easy to satisfy Krishna. Why? He is dear to all, ‘atmatvat sarva-bhutanam’ very dear to all and very easy to satisfy. Even if you see, mother has got affection for her child. If the child gives something after tasting and with all the things of the earth mixed then it is not fit to be eaten, for a mother if the child gives it, mother takes it to satisfy the child. Here also in this world God has got immense love for us. So it is not difficult. Only if you utter Oh God, Oh Supreme Lord, Oh Krishna, He will become satisfied. Nothing is to be given. It is not difficult.

All powers have been given to the Name. There is no restriction of time, place or circumstance. Anywhere any time any circumstance you can chant the Holy Name. O Lord, You are so merciful to the conditioned souls that You have made easy for the conditioned souls to remember and chant Holy Names, but due to my tenfold offenses it is my greatest misfortune that I have got no liking for Holy Name which has been made so easily obtainable. It has been made so easy, yet I have got no aptitude to do Harinam because of tenfold offenses. It is our greatest misfortune. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is expressing His regret. Always you can do while cooking, while moving, while working, without mala, there is no necessity of mala. At the time of when doing within the bag then you have to be very careful by washing your hands etc. But you can do Harinam even in the lavatory, utter. That is also allowed.

aneka-lokera vāñchā — aneka-prakāra
kṛpāte karila aneka-nāmera pracāra
khāite śuīte yathā tathā nāma laya,
deśa-kāla-niyama nāhi sarvasiddhi haya
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 20.17-18)

sarvaśakti nāme dila kariyā vibhāga,
āmāra durdaiva nāme nāhi anurāga
(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 20.19)

We have to understand the writing of Bhakti Vinod Thakur carefully, with evidence from Hari-Bhakti-Vilasa.

ekānta bhaktera mātra kīrtan-smaraṇa,
anya parve ruchi nāhi haya pravartana

One who is a pure devotee who has got one-pointed devotion to Lord (ananya bhakta) has got liking only to perform devotion of chanting and remembering Sri Krishna (sravana and kirtan). He has no taste to perform any other form of devotion. He will not give much attention to ritualistic performances of the worldly people. Liking for only Sravan Kirtan is the main characteristic of a sadhu i.e.one who has exclusive devotion to the Lord. Like a materialistic person has attraction towards materialistic subject, a devout devotee of the Lord has attraction only to topics in relation to the Lord. That sort of mental attitude is not there, that sort of liking is not there to do Harinam and to remember to do kirtan, then he is not a one-pointed devotee. Actually he is not a sadhu or a suddha bhakta. It is said only kirtan smaran. Specially for other ritualistic performances, karma kanda, he has no such desire.

bhāvera sahita haya śrīkṛṣṇa-sevana,
svārasikī-bhāva krame haya uddīpana

Stable delightful relation is called bhava. With that relation when you serve Krishna who is the Object of all love, pure love one attains bhava. With Vidhi bhakti as per the injunctions of scriptures you can worship Narayan, not Krishna. It is difficult to understand, it is transcendental(para). All these injunctions are there in the Scriptures. ‘vidhi-marge-rata-jane svadhinata ratna-dane raga-marge karan pravesa’ Gradually you can get that. But actually when you serve Radha Krishna with all these rules and regulations you are actually serving Lakshmi Narayan. He is the object of pure love only, ‘mora sakha, mora putra, mora prananatha’ like this, great affection. Otherwise there will be hindrance of all these majestic aspects.

bhāvera sahita haya śrīkṛṣṇa-sevana,
svārasikī-bhāva krame haya uddīpana
ekānta bhakatera kriyā mudrā rāgodita
tathāpi sei saba nāhi vidhi viparīta

It may seem that a service by a Vraja vasi is against regulated devotion persuaded by reverence and if you try to correct him, teach him, Krishna will remove you from Vraja, there is no need for you to stay here, you came to teach Vraja vasis? He would like to hear anything against them.

sarva tyāga karile o chārā sukaṭhina,
pratiṣṭhāśātyāge yatna payibe praviṇa

You can give up everything, even attraction for money, for sex relation, but it is very difficult to give up desire for name and fame. If you do not give up this you cannot get pure devotion. Even you can commit offense because if there is any obstruction to it you will become furious. You can insult senior devotees, apprehension of serious offense is there in the desire for name and fame. It has been condemned very seriously.

prabhate gabhīra rātre madhyāhne sandhyāye,
anartha chāriyā lao nāmera āśraya

Only you have to do Harinam without ulterior desires. No desire should be there. When you will perform bhajan as per the direction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Sikshastaka gradually, all these material desires will be removed, your real self, eternal form of the real self will be revealed, you will go straight towards Krishna. And as a consequence, your mind will be removed from all these non-eternal things of the world.

ei rūpe kīrtana smaraṇa jei kare,
kṛṣṇa-kṛpā haya śigrha, anāyāse tare

In this way with seriousness, sincerity if you do (bhajan) then Krishna will grace. Any way they are sincere, they may have weakness, but they are sincere, trying, Krishna will come at your back. In Gita He says, ‘api ceta su-duracaro bhajate mam ananya-bhak sadhur eva sa mantavyah samyag vyavasito hi sah, ksipram bhavati dharmatma sasvac chantim nigacchati kauteya pratijanihi na me bhaktah pranasyati’. If he is sincere, may be due to previous bad impressions he might have done a sin, but he should not be neglected and through Arjuna Krishna says you declare this to all other groups of spiritualists, yogi, jnani, karmi, and worshipers of other demi-gods loudly, that My devotee will never be destroyed. So very carefully we have to do.

kṛṣṇa-kṛpā haya śigrha, anāyāse tare
śraddhā kari’ sādhu sange kṛṣṇa-nāma laye
anartha sakala jāye niṣṭhā upajaye

With firm faith and in the association of bona-fide sadhu, not for any other purpose, I am uttering Krishna to take something else, to get money, then it will be singing of narration of money, not of the Lord. Gaura Kishor Das babaji Maharaj showed this by his pastime. He lived in a broken boat and performed bhajan. He lived a very renounced life, sometimes drinking only water and sometimes eating mud which no ordinary man can do. If anyone would come to him and touch his feet, he will curse him. All will offer pranams to him from far. Hearing about Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj to be a paramahamsa, a speaker of Bhagavat from Navadvip came to him and prayed to him for speaking Bhagavatam in his presence. Babaji Maharaj remained silent, did not respond. But the sevak of Babaji Maharaj said, Babaji Maharaj does not speak. If you want to speak Bhagavatam you may do so, we will hear. Then the arrangements were made and the man spoke Bhagavatam very nicely. The sevak was very pleased. After the man left the place, Babaji Maharaj called the sevak. He normally does not call the sevak because he has no need at all. They stay with him so that they get some chance for service. He orders, go and get some cow-dung. Wherever cow-dung is applied, the place becomes purified. He brought the cow-dung thinking after a long time I got some seva. Babaji Maharaj asked him to smear the cow-dung in the place where Bhagavat katha took place. Sevak is surprised and said ‘Babaji Maharaj, this place is already pure, here Bhagavat katha took place.’ Babaji Maharaj asked ‘Is it? I did not hear any Bhagavat katha at all. I heard only Money! Money! (rupaiya, rupaiya). So the place has become impure. So you wash it.’ Babaji Maharaj could understand the speaker’s heart. He wanted money to get his daughter married off and thought if I speak Bhagavat in the presence of Babaji Maharaj then I will become famous and many people will call me to speak and I will get lot of pranami (offerings of money, etc.). Then I can get my daughter married off within 2-3 months. His object of katha was ‘Money’ not Lord’s glories. Babaji Maharaj is ‘antaryami’ in-dweller of the heart and understood that he did not do Bhagavat katha, so clean the place with cow-dung, like this. With firm faith and in the association of Sadhus, it is very difficult to find a real sadhu in the world. One Mahatma in Bathinda can liberate lakhs of conditioned souls of this world. A character-less person can do good to how many people? Quantity has no value, it is quality that is of value. If you want quality you have to give up on quantity. If you want quantity then you cannot get quality. If you want to increase quantity then increase, quality will reduce, like this. Real Sadhu sanga and the person who can avail real sadhu sanga are both rare, difficult to find in this world.

anartha sakala jāye niṣṭhā upajaye

When you perform bhajan in sadhu sanga other motives will be removed and you can concentrate your mind on the Object of Worship. There will be fixation of mind.

prātaḥakāle nityalīlā karibe cintana
cintite cintite bhāvera haibe sadhana

After doing all this Harinam as per direction of our Guruvarga then you are entitled to think about the transcendental pastimes.

Morning pastimes of Radha-Krishna

rādhāṁ snāta-vibhūṣitāṁ vrajapayāhūtāṁ sakhībhiḥ prage
tad-gehe vihitānna-pāka-racanāṁ kṛṣṇāvaśeṣanām
kṛṣṇaṁ buddham avāpta-ḍhenu-sadanaṁ nirvyūḍha-go-dohanaṁ
susnātaṁ kṛta-bhojanaṁ saha-caraistaṁ cātha tāṁ cāśrye
(Govinda-lila-amritam)