Statement:

Raganuga-bhakti starts only at the stage of RUCI.

Answer:

sa ca lobho rāga vartma vartināṁ bhaktānāṁ guru-padāśraya lakṣaṇam ārabhya svābhīṣṭa vastu sākṣāt prāpti samayam abhivyāpya ‘yathā yathātma parimṛjyate’sau mat puṇya gāthā śravaṇābhidhā¬naiḥ, tathā tathā paśyati vastu sūkṣmaṁ cakṣur yathaivāñjana samprayuktaṁ. iti bhagavad ukter bhakti hetukāntaḥ karaṇa śuddhi tāratamyāt prati dinam adhikādhiko bhavati.

Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself describes (in Śrīmad Bhāgavata 11.14.26) how the devotee on the path of sacred passion advances and becomes more purified and more obsessed with sacred greed by the day, from the initial stage of surrender to the feet of a guru up to the point in which he directly attains the Lord: ‘The more one’s mind gets purified by hearing and chanting of My beautiful pastimes, the better one is able to discern the subtle reality (of the Self), just as the eye is better able to perceive more and more subtle things when it is treated with medicinal ointment’.
– Raga vartma chandrika (Srila Vishvanatha Cakravartipada)

Kṛpā-kaṇikā Vyākhyā by Srila Ananta das Babaji:

The definition of the generation of sacred greed has been given as follows: It is the craving to relish the sweet mutual feelings of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the residents of Vraja, that awakens after hearing stories about it from devotional scriptures like Śrīmad Bhāgavata and which is independent from scriptural injunctions and logical arguments. Practically, the craving for one’s beloved object is named ‘greed’. When the greed of a rāgānugā aspirant leads him down the road of rāga, keeping his beloved object in the centre, then it awakens a special taste for the forms and pastimes of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His associates. At first the greed of an aspirant will be scattered over many different subject matters and cannot focus on the actual beloved object, but when sādhana bhajana ripens this greed will give up all other subject matters and will focus on the beloved. In this paragraph the blessed author shows how this sacred greed gradually develops.
After the rāgānugīya practitioner has taken shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Guru the stream of his bhajana starts flowing as he engages in hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord in the company of the devotees. Thus his heart is gradually cleansed from vices like lust and becomes completely immaculate. The purer his heart gets through this cleansing-process, the stronger the sacred greed will get in his heart. The blessed author then quotes a verse from Śrīmad Bhāgavata, which emanated from Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus mouth, to prove his point –
yathā yathātmā parimṛjate’sau mat puṇya gāthā śravaṇābhidhānaiḥ
tathā tathā paśyati vastu sūkṣmaṁ cakṣur yathaivāṣjana samprayuktam (Bhāg. 11.14.26)

Śrī Kṛṣṇa told Uddhava: “O Uddhava! Just as the eyes that are anointed with siddha ointments gradually become cleansed and free from disease so that they will be able to perceive more and more subtle objects, similarly the practising devotee will perceive more and more subtle things as his heart gets purified by hearing and chanting about My sacred pastimes.”

In his commentary on this verse Śrīpāda Viśvanātha Cakravartī has written: ādi bhajanam ārabhya kevalayā bhaktyaivātma śodhana tāratamyena śravaṇa kīrtana smaraṇādi tāratamyāt man mādhuryānubhava tāratamyaṁ prāpnotītyāha yathā yatheti.

“As one commences the path of bhajana and cleanses one’s heart more and more through the practice of pure devotion, consisting of hearing, chanting and remembering the glories of the Lord, one will be able to experience My sweetness more and more. This is described in this verse.”

atha rāgānugā bhakti majjanasyānartha nivṛtti niṣṭhā-rucyāsaktyantaraṁ prema-bhūmikārūḍhasya sākṣāt svābhīṣṭa-prāpti-prakāraḥ pradarśyate. yathojjvala nīlamaṇau “tad bhāva baddha rāgā ye janās te sādhane ratāḥ. tad yogyam anurāgaughaṁ prāpyotkaṇṭhānusārataḥ. tā ekaśo’thavā dvi-trāḥ kāle kāle vraje’bhavan” iti. anurāgaughaṁ rāgānugā bhajanautkaṇṭhyaṁ natvanurāga sthāyinaṁ sādhaka-dehe’nurāgotpattyasambhavāt. vraje’bhavann iti avatāra samaye nitya priyādya yathā āvirbhavanti tathaiva gopikā-garbhe sādhana-siddha api āvirbhavanti. tataś ca nitya-siddhādi gopīnāṁ mahā-bhāva-vatīnāṁ saṅga mahimnā darśana śravaṇa kīrtanādibhiḥ sneha māna praṇaya rāgānurāga mahā-bhāvā api tatra gopikā-dehe utpadyante. pūrva janmani sādhaka-dehe teṣām utpattyasambhavāt. ataeva vraje kṛṣṇa preyasīnām asādharaṇāni lakṣaṇāni. yad uktam – “gopīnāṁ paramānanda āsīd govinda darśane. kṣaṇaṁ yuga-śatam iva yāsāṁ yena vinā bhaved” iti. “truṭir yugāyate tvām apaśyatam” ityādi ca. kṣaṇasya yuga śatāyamānatvaṁ mahā-bhāva lakṣaṇam.

Now it will be described how the rāgānugīya bhakta gradually advances through the stages of anartha nivṛtti (cessation of bad habits), niṣṭhā (fixation), ruci (taste), and āsakti (attachment to the beloved deity) upto the stage of prema (love of God) and the direct attainment of his beloved deity. In the Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi it is said that ‘those who are specially attracted to the ecstasy of the Vrajavāsīs and thus perform rāgānugā bhajana will attain that abundance of eagerness that is fit for performing rāgānugā bhajana and will take birth in Vraja in groups of one, two or three in their own time, according to their eagerness.’ Here the word anurāgaugha means ‘that eagerness that makes one qualified for doing rāgānugā bhajana’. The anurāga mentioned here does not refer to the sthāyi bhāva (permanent mood) of that name, because the sthāyi bhāva named anurāga cannot be attained within a material body. The words ‘having taken birth in Vraja’ means the sādhana siddhas take birth from the womb of a gopikā, just as Kṛṣṇa’s eternally beloved gopīs appear with Him when He descends to earth (prakaṭa līlā). After that, gradually sneha, māna, praṇaya, rāga, anurāga and mahābhāva will become manifest in the gopikā-body of that sādhaka on the strength of associating with the gopīs that are endowed with mahā-bhāva and by hearing and chanting and seeing the greatness of Kṛṣṇa’s eternally liberated gopīs. These feelings could not possibly have arisen in the material body of the sādhaka, in his previous birth. In this way the extraordinary characteristics of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s beloveds in Vraja has been shown. In Śrīmad Bhāgavata it is said that the gopīs attained the pinnacle of transcendental bliss by seeing Govinda. Without Him, they experienced a moment to last like a hundred ages. Their statement (in Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.31.15) ‘Without seeing You, we consider a second to last like an age’, is a symptom of mahābhāva.
– RAGA VARTMA CHANDRIKA

krsna-tad-bhakta-karunya-matra-labhaika-hetuka \
pusti-margataya kaiscid iyam raganugocyate
|| BRS 1.2.309 ||

“The mercy of Krsna and His devotees is the only cause of attaining
raganuga-bhakti . Some call this type of devotion pusti-marga.”
– Srila Rupa Goswami

sa ca bhagavat kṛpā hetuko’nurāgī bhakta kṛpā hetukaś ceti dvividhaḥ. tatra bhakta kṛpā hetuko dvividhaḥ prāktana ādhunikaś ca. prāktanaḥ – paurva bhavika tādṛśa bhakta kṛpotthaḥ, ādhunikaḥ etaj janmāvadhi tādṛśa bhakta kṛpotthaḥ. ādye sati lobhānantaraṁ tādṛśa guru caraṇāśrayaṇam. dvitīye guru caraṇāśrayānantaraṁ lobha pravṛttir bhavati. yad uktam:

kṛṣṇa tad bhakta kāruṇya mātra lobhaika hetukā
puṣṭi mārgatayā kaiścid iyaṁ rāgānugocyate

“There are two causes for the appearance of the aforementioned sacred greed: The mercy of God or the mercy of another anurāgī devotee. There are again two kinds of mercy bestowed by a devotee: prāktana and ādhunika. prāktana means mercy bestowed by a rāgānugā bhakta in a previous life, and ādhunika is mercy bestowed in the present birth. The prāktana-devotee takes shelter of the lotus feet of a rāgānugā guru after the sacred greed has arisen in him, the ādhunika will get that sacred greed only after having surrendered to the feet of such a guru. It is said (in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu): “The only causes of the appearance of sacred greed is the mercy of Kṛṣṇa or His devotee. Therefore some call the path of rāgānugā bhakti also puṣṭi mārga (the path of grace).”
– RAGA VARTMA CHANDRIKA

Kṛpā-kaṇikā Vyākhyā by Srila Ananta das Babaji:

After giving the definition of the cause of sacred greed the blessed author now describes the causes for attaining this greed. Greed for rāgānugā bhajana can only be attained by the grace of Śrī Kṛṣṇa or the grace of the great saints that are themselves passionately attached to the sweet feelings of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s associates. Kṛṣṇa rarely bestows His mercy on new aspirants, therefore almost always this sacred greed arises by the grace of the aforementioned saints.

There are two kinds of sacred greed that arises by the grace of the saints – prāktana and ādhunikī. Those who have attained lobha by the mercy of rāgānugā saints in previous births will revive the cultivation of that lobha in their present birth and go on with rāgānugā bhajana, taking shelter of the feet of a guru according to their previous lives’ saṁskāra (cultivation), which can be dāsya or sakhya or so. Those who did not cultivate such greed in their previous lives first take shelter of the lotus feet of a guru, and after they hear about the great love of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His eternal associates the greed awakens within them. There is no other means than the grace of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His pure devotees to attain this greed for rāgānugā bhajana, and the blessed author has proven it by quoting a śloka from Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu. In his commentary on this śloka Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmīpāda has written: kṛṣṇeti – mātra padasya vidhi mārge kutracit karmādi samarpaṇam api dvāraṁ bhavatīti tad vicchedārthaḥ prayoga iti bhāva. “The word mātra is used in the above śloka ‘kṛṣṇa tad-bhakta kāruṇya mātra lābhaika hetukā’ because sometimes the offering of fruitive activities can lead to entry into vaidhī bhakti, whereas rāgānugā bhakti is only (mātra) attained through grace.” Greed for rāgānugā bhakti is more rarely attained than bhāva or rati in vidhi bhakti, and it is only attainable through grace (Śrī Mukunda Dāsa Gosvāmī). The devotees from the Vallabha Sampradāya call this rāgānugā mārga puṣṭi mārga (the path of grace).

Statement:

The devotee must be highly qualified to do lila-smaranam. When the mind is still contaminated, we can´t meditate on the pastimes of Radha and Krishna. It will always be our own material fantasy.

Answer:

Lila-smaranam can only take place in the real sense at the stage of asakti. But Srila Jiva Goswami mentions in his Bhakti Sandarbha that there are 5 stages of “REMEMBERANCE”.

Sri Jiva Goswami has written about smaranam as five developmental stages:
General smaranam,dharana, dhyana, drhuvanusmriti, and samadhi.
He also speaks of various types of smaranam in an order of progression from nama smaranam, to rupa smarnam, to guna smaranam, and ultimately lila smarnam.
For doing lila-smaranam, the heart must be pure and the devotee should be deeply in love with the Divine Couple (stage of ASAKTI).

But to say that we can´t mediate on Radha and Krishna´s lila AT ALL because our mind is contaminated is nowhere mentioned in any shastra. By hearing about the pastimes of the Divine Couple our mind and heart gets purified. So even if in the beginning we only “imagine” THEM with our “material mind”, this is never useless or in vain.
By being in the shelter of Sri Gurudeva and by practicing bhakti under his guidance, we become more and more pure in our hearts and then the stages of perfect rememberance will swiftly be attained.
Nobody claims that all devotees are IMMEDIATELY able to practice PERFECT LILA-smaranam.

We practice first in the stage of bhajana-kriya. This is compared to an unripened fruit. When our bhajan matures and we progress through the higher stages within bhakti, this fruit becomes ripe.

yugala carana sevi, nirantara ei bhavi,
anuragi thakibo sadaya.
sadhana bhavibo yaha, siddha-dehe pabo taha
raga pathera ei se upaya (55)
– Prema Bhakti Chandrika

“I will always think of the devotional service of the lotus-feet of the Divine Pair, and I will always remain attached to that. Whatever I think of during my spiritual practice, I will attain in my siddha deha when I reach perfection. This is the means of raga bhakti.”

sadhane ye dhana cai, siddha dehe taha pai,
pakkapakka matra se vicara
apakke sadhana riti, pakile se prema-bhakti,
bhakati lakshana tattva sara (56)
– Prema Bhakti Chandrika

“The treasure I desire as a practitioner I will get when I attain my spiritual body; it’s just a question of being ripe or unripe. The ripe stage is the stage of pure loving devotion and the unripe stage is the stage of practice. That is the essential truth about devotional principles.”

True, in Raganuga path meditating on the divine pastimes is the main sadhana, however in the primary stage we are not qualified for leela-smaran. Therefore we should concentrate more on hearing, chanting and following the other rules of bhakti.  Then as our chitta gets more and more purified,  we  are  drawn  towards  leela-smaran.  Slowly  our  smaran  becomes  more  intense. Ultimately when we reach the zenith of bhajan, lila-smaran naturally becomes the major part of bhajan. We should note that all the parts of bhakti mentioned in vaidhi-bhakti are useful in Raganuga bhajan also.

Srila Rupa Goswamipad mentions this in the verse –
“shravanot-kirtanadini vaidha-bhaktyuditani tu, yanyangani cha tanyatra vigneyani manishibhih.”
–   (B.R.S.)

Here hearing and chanting also includes accepting the shelter of Sri Gurudev’s lotus feet and other fundamentals of bhakti as well. We should realize that all the rules of bhakti that we have already mentioned, and they are the parts of vaidhi-bhakti – we should stick to them in Raganuga bhajan also. If we do not obey the instructions of the Vrajavasi Goswamis such as Sri Rupa Goswami, Sanatan Goswami etc., how can we say we are surrendered unto them? Then how can we follow in their footsteps? The serious devotees should practice only those rules that are in accordance with their bhava and never do what is contrary to it.

In Srimad-Bhagavata (10.33.39) while narrating the rasa-lila, the crest jewel of all pastimes, Sukadeva Muni describes the most powerful glories of devotion —

vikriditam vrajavadhubhir idam ca vishnoh sraddhanvito’nusrinuyad atha varnayed yah bhaktim param bhagavati pratilabhya kamam hrid rogam asvapahinotyacirena dhirah

“Whoever faithfully hears and narrates the loving pastimes of Sri Krishna with the ladies of Vraja will attain the topmost devotion for the Lord, will swiftly become grave and give up the heart’s disease of lust.”

In this verse the saying ‘he attains the highest devotion to the Lord’ is an asamapika kriya or unfinished act, whereas the words kamam hrid rogam asvapahinoti, ‘he will swiftly give up the hearts disease of lust’ is a samapika kriya or a completed act.

Thus it is established that while lust is not yet conquered the symptoms of topmost loving devotion are already present, and that later, by the force of the most powerful and independent bhakti, the heart’s disease of lust will be destroyed.

In the Vaishnava-toshani commentary on this verse it is explained – “atra tu hrid rogapahanat purvam eva parama bhakti praptih tasmat parama balavad evedam sadhanam iti bhavah” that the common principle is that first lusty and other material desires are destroyed, and then one attains prema-bhakti. Here, however, the attainment of prema-bhakti is described, though lusty desires still exist.

This indicates that hearing or describing the rasa-lila is a very powerful process of devotion by which one quickly attains prema-bhakti.
The Gosvamis explain here that the word para- bhakti refers to the most exalted prema-bhakti, existing in the Vraja gopis.
What to speak of the existence of lust, even a very sinful person can perform bhakti.

So the “qualification” to START with the practice of REMEMBERANCE is the mercy of our beloved Sri Gurudeva who instructs us in this matter. But without HEARING and CHANTING we can never attain REAL lila-smaranam.

prathamataḥ kṛṣṇaṁ smaran iti smaraṇasyātra rāgānugāyāṁ mukhyatvaṁ rāgasya manodharmatvāt. preṣṭhaṁ nija bhāvocita līlā vilāsinaṁ kṛṣṇaṁ vṛndāvanādhīśvaram. asya kṛṣṇasya janaṁ ca kīdṛśaṁ nija samīhitaṁ svābhilaṣaṇīyaṁ śrī vṛndāvaneśvarī lalitā viśākhā śrī rūpa mañjaryādikam. kṛṣṇasyāpi nija samīhitatve’pi tajjanasya ujjvala bhāvaika niṣṭhatvāt nija samīhitatvādhikyam. vraje vāsam iti asāmarthye manasāpi. sādhaka śarīreṇa vāsas tu uttara ślokārthataḥ prāpta eva. sādhaka rūpeṇa yathāvasthita dehena. siddha rūpeṇāntaś cintitābhīṣṭa tat sākṣāt sevopayogi dehena. tad bhāva lipsunā – tad bhāvaḥ sva preṣṭha kṛṣṇa viṣayakaḥ sva samīhita kṛṣṇa janāśrayakaśca yo bhāva ujjvalākhyas taṁ labdhum icchatā. sevā mana-saivopasthāpitaiḥ sākṣād apyupasthāpitaiś ca samucita dravyādibhiḥ paricarya kāryā. tatra prakāram āha vraja lokānusārataḥ sādhaka-rūpeṇānugamyamānā ye vrajalokāḥ śrī rūpa gosvāmyādayaḥ ye ca siddha-rūpeṇanugamyamānāḥ vrajalokāḥ śrī rūpa mañjaryādayas tad anusārataḥ. tathaiva sādhaka-rūpeṇānugamyamānā vrajalokāḥ prāpta kṛṣṇa-sambandhino janaś candrakāntyādayaḥ daṇḍakāraṇya-vāsi munayaś ca bṛhad-vāmana prasiddhāḥ śrutayaś ca yathāsambhavaṁ jñeyāḥ. tad anusāratas tat tad ācāra dṛṣṭyety arthaḥ. tad evaṁ vākya-dvayena smaraṇaṁ vrajavāsaṁ ca uktvā śravaṇādīnapy āha – śravaṇotkīrtanādīnīti. guru pādāśrayaṇādīni tvākṣepa labdhāni. tāni vinā vrajalokānugatyādikaṁ kim api na sidhyed ity ato manīṣibhir iti manīṣayā vimṛśyaiva svīyabhāva samucitāny eva tāni karyāṇi na tu tad viruddhāni.

“First of all, through the words ‘remembering Kṛṣṇa’ (Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu 1.2.294), it is indicated that remembrance (smaraṇa) is the main item of rāgānugā bhakti. Rāga is a special feature of the mind. The beloved is the Lord of Vṛndāvana, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who enjoys pastimes suitable to His own feeling. With ‘His people also’ is meant: His beloved eternal associates in Vraja, that transcendental personality that the practising devotee favours, like Vṛndāvaneśvarī Śrī Rādhikā, Śrī Lalitā, Viśākhā, Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī, and so on. Although they are Kṛṣṇa’s favorites, they are also more favorite to those devotees who desire to enter into the brilliant erotic relationship with Kṛṣṇa. If one can not live in Vraja physically, one must at least mentally do so. But the next verse (1.2.295) clearly explains how one must live in Vraja physically. Living with the sādhaka rūpa means in the physical body of the practising devotee, and the siddha rūpa means one’s own desired mentally conceived spiritual body, that is suitable for direct transcendental service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. tad bhāva lipsunā means: being eager to attain the brilliant erotic feelings towards Kṛṣṇa of one’s favorite devotees in that feeling, like Śrī Rādhikā and the gopīs. How to serve? With paraphernalia that are collected either mentally or physically. How to follow in the footsteps of the people of Vraja? In one’s physical body one follows in the footsteps of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and other saints that lived in Vraja and in the mentally conceived spiritual body one follows in the footsteps of Śrīmatī Rūpa Mañjarī and other eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa.
The people of Vraja that should be followed in the sādhaka rūpa, such as Candrakānti, the sages of the Daṇḍaka-forest, whose story is related in the Bṛhad Vāmana Purāṇa, as well as the śrutis (Upaniṣads), have attained their spiritual relationship with Kṛṣṇa. One should act like these Vrajavāsīs. In this way the first two verses described smaraṇa and living in Vraja and the third verse (1.2.296) describes practices such as hearing about Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. All other limbs of devotional practice, such as taking shelter of the feet of the guru, are attained through the practice of hearing and chanting. Without hearing and chanting one’s allegiance to the people of Vraja will be unsuccessful, hence the word manīṣibhiḥ was used. This means that intelligent persons will, with the help of their sense of discrimination, practise those limbs that are favorable to one’s own devotional feelings and not those that are opposed to that.
– RAGA VARTMA CHANDRIKA

Statement:

It is very bad and dangerous if devotees start to meditate on their siddha deha before the stage of asakti. 

Answer:

“tatra rāgānugā-mārge’nutpanna-rati-sādhaka-bhaktair api svepsita-siddha-dehaṁ manasi parikalpya bhagavat-sevādikaṁ kriyate | jāta-ratīnāṁ tu svayam eva tad-deha-sphūrtiḥ | asya tūtpannā madhura-jātīyā ratiḥ krameṇānurāga-daśāṁ prāptāsti, atas tad-deha-sphūrtiḥ sadaiva | ”

There, on the raganuga-path, even the sadhaka bhaktas whose rati/bhava has not yet arisen, mentally conceive of their desired siddha dehas, and thus serve the lord, etc.
When rati has arisen, that body is perceived automatically.
In the arisen rati of the madhura-kind, one gradually attains the stage of anuraga; then that deha will be always perceived.”
– Srila Krishna das Kaviraja Goswami´s TIKA on “Krishna Karanamritam”, verse 2

Meaning:

Although we may not be in the stage of rati (passion), the raganuga sadhaka has to perform bhajan by meditating on his siddha-deha. When we reach the rati stage, we do not have to meditate consciously on our siddha-deha; it becomes spontaneous.