In Krishna consciousness, as we go on chanting progressively for a number of years, we become stable, at least externally, in chanting of 16 rounds. There isn’t much taste in chanting, but we finish our quota to fulfill the promise given to the spiritual master, or simply to ensure we are doing the bare minimum needed for spiritual life.
However, progress in bhakti means we begin to feel that sixteen is not enough.
Śrīla Prabhupāda would sometimes say, “Why only 16? Why not 16,000?” Of course, due to constraints of time we may not be able to chant more than 16. But the desire to chant constantly, the awakening of the longing to chant more and more, is a very positive sign of advancement in Krishna consciousness.
Short for Removal of Anarthas
His Holiness Bhakti Tirtha Maharaj once humbly mentioned, “Because I did not have a great past, therefore I need to chant more.” He would make it a point to chant 42 rounds every single day along with all his numerous services.
Sometimes 16 rounds can be less for the removal of the unlimited mire of material desires we have in our lives. As Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura says, anādi-karma-phale – our timeless karma makes it very difficult to advance in Krishna consciousness.
The prostitute who was initiated by Haridasa Thakura also felt the need to chant more, because she had been engaged in a very dirty business. But by the association of Haridasa Thakura and by chanting the holy name, she completely purified her heart.
Short for Protection
Chanting has the capacity to form a protective shield around us. It helps us navigate through the challenges, difficulties, and vices that come in life.
Haridasa Thakura’s protective covering of chanting helped him overcome even Mayadevi herself.
Sometimes sixteen rounds may fall short to protect us, and we may notice ourselves drifting into unwanted zones. What should we do at that time? Rather than somehow finishing the sixteen rounds, we can also give priority to chant additional rounds and pray intensely to the holy name for protection.
The holy name is not different from Krishna. Just as Draupadi was protected by Krishna in the most grievous danger, and Parikshit was protected in the womb in the gravest calamity, the holy name can protect us from the greatest challenges maya may put forth in our lives.
Short for Empowerment
Why did Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura chant many, many rounds before they undertook the huge task of establishing the ISKCON and Gaudiya Math respectively?
In fact, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura had taken a vow to chant one billion holy names. If he were a nitya-siddha, was there even a need for it?
The ācāryas wanted to show us that the holy name is a very effective means of empowering ourselves to do something meaningful in Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mission.
To get empowered in Mahaprabhu’s mission is not an ordinary accomplishment. This can take place by the sincere chanting of the holy name of Krishna.
Short for Taste
When a devotee becomes purified by chanting the holy name, the same chanting no longer appears burdensome. It becomes ecstatic. The devotee wants to chant constantly. His tongue cannot stop murmuring the holy names.
Therefore Rupa Goswami expresses a desire that he had many tongues and millions of ears to chant and hear the holy name.
What enabled Haridasa Thakura to chant 192 rounds every day? It was taste.
That same taste enabled the Six Goswamis to go deeper and deeper into the mellows of the holy name.
A pure devotee reaches such a point that he cannot live without the holy name, just as a fish cannot live without water. Every time the devotee chants, he is in contact with Krishna, and he never wishes to lose that contact. Because loss of that contact means loss of life.
That is the perfection we all yearn for in our lives – constant contact with Krishna through His holy name. And a beginning step to attain that taste is the yearning that I want to chant more!
