Reading Our Srila Prabhupada A Friend to All has been nice. Here are another couple of reflections from the book.

First of all, it’s really great to hear about how much time and energy Srila Prabhupada put into his chanting. A number of people remark on this aspect of his behaviour before coming to the West. One person related how he would chant 64 rounds a day. The Holy Name is the first and last line of defense.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati spent 9 years chanting in solitude before beginning his preaching. Srila Narottama das Thakura, a 16th century missionary of Krishna Consciousness spent time chanting with his guru Lokanath Goswami. They were chanting one day when a householder came to request some water from them. Lokanath Goswami continued chanting and did not break his meditation to speak with the man. The man was begging them to please give him some water, and Narottama took pity on him. He stopped chanting and gave him some water. Afterwards his guru Lokanath Goswami was very displeased and ordered him to leave telling him: “You have no faith that by pleasing Krishna everyone will be pleased. You should go away and get married, make some money and give charity to people. Then you will be happy.”

Narottama begged to be allowed to stay, and after some time Lokanath Goswami relented and allowed him. There is a very powerful lesson in this. The unexpected guest is considered to be a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and should be served as such. If you read the Pancaratra-pradipa, a recent compilation of guidelines based on the Vedic culture, it recommends postponing activities of worship to receive an unexpected guest.

In another case a great sage engaged in meditation did not receive a guest. He was Samiki Muni, and he did not arise from his meditation to give water when requested by King Pariksit, who arrived unexpectedly. The King became angry with the sage for not doing this, and this lead to a chain of events that ended with the King cursed to die within 7 days.

So the two sides are there, and the appropriate rule to apply is a matter requiring discrimination. As we hear in the Mahabharata from the lips of Bhismadeva, “Dharma, or proper action, is not black and white, but composed of many shades of gray”.

Anyway, chanting the Holy Name and meditation, spiritual development is important. Service to others is also important.

In Our Srila Prabhupada A Friend to All many people comment on Srila Prabhupada’s dedication to chanting the Holy Name.

It’s very nice for me to read about this, because it reinforces my understanding of the role of chanting and its relationship to preaching.

In 1998 one high profile leader in ISKCON experienced some difficulty and lost faith for some time. He made some public comments which include stating that “I was with Srila Prabhupada a lot of the time and I watched him, and he did not chant 16 rounds a day!”

At the time I dealt with that by thinking:

“Well that’s all good and well - and when I can sleep two hours a days and spend my nights translating Sanskrit scriptures and my days travelling internationally and preaching, I’ll do the same!”

At the first initiation of Western disciples in the 60s, Srila Prabhupada gave names and japa mala (chanting beads), and said: “Now you must chant 64 rounds a day”. One round is composed of 108 mantras of

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna
Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama
Hare Hare

A round takes between 5 and 15 minutes to chant, depending on the time of day, your attentiveness, how warmed up you are, and your experience.

So 64 rounds would take 320 - 960 minutes, or 5 1/4 - 15 hours.

Actually, I tried it for one month after I read about this in Hare Krishna Explosion by Hayagriva das, and it would take me between 4 1/2 - 6 hours to do it.

Anyway, the disciples responded by saying: “64 rounds? That’s impossible! We don’t have time to chant that much!”

Srila Prabhupada considered, and said: “Alright, you may chant 32 rounds.”

Still they protested - 32 rounds was too much!

So Srila Prabhupada said: “Alright! 16 rounds a day - minimum!”

That’s what I call “The First Order”.

Anyway, there was another thing I wanted to share, more backstory nectar that I read (someone I met in South America is in there), but that will have to wait.

Tonight is the Grand Opening of Atma Yoga, so I have to be off to prepare for that.

16 rounds and counting….