Devotee (1): Prabhupāda, I have you've . . . we've been reading your Caitanya-caritāmṛta . . . (break) . . . comments, and in the Seventh Chapter and Eighth Chapter that you've been emphasizing very much this mantra:
- śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya
- prabhu-nityānanda
- śrī-advaita gadādhara
- śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
You've asked your disciples to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra at least sixteen times round on the beads. Can this mantra also be chanted afterwards, in addition, also on the beads?
Prabhupāda: No, no. I have advised that, that śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya, this Pañca-tattva, must be chanted, but that is kīrtana, and this is japa. Sixteen rounds, it is called japa. So kīrtana, when there is chanting, if you chant the Hare . . . śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu, then it becomes very clear. There will be no offense. So therefore our process is, first of all chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, er, śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvās . . . you get some strength, then chanting, very . . . it will be easy.
Devotee (2): Śrīla Prabhupāda, if after finishing one's sixteen rounds of the mahā-mantra . . .
Prabhupāda: Hmm?
Devotee (2): . . . Hare Kṛṣṇa, is it all right to . . .
Prabhupāda: It is not finished. If you have got time, if, if you haven't got to do anything else, you can continue, (laughter) sixteen hundred. It is not mechanical, "Now I have finished sixteen rounds, that's all." Why sixteen rounds? You chant sixteen hundred rounds. That is minimum. Because you cannot concentrate your mind in chanting, you have no attachment for chanting, that is a, a regulative principle. You must. You must finish this. Otherwise, those who are actually attached to the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, that, that Haridāsa Ṭhākura, they are chanting whole day and night. But you cannot imitate that. Your mind is not fixed up. Therefore it is minimum sixteen rounds. Not that, "Because minimum sixteen, I cannot chant more." Why not more? You can chant more, more.