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Chanting Sixteen Rounds (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk at Stow Lake -- March 23, 1968, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: This planetary system, status. There are many other planets like this world. So they are allowed to live here. Here all living entities, they are very much passionate. And adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ. And there are other planets, they are dark, dark planets, below this earthly planet. And the animals, they are in darkness. Although they're on this park, but they do not know where they are, darkness. Their knowledge is not developed. This is the result of the modes of ignorance. And those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, they are neither in darkness, nor in passion, nor in goodness. They are transcendental. So if one cultivates Kṛṣṇa consciousness nicely, he is at once promoted to the Kṛṣṇaloka. That is wanted. You are all chanting sixteen rounds? No? (laughs)

Śarādīyā: I did at first but then I slipped back.

Prabhupāda: Is it very difficult?

Mālatī: No, we do not know how yet to regulate our time too well. Some days we chant sixteen rounds and then the next day, I don't know what happens. I think we sleep too much, I mean I think I sleep too much.

Prabhupāda: How many hours you are sleeping?

Mālatī: About six to eight.

Prabhupāda: That is not much. Sixteen... It takes only two hours, sixteen rounds. Huh? Two hours, or more than that?

Mālatī: Two hours is all it takes to do the rounds.

Prabhupāda: So you have to spend two hours for Kṛṣṇa out of twenty-four. (walks for awhile and chants japa)

Morning Walk at Stow Lake -- March 23, 1968, San Francisco:

Mālatī: So if we miss some sleep we should do it.

Prabhupāda: We should forego sleeping even. The real regulated life is that if sixteen rounds is not completed, then we have to forego sleeping. You should take out hours from sleeping.

Interview -- September 24, 1968, Seattle:

Interviewer: What is the hand attire which you are wearing? What is the meaning of this?

Prabhupāda: I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa whenever there is opportunity, and there are beads. So I am chanting on beads. There are 108 beads and each bead we chant sixteen names, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. So my disciples, they chant at least sixteen rounds.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation Including Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.1-34 Recitation & Explanation -- April 1, 1969, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: No, if you can do more, that's all right. Just like I ask everybody to chant 16 rounds. But if you can chant 1600 rounds, then who prohibits you? You can do that. But we should make a regulation of our life, that "So many times I chant. One chapter I shall read. I shall go to the temple at this time." In this way we must have routine work. Then we'll get practiced automatically. Yes. And Gosvāmīs, the Six Gosvāmīs, they were following routine work. Even they... Sāṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ. They were doing regularly counting. Just like you are counting sixteen rounds. Not only chanting in that counting, but they were offering obeisances also by counting, that "Hundred times I shall offer my obeisances." You see? This is regular routine. Yes.

Room Conversation -- May 10, 1969, Columbus, Ohio:

Janārdana: Prabhupāda, often when we'll be performing, doing some activity during our day, and so many things will go wrong, and we become frustrated...

Prabhupāda: Well, when one is a professional, there may be something wrong. That doesn't matter. But you try to discharge your duties, rightly, whatever you are prescribed to do. Then everything will come to the right point. Your only business is to follow the four principles of regulative life and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa sixteen rounds. So there may be sometimes mistake. That will be corrected automatically. Because we are coming from a different platform, so it may be.

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1971, Gorakhpur:

Devotee: What is charka?

Prabhupāda: Yes, spinning. Because he was spinning daily. Just like you are chanting sixteen rounds, he was spinning sixteen rounds. (laughter) And he said frankly, "Are you spinning charka?" They said, "No sir." "Oh, then I am not going there. My god is charka." That is practical. We have got experience. And actually he was refusing. Just like we are insisting, "You must chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra sixteen rounds," he was... There were so many charkas daily selling. People took it very seriously. We also took charka and that, what is called?

Devotee: Handloom.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1971, Gorakhpur:

Prabhupāda: Therefore you are, we have prescribed rules for chanting. You must finish sixteen rounds, then go to sleep, whole day sleeping. You finish that sixteen rounds and sleep whole day. I have no objection.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1971, Gorakhpur:

Prabhupāda: There is no then. Don't talk nonsense. If you are so much addicted to sleeping, you simply chant sixteen rounds and whole day sleep. But don't take food also. (laughter) Don't get up taking prasādam. "Now I have to honor prasādam. Let me eat sumptuous, then again sleep more."

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1971, Gorakhpur:

Devotee: Is there some order of priority in service then? I mean, sixteen rounds is more important than anything else. And then following that, there's something else.

Prabhupāda: That's all right. If you cannot do anything else, you simply chant sixteen rounds, take prasādam, and sleep. (laughter) It is special prerogative for you. There is no then. This is, this is order for you.

Room Conversation -- February 17, 1971, Gorakhpur:

Devotee: In a situation where there's a choice between say chanting and reading. Is chanting a better activity than reading?

Prabhupāda: Yes, chanting and reading is the same thing.

Devotee: But is one better than the other?

Prabhupāda: No better. That I explained. It is absolute. Either you chant or read, the same thing. But you have to fulfill the sixteen rounds. That's it.

Darsana -- June 28, 1971, San Francisco:

Prabhupāda: Always be engaged, always. Just like our Karandhara, he has taken so much responsibility. He is doing. I am very pleased. He is prepared to do the masonry work and building work and distribution of book, accounting. In this way, we shall be always busy. Find out some work. I have no work now. Of course, the sixteen rounds must be chanted hundred percent. Rest time, simply find out where is Kṛṣṇa's work. Why sixteen rounds? It only takes two hours, you have got twenty-four hours. What you will do twenty-four hours?

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- May 4, 1972, Mexico:

Devotee: Beginning when one takes sannyāsa initiation? It doesn't necessarily mean he's a controller of senses, is that right? Gradually he may rise up to...

Prabhupāda: Yes. No. A sannyāsī is already qualified. Then (indistinct). The first beginning is chanting. If he follows the regulative principles and chants sixteen rounds, that is his qualification. And by that process, he'll come to the point of full surrender. Then we give him the second initiation. And when he's actually engaged in the service of the Lord heart and soul, then we give him sannyāsa.

Conversation with the GBC -- May 25, 1972, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Now we have got very many centers, but the duty is very responsible. So as, so far the center is concerned, the local president is (indistinct) man. The GBC can supervise that things are going on. The first management is that each and every member in the temple is chanting sixteen rounds regularly and following the regulations, that's all. Otherwise we have no... That is our spiritual strength.

Conversation with the GBC -- May 25, 1972, Los Angeles:

But the regulation is that if one day you cannot finish, you have to finish on the next day. But sixteen rounds is not very large number, the lowest. The lowest in India is twenty-five(?). Here sixteen rounds, twenty-five, not even twenty-five. So the president, local president, must see that the members are chanting.

Room Conversation -- June 29, 1972, San Diego:

Prabhupāda: We don't try for getting any job or any business. Depend on Kṛṣṇa. But our main business is to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness and follow the rules and regulations, chant sixteen rounds, Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. So we are... There is no problem for us. To collect seventy thousand dollars and spend every month, do you think is very easy job? A big government is concerned, or a big company, to collect seventy thousand dollars and distribute it again. It is a big problem. So how... We are increasing our centers. Practically every month, two, one, two. And we have got huge expenditure. But Kṛṣṇa is supplying.

Room Conversation and Interview with Ian Polsen -- July 31, 1972, London:

Ian Polsen: Your Grace, how many times do you recommend that I chant on my beads? How many rounds?

Prabhupāda: We recommend minimum sixteen rounds.

Ian Polsen: Minimum sixteen rounds, every day.

Prabhupāda: Otherwise, you can chant twenty-four hours. Minimum sixteen rounds.

Ian Polsen: Is it true that if I follow the regulative principles, the four, that I will be able to chant without offense?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversations with Sannyasis -- March 15, 1974, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Well, we have got many faults. He can find out. But generally, if I direct nicely, others will follow. That is the principle. I may have some fault, you may have some, that you are not liberated from. We are all trying to preach. So generally we should behave very nicely according to the rules and regulations, chanting sixteen rounds, rising early in the morning. Particularly maybe there is some (indistinct). So generally with our, general rules are (indistinct). First of all rising early in the morning, he cleans and (indistinct) performances. So these things are followed, chants sixteen rounds, then everything is there.

Room Conversation with Two Buddhist Monks -- July 12, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: Those who are taking according to the instruction, they're becoming happy. Practical. Without any consideration of time, country, people. Anyone is accepting, and he's becoming happy. And they are not expected to undergo very severe type of austerities. Neither prāṇāyāma or yoga. They are unable. Simply I have advised them, "With these beads chant Hare Kṛṣṇa sixteen rounds." They are chanting. It is very easy. Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma... Sixteen rounds. It takes about two hours. And they're refraining from four kinds of sinful activities: illicit sex, gambling, intoxication, meat-eating.

Room Conversation -- November 3, 1973, New Delhi:

Prabhupāda: Therefore we forbid to take to the karmī's life. Because at the time of death, if he remains a karmī, then he'll have to take birth as a karmī. That is the risk. So this regulated life, holding class, chanting, that will not make us fall down. That is essential. It is essential, regulate, to follow the regulative principles, chanting sixteen rounds, holding class. You can do anything, but this will keep us alive to the Kṛṣṇa consciousness platform.

Morning Walk -- December 6, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Just like I say, "Chant sixteen rounds." If you do not do it. What can I do? That is your fault.

Satsvarūpa: If God were to force us, there'd be no love.

Prabhupāda: Eh? No, no. Force is not good. Force is there. Force is there. The māyā is another force.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: One... Abhyāsa-yoga... You practice this. Therefore we say, "You must chant at least sixteen rounds." This is abhyāsa-yoga. When one becomes attached to chanting, he doesn't require to be under discipline. But so long he's not practiced, he must be under.

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1974, Hyderabad:

Pañcadraviḍa: What if the person cannot chant sixteen rounds a day. He says, "I can't..."

Prabhupāda: Then he is not even a human being. He is a rascal. That's all. He is not a human being. What to consider of talking...? Don't talk about him if he cannot chant sixteen rounds. He is not even a human. He is animal.

Morning Walk -- April 20, 1974, Hyderabad:

Prabhupāda: "Whenever there is opportunity, I sleep and eat. And I have no time for chanting"—this is cheating. How long you can go on by cheating? You must finish it. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Somebody, after initiation he promises, "Yes, I shall follow these rules and regulations. I shall chant sixteen rounds," before the fire, before the Deity, before the guru, and if he does not follow, then he is a cheater. What to speak of his becoming a Vaiṣṇava, he is a cheater. He breaks all his promises.

Morning Walk -- June 9, 1974, Paris:

Bhagavān: The best way to gradually get them detached?

Prabhupāda: Bhajana-kriyā. Therefore bhajana-kriyā, sādhu-saṅga (CC Madhya 22.83), association with devotees and stick to the devotional program. Just like devotional program we have got. Bhajana-kriyā. This is called bhajana-kriyā. One cannot be slack in the process of devotional service. Then it will be... Vidhi-mārga, the regulative principles: chant sixteen rounds, rise early in the morning, have maṅgala-ārātrika, read books, take your bath—these are the process. Bhajana-kriyā. Bhajana means devotional service, and kriyā... The yogis, they call kriyā-yoga.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1975, Mayapur:

Jayādvaita: The representative may be there, but what is my personal relationship?

Prabhupāda: Hm? To obey your spiritual master. Whatever he has said, you follow strictly. Follow the regulative principles. Chant sixteen rounds. That's all.

Morning Walk -- May 14, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: The test is, how you are advancing in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the proportionate diminishing of sense enjoyment. That is the test. Just like cure of the disease means diminishing the fever, temperature. This is the test.

Devotee (1): What if that fever is not being diminished?

Prabhupāda: Then he should try to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, instead of sixteen rounds, sixty-four rounds. That is the way. Sixteen round is the minimum. Otherwise Haridāsa Ṭhākura was 300,000. So you have to increase. That is the only remedy. If one has got determination, he will make progress without any trouble.

Morning Walk -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Devotee (3): Śrīla Prabhupāda, if one goes to the temple, if one attends the temple regularly and inquires from the devotees about the devotional principles, and because of some reason, it's not necessarily... it's not convenient for him to live in the temple at that time, and he is living with people...

Prabhupāda: No, no, you live in temple or without temple, if you follow the instruction, that is wanted. If you live without temple and chant sixteen rounds and observe the regulative principle, that's all right. It doesn't require that you should live in the temple. And if you live in the temple and do all nonsense, then what is the use of living in the temple?

Morning Walk -- July 8, 1975, Chicago:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But brāhmaṇa initiation should be strict.

Prabhupāda: Very strict. Very strict means he must be observed that he is actually chanting sixteen rounds, following the regulative principles. That's all.

Morning Walk -- November 2, 1975, Nairobi:

Devotee (7): Prabhupāda, in the movement there is sometimes difficulty, and...

Prabhupāda: What is the difficulty? You chant sixteen rounds and follow the regulative... Where is the difficulty?

Morning Walk -- November 2, 1975, Nairobi:

Cyavana: Then what is your instruction? If they won't accept your instruction, then what is your instruction? Must be bogus. Huh? If your instruction is pure, then they'll accept. If your instruction is not pure, who will accept? I will not accept.

Prabhupāda: No, "Example is better than precept." If you actually follow strictly the rules and regulations and chant sixteen rounds, why they'll not follow? They'll follow. If you are not attending class, if you are not attending maṅgala ārati, if you are not finishing sixteen rounds, then that is bad example.

Morning Walk -- November 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 quality. Without having quality, 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 round? 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.

Morning Walk -- November 10, 1975, Bombay:

Lokanātha: Why that sixteen minimum?

Prabhupāda: If you can, sixteen thousand you can go. Sixteen rounds is the minimum. But if you are able to chant sixteen thousand rounds, that is welcome. We have got so much engagement.

Morning Walk -- November 10, 1975, Bombay:

Lokanātha: Prabhupāda? If we chant more than sixteen rounds, so how can we know whether we are imitating Haridāsa Ṭhākura or following his footsteps?

Prabhupāda: Imitation is also good. If you imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura, that is also your great fortune, even if you imitate. (break) imitating, it does not mean you are condemned. Even if you imitate, that is also good. (break) If you have some other business and if you say, "Now I am imitating Haridāsa Ṭhākura, I cannot do it," that is very bad. "I am busy in imitating Haridāsa Ṭhākura." That is not good. That is very bad.

Morning Walk -- December 11, 1975, Vrndavana:

Akṣayānanda Swami: Of course we accept, ah, when you tell us to chant sixteen rounds, we accept that figure as being, in perfect faith, that you're the ācārya, but ah, what if others we wanted to convince, is there any, any ah, śāstr... Is there any Vedic verse we can refer to to corroborate that at least they must chant sixteen rounds. Or that many number of names?

Prabhupāda: No. In the śāstra it is not said like that...

Akṣayānanda Swami: I see.

Prabhupāda: It is said, śaṅkhy-pūrvakaḥ...

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 4, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: The process has begun immediately, curing process. But we should not think that we have become perfect. That is wrong. Yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma na tyājyam. Therefore you must follow the regulative principles. As soon as you become a rascal—"Now I have become advanced. I don't require to chant sixteen rounds. I can do whatever I like"—then he has gone to hell.

Morning Walk -- June 14, 1976, Detroit:

Makhanlāl: If one has even a small amount...

Prabhupāda: This material calculation is not made by a devotee. When one is devotee, he'll chant more and more. He'll aspire, "If I could get millions of tongues and trillions of ear, then I could finish. That is devotee. And one is thinking how to finish it by chanting once, he's not devotee. That is neophyte stage. Therefore the regulation is you must chant sixteen rounds at least. Because he'll simply try to avoid it by his so-called intelligence.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation Varnasrama System Must Be Introduced -- February 14, 1977, Mayapura:

Hari-śauri: But in Caitanya Mahāprabhu's practical preaching He only induced them to chant.

Prabhupāda: That is not possible for ordinary man.

Hari-śauri: What, to simply induce people to chant?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Hari-śauri: He only introduced just the chanting.

Prabhupāda: But who will chant? Who'll chant?

Satsvarūpa: But if they won't chant, then neither will they train up in the varṇāśrama. That's the easiest.

Prabhupāda: The chanting will be there, but you cannot expect that people will chant like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They cannot even chant sixteen rounds. (And) these rascals are going to be Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Room Conversation with Alice Coltrane -- July 1, 1977, Vrndavana:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Is there a certain number of rounds you would recommend for her?

Prabhupāda: That is minimum... Because these people are not accustomed, only sixteen rounds.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Sixteen rounds.

Prabhupāda: But the chanting is recommended twenty-four hours.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Twenty-four hours.

Alice Coltrane: (laughs) (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). Sadā means twenty-four hours.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: But minimum, sixteen rounds.

Prabhupāda: But one who cannot, minimum, sixteen rounds.

Page Title:Chanting Sixteen Rounds (Conversations)
Compiler:MadhuGopaldas, ChandrasekharaAcarya
Created:31 of Dec, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=38, Let=0
No. of Quotes:38