Hello ... I am going to try and increase the number of rounds that I chant. Could anyone tell me if all your rounds have to be done at the same time or can they be split into two sets?
Thanks for your advice _/\_
Tony.
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Hare Krsna,
My obeisances to all devotees, guru and gauranga.
As many have already highlighted, chanting your rounds can be broken down in many ways based on your time and circumstances. It is adviced to chant during the morning hours (especially the Brahma muhurtha time which is an hour and half before sunrise) as this is the most auspicious time or time of goodness to get the most benefit. Having said that you can break it up in any way you can but strive towards doing more rounds at one go. All 16 rounds at one go is better or do 8 and 8.
I am sorry about the below lines but felt like I want to write on what I feel about people who always talk about quality chanting and don’t give much importance to the number of rounds.
Firstly: No one can claim that any of their round was a quality round. If they did, then they stagnate their sadhana. We should constantly strive towards chanting better to become purer and not contemplate on ‘that round was awesome” feeling.
Secondly: Chanting more rounds is not a bad thing even if its in attentive (I am not canvassing towards inattentive chanting). Any chanting is good chanting as Krsna sees our efforts be it towards bettering our chanting or increasing our rounds. By chanting more rounds, we are dedicating our time to Krsna than other mundane material activity. Our time is what belong to us and dedicating the same is the ultimate austerity.
All the chanting should lead one towards krsna by developing a loving relation with Him. When we start to enjoy chanting for His pleasure, then chanting doesn’t become a chore or a boring activity. Just think about Prabhupada’s approach when he went to US. Did he think that his followers would do quality chanting from the get go? First he introduced them to krsna and his names and based on their surrender, krsna gave them the intelligence to come to Him. Lets take the same approach and start to chant as many rounds as we can and Krsna will guide each one accordingly.
I apologise if my response offends anyone.
Chant and be happy.
Srila prabhupada ki jai..
Hare krsna
Krsna Dasa,
Thank you for your reply prabhuji, once again I appreciate the consistently high quality of your posts here in these forums.
And thanks for sharing your opinion. You did not offend me. I agree with both of the points you made. I apologize for not making myself more clear in my post before. I will try to explain my position.
I agree, more rounds is good, even if they are poor quality rounds. I agree that we cannot judge the quality of our rounds and claim "that round was awesome." So we do not know for sure but we can strive, as you said, to become better at chanting.
So my point still stands that the quality of the rounds is very important. Yes, more rounds is better, but we should strive for both quality AND quantity in chanting. You said that when we are chanting we are "spending time" with Krishna. Well spending time is great, but (if I may make a metaphor) how would you feel if someone very special and important to you said "I will spend exactly 2 hours (or however many hours) with you everyday in the mornings only, and while I am doing it I will be thinking about all sorts of various other things and not paying much attention to you." This is not loving thinking.
Many people DO try to chant sincerely, I know. But, I have heard of devotees who chant their rounds while watching a football game. They are chanting only to finish their 16 rounds, just to get that *number* completed and out of the way. This is fine for them, if it is what they want, but this is far from prema bhakti and those who are serious about Krishna consciousness would do well to avoid such distractions while spending time with Krishna.
Our love for Krishna should ultimately be spontaneous and we should give him our full attention as much as possible (hence my emphasis on quality). Thus I believe it is extremely important to be fully present and focused on Krishna while chanting as much as we are able.
Thanks for your understanding.
Namaste
Jai Sri Krishna
Hare Krsna,
My obeisances to all devotees, guru and gauranga.
Jake prabhu, I totally totally totally agree that as devotees we have to strive towards attentive and quality rounds. All I am trying to say is, we cannot think we are capable of attentively chanting. The attentive chanting is given to us by Krsna, its His grace. Without His grace, we only have a lip movements. Having said that, we still have to endeavour to please Him through chanting with the prayer that “I am incapable of concentrating on your names. I am such a fallen soul”. With this humble approach, we qualify to chant attentive and quality rounds through His mercy.
The eventual “spending time for krsna” will turn into “spending time with krsna” then we get the bhav to enjoy the pleasure to chant for Him. Our progress is ONLY ONLY through His grace.
Krsna says in Gita 18:37 That which in the beginning may be just like poison but at the end is just like nectar and which awakens one to self-realization is said to be happiness in the mode of goodness.
My limited understanding is:
At the start the poison of inattentiveness is bound to hit us but we have to try and try and try (chanting more and more rounds) and Krsna says that it will eventually awaken one to self-realisation and this happiness is in the mode of goodness then all chanting will automatically become a quality one. Quality which ONLY krsna can evaluate.
Chant and be happy.
Srila Prabhupada ki jai..
Hare krsna
Hare Krsna!
Please accept my humble reverence. All glories to Bhaktivedanta.
Es importante tan chanting Haré krsna tranquillity without the reside to finish, with devotion and faith.
Krsna help you if you are sincere
Chanting Hare krsna is a act of love for the guru,krsna and devotees
If chant your rounds with sincerity all rules and regulation following, to be patience chant!
The maha mantra is a beautiful sound. Focus on its beauty sometime.
There are no hard and fast rules for chanting the holy names. Lord Caitanya taught to chant anytime, anywhere, everytime, everywhere. To all, forgive me if I have incorrectly described the Lord's teachings. I have indeed found, though, that chanting is fine to do anywhere and anytime, but is best done as a sincere attempt to develop love for Krishna and to reach out to him. To that end, chanting can be done in any mood, but I have to disagree with Radha Rasamayi DD.
Radha Rasamayi DD,
I agree that it is certainly fine to "split up" the chanting into multiple sessions in one day, surely many devotees do this. But I think that it is actually not the number of rounds you chant that really matters, but the sincerity of the chanting. As Prabhupada said, even chanting with no faith is better than not chanting at all; but I have found that when I chant "just to chant" or just to get a certain number of rounds out of the way, it is far less effective than when I use chanting as a conscious attempt to get closer to Krishna. Thinking of Krishna while chanting is more effective than thinking of mundane things while chanting. Thus, the quality of the chanting is more important than the quantity (number of rounds). And thinking of Krishna's form is just as powerful as chanting his names since He and his Names are one and the same.
If we are thinking of other things besides Krishna while we are chanting, doesn't that mean we are saying that those things are currently more important to us than Krishna? Even if only subconsciously?
I certainly do not mean to imply an offense that anyone's rounds would be lacking in quality, but it goes that since we are such lowly fallen souls, we cannot always chant purely. I only mean to say, that purity of chanting is more desirable than the austerity of 16 daily rounds. But what do I know?
Krishna is only interested in our love. He is so extremely loving and generous and merciful and kind and just wants us to love him, any way we can. :)
Hare Krsna Jake prabhu,
PAMHO.
I agree with you - Krsna sees only the sincerity of our heart. OUr acharyas have said that a minimum of 16 rounds have to be chanted everyday. There is a purpose behind it - 16*108*16 = 27648. I believe that is the number of breaths we take in a day. That is the reason chanting 16 rounds in a day is recommended and stressed up.
Quality chanting is desired, but quantity chanting is required. A lot of people hide behind the quality excuse and chant less rounds even when they have the time to chant more. The important thing to understand is that by chanting, we are training the mind to focus on Krsna. It will be impudent and not listen to us - by still continuing to chant, we are achieving 3 things - 1) we are training the mind to concentrate, 2) we are training our mind and body to chant every single day regardless of whether we feel like it or not, 3) we are showing our sincerity to Krsna that we want to chant, but are fallen souls - our minds are not in our control, so we are not able to chant with sincerity, so please help us control the mind and put it in Your service.
One example is given of a farmer sowing seeds - the seeds will sprout whether they have been sown right side up or wrong side up.
I hope I have been able to explain.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
First of all, a big Haribol to you for trying to increase your rounds - this is so nice.
To answer your question, there is no rule - you can chant as per your convenience - whether in one lot, whether splitting the rounds into multiple times - doesnt matter. What matters is how many rounds you are chanting.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD