গুপতে সাধিব সিদ্ধি, সাধন নবধা-ভক্তি,
প্রার্থনা করিব দৈন্যে সদা ।
করি হরি-সংকীর্তন, সদাই আনন্দ মন,
কৃষ্ণ বিনা আর সব বাধা ॥ ১১৫ ॥
gupate sādhiba siddhi, sādhana nabadhā-bhakti,
prārthanā kariba dainye sadā |
kari hari-saṅkīrtana, sadāi ānanda mana,
kṛṣṇa binā āra saba bādhā || 115 ||
I will secretly attain success by performing the nine kinds of bhakti. I will always pray with humility. I will chant the holy names of Hari and my mind will always be joyful. Other than Kṛṣṇa, everything is an obstacle.
Internal and External Sādhana
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: In this verse the illustrious author summarizes the bhajana of a rāgānugā-sādhaka. First he says, gupate sādhiba siddhi, sādhana nabadhā-bhakti, prārthanā kariba dainye sadā. “I will attain success by secretly contemplating day and night the loving service of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in my internally conceived siddha-deha. Along with that, I will externally in my sādhaka-deha perform the nine kinds of bhakti such as hearing, chanting and so on.” Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 22.156-157 says,
bāhya antara ihāra dui ta sādhana
bāhye—sādhaka-dehe kare śrabaṇa-kīrtana ||
mane—nija siddha-deha kariyā bhābana |
rātri-dine kare braje kṛṣṇera sebana ||
“Of this there are two types of sādhana—external and internal. Externally, in his sādhaka-deha, the bhakta performs śravaṇa-kīrtana. In his mind, he contemplates his own spiritual form and serves Kṛṣṇa day and night in Vraja.” The ultimate distinction of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas’ rāga-bhajana is that the sādhaka acquires in the sādhana stage all the details of his or her siddha stage. In the sādhana stage, absorption in one’s svarūpa is still mixed with absorption in the body. Because of this, the sādhaka cannot get the amazing experience of his siddha-svarūpa or of the sevā contemplated while absorbed in the siddha-svarūpa. According to the degree of one’s practice of the nine kinds of bhakti in the sādhaka body, the citta (mind, heart) becomes refined and devoid of desires for sense enjoyment and bodily absorption, and absorption in the svarūpa becomes strong. Following that, absorption in bhajana in the siddha-deha also becomes strong and the astonishing nature of the experience is revealed. Therefore Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has discussed contemplating Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s sevā during the eight time periods while identifying with one’s internally-conceived siddha-deha, and externally, in the sādhaka-deha, performance of śravaṇa, kīrtana, arcana and the rest of the nine kinds of bhakti.
Or, gupate sādhiba siddhi, sādhana nabadhā-bhakti can mean that without revealing his bhajana experiences here and there, the sādhaka privately progresses toward bhāva-siddhi or attainment of his desired state. Previously he said, rākha prema hṛdaye bhariyā. “Protect the love in your heart.” Later he will say, āpana bhajana-kathā, na kahiba yathā tathā. “Do not discuss your bhajana just anywhere and everywhere.” Prema or feelings that arise during bhajana are like steam. If steam is confined in some type of machine, its power is vastly increased. As a result of this, work can be accomplished that is difficult or impossible through the power of even thousands of men. In the same way, if a surge of prema or devotional feelings can be confined or hidden in the heart, its power will increase boundlessly and quickly carry the sādhaka-soul to Bhagavān’s realm. In fact, insatiability is the nature of bhakti. Therefore, the further a sādhaka advances, the more he thinks of himself as very low and fallen, devoid of sādhana-bhajana. He always prays humbly at the feet of his beloved deity to be blessed with bhajana. The sādhaka’s anxious, sorrowful prayer removes any obstacles to Bhagavān’s compassion. Hundreds of streams of the deity’s nectarous mercy then cascade upon the sādhaka. Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya wants to explain this through the words prārthanā kariba dainye sadā, “I will always pray with humility.”
Then he says, kari hari-saṅkīrtana, sadāi ānanda mana, kṛṣṇa binā āra saba bādhā. The kīrtana limb of bhajana is also included in the statement sādhana nabadhā-bhakti, but because in this particular Age of Kali Śrīman Mahāprabhu himself primarily practiced and taught saṅkīrtana to the sādhakas of the world, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya specifically mentioned hari-saṅkīrtana. We see the following in Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Antya 4.70-71:
bhajanera madhye śreṣṭha naba-bidhā bhakti |
kṛṣṇa-prema kṛṣṇa dite dhare mahāśakti ||
tāra madhye sarba-śreṣṭha nāma-saṅkīrtana |
niraparādha-nāma haite haya prema-dhana ||
“Among the processes of bhajana, the nine kinds of bhakti are the best because they have the great power to give Kṛṣṇa and love of Kṛṣṇa. Among those nine, the best of all is nāma-saṅkīrtana. The treasure of prema will come from offenseless chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s names.” Here, saṅkīrtana means many people gathered together to loudly sing nāma-kīrtana along with khola, karatālas and so on. atra ca bahubhir militvā kīrtanaṁ saṅkīrtanam ity ucyate, tat tu camatkāra-viśeṣa-poṣāt pūrvato’py adhikam iti jñeyam (Bhakti-Sandarbha 269). “Many people gathering in one place to perform nāma-kīrtana is called saṅkīrtana. Saṅkīrtana is superior to regular kīrtana because it nourishes a type of wonder. In the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Sampradāya, kīrtana is performed along with remembrance of Kṛṣṇa’s names, forms, qualities and pastimes. This is also called saṅkīrtana or complete kīrtana. There is a more astonishing experience in this than in kīrtana that lacks concentration of the mind.
At any rate, because the name and the named are identical, in nāma-saṅkīrtana the bhakta’s mind is always blessed with the experience of nāma-rasa. Just as naturally sweet sugar-candy is perceived as bitter by a tongue tainted with bile, in the same way, the sweetness of nāma-rasa is not perceived by a tongue tainted by offenses. Śrī Nāma bestows endless enjoyment to the tongue of an offenseless bhakta. Therefore, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya said, kari hari-saṅkīrtana, sadāi ānanda mana. “I will perform hari-saṅkīrtana and my mind will always be joyful.” Then he said, kṛṣṇa binā āra saba bādhā. The sādhaka who seeks good fortune considers attachment to anything other than Kṛṣṇa to be an obstacle to bhajana. This attachment to material things causes worldly misery for the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, the always naturally pure, conscious, free and transcendent jīva-soul who has forgotten Kṛṣṇa since beginningless time. The sādhaka must leave behind his attachment for material things, understanding it to be a huge impediment to bhajana. Along with taking powerful, disease-curing medicine, a person who desires good health must conscientiously abandon his harmful diet. In the same way, along with tasting the nectar of the holy name, which is the best medicine for the disease of worldly existence, the sādhaka eager to attain bhakti must abandon his attachment to anything other than Kṛṣṇa. kṛṣṇa binā āra saba bādhā.
