অন্যের পরশ যেন, নহে কদাচিৎ হেন,
ইহাতে হইব সাবধান ।
রাধাকৃষ্ণ নাম গান, এই সে পরম ধ্যান,
আর না করিহ পরমাণ ॥ ৭৩ ॥
anyera paraśa yena, nahe kadācit hena,
ihāte haiba sābadhāna |
rādhā-kṛṣṇa nāma gāna, ei se parama dhyāna,
āra nā kariha paramāṇa || 73 ||
I shall be careful to avoid contact with other types of sādhakas. Singing the names of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is the highest meditation. There is nothing you must prove.
टीका–अन्येर–योगिन्यासिकर्मिज्ञानिप्रभृतीनाम् । कदाचित्–आपद्यपि यथा स्पर्शनं न भवेत् तथा सावधानो भवामि ॥
The Highest Meditation
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: In the previous verse, the high-souled author instructed his own mind to become submerged in the prema-bhakti ocean of nectar. Now he is teaching the method for attaining that prema-bhakti. His instructions are of two kinds: (1) varjanātmaka–of the nature of abandoning, and (2) grahaṇātmaka–of the nature of accepting. First, he gives a varjanātmaka instruction by saying, anyera paraśa yena, nahe kadācit hena, ihāte haiba sābadhāna. Here, the word anyera (of others) means that the bhakta-sādhaka must avoid the association of sādhakas from other paths, such as karma, jñāna, yoga and so on, meaning the yogīs, sannyāsīs, karmīs and jñānīs. The reason is that as the result of contact with them, by seeing, touching and so on, there remains a strong possibility that one may develop a fondness for their goals and practices while losing interest in one’s own pure bhakti. In the first chapter of the second section of Śrīmat Sanātana Gosvāmipāda’s Śrī-Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛtam, we see that a certain simple-hearted brāhmaṇa named Janaśarmā, who lived in Kāmarūpadeśa, received the ten-syllable mantra of Śrīman Madana-Gopāladeva, along with the method to worship him, from Kāmākhyā Devī in a dream. Still, as a result of the association of karmīs and jñānīs in Gaṅgāsāgara and Kāśī, he became attracted to their customs and practices and desired to adopt their path. Only by the power of mantra-japa and the divine command of Devī and Śrīman Mahādeva was he able to resist joining them. Therefore, the bhakta-sādhaka should avoid the association of such people, who are always reproached by the śuddha-bhaktas. The bhakta-sādhaka must thus be careful to avoid their association even in times of need. To censure the karmīs, jñānīs and others who were averse to Śrī Gaura’s lotus feet, Śrīmat Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpāda said the following:
dhig astu brahmāhaṁ-vadana-pariphullān jaḍa-matīn
kriyāsaktān dhig dhig vikaṭa-tapaso dhik ca yaminaḥ |
kim etān śocāmo viṣaya-rasa-mattān nara-paśūn
na keṣāṁcil leśo’py ahaha milito gaura-madhunaḥ ||
“Shame on the karmīs, the frowning ascetics and the aṣṭāṅga-yogīs. Shame on all those dull-minded jñānavādīs who horripilate in joy by merely saying ‘I am brahma.’ Alas! Why grieve for man-animals who are intoxicated by sense-enjoyment? None has even tasted a drop of the nectar of Śrī Gaura’s lotus feet.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Candrāmṛtam 8) The bhaktas must surely avoid contact with the recipients of such a reproach from the high-minded ones.
Then, to impart a grahaṇātmaka teaching, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nāma gāna, ei se parama dhyāna, āra nā kariha paramāṇa. In this half-verse, he instructs his mind to engage in rāgānugā-bhajana. For sādhakas on the path of rāga, the two principal limbs of bhajana are kīrtana of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s names and meditation on their forms, pastimes and so on. In Śrī-Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛtam 2.5.218, Śrī Nārada taught Gopakumāra about vraja-bhajana:
tad dhi tat-tad-vraja-krīḍā-dhyāna-gāna-pradhānayā |
bhaktyā sampadyate preṣṭha-nāma-saṅkīrtanojjvalam ||
ṭīkā–adhunā sādhanam āha–tad dhīti. tāsāṁ tāsāṁ vraja-krīḍānāṁ bhagavad-gokula-līlānāṁ dhyānaṁ cintanaṁ gānaṁ saṅkīrtanaṁ te pradhāne mukhye yasyās tayā bhaktyā nava-prakārayā prema sampadyate susiddhati. tatraiva viśeṣam ekam āha–preṣṭhasya nijeṣṭatama-devasya, preṣṭhānāṁ nija-priyatamānāṁ bhagavan-nāmnāṁ saṅkīrtanena ujjvalaṁ prakāśamānaṁ śuddhaṁ vā. gānety uktvā nāma-saṅkīrtane prāpte’pi nija-priyatama-nāma-saṅkīrtanasya premāntaraṅga-tara-sādhanatvena punar viśeṣeṇa nirdeśaḥ.
“Vraja-prema is attained by performing the nine kinds of bhakti, principally by remembering and singing about Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in Vraja. Moreover, there is a remarkable statement here saying that bhakti is made radiant by the singing of one’s favorite names of Śrī Bhagavān. Although the word gāna (singing) is understood to refer to nāma-saṅkīrtana, still, it is mentioned here separately because singing one’s own favorite names of Bhagavān is a very personal way to attain prema.” Therefore, under the pretext of instructing his own mind, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is advising sādhakas who are devoted to yugala-bhajana to sing the names of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa that are most dear to them. Śrīmat Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmipāda has written the following in his Abhīṣṭa-Sūcana-Stava:
rādheti nāma nava-sundara-sīdhu-mugdhaṁ
kṛṣṇeti nāma madhurādbhuta-gāḍha-dugdham |
sarva-kṣaṇaṁ surabhi-rāga-himena ramyaṁ
kṛtvā tad eva piba me rasane kṣudhārte ||
“The name Rādhā is delicious like fresh, sweet nectar. The name Kṛṣṇa is delightful like amazing condensed milk. O my hungry tongue! Always drink these two substances chilled with fragrant ice made of love.” Great souls who are devoted to serving the Divine Couple contemplate and sing the thirty-two-syllable ‘hare kṛṣṇa’ mahāmantra composed of eight pairs of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s names. The word hare is the vocative of the word harā (a thief). She who steals Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s heart and mind with her beauty, sweetness and love is called Harā or Śrī Rādhā. Moreover, the word rāma here does not refer to Dāśarathi Rāma. The word rāma is derived from the verbal root ram (to make happy). Thus, rāma refers to Śrī Rādhā-Ramaṇa, the lover of Harā Śrī Rādhā. Therefore, this mahāmantra consists of sixteen names of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in the vocative case.
Or, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nāma gāna, ei se parama dhyāna: singing the names of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is prema itself, the most desirable of all things, which is to be contemplated always and exclusively by the sādhaka. Śrīmat Sanātana Gosvāmipāda has written the following in Śrī-Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛtam 2.3.164-166:
nāma-saṅkīrtanaṁ proktaṁ
kṛṣṇasya prema-sampadi |
baliṣṭhaṁ sādhanaṁ śreṣṭhaṁ
paramākarṣa-mantravat ||
tad eva manyate bhakteḥ
phalaṁ tad rasikair janaiḥ |
bhagavat-prema-sampattau
sadaivāvyabhicārataḥ ||
sal-lakṣaṇaṁ prema-bharasya kṛṣṇe
kaiścid rasa-jñair uta kathyate tat |
premṇo bhareṇaiva nijeṣṭa-nāma-
saṅkīrtanaṁ hi sphurati sphuṭārtyā ||
“Śrī-kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana is an intimate and extremely powerful sādhana for attaining the treasure of śrī-kṛṣṇa-prema. It is like a mantra with intense magnetism. The bhakti-rasikas also consider śrī-nāma-saṅkīrtana as the fruit of bhakti because it is always very effective in producing the inexhaustible treasure of bhagavat-prema. Some knowers of rasa regard nāma-saṅkīrtana as the svarūpa (natural state or form) of prema. If one wholeheartedly sings the names of his own beloved deity, by the influence of prema he will have a personal vision of that deity.” Therefore, the state of being both cause and effect is seen in saṅkīrtana and prema, and because of the non-difference between cause and effect, the non-difference of saṅkīrtana and prema is realized.
Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, āra nā kariha paramāṇa, meaning that other than singing the names of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, there is nothing you must prove, no other goal or means you must ascertain, and no other practices based on scriptural authority or instructions you must accept. If one sings the names of one’s cherished deity with love, that śrī-nāma causes the other limbs of bhakti to appear and very quickly blesses the sādhaka with the gift of prema. Śrīman Mahāprabhu has said,
saṅkīrtana haite pāpa-saṁsāra-nāśana |
citta-śuddhi, sarba-bhakti-sādhana-udgama ||
kṛṣṇa-premodgama, premāmṛta-āsvādana |
kṛṣṇa-prāpti, sebāmṛta-samudre majjana ||
“From saṅkīrtana the world of sin is destroyed, the mind and heart are cleansed and the nine kinds of bhakti-sādhana arise. Love for Kṛṣṇa appears and the bhakta tastes the nectar of prema. Then Kṛṣṇa is attained and the bhakta is immersed in the ambrosial ocean of sevā.” (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Antya 20.13-14)
