Meditation on the Lord's Lotus Feet

From 3.28.1:
The devotee should first concentrate his mind on the Lord’s lotus feet, which are adorned with the marks of a thunderbolt, a goad, a banner and a lotus. The splendor of their beautiful ruby nails resembles the orb of the moon and dispels the thick gloom of one’s heart.

From the purport to the verse : 3.28.22

The blessed Lord Śiva becomes all the more blessed by bearing on his head the holy waters of the Ganges, which has its source in the water that washed the Lord’s lotus feet. The Lord’s feet act like thunderbolts hurled to shatter the mountain of sin stored in the mind of the meditating devotee. One should therefore meditate on the lotus feet of the Lord for a long time.

Purport:

Another significant point of this verse is that the mind of the conditioned soul, on account of its association with the material energy from time immemorial, contains heaps of dirt in the form of desires to lord it over material nature. This dirt is like a mountain, but a mountain can be shattered when hit by a thunderbolt. Meditating on the lotus feet of the Lord acts like a thunderbolt on the mountain of dirt in the mind of the yogī. If a yogī wants to shatter the mountain of dirt in his mind, he should concentrate on the lotus feet of the Lord and not imagine something void or impersonal. Because the dirt has accumulated like a solid mountain, one must meditate on the lotus feet of the Lord for quite a long time. For one who is accustomed to thinking of the lotus feet of the Lord constantly, however, it is a different matter. The devotees are so fixed on the lotus feet of the Lord that they do not think of anything else. Those who practice the yoga system must meditate on the lotus feet of the Lord for a long time after following the regulative principles and thereby controlling the senses.

1.2.18 The Two Bhagavats that help a devotee overcome that which is troublesome

What occurs after we become eager to hear, which begins the clearing of material desires from the heart?

naṣṭa-prāyeṣv abhadreṣu

nityaḿ bhāgavata-sevayā

bhagavaty uttama-śloke

bhaktir bhavati naiṣṭhikī

By regular attendance in classes on the Bhāgavatam and by rendering of service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.

Important Points

A fixed mind can focus

1. In 1.2.17 the anarthas that cause unsteadiness start getting cleared by the Lord's mercy owing to the devotee's increased urge to hear. In 1.2.18 the anarthas that cause unsteadiness are almost completely destroyed . Thus the mind is fixed and can focus. This is the stage of Nistha - almost anartha nivritti. 
2. Main Point: The impediments to bhakti can be removed by service to devotees(person Bhagavata) and Bhagavatam. Thus by hearing and doing service. 
1. The messages of the book Bhagavata have to be received from the devotee Bhagavata, and the combination of these two Bhagavatas will help the neophyte devotee to make progress on and on . (From Unveiling His Lotus Feet - Page 58)
3. Importance of Relationships with devotees(mentioned by Hg Radha Krishna Prabhu while explaining this verse)
1. We avoid association of devotees because we do not want to give up material nature
1. It is impossible to do pure devotional service in association of material nature(therefore do yukta vairagya)
2. Association is important because we hear from the devotees and thus unwanted things leave our heart. Also Krishna is present in their heart.
3. On our own it is hard to grow therefore we must help each other.
4. Good relationships encourages us in service
4. From anartha nivritti you must come to nishtha else something is wrong with your execution.- Hg Radha Krishna Prabhu

The six anarthas that cause unsteadiness

The 9 stages of Bhakti in ascending order are :

The nine stages of DEVOTION are:1. sraddha: faith
2. sadhu-sanga: association with devotees
3. bhajana-kriya: performance of devotional service
4. anartha nivrtti: decreasing of unwanted attachments
5. nishtha: steadiness
6. ruchi: taste
7. asakti: attachment
8. bhava: love
9. prema: pure love for Krsna

The six anarthas that cause unsteadiness in the initial stages of Bhakti

Unsteady performance of devotional activities is of six types (in sequential order):

1. false confidence (utsaha-mayi)
2. sporadic endeavour (ghana-tarala)
3. indecision (vyudha-vikalpa)
4. combat with maya (visaya-sagara)
5. inability to uphold vows (niyamaksama)
6. enjoying the waves (taranga-rangini). 

 In this way they characterize unsteady devotional service.
These can be very easily overcome by serving the pure devotees as by serving them we gain affinity  to hear the Lord's messages.

Once we gain that affinity then as SB 1.2.17 states:

śṛṇvatāḿ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ
hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi vidhunoti suhṛt satām

Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.

The six anarthas are described below- excerpt from the second shower of the Madhurya Kadambini.

 1. utsahamayi- false confidence: just as a child, having just begun study of the scriptures, thinks he has immediately become a great scholar worthy of everyones praise, a person just beginning devotional service may develop the audacity to think that he has mastered everything. He is called utsaha-mayi, or filled (puffed-up) with enthusiasm.

2. ghana-tarala sporadic endeavor: a child sometimes is diligently engaged in his studies and yet at other times, because of inability to understand the scriptures and because of lack of real taste, becomes totally negligent. In the same way, a new devotee sometimes practices the different activities of devotional service and sometimes neglects them. Being somtimes assiduous and at other times negligent, his sporadic endeavour is called ghana-tarala (condensed-dilute,thick-thin).

3. vyudha-vikalpa indecision: "Shall I just spend my life happily in family life, making my wife and children Krsna conscious, and worshipping the Lord; or should I give them all up and go and sit in Vrndavana, place of meditation, and become a real success by engaging full time in hearing and chanting with no distractions? Shall I wait until the last stage,after enjoying all sorts of pleasures, when I have understood that the
whole material world is simply a forest fire of affliction, or should I renounce right now? Should I regard this family life as death, a deep well concealed by grass, and give up unreliable family life while young? Or shall I wait until the death of my old parents before renouncing? If I give up family life in an unsurfeited state I will think of family life after renouncing. If I should die in that condition I will go to hell. From that type of renunciation I won't get any strength. Therefore for the time being, I will just work to keep my body alive, and later, after satisfying all my desires, I will enter Vrndavana and engage in worship of the Lord 24 hours a day."

"Renunciation may be condemned as useless, if one depends on it to produce bhakti, but it is acceptable if one realizes it as being generated from bhakti, and dependent on bhakti." Justifying renunciation in this way, and understanding that there will be no worry for food if he should become a renunciate, since it is well known that the asramas are full of food, he sometimes favors a life of renunciation. But at other times, using the dictum that household life is a prison only for those who are attached, he favors household life.

"Shall I engage in chanting or rather in hearing, or shall I engage in service? Let me rather engage in many angas of bhakti like Ambarisa Maharaja."

When one imagines in this way all types of options of devotional service without deciding anything, it is called vyudha-vikalpa, or extensive indecision.

4. visaya-sagara combat with Maya:

            visayavista cittanam visnavesah suduratah
            varuni dig-gatam vastu vrajnanaindrim kim apnuyat

One whose heart is lot in materialism is far from obtaiing devotion to Visnu. Can a man going east catch something which is going in the opposite direction? The devotee, with this understanding - that he cannot attain steadiness in serving Krsna without renunciation or detachment from material enjoyment - esolves to renounce his addictions. But though he attempts to renounce his enjoyment he ends by indulging in it, taking
solace from the example of a devotee given in the Bhagavatam:

            jusamanas ca tan kaman parityago 'py anisvara

The inexperienced devotee, in spite of his attempts to give up his material desires, is unable to do so completely, and is allowed to indulge in satisfying his desires to some degree.This on-going battle with his previously acquired desires for sense pleasure, in which he sometimes meets with victory and sometimes with defeat, is called visaya-sagara or war with sense pleasure.

5. niyama-aksama inability to uphold the vows:

Then the devotee will resolve: "From today I will chant such and such number of rounds of japa and will pay so many obeisances. And I will perform services for the devotees. I will not talk on any subject except the Lord and I will give up all association with people who talk on material matters." Though he makes such resolutions every day, he is always unable to execute them. This is called niyama-aksama or inability to follow rules. Visaya-sagara is the inability to give up material activities whereas niyama-aksama is the inability to improve his devotional activities.

6. taranga-rangini- enjoying the waves:

Finally, it is well-known that the very nature of bhakti is that all people become attracted to the person possessing it. And as the popular saying goes: "By the attraction of the populace one becomes wealthy." Bhakti produces much opportunity for material gain, worship and position. These are weeds around the creeper of bhakti. Performing activities, or seeking ones pleasure (ranga) amidst these weed-like
facilities, which are but small waves (taranga) in the ocean of bhakti, is called taranga-rangini, delighting in material facilities.

1.2.17 The Lord personally cleanses the desire for material enjoyment......

Krishna Himself cleanses the anarthas

śṛṇvatāḿ sva-kathāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ

puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtanaḥ

hṛdy antaḥ stho hy abhadrāṇi

vidhunoti suhṛt satām

SB 1.2.17: Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead, who is the Paramātmā [Supersoul] in everyone's heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted.

The process of hearing itself develops piety. In SB 1.2.16 we read that after serving devotees we get a desire to hear about Krishna. This verse explains what happens next.

Srila Prabhupada mentions in the purport:
But if one is engaged in hearing the glories of the Lord, gradually he realizes his real position. By the grace of God such a devotee gets sufficient strength to defend himself from the state of disturbances, and gradually all disturbing elements are eliminated from his mind.

Specific Anarthas cause unsteady devotional service. Those are listed in the second shower of the Madhurya Kadambini and are also detailed here:

Sravanam-From the Ear to the(cleansing of the) Heart

1. utsaha mayi - enthusiasm indicating pride thinkin that they unlike others have already mastered everything
2. ghana-tarala: moving unsteadily between diligence and negligence
3. vyudh- vikalpa: flickering determination
4. visaya - sangara: an ongoing struggle with sense pleasure
5. niyamaksama : inability to improve devotional practices
6. taranga rangini: delighting in material facilities that bhakti produces

But Krishna is so kind that if a devotee takes to the process of hearing and develops a strong urge to hear His message, He himself cleanses the desire for material enjoyment.

This gives me great hope as even after some years in devotional service I have not been able to overcome any of my anarthas. When I read this verse I feel very hopeful that if I just hear sincerely Krishna will remove all the abhadrani's from my heart and help me fully express my dormant love towards Him through pure devotional service.

HG RadhaKrishna Prabhu mentioned in class that the first quality of a devotee is the desire to hear about Krishna.When eagerness to hear about Krishna is very strong remembrance is very strong. Then the false ego can be cut to pieces- the material mind can be dissolved