Morning Walk Nov 2, 1975 Nairobi

Brahmānanda: The quality of the chanting he’s asking. How can we make the quality the best?

Prabhupāda: Quality…, you’ll understand; first of all come to the quantity. Without having quantity, how he’ll understand the quality? You follow the instruction of your spiritual master, of the śāstra. That is your duty. Quality, no quality—it is not your position to understand. When the quality comes, there is no force. You will have a taste for chanting. You will desire at that time, “Why sixteen rounds? Why not sixteen thousand rounds?” That is quality. That is quality. It is by force. You’ll not do it; therefore at least sixteen rounds. But when you come to the quality, you will feel yourself, “Why sixteen? Why not sixteen thousand?” That is quality, automatically. Just like Haridāsa Ṭhākura was doing. He was not forced to do. Even Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He requested, “Now you are old enough. You can reduce.” So he refused, “No. Up to the end of my life I shall go on.” That is quality. Have you got such tendency that you will go on chanting and nothing to do? That is quality. Now you are forced to do. Where is the question of quality? That is given a chance so that one day you may come to the quality, not that you have come to the quality.

Quality is different. Athāsaktiḥ. āśakti, attachment. Just like Rūpa Gosvāmī says that “How shall I chant with one tongue? And how shall I hear, two ears? Had it been millions of tongues and trillions of ears, then I could enjoy it.” This is quality. Quality is not so cheap. Maybe after many births. For the time being you go on following the rules and regulations. It is being done by force. Where is the quality? So you wanted to understand quality. This is the quality. You’ll not be forced, but automatically you’ll desire. That is quality. I am writing books. I am not being forced by anyone. Everyone can do that. Why one does not do it? Why I get up at night, one o’clock, and do this job? Because I cannot do without it. How one will do it artificially? This is quality. Therefore they like my purports. That quality is shown by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-virahena me.

“Oh, I do not see Govinda. The whole world is vacant.” Śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-virahena me. This is quality. Just like we have got practical example: one man’s beloved has died, and he is seeing the whole universe vacant. Is it vacant? So that is quality of love.

So there is no formula of quality. It is to be understood by himself. Just like if after eating something you feel refreshed and get strength, that is quality. You haven’t got to take certificate: “Will you give me a certificate that I have eaten?” You’ll understand whether you eaten or not. That is quality. When you will feel so much ecstasy in chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, that is quality. Not artificially—”Chant. Chant. Otherwise get out.” This is not quality. This is in expectation that someday you may come to quality. That requires time. That requires sincerity. But quality is there. Śravanādi śuddha citte karaye… [Cc Madhya 22.107].

It will be awakened. Not by force. Just like love between two person, it cannot be forced: “You must love him. You must love her.” Oh, that is no love. That is not love. When they automatically love one another, that is quality. Dora vede[?] prema.

And therefore formerly, at least in the Indian society, the…, at an early age they were married. There is no quality in that quality. But gradually, remaining together, the quality of love increases. Then the wife takes care of the husband, and the husband takes care… They become bound up, united in love. That is quality. In the beginning, what the child knows about love? No. But they are allowed to remain as husband and wife. They are thinking that “I have got my husband,” “I have got my wife,” and as the age increases, the dealings becomes intimate. Then they become affectionate. That is quality. Not in the beginning there is any quality. It is by the parents’ arrangement. That’s all.