Lokanātha: Prabhupāda, why we have chosen this sixteen as a number to chant the rounds?
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Lokanātha: Why not less or more?
Prabhupāda: We have fixed up sixteen?
Lokanātha: We are chanting sixteen.
Prabhupāda: No. We say "Minimum sixteen." Minimum.
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. Still, we say, "We don't find engagement." This is our misfortune. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. Haridāsa Ṭhākura was engaged in chanting and the prostitute came. She offered, "Let us enjoy." "Yes, let me finish. Let me finish this chanting." So much engagement, and still, we say, "No engagement." He refused to have sex with a beautiful young girl because he had engagement. "First of all let me finish my engagement," and we say we have no engagement. How unfortunate we are. (break) ...says, kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ (CC Adi 17.31). Twenty-four-hours engagement He has given, and we see there is no engagement.
Lokanātha: Some devotees have fixed different number than sixteen. Some are chanting twenty minimum or twenty-five.
Prabhupāda: Yes. It should be increased.
Lokanātha: Is it recommended for our...
Prabhupāda: But don't decrease. Don't decrease; increase. Therefore one number is fixed. "At least this much I shall do." That is sixteen rounds.
Lokanātha: But you are recommending sixteen as a minimum, and some devotees are choosing twenty as a minimum.
Prabhupāda: So who forbids? Who says that "Don't do it"?
Lokanātha: They can chant?
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is wanted. But because you cannot do it, therefore we have fixed up this minimum. Saṅkhyāta asaṅkhyāta Saṅkhyāta means with vow, numerical strength. And asaṅkhyāta means there is no limit. (break)
Yaśomatīnandana: ...are higher than any other activities or they are on the same platform? Any activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness... Is chanting the most exalted or...?
Prabhupāda: Everything is exalted. Therefore there are nine processes. śravaṇam kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam, arcanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyam (SB 7.5.23), so many. They are all exalted.
Yaśomatīnandana: So why is it recommended, chanting in this age particularly?
Prabhupāda: Suppose if you have no temple, so you cannot perform arcana. So this is common, greatest common. It is not that because you have no temple, therefore your devotional service is stopped. There are other processes. You can do. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya.
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. (break)
Brahmānanda: If the devotees are asked for service they say, "Oh, I have to chant."
Prabhupāda: "I am imitating." Yes. "I am imitating Haridāsa. This is my first business." That is very bad.