śrīdayita dāsa, kīrtanete āśa,
kara uccaiḥsvare ‘harināma-raba’
kīrtana-prabhāve, smaraṇa haibe,
se kāle bhajana-nirjana sambhava
śrī – Radharani; dayita – beloved of; dāsa – servant; kīrtanete – in the congregational chanting of the holy names; āśa – desire; kara – perform; uccaiḥsvare – loudly; harināma-raba – the resounding chanting of the holy names; kīrtana-prabhāve – through the influence of the chanting of the holy names; smaraṇa – remembrance; haibe – will occur; se kāle – at that time; bhajana-nirjana – solitary service; sambhava – is possible.
O Varshabhanavi-dayita Das [Srila Prabhupada’s initiated name], keeping your desire fixed on the congregational singing of the holy names, resoundingly chant the names of Lord Hari with a loud voice. By this chanting you will be able to remember the transcendental name, form, qualities, and pastimes of Lord Krishna as well as your eternal service to the Divine Couple. When you reach this stage, then you will be qualified to perform solitary devotional practice.
The revival of the Gaudiya Vaishnava preaching mission was pioneered by His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur and His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupada. When Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta was born, Bhaktivinode Thakur named him Bimal Prasad. By Bhaktivinode Thakur’s order Bimal Prasad accepted initiation from His Divine Grace Srila Gour Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj, who named him Varshabhanavi-dayita Das, “dearmost servant of the daughter of King Vrishabhanu.” Gaudiya Vaishnavas are servants of the servants of the servants of Srimati Radharani. Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta is Nayanamani Manjari in the spiritual abode, serving Srimati Radharani under the guidance of Lalita Sakhi, who is an intimate associate of Srimati Radharani.
In order to remove the material bondage of every living entity, Srila Prabhupada instructs us to resoundingly chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. This was performed by Krishna when He appeared as Lord Chaitanya, with the mood and complexion of Srimati Radharani. Lord Chaitanya is the special, compassionate form of the Supreme Lord who appeared 534 years ago and taught the process of congregationally chanting the holy names.
While chanting we should fix the mind, intelligence, and consciousness (citta) on serving the Divine Couple, Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, in Vrindavan. Nirjana-bhajana means to constantly chant the holy names while mentally serving Sri Sri Radha-Krishna in Vrindavan. If instead we chant with a desire for material name, fame, or recognition, or we maintain other material desires, our practice cannot be considered nirjana-bhajana.
If devotees feel unqualified to think about serving the Divine Couple in Vrindavan, they can think about the pure devotee guru and Vaishnavas and their instructions, pastimes, merciful natures, and other qualities. If we follow in the footsteps of the pure devotees and remember them while chanting, that is also considered nirjana-bhajana. According to the teachings of our previous teachers, our guru and the Vaishnavas are the servants of the servants of the servants of Srimati Radharani. Remembering our guru and the Vaishnavas gives pleasure to Srimati Radharani. We know from our scriptures that the Supreme Lord considers serving His pure devotees better than serving Him. His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur once quoted from the Padma Purana in his discourses and then explained the verse:
ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ viṣṇorārādhanaṁ paraṁ
tasmāt parataraṁ devī tadīyānāṁ samarcanam
“Of all the types of worship on earth, worship of Lord Vishnu is supreme. However, when compared to serving Lord Viṣṇu, serving His pure devotees is considered even higher. Serving Srimati Radharani, Nanda-Yashoda, Sridama-Sudama, or Raktaka-Patraka is superior to serving Sri Krishna directly.