One should be intelligent to serve Kṛṣṇa. This prayer Hare Kṛṣṇa means "Kṛṣṇa, I am so much harassed by this service of this māyā. Now please engage me in Your service." This is our prayer. And as soon as I am engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, then I will be satisfied, Kṛṣṇa will be satisfied, and the whole world will be satisfied. So nobody should interpret any other way. This is direct meaning. Nāmna artha-vādaḥ. Or to imagine some meaning. No imagination. It is all direct interpretation or direct meaning.
Then, nāmno balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ (Padma Purāṇa, Brahma-khaṇḍa 25.1). One should not commit sin. The four principal sin, we have several times repeated; again we are repeated, that all sins are based on four principal headings—illicit sex life, and nonvegetarian diet, gambling and intoxication. It is very scientific. If one can avoid these four principles of sinful activities, he becomes pure. He hasn't got to do much.
If these four principles are followed, he will never touch any sinful activities. But if somebody thinks that "Because I am chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, and by chanting I become free from all sinful reaction, therefore let me do all nonsense," no, that is the greatest sin. Nāmnād balād yasya hi pāpa-buddhiḥ (Padma Purāṇa, Brahma-khaṇḍa 25.1). That is . . . should be avoided.
And sāmyam śubha-kriyā mati-pramādaḥ. Just like we are having this function. There are many auspicious function in every religious system, but it is not like that. It is transcendental. It is spiritual. It is not ordinary religious rituals. Chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa is not a ritualistic method. It is transcendental. It is natural, original relationship. So this should be avoided. And the conception of realizing oneself as this body, self-realization—no, that should be avoided. And one should not be inattentive while chanting.
In this way ten kinds of offenses . . . of course, in the beginning we have got . . . because our life is contaminated, there may be so many falldown, but we should be careful. The more we become careful, the more we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa without any offense, the more we quickly become advanced.
Just like a person taking medicine, if he takes all care, then the medicine effects very quickly and the disease is cured very quickly, similarly, if we take precaution of these ten kinds of offenses . . . of course, by chanting, gradually everything will be cleared, but still, we must be very cautious. Even we fall down, that . . . Kṛṣṇa will save us if we are sincere.
So these ten kinds of offenses should be avoided, and at least sixteen rounds you must chant. All the Gosvāmīs in Vṛndāvana, they had a limited . . . not limited, a number, fixed, that "So many times I shall chant." So we are offering only minimum of sixteen rounds. That, it will take, sixteen rounds, it will take about, utmost, three hours. So you should . . . out of twenty-four hours, you should engage at least three hours for chanting.