Dvitiya-yama Sadhana

Bhajana in the morning

According to the Skanda Purana, Krishna has invested the holy names with all His powers:

dana-vrata-tapas-tirtha-yatradinam ca yah sthitah

saktayo devamahatam sarva-papa-harah subhah

rajasuyasvamedhanam jnanasyadhyatma-vastunah

akrsya harina sarvah sthapitah svesu namasu

Whatever power they have, the fulfillment of charity, penances, austerities, the visit to the sacred tirthas, the worship of celestial beings, the performance of the sacrifices of Rajasuya or Asvamedha, or the acquisition of knowledge in relation to the soul, this power capable of bestowing luck and destroying sin is already in the holy name of Sri Hari.

The Vaisvanara Samhita confirms that there are no strict rules regarding the time or purity for chanting the holy names:

In the Amnaya-sutra, four types of misfortune or anartha are described:

mayamugdhasya jivasya

jneyo ‘narthas catur vidhah

hrddaurbbalyam caparadho

‘sat-trsna tattva-vibhramah

Four types of anartha are attributed to the living entity attracted to maya: hrdaya-daurbalya (weakness of heart), aparadha (all kinds of offenses), asat-trsna (material desires), and tattva-vibhrama (the illusion concerning spiritual knowledge). These anarthas lead to material bondage, which leads to suffering.

There are four types of illusions concerning spiritual knowledge:

sva-tattve para-tattve ca

sadhya-sadhana-tattvayoh

virodhi-visaye caiva

tattva-bhramas catur-vidhah

Sva-tattva bhrama (the illusion of one’s own identity), paratattva-bhrama (the illusion towards the Supreme Personality of God), sadhya-sadhana-bhrama (the illusion concerning the methods of sadhana and prema-bhakti), and virodhi-visaya-bhrama (the delusion involving subjects unfavorable to Krishna consciousness); here are the four types of illusion belonging to conditioned souls.

The six types of association which enhance bhakti are described in the fourth verse:

dadati pratigrhnati

guhyam akhyati prcchati

bhunkte bhojayate caiva

sad-vidham priti-laksanam

Giving gifts received in charity, accepting gifts from charity, sharing one’s thoughts, asking questions confidentially, accepting food and offering food; these are the six symptoms of the love shared between two devotees.

These six types of association, when exchanged between devotees, increase devotion. They diminish it when exchanged between non-devotees. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, with the following words taken from Sri Caitanya-candrodaya-nataka, even forbade looking at one who enjoys material senses or a woman possessed by a similar feeling:

niskincanasya bhagavad-bhajanonmukhasya

param param jigamisor bhava-sagarasya

sandarsanam visayinam atha yositam ca

ha hanta hanta visa-bhaksanato ‘py asadhu

Alas! For a person who seriously desires to cross the material ocean and engage without material motivation in the service of transcendental love to the Lord, looking at a materialist engaged in sense gratification or a woman with similar interests is worse than voluntarily drinking poison.

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