Śrīpāda Raghunātha Das then prays for having a wonderful attachment to the Vrajavāsīs, the residents of Vraja-dhāma. Here ‘Vrajavāsīs’ must be understood to mean those who live in Vraja-dhāma in the broadest sense of the word. 

The scriptures and the saints say that although the dhāma is a transcendental place it assumes a material form out of mercy to the people of the world.

In the same way the residents of the dhāma are also assuming a material nature, although they are completely transcendental.

Therefore, although some rough edges may be perceived on the behaviour of the Vrajavāsīs, we should consider this to be due to the contaminated state of our minds, senses, and intelligence and remain fully devoted to them.

vṛndāṭavī vimala cid-ghana sattva-vṛndā
vṛndāraka pravara vṛnda munīndra vandyā
(Vṛndāvana Mahimāmṛta 1.44)

“Those who reside in the forest of Śrī Vṛndāvana have all attained spiritual bodies, and they are praised by the demigods and the greatest sages.” 

Therefore Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī desires to serve all the moving and non-moving creatures of Vraja with the topmost devotion: 

sevā vṛndāvana-stha sthira cara nikareṣv
astu me hanta kevā devā brahmādayaḥ
syu stuta uru mahitā vallabhā ye vrajendoḥ
ete hy advaita saccid rasaghana vapuṣodūra
dūrātidūra sphūrjjan māhātmyā vṛndā bṛhad
upaniṣānandajānanda kandāḥ
(Vṛndāvana Mahimāmṛta 1.61) 

 “May I attain the service of the moving and non-moving creatures of Vṛndāvana. Aho! They are naturally very dear to Kṛṣṇa, the moon of Vraja, and they are even more worshipable than the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā. The glories of these exclusively transcendental forms, which consist of condensed rasa, can’t be understood by tiny human brains, and they are the cause of bliss even to the Upaniṣads!”

In the same way Śrī Raghunātha begs his mind to show great attachment to the sujana (good people, or Vaiṣṇavas).

For someone who wants to attain loving devotion to the Lord’s lotus feet it is compulsory to be attached to the association of His devotees.

mahat-kṛpā vinā kon karme bhakti noy –
No activity can be devotional service without the mercy of the saints)
avaśya milaye kṛṣṇa vaiṣṇava kṛpāya  –
Surely, Kṛṣṇa is attainable by the mercy of the Vaiṣṇavas

From these words we can understand that loving devotion to the Lord’s lotus feet can only be attained by the grace of the saints. The Lord’s mercy uses the saint’s mercy or association as a vehicle to infuse it into another living entity; it does not take place independently.

One may ask here:

“The Lord can directly bestow His mercy in the form of devotion to His lotus feet, why is it so dependent on mahat-kṛpā (grace of the saints), or mahat saṅga (association with the saints)?”

The scriptures and the saints answer to this:

“Although the grace of the Lord is the major and self-perfect cause of attaining devotion which brings us to the Lord, it takes shape before us in this phenomenal world in the form of the grace of the saints”.

santa evānugrāhye yasya saḥ. tavānugraho yaḥ prāpañcike carati sa tad ākāratayaiva carati nānya rūpatayetyarthaḥ (Bhakti Sandarbha 180)

“O Lord! The saints are the embodiments of Your grace! Whatever mercy You reveal in this phenomenal world wanders around there in the form of the saints, and in no other form!” Therefore it is nothing but self-deception to reject the direct mercy of the Lord in the form of the saints and to seek the Lord’s parokṣa-karuṇā (roundabout, indirect mercy).

Thus the Lord told His dear devotee Uddhava:

mad bhakta pūjābhyādhikā
(Bhāg. 11.19.21)

“My devotees are more worshipable!”

abhyādhikā mat santoṣa viśeṣaṁ jñātvā mat pūjato’pīty arthaḥ

“You should be more attached to worshipping My devotee than to worshipping Me, for worship of My devotee particularly pleases Me.”

This is because the Lord desires the devotee even more than Himself. He is more attracted to the bliss of His devotee’s devotion in the heart than to His own svarūpānanda (constitutional, internal, personal bliss), and He desires to relish that bliss more. 

nāham ātmānam āśāse mad bhaktaiḥ sādhubhir vinā
śriyaṁ cātyantikīm brahman yeṣāṁ gatir ahaṁ parā
(Śrīmad Bhāgavata 9.4.64) 

 The Lord told Durvāsā Ṛṣi: “O brāhmaṇa! I covet My devotees and the saints for whom I’m the only shelter even more than I covet Myself or My six-fold opulence!”

Therefore it is said in the Śāṇḍilya Smṛti:

siddhir bhavati vā neti saṁśayo’cyuta sevinām
na saṁśayo’tra tad bhakta paricaryāratātmanām 

 “It may be doubted whether a devotee of Acyuta attains perfection or not, but there’s no doubt about it that someone who is dedicated to serving Acyuta’s devotee attains perfection!”

tasmād viṣṇu prasādāya vaiṣṇavān paritoṣayet

“Therefore, in order to get Lord Viṣṇu’s mercy, one must please the Vaiṣṇavas with loving devotion.”

Śrīmad Bhāgavata says: 

yat sevayā bhagavataḥ kuṭasthasya madhudviṣaḥ
ratirāso bhavet tīvraḥ pādayor vyasanārdanaḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavata 3.7.19) 

 “By serving the saints, a festival of love for Madhusūdana, the destroyer of material miseries, becomes firmly established within the heart.”

Associating with saints and serving them means to lovingly worship them with body, mind, and words, hearing topics of Kṛṣṇa from them, remembering these topics, following their exemplary behaviour and doing bhajana according to their instructions.

Nowadays, mahat-sevā or vaiṣṇava-sevā has become known as ‘giving some money, food, or clothes, feeding them some khichuri (hotchpotch)’ or whatever the donor can think of and thereby treating the Vaiṣṇavas with contempt as if they are beggars.

An intelligent person will understand whether or not all of it is in adherence to the above-quoted holy words “mad bhakta pūjābhyādhikā or ratirāso bhavet tīvraḥ”.

The Nārada Pañcarātra says:

vaiṣṇavānāṁ parā bhaktiḥ

“One must serve the Vaiṣṇavas with the greatest devotion”.

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī writes in Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu: 

yāvanti bhagavad bhakter aṅgāni kathitān iha
prāyas tāvanti tad bhakta bhakter api budhāḥ viduḥ 

 “The wise understand that each item of devotion to the Lord discussed in this book has a corresponding item of devotion to a devotee.”

On the pretext of teaching his own mind, Śrī Raghunātha Dāsa teaches all the devotees that the flawless way to attain love for the lotus feet of the Lord is to serve the pure devotees with love.

After this Śrī Raghunātha instructs his mind to love the brāhmaṇas with apūrva rati.

By devotion to brāhmaṇas, one awakens the grace of the Lord, Who is called brahmanya deva, the Lord of the brāhmaṇas.

When there is a statement like:
śvapākam iva nekṣete loke vipram avaiṣṇavam –
One should not look at a non-devotee brāhmana, he is just like a dogeater, it is only meant to attract such a non-devotee brāhmaṇa to devotion.

Such statements are not intended to blaspheme brāhmaṇas, for Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself gives instructions in vipra-bhakti:

vipraṁ kṛtāgasam api naiva druhyata māmakāḥ
ghnantaṁ bahu śapantaṁ vā namaskuruta nityaśaḥ
(Śrīmad Bhāgavata 10.64.41)  

 “O My kinsmen! Do not harm a brāhmana, even if he offends you! Even if He assaults You or abuses you, you must always bow down to him.”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda has described five levels of rāgānugā-sādhana, namely svābhīṣṭa bhāvamaya (practice that is full of the desired mood), svābhīṣṭa bhāva sambandhī (practice that is related to the desired mood), svābhīṣṭa bhāvānukūla (practice that is favorable to the desired mood), svābhīṣṭa bhāvāviruddha (practice that is not unfavorable to the desired mood), and svābhīṣṭa bhāva viruddha (practice that is unfavorable to the desired mood).

Of the five, the practice that is not unfavorable to the desired mood contains items like honouring the cows, the brāhmaṇas and the Banyan-trees.
These practices can be beneficial to the practice of rāgānugā bhajana.
(Śrī Rādhākuṇḍa Mahānta Paṇḍita Śrī Ananta Dās Bābājī Mahārāja)