<p> Second Period of Devotional Practice (2nd Yama Sadhana) </p><p>

Morning worship—sādhu saṅge anartha nivṛtti </p><p>

In the first period, Bhajan at the close of night, we start with Sraddha. Without which devotion
cannot start. Faith is the strong belief that by worshiping the Supreme Lord we worship all. In the
morning worship, second period, here Bhaktivinoda Thakur has stated about 'sādhu sange
anartha nivṛtti, association of bona-fide sādhus, pure devotees. Taking shelter of pure bonafide
Guru and as per his direction you start bhajan. By doing bhajan you remove all ulterior desires. In
the second period Bhaktivinoda Thakur has stated the second stage, developed stage.

<p><p><i>
nāma grahaner kālākāla-vicāra nāhi <br>
nāma sarvaśakti samanvitā </i><br>
</p><p>

There is no hard and fast rule about doing Harinam. Any time, any place, you can do it. Holy
Name is All-Powerful, everything is there in Harinam. </p><p>

<i>nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis <br>

tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ <br>

etādṛśi tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi <br>

durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ </i></p><p>

(2rd Verse of Sri Shikshastaka) </p><p>

“O Supreme Lord! Your Holy Name can bestow all kinds of eternal welfare to the conditioned
souls. You have Your Principal Names like Krishna, Govinda, Gopinath, etc. You manifest in this
world by Your Name and invest all the powers in Your Names. To remember the Names and
chant the Names no restrictions have been imposed, no rules and regulations are been imposed.
One can chant Your Name any time, in any circumstance and any place. O Lord! You are so
merciful to the conditioned souls i.e. out of compassion you have made easy for the conditioned
souls to remember and chant Holy Names, but due to my tenfold offenses and my greatest
misfortune I have got no liking for Holy Name which has been made so easily obtainable.”
</p><p>

Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is expressing great regret on our behalf saying “Oh Lord! Your Holy
Name itself can bestow all kinds of eternal welfare to the conditioned souls. (Krishna, Govinda,
Gopinath, etc. are principal Holy Names and Brahma, Paramatma, etc are not principal Names)
You have invested all powers and have descended in this world with Them. No restriction of time
or space, rules and regulations for utterance and remembrance of the Holy Names have been
imposed by You. O Lord! Thus You have been so very merciful and compassionate to the
conditioned souls that You made it easy for the conditioned souls to chant Holy Names, but due
to my tenfold offences it is my greatest misfortune that I have got no liking for the Holy Name.”
</p><p>

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is expressing His extreme regret in this way. Although Supreme Lord, out
of grace, gave all powers to His Name and as heard in the above verse He did not impose any
restrictions for taking the Holy Name, but due to my misfortune I have got no aptitude to do
Harinam. This is my greatest misfortune.

</p><p><i>

aneka-lokera vāñchā — aneka-prakāra <br>

kṛpāte karila aneka-nāmera pracāra <br>

khāite śuīte yathā tathā nāma laya, <br>

deśa-kāla-niyama nāhi sarvasiddhi haya, <br>

“sarva-śakti nāme dilā kariyā vibhāga <br>

āmāra durdaiva, — nāme nāhi anurāga!!” </i><br>

(Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita Antya 20.17-19)</p><p>

tuńhu doyā-sāgara tārayite prāṇī

nām aneka tuwā śikhāoli āni’

sakala śakati dei nāme tohārā

grahane rākholi nāhi kāla-vicārā

śrī-nāma-cintāmaṇi tohāri samānā

viśve bilāoli karunā-nidānā

tuwā doyā aichana parama udārā

atiśoy manda nātha! bhāga hāmārā

nāhi janamalo nāme anurāga mor

bhakativinoda-citta duḥkhe vibhor

Bhaktivinoda Thakur has written,

</p><p><i>

ekānta bhaktera mātra kīrtan-smaraṇa, <br>

anya parve ruchi nāhi haya pravartana, </i></p><p>

Those who have got one-pointed exclusive devotion to Supreme Lord, they will have aptitude
only to do Kirtan and Smaran (chanting and remembering Sri Krishna). Even forcibly one cannot
engage them in any other forms of devotion. </p><p>

Vishwanath Chakravartipada has stated that remembrance of the Lord is subservient to Sravan
and Kirtan. How we can remember? Remembrance is the ultimate end of what we do in these
forms of devotion. To remember, 'smartavyah', always to remember and never to forget. But how
to remember? Remembrance depends on Sravan and Kirtan. If you hear about worldly things,
how you can remember Krishna? By Kirtan you also hear. So here it is said that those who have
got one-pointed devotion and exclusive devotion, they have got no other taste except Kirtan-
smaran.

</p><p><i>

bhāvera sahita haya śrīkṛṣṇa-sevana, <br>

svārasikī-bhāva krame haya uddīpana, </i></p><p>

Krishna seva is possible and happens with great attachment and transcendental sentiments
(sthayi-bhava). There is no question of any force or compulsion for service. </p><p><i>

ekānta bhakatera kriyā mudrā rāgodita,

tathāpi sei saba nāhi vidhi vipirīta. </p><p></i>

"All the actions of a pure devotee are inspired by pure love originating from delightful relations.
Such devotee's actions may seem to be against regulated devotion (vaidhi-bhakti), persuaded by
reverence, but his purpose of service, to satisfy the object of his worship, is preserved." </p><p>

They serve Krishna with delightful relation of love. One may serve the Lord as per regulated
principles, but an advanced devotee may even serve the Lord beyond regulated principles. Their
main object is to give satisfaction to the Lord. A devotee in rāga-bhakti can do this. Govinda,
Mahaprabhu's personal sevaka, crossed over Mahaprabhu's transcendental body and served.
An ordinary devotee cannot do like this. An extra-ordinary example would be of the gopis whose
highest mood is only to give pleasure to their object of worship, Sri Krishna. Their devotion is not
opposed to regulated devotion, though externally that may seem so. A kanishta devotee cannot
understand this. What is the purpose? Those who have entry into such high moods and
relations, they can understand. </p><p>

Bhaktivinoda Thakur further says, </p><p><i>

sarva tyāga karile o chārā sukaṭhina, <br>

pratiṣṭhāśātyāge yatna payibe praviṇa, </i></p><p>

We can give up everything, but it is very difficult to give up desire for name and fame. That is the
last snare of Maya. If you cannot give up that then you cannot have progress in devotional
practice.

</p><p><i>
prabhate gabhīra rātre madhyāhne sandhyāye, <br>
anartha chāriyā lao nāmera āśraya, </p><p></i>

You do Harinam giving up all ulterior desires. If your target is different then everything will be lost
because means are justified by the end. By the end, you can have justification of the means you
have adopted. For that reason justification will be judged from the end. We should have the end
only for the satisfaction of Krishna and not for any ulterior motives. There are many professional
chanters whose objective is to get mundane benefits. But that is not the actual chanting. Always
do Harinam for Lord’s satisfaction.

</p><p><i>
ei rūpe kīrtana smaraṇa jei kare, <br>
kṛṣṇa-kṛpā haya śigrha, anāyāse tare </p><p></i>

In this way when you do Kirtan and Smaran then by Krishna's mercy you can easily attain eternal
welfare.

</p><p> <i>
śraddhā kari’ sādhu sange kṛṣṇa-nāma laye,
anartha sakala jāye niṣṭhā upajaye, </p><p></i>

Two conditions are to be fulfilled, with śraddhā (firm faith) and in the association of bonafide
sādhus, if you do Harinam then all your ulterior desires will be removed and you will get fixation of
mind in your object of worship.

</p><p> <i>
prātaḥakāle nityalīlā karibe cintana, <br>
cintite cintite bhāvera haibe sadhana </i></p><p>

Simultaneously you have to think about the eternal pastimes of the morning, second period
pastimes. Everything depends upon thinking. </p><p>

Morning pastimes of Radha-Krishna: </p><p>

</p><p><i>
rādhāṁ snāta-vibhūṣitāṁ vrajapayāhūtāṁ sakhībhiḥ prage <br>
tad-gehe vihitānna-pāka-racanāṁ kṛṣṇāvaśeṣanām <br>
kṛṣṇaṁ buddham avāpta-ḍhenu-sadanaṁ nirvyūḍha-go-dohanaṁ <br>
susnātaṁ kṛta-bhojanaṁ saha-caraistaṁ cātha tāṁ cāśrye </i></p><p>

(Govinda-lila-amritam) </p><p>

What is morning pastimes in short, it is written here. In the morning, being called by Yashoda
Devi, Radharani comes along with Her confidantes (sakhis) from Javat to Nandagram. Yashoda
Devi is wishing, let my darling son's life span enhance and He live long by taking the food
prepared by Radharani. Thinking that Yashoda Devi has no knowledge of Bhagavat-tattva, if we
go to tell her, “What are you doing, you want to increase the life span of Supreme Lord?' then you
will not get Vraja-prem, you will go out of the purview of Vraja-prem. She sends to bring
Radharani from Javat with the feeling if my darling child eats food prepared by Radharani, His life
span will increase. Yashoda Mayya can cook herself, but she does not cook thinking that my
child will benefit by accepting the food made by Radharani, and by which she also will benefit and
all are benefited. Radharani also has great desire and eagerness to serve and She gets nice
opportunity to serve. After taking bath, She comes along with Her sakhis dressing and decorating
Herself in beautiful clothes and ornaments which are pleasing to Sri Krishna, and all of them
engage their time in cooking at Nandagrama. If we have no love for cooking then we will not get
entry into the Krishna-prema. All the Vaishnava whom I have met are all experts in cooking, they
can make various nice dishes. They do not cook these days, but in earlier days they were
cooking. When we go there (i.e. the spiritual world) we have to be cooking there and if you are
afraid of cooking, then you cannot go there. And your position will be outside and you have to
cook for worldly people in this world. When the cooking is done Yashoda Mayya will loving serve
Krishna and His sakhas, and Radharani will honor remnants of Krishna with great satisfaction and
also distribute to Her sakhis. Such are the pastimes of Radharani in the morning. And Krishna
has reached home secretly and Nanda Baba and Yashoda Mayya do not know about the
happenings of the night. They think that just now our child has woken up and seeing Him arise
they are happy and pleased. Krishna goes to the cowshed along with His sakhas to milk the cows
and give them satisfaction. After that they take bath together. His sakhas (gwala-bala) do not
leave Him for a minute, run behind saying 'Kannaiah where are You? Kannaiah where are You?
Come, let us have bath together.’ Then they sit down together for food. Yashoda Devi serves
them all food. </p>

rādhā snāta vibhūṣita, śriyaśodā-samāhūta,

sakhī-saṅge tad-gr̥ he gamana
tathā pāka-viracana, śrī-kr̥ ṣṇāvaśana
madhye madhye duṅhāra milana

kr̥ ṣṇa nidrā porihori', goṣthe go-dohana kori',

snānāśana sahacara-saṅge
ei līlā cintā koro, nāma-preme goro-goro,
prāte bhakta-jana saṅge raṅge

ei līlā cinto āra koro saṅkīrtana

acire pāibe tumi bhāva-uddīpana