How to Discharge Devotional Service

NoD 6-1970: How to Discharge Devotional Service

Chapter Six
How to Discharge Devotional Service

Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé states that his elder brother (Sanätana Gosvämé) has compiled Hari-bhakti-viläsa for the guidance of the Vaiñëavas and therein has mentioned many rules and regulations to be followed by the Vaiñëavas. Some of them are very important and prominent, and he will now mention these very important items for our benefit. The purport of this statement is that Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé proposes to mention only basic principles, not details. For example, a basic principle is that one has to accept a spiritual master. Exactly how one follows the instructions of his spiritual master is considered a detail. For example, if one is following the instruction of his spiritual master and that instruction is different from the instructions of another spiritual master, this is called detailed information. But the basic principle of acceptance of a spiritual master is good everywhere, although the details may be different. Çréla Rüpa Gosvämé does not wish to enter into details here, but wants to place before us only the principles.

He mentions the basic principles as follows: 1) accepting the shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide spiritual master, 2) becoming initiated by the spiritual master and learning how to discharge devotional service from him, 3) obeying the orders of the spiritual master with faith and devotion, 4) following in the footsteps of great äcäryas (teachers) under the direction of the spiritual master, 5) inquiring from the spiritual master how to advance in Kåñëa consciousness, 6) being prepared to give up anything material for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Çré Kåñëa (This means that when we are engaged in the devotional service of Kåñëa, we must be prepared to give up something which we may not like to give up, and also we have to accept something which we may not like to accept.), 7) residing in a sacred place of pilgrimage like Dvärakä or Våndävana, 8)  dealing with the material world only as far as necessary, 9) observing the fasting day on Ekädaçé, and 10) worshiping sacred trees like the banyan tree.

These ten items are preliminary necessities for beginning the discharge of devotional service in regulative principles. In the beginning, if a neophyte devotee observes the above-mentioned ten principles, surely he will quickly make good advancement in Kåñëa consciousness.

Mukunda Mala Stotra

SUTRA 5
TEXT
nastha dharme na vasu-nicaye naiva kamopabhoge
yad bhavyam tad bhavatu bhagavan purva-karmanurupam
etat prarthyam mama bahu matam janma-janmantare 'pi
tvat-padambhoruha-yuga-gata niscala bhaktir astu
SYNONYMS

na--not; astha--special regard; dharme--for religiosity; na--nor; vasu--of wealth; nicaye--for the accumulation; na eva--nor even; kama-upabhoge--for sense enjoyment; yat--whatever; bhavyam--inevitable; tat--that; bhavatu--let it happen; bhagavan--O Lord; purva--previous; karma--my deeds; anurupam--according to; etat--this; prarthyam--to be requested; mama--by me; bahu matam--most desirable; janma-janma--birth after birth; antare--during; api--even; tvat--Your; pada-amboruha--of lotus feet; yuga--in the pair; gata--resting; niscala--unflinching; bhaktih--devotion; astu--may there be.

TRANSLATION

O my Lord! I have no attachment for religiosity, or for accumulating wealth, or for enjoying sense gratification. Let these come as they inevitably must, in accordance with my past deeds. But I do pray for this most cherished boon: birth after birth, let me render unflinching devotional service unto Your two lotus feet.

PURPORT

Human beings advance toward God consciousness when they go beyond the gross materialistic life of eating, sleeping, fearing, and mating and begin to develop moral and ethical principles. These principles develop further into religious consciousness, leading to an imaginary conception of God without any practical realization of the truth. These stages of God consciousness are called religiosity, which promises material prosperity of various degrees.

People who develop this conception of religiosity perform sacrifices, give in charity, and undergo different types of austerity and penance, all with a view toward being rewarded with material prosperity. The ultimate goal of such so-called religious people is sense gratification of various kinds. For sense gratification, material prosperity is necessary, and therefore they perform religious rituals with a view toward the resultant material name, fame, and gain.

But genuine religion is different. In Sanskrit such genuine religion is called dharma, which means "the essential quality of the living being." The sastras say that this essential quality is to render eternal service, and the proper object of this service is the Supreme Truth, Lord Krsna, the Absolute Personality of Godhead. This eternal, transcendental service of the Lord is misdirected under material conditions and takes the shape of (1) the aforementioned religiosity, (2) economic development, (3) sense gratification, and (4) salvation, or the attempt to negate all material variegatedness out of frustration.

Genuine religion, however, does not culminate in either economic development, sense gratification, or salvation. The perfection of religion is to attain complete satisfaction of the spirit soul, and this is accomplished by rendering devotional service to the Lord, who is beyond the perception of the material senses. When the living being directs his eternal service attitude toward the eternal Supreme Being, such service can never be hampered by any sort of material hindrance. Such transcendental service is above even salvation, and therefore it certainly does not aim at any kind of material reward in the shape of name, fame, or gain.

One who engages in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Being automatically attains detachment from material name, fame, and gain, which are aspired for only by those who do not understand that this name, fame, and gain are merely shadows of the real thing. Material name, fame, and gain are only perverted reflections of the substance--the name, fame, and opulences of the Lord. Therefore the pure devotee of Lord Vasudeva, enlightened by the transcendental service attitude, has no attraction for such false things as religiosity, economic development, sense gratification, or salvation, the last snare of Maya.

The purpose of performing real religion is to attain attachment for hearing and chanting the messages of the kingdom of God. Materialistic people are attached to ordinary newspapers on account of their lack of spiritual consciousness. Real religion develops this spiritual consciousness and also attachment for the messages of God, without which all labor in the performance of religious rites is only a waste of energy.

Therefore one should not practice religion with the aim of improving one's economic welfare, nor should one use one's wealth for sense gratification, nor should the frustration of one's plans for sense gratification lead one to aspire for salvation, or liberation from material conditions. Instead of indulging in sense gratification of different grades with the fruits of one's labor, one should work just to maintain the body and soul together, with the aim of inquiring into the ultimate aims and objects of life. In other words, one should inquire into the Absolute Truth.

The Absolute Truth is realized in three phases, namely, the impersonal Brahman, the localized Paramatma, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. A person who attains the highest stage of spiritual realization--realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead--automatically prays as King Kulasekhara does here.

Only one who renders devotional service to the Lord can attain this stage of indifference to the false and temporary assets of material nature. Such devotional service is not a mental concoction of depraved persons but is an actual process of God realization characterized by full cognizance and detachment and based on the Vedic literature. So-called devotional practices that have no reference to the rules and regulations set down in such books of Vedic literature as the sruti, the smrti, the Puranas, and the Pancaratras are not bona fide. The self-realized souls advise us to reject such pseudodevotional practices, which simply create a disturbance on the path of spiritual realization. Only by sincerely engaging in the service of the Lord according to the injunctions of scripture can one gradually become a qualified devotee of the Lord, and it does not matter whether it takes many repetitions of birth and death, life after life.

Mukunda-mala-stotra

SUTRA 4
TEXT

naham vande tava caranayor dvandvam advandva-hetoh
kumbhipakam gurum api hare narakam napanetum
ramya-rama-mrdu-tanu-lata nandane napi rantum
bhave bhave hrdaya-bhavane bhavayeyam bhavantam


SYNONYMS

na--not; aham--I; vande--pray; tava--Your; caranayoh--of the lotus feet; dvandvam--to the pair; advandva--of release from duality; hetoh--for the reason; kumbhipakam--the planet of boiling oil; gurum--most severe; api--either; hare--O Hari; narakam--hell; na--not; apanetum--to avoid; ramya--very beautiful; rama--of the fair sex; mrdu--soft; tanu-lata--of creeperlike bodies; nandane--in the pleasure gardens of heaven; na api--nor; rantum--to enjoy; bhave bhave--in various rebirths; hrdaya--of my heart; bhavane--within the house; bhavayeyam--may I concentrate; bhavantam--on You.

TRANSLATION

O Lord Hari, it is not to be saved from the dualities of material existence or the grim tribulations of the Kumbhipaka hell that I pray to Your lotus feet. Nor is my purpose to enjoy the soft-skinned beautiful women who reside in the gardens of heaven. I pray to Your lotus feet only so that I may remember You alone in the core of my heart, birth after birth.

PURPORT

There are two classes of men: the atheists and the theists. The atheists have no faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, while the theists have various degrees of faith in Him.

The atheists are faithless on account of their many misdeeds in their present and past lives. They fall into four categories: (1) the gross materialists, (2) the immoral sinners, (3) the number-one fools, and (4) those who are bewildered by maya despite their mundane erudition. No one among these four classes of atheist ever believes in the Supreme Personality of Godhead, what to speak of offering prayers unto His lotus feet.

The theists, on the other hand, have faith in the Lord and pray to Him with various motives. One attains such a theistic life not by chance but as a result of performing many pious acts in both the present life and the past life. Such pious men also belong to four categories: (1) the needy, (2) those who have fallen into difficulty, (3) those who are inquisitive about the transcendental science, and (4) the genuine philosophers. The philosophers and those who are inquisitive are better than those in categories (1) and (2). But a pure devotee is far above these four classes of pious men, for he is in the transcendental position.

The needy pious man prays to God for a better standard of life, and the pious man who has fallen into material difficulty prays in order to get rid of his trouble. But the inquisitive man and the philosopher do not pray to God for amelioration of mundane problems. They pray for the ability to know Him as He is, and they try to reach Him through science and logic. Such pious men are generally known as theosophists.

Needy pious men pray to God to improve their economic condition because all they know is sense gratification, while those in difficulty ask Him to free them from a hellish life of tribulations. Such ignorant people do not know the value of human life. This life is meant to prepare one to return to the absolute world, the kingdom of God.

A pure devotee is neither a needy man, a man fallen into difficulty, nor an empiric philosopher who tries to approach the Divinity on the strength his own imperfect knowledge. A pure devotee receives knowledge of the Divinity from the right source--the disciplic succession of realized souls who have followed strictly the disciplinary method of devotional service under the guidance of bona fide spiritual masters. It is not possible to know the transcendental nature of the Divinity by dint of one's imperfect sense perception, but the Divinity reveals Himself to a pure devotee in proportion to the transcendental service rendered unto Him.

King Kulasekhara is a pure devotee, and as such he is not eager to improve himself by the standards of the empiric philosophers, distressed men, or fruitive workers of this world. Pious acts may lead a mundane creature toward the path of spiritual realization, but practical activity in the domain of devotional service to the Lord need not wait for the reactions of pious acts. A pure devotee does not think in terms of his personal gain or loss because he is fully surrendered to the Lord. He is concerned only with the service of the Lord and always engages in that service, and for this reason his heart is the Lord's home. The Lord being absolute, there is no difference between Him and His service. A pure devotee's heart is always filled with ideas about executing the Lord's service, which is bestowed upon the pure devotee through the transparent medium of the spiritual master.

The spiritual master in the authoritative line of disciplic succession is the "son of God," or in other words the Lord's bona fide representative. The proof that he is bona fide is his invincible faith in God, which protects him from the calamity of impersonalism. An impersonalist cannot be a bona fide spiritual master, for such a spiritual master's only purpose in life must be to render service to the Lord. He preaches the message of Godhead as the Lord's appointed agent and has nothing to do with sense gratification or the mundane wrangling of the impersonalists. No one can render devotional service to an impersonal entity because such service implies a reciprocal personal relationship between the servant and the master. In the impersonal school the so-called devotee is supposed to merge with the Lord and lose his separate existence.

Pure devotees like King Kulasekhara are particularly careful to avoid a process that will end in their becoming one with the existence of the Lord, a state known as advandva, nonduality. This is simply spiritual suicide. Out of the five kinds of salvation, advandva is the most abominable for a devotee. A pure devotee denounces such oneness with the Lord as worse than going to hell.

As His separated expansions, the living beings are part and parcel of the Lord. The Lord expands Himself into plenary parts and separated parts to enjoy transcendental pastimes, and if a living being refuses to engage in these transcendental blissful pastimes, he is at liberty to merge into the Absolute. This is something like a son's committing suicide instead of living with his father according to the rules the father sets down. By committing suicide, the son thus sacrifices the happiness he could have enjoyed by engaging in a filial loving relationship with his father and enjoying his father's estate. A pure devotee persistently avoids such a criminal policy, and King Kulasekhara is guiding us to avoid this pitfall.

The king also says that the reason he is praying to the Lord is not to be saved from the Kumbhipaka hell. Laborers in gigantic iron and steel mills suffer tribulations similar to those in the Kumbhipaka hell. Kumbhi means "pot," and paka means "boiling." So if a person were put into a pot of oil and the pot were set to boiling, he would have some idea of the suffering in Kumbhipaka hell.

There are innumerable hellish engagements in the modern so-called civilization, and by the grace of the Lord's illusory energy people think these hellish engagements are a great fortune. Modern industrial factories fully equipped with up-to-date machines are so many Kumbhipaka hells, and the organizers of these enterprises regard them as indispensable for the advancement of economic welfare. The mass of laborers exploited by the organizers directly experience the "welfare" conditions in these factories, but what the organizers do not know is that by the law of karma they will in due time become laborers in similar Kumbhipaka hells.

Intelligent persons certainly want to be saved from such Kumbhipaka hells, and they pray to God for this benediction. But a pure devotee does not pray in this way. A pure devotee of Narayana looks equally upon the happiness enjoyed in heaven, the transcendental bliss of becoming one with the Lord, and the tribulations experienced in the Kumbhipaka hell. He is not concerned with any of them because he is always engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. By the grace of the Lord, even in the Kumbhipaka hell a pure devotee can adjust the situation and turn it into Vaikuntha.

The Bhagavad-gita and all other revealed scriptures say that the Lord accompanies every living being in His localized aspect of Paramatma, the Supersoul. Therefore even a living being destined to reside in the Kumbhipaka hell is accompanied by his eternal companion, the Lord. But by His inconceivable power the Lord remains aloof from these hellish circumstances, just as the sky remains separate from the air although seemingly mixed with it.

Similarly, the pure devotee of the Lord does not live anywhere in this material world, although He appears to live among mundane creatures. Actually, the devotee lives in Vaikuntha. In this way the Supreme Lord bestows upon His pure devotee the inconceivable power that allows him to stay aloof from all mundane circumstances and reside eternally in the spiritual world. The devotee does not want this power consciously or unconsciously, but the Lord is careful about His devotee, just as a mother is always careful about her little child, who is completely dependent on her care.

A pure devotee like King Kulasekhara refuses to associate with beautiful soft-skinned women. There are different grades of women on different planets in the universe. Even on the earth there are different types of women who are enjoyed by different types of men. But on higher planets there are women many, many millions of times more beautiful than the women on this planet, and there are also many pleasure abodes where they can be enjoyed. The best of all of these is the Nandana Gardens on Svargaloka. In the Nandana Gardens--a "Garden of Eden"--those who are qualified can enjoy varieties of beautiful women called Apsaras. The demigods generally enjoy the company of the Apsaras in the same way that the great Mogul kings and nawabs enjoyed their harems. But these kings and nawabs are like straw before the demigods of Svargaloka, which lies in the third stratum of the universe.

The inner tendency to enjoy is in the core of every living being's heart. But in the diseased state of material existence the living being misuses that tendency. The more he increases this diseased, conditioned state, the longer he extends his period of material existence. The sastras advise, therefore, that a living entity should accept only those sense-enjoyable objects necessary for the upkeep of the material body and reject those that are just for sense gratification. In this way he will reduce the tendency for sense enjoyment. This restraint cannot be imposed by force; it must be voluntary.

Such restraint automatically develops in the course of one's executing devotional service. Thus one who is already engaged in devotional service need not restrain his senses artificially. A pure devotee like King Kulasekhara, therefore, neither desires sense enjoyment nor exerts himself to restrain his senses; rather, he tries only to engage himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord, without any stop.

Narada Bhakti Sutra

 Narada-bhakti-sutra

                    

Chapter 1

The Value of Devotion

Narada-bhakti-sutra

SUTRA 1

TEXT

athato bhaktim vyakhyasyamah

SYNONYMS

atha--now; atah--therefore; bhaktim--devotional service; vyakhyasyamah--we shall try to explain.

 TRANSLATION

   Now, therefore, I will try to explain the process of devotional service.

PURPORT

   Devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is explained in the Bhagavad-gita, where the Lord says that a self-realized person is always in the transcendental state known as brahma-bhuta, which is characterized by joyfulness. When one is self-realized he becomes joyful. In other words, he is free from the material contamination of lamentation and hankering. As long as we are in material existence, we lament for the losses in our life and hanker for that which we do not have. A self-realized person is joyful because he is free from material lamentation and hankering.

   A self-realized person also sees all living entities equally. For him, there is no distinction between the higher and lower species of life. It is also stated that a learned man does not distinguish between a wise brahmana and a dog because he sees the soul within the body, not the external bodily features. Such a perfected, self-realized person becomes eligible to understand bhakti, or devotional service to the Lord.

   Bhakti is so sublime that only through bhakti can one understand the constitutional position of the Lord. That is clearly stated in the Bhagavad-gita (18.55): bhaktya mam abhijanati. "One can understand the Supreme Lord through devotional service, and by no other process." There are different processes of understanding the Absolute Truth, but if a person wants to understand the Supreme Lord as He is, he has to take to the process of bhakti-yoga. There are other mystic processes, such as karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, and dhyana-yoga, but it is not possible to understand the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, except through His devotional service. This is confirmed in the Fourth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita (4.3), where we learn that Krsna spoke the Bhagavad-gita to Arjuna simply because he was the Lord's devotee and friend. The Bhagavad-gita teaches the process of bhakti-yoga, and therefore Lord Krsna explained it to Arjuna because he was a great devotee. As far as spiritual life is concerned, becoming a devotee of the Lord is the high-est perfection…

      

   The strict followers of the karma-kanda portions of the Vedas perform various sacrifices for worship of different demigods in order to achieve particular material results. Out of many millions of such worshipers, some may actually engage in the process of understanding the Supreme, the Absolute Truth. They are called jnanis. Perfection for a jnani lies in attaining the stage of brahma-bhuta, or self-realization. Only after self-realization is attained does the stage of understanding devotional service begin. The conclusion is that one can begin the process of devotional service, or bhakti, when one is actually self-realized. One who is in the bodily concept of existence cannot understand the process of devotional service.

   It is for this reason that the Narada-bhakti-sutra begins, "Now, therefore, I shall try to explain the process of devotional service." The word "therefore" indicates that this process of devotional service is for the self-realized soul, one who is already liberated. Similarly, the Vedanta-sutra begins athato brahma-jijnasa. The word brahma-jijnasa refers to inquiry into the Supreme Absolute Truth, and it is recommended for those who have been elevated from the lower stage of addiction to the karma-kanda portion of the Vedas to the position of interest in the jnana-kanda portion. Only when a person is perfectly situated in the realization that he is not the body but a spirit soul can he begin the process of bhakti, or devotional service.

Guru Puja - Guru Nistha

I offer my humble apologies for not being able to post for Janmastami and Guru Puju appropriately.

This small video reflects what I believe what is not mature in myself and the Krishna movemenet writ large. This is guru nistha; Steady Faith in the guru and his words that he can delivery one to Krishna.

yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado

yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto ‘pi

dhyayan stuvams tasya yashas trisandhyam

vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

By his grace we gain divine benevolence.

Without his grace no progress can be made.

Always I offer him all accolade.

To his auspicious feet I pay obeisance.

Bhakta David

Sadhana

Sadhana
by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura Prabhupada

The desire for sadhu-sanga and the inclination to serve Krishna (krishna-anusilana) appear in the jiva by the influence of sukriti.

The jiva’s aversion to Bhagavan is the result of his desire for sense enjoyment;consequently, he wanders throughout this world with the hope of attaining happiness. As long as his desire for worldly happiness does not wane, an inclination to serve Bhagavan cannot possibly arise in him. However, with the accumulation of abundant sukriti, or spiritual merit, his desire for worldly enjoyment slackens. This is the result of Bhagavan’s gradual mercy upon him. It is then that the desire for sadhu-sanga, the association of saintly persons, arises within him naturally.
Sraddha, or transcendental faith, arises by discussing topics about Krishna in sadhu-sanga. With the jiva’s increasing effort to engage in the cultivation of activities related to Krishna, a greed to attain Bhagavan appears within him. At that time, one should accept the shelter of the lotus feet of a guru whose character is spotless and who has full knowledge of philosophical truths. One should learn the art of bhajana from such a guru. Only by the strength of his bhajana does the jiva attain the complete mercy of Bhagavan.

To attain the mercy of Bhagavan is the sole purpose of sadhana

In the jiva’s condition of being completely captivated by maya, he must accept the activities of sadhana as indispensable in order to become eligible to attain the mercy of Bhagavan. Sriman Mahaprabhu has Himself said, “sadhana vina jivera sadhya vastu keha nahi paya – a jiva who does not perform sadhana does not attain his goal, or sadhya.” Although a person may have attained a little sraddha, if he is lazy about performing the activities of sadhana and simply sits back and hopes to attain Krishna’s mercy, he will not receive any real benefit. His life will simply pass by uselessly. Krishna is the embodiment of mercy, and in bestowing His boundless compassion upon the jivas, He has manifested the Vedic scriptures. Furthermore, He descends in every yuga and preaches the specific dharma, or spiritual means for deliverance, for that yuga. In this way, He endeavours to make all jivas under stand those Vedic scriptures and become favourably inclined toward Him. Particularly in Kali-yuga, His mercy is available without restriction. Those who do not become inclined to perform sadhana to attain Krishna, despite having such an opportunity, simply have no hope of ever attaining auspiciousness.

The specific result one attains at the stage of perfection is a function of the quality of one’s sadhana

Sri Krishna-candra is supremely independent. If He so desires, He can give His darsana to the jiva. That said, if a person’s heart lacks eagerness to perform even a little sadhana to attain Him, then that person’s yearning for Krishna cannot be genuine. Rather, it is simply a semblance of real hankering. Such a person would not in fact be satisfied even by the direct darsana of Bhagavan, but would return to this world from Vaikuntha to fulfil his hankering for the worthless happiness of this world.

The process of sadhana is nothing but the art of increasing one’s thirst to attain Bhagavan. A person receives the mercy of Krishna in proportion to the intensity of this thirst, which develops by performing sadhana marked by care and eagerness. When such sadhana is fully matured, Krishna manifests Himself to that person. He cannot withhold Himself.

The conditioned jiva will never achieve success if he relinquishes the activities of sadhana; he must embrace them with great care. He will approach perfection to the extent that he performs sadhana with honour.

What is sadhana?

Srila Rupa Gosvami has stated:
nitya-siddhasya bhavasya prakatyam hridi sadhyata
Sadhana is the process of awakening the eternal dormant propensity within one’s heart to love Krishna.(Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu 1.2.2)

The jiva’s eternal constitutional nature is to be a servant of Bhagavan; and his eternal occupation is bhagavat-prema, to render loving service to Bhagavan.In the jiva’s conditioned state, his eternally perfect love is observed in the form of his love for sense objects. Sadhana is the process that revokes that love from the sense objects and causes this eternal love to appear in the heart.
The sastras delineate the various limbs of sadhana. Srila Rupa Gosvami has divided these into sixty-four divisions in his book Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu. Srimad-Bhagavatam divides them into nine forms, namely, sravanam, kirtanam, smaranam, etc. The essence of all sadhana, especially in Kali-yuga, is harinama – to chant the holy names of Krishna.

Sri nama-sankirtana is the highest sadhana, and the various other limbs of sadhana are its assistants.

When the best of scholars, Vasudeva Sarvabhauma, wished to know what is the highest sadhana, Sriman Mahaprabhu replied that harinama-sankirtana is topmost. This is described in Sri Caitanya-caritamrita (Madhya-lila 6.241):

bhakti-sadhana-sreshtha sunite haila manaprabhu upadesa kaila nama-sankirtana
Sri Mahaprabhu also spoke the following words to Sri Sanatana Gosvami:
bhajanera madhye sreshtha nava-vidha bhakti‘krishna-prema’, ‘krishna’ dite dhare maha-saktitara madhye sarva-sreshtha nama-sankirtananiraparadhe nama laile paya prema-dhana
Among the various methods of performing bhajana, the best is to execute the nine prescribed processes of bhakti. These processes carry the outstanding potency to bestow both krishna-prema and Krishna. Among the nine processes of bhakti, chanting the holy names is foremost. If one chants without committing any offences, one easily receives the treasure of pure love for Krishna. (Sri Caitanyacaritamrita, Antya-lila 4.70–71)

In this Kali-yuga, there is no other refuge for the jiva than chanting the names of Hari. Indeed, harinama is the only sadhana, and the other limbs of sadhana are accepted as its assistants.
In sastra we find the statement “‘eka’ anga sadhe, keha sadhe ‘bahu’ anga – some practise a single limb, whereas others practise many.” However, no one should think he can attain perfection by taking shelter of any limb other than harinama. When a sadhaka understands harinama to be the topmost sadhana and takes one-pointed shelter of nama, he can also perform the other limbs of sadhana. Sastra clearly declares:

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalamkalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

To attain one’s spiritual goal in Kali-yuga, there is no other way, there is no other way, there is no other way than to chant the holy name, chant the holy name, chant the holy name.

Sri nama is both the practice and the goal

Whoever is the recipient of Sriman Mahaprabhu’s mercy will single-mindedly take shelter of harinama without any duplicity. As he performs sadhana of harinama and gradually attains perfection, he will come to realise nama in the form of his sadhya, or goal. This is because Krishna’s name is both the goal and the means to attain it. There is no difference between Krishna’s name (nama) and Krishna Himself, the possessor of the name (nami).

It is necessary to deliberate a little on the subject of the practice, or sadhana, of sri nama. Sadhana is performed with the senses. Therefore, it is essential that the sadhaka firmly and expertly engage his senses in the activities of sadhana. One can perform the practices of sadhana in a charming way if one keeps the body healthy. This can be achieved by regulating one’s eating (yukta-ahara) and recreation (yukta-vihara).

In other words, if a person tortures his body by being falsely renounced, then all his senses become disabled. Consequently, instead of the sadhaka performing sadhana, he forfeits his life. In this regard, Bhagavan says in the Bhagavad-gita (6.16–17):
naty-asnatas tu yogo ’stina caikantam anasnatahna cati-svapna-silasyajagrato naiva carjuna
O Arjuna, yoga cannot be perfected by one who eats too much or too little, or who sleeps too much or too little.

yuktahara-viharasyayukta-ceshtasya karmasuyukta-svapnavabodhasyayogo bhavati duhkha-ha

For one who is moderate in eating and recreation, balanced in work, and regulated in sleeping and wakefulness, his practice of yoga destroys all material miseries.

The meaning here is that one who eats too much or hardly eats at all, who sleeps a lot or does not sleep enough, is never able to use his body and senses to perform the activities of sadhana. If a person does not allow his body to become unhealthy or his senses in active – by regulating all his endeavours including his eating, recreation, sleeping and waking – then his sadhana will be executed exquisitely and it will destroy all his miseries.

The implication is that one must engage one’s internal sense, the mind, in remembering and meditating upon sri nama, by protecting it from the four anarthas, or impediments to spiritual progress. These impediments are misconceptions about reality (svarupa-bhrama), the hankering for temporaty objects (asat-trishna), weakness of the heart in adopting the process of bhakti (hridayadaurbalya) and offences (aparadha). Moreover, one’s external senses should be protected from becoming habituated to activities that are unfavourable to one’s bhajana, such as over-eating, over-sleeping and endeavouring for sense objects. Instead, they should be incessantly engaged in the sadhana of nama-kirtana. The capacity to do so is indeed the expertise of a sadhaka.

The foundation of sadhana: determination to accept what is favourable for bhakti and to reject what is unfavourable

It is necessary for a sadhaka to be both vigilant and resolute in accepting what is favourable for his bhakti and rejecting what is unfavourable. Often various unfavourable things come into the life of a jiva in this material world, and if he does not carefully and decisively reject them, they will hinder his sadhana and delay him in attaining his cherished goal.

Sometimes one may think: “Let me do what is unfavourable for my sadhana today, and from tomorrow I will take special care to avoid this.’’ But one who manifests such weakness of heart (hridaya-daurbalya) will never attain auspiciousness. As soon as a sadhaka perceives something to be an obstacle to his bhajana, he should give it up immediately and embrace the mercy of Sriman Mahaprabhu. Determination is indeed the foundation of sadhana. If a person lacks determination, he cannot progress even a single step in his sadhana.

The sadhaka’s foremost assistant is sadhu-sanga

The sadhu is the sadhaka’s primary benefactor. The heart of the baddha-jiva is so captured by anarthas, that he cannot single-handedly remove them, despite his arduous attempts to do so. For one who remains in sadhu-sanga, however, anarthas have no chance of manifesting. Srila Narottama Thakura Mahasaya has rightly said:
kiva va karite pare, kama-krodha sadhakerayadi haya sadhujanara sanga
What can lust and anger do to a sadhaka if he is in the association of sadhus?
Sadhu-sanga is absolutely essential for one who wants to properly perform the activities of sadhana. Sriman Mahaprabhu has said:
krishna-bhakti-janma-mula haya ‘sadhu-sanga’krishna-prema janme, tenho punah mukhya anga
The underlying cause of the birth of bhakti to Sri Krishna is sadhu-sanga. Even after krishna-prema awakens in the heart, sadhu-sanga remains the foremost principle.(Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila 22.83)
mahat-kripa vina kona karme ‘bhakti’ nayakrishna-bhakti dure rahu, samsara nahe kshaya
Unless a person is blessed by an exalted saint, none of the activities he performs can be considered to be bhakti. What to say of attaining krishna-bhakti, it is impossible for him even to extricate himself from material existence.(Sri Caitanya-caritamrita, Madhya-lila 22.51)

Incessantly accept the shelter of sri nama and pray for the mercy of sri nama

If one can chant the holy name in the association of a pure devotee who is attached to chanting, all his offences will be dispelled and nama-tattva will quickly manifest in his heart. Our prayer at the lotus feet of Sriman Mahaprabhu is that by incessantly chanting the holy name in the association of a suddha-bhakta we may soon experience the sweetness (rasa) of sri nama. We pray for nothing other than the mercy of sri nama.

[Appearing in english for the first time: Rays of the Harmonist No.16 Karttika 2006Translated from Sri Gaudiya Patrika, Year 8, Issue 7]
http://www.bvml.org/SBTP/sadhana.html