"A slice of the Mahamantra cake or the whole pie"

[Paramananda das]

"A slice of the Mahamantra cake or the whole pie"
Today Bhakta Cole gave the analogy that you should not be so greedy to chant Hare Krsna one slice is enough so you can as much or as little as you like because the Mahamantra is like eating cake in that analogy he gave.We know Srila Prabhupada allowed minimum 16 rounds because Mukunda das now Maharaja rebelled against chanting 64 rounds daily and Srila Prabhupada said well can you do 32 and again he rebelled so Srila Prabhupada made it 16 rounds minimum ...actually a slice of the Mahamantra cake to use this analogy is 64 rounds and the full cake is 192 rounds daily .
prabhura achaye sankhya tina laksha nama;
eka laksha bhaktagane kaila kripa dana.
"Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu standard was to chant 3,00,000 names everyday. But He very mercifully awarded His devotees the process of chanting a minimum of 1,00,000 names of Krishna daily.
Lord Caitanya is God not Bhakta Cole Pogue what did Lord Caitanya say about chanting 64 rounds daily ?
from Caitanya Bhagavata Antya Kandha chapter 9 :
(122) "se janera nama ami bali 'lakshesvara'
tatha bhiksha amara, na yai anya ghara."
"Lord Gauranga continued-I call such a person a laksheshvara. I only accept meals in such a person's house. I never go anywhere else."
Purport by Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada:
shri chaitanya bhaktagana abhaktera sahita sambhashana karena na. jini bhaktivyatita karma, jnana o anyabhilashara kathaya pradatta tahara sahita bandhutva karibe na.
"The devotees of Lord Shri Chaitanya never talk with such non-devotees. They never do friendship with those who are engaged in the cultivation of karma, jnana or other desires which are devoid of bhakti.
pratyah laksha-nama grahana na karile patita vyaktiganera visaya-bhoga pravritti vriddhi paya, takhana ara tahara shri gaurasunderarera seva karite pare na.
"Those who don't accept this vow of chanting 100,000 names daily, fall down even more although they were fallen in the first place (due to the contamination of Kali-yuga). Thus their propensity for enjoying the senses and sense-objects continually and steadily increases and ultimately they are not able to render any kind of service even to the most merciful Lord Gaurasundera.
lakshesvara vyatita gaura-bhaktira adarsa gaudiyajana kehai svikara karena na.
"This is the precise reason why the real Gaudiya-bhaktas do not accept any other ideal (adarsa) in Gaura-bhakti or Krishna-bhakti except the process of chanting 100,000 names of the maha-mantra daily.
Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada:
adhapatita va adhapete gana eka-matra bhajana-sabda-vacya shri-nama-bhajane vimukhata-vasata laksha-nama grahana karibara parivarte anya bhajanera chalana korena, taddvara tahadera kona mangala haya na.
"Those spiritual aspirants who are already fallen or will fall down from spiritual life in the future are averse to this sole means of deliverance called nama-bhajana, which is the worship of the sound incarnation of God in the form of chanting 100,000 names of the the Holy Names daily. Coming under the sway of their averseness to chant laksha-nama daily, they duplicitously invent (chalana) other means of devotional service (bhajana) to justify their not chanting 100,000 names daily but it is to be clearly understood that by this action they will not achieve anything auspicious (mangala) in their spiritual life."
What is not clear about that ?
Mukunda Prabhu had another objection :
should we not preach about Lakesvara chanting ?
Munkunda Prabhu quoted : In Hari-bhakti-vilasa, verse 2.147, Srila Sanatan Goswami quotes Sammohana-tantra:
gopayed devatam istam gopayed gurum atmanah
gopayec ca nijam mantram gopayen nija-malikam
One should hide one’s ista-deva, one should hide one’s guru, one should hide one’s mantra, and one should hide one’s japa-mala.
but my Gurudeva never was hiding it is the duty of all Vaisnavas in the Gaudiya line ,Sarasavati line of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada ,Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada insisted again and again all members of Gaudiya math must chant 64 rounds daily to preach his order is pracara, preaching to follow it strictly is a must
I quoted this many times :
Prema-vilasa Chapter 17: Shrila Narottama to Shrila Kaviraja on the direct process to achieve love of Krishna:
prabhura achaye sankhya tina laksha nama;
eka laksha bhaktagane kaila kripa dana.
"Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu standard was to chant 3,00,000 names everyday. But He very mercifully awarded His devotees the process of chanting a minimum of 1,00,000 names of Krishna daily.
shri rupa kaila laksha granthera varnana;
tathapiha karila laksha nama grahana.
"Shrila Rupa Goswami has explained and quoted from over 100,000 different scriptures. Even though he was such a great scholar and devotee he himself chanted 100,000 Holy Names daily.
dasa gosvamira ache laksha pramana;
ei mata sarva bhakta kare harinama.
"Shrila Raghunatha dasa Goswami also rigidly followed the instructions of Lord Gauranga by chanting 100,000 names daily. In this way all the devotees chanted the Holy Names of the Lord daily without exception.
gauranga shrimukhe rupe kahila vaishnave;
laksha nama sankhya kari avasya karibe.
"Lord Gauranga gave the following instructions to all the Vaishnavas Himself and also through Shrila Rupa Goswami: Please compulsorily chant 100,000 names of Krishna daily
Please note this last sloka and learn it by heart it may sink into the neophytes heart after millions of lives
We can not claim to be a follower of Srila Rupa Goswami unless and untill we chant minimum 64 rounds daily and follow his instructions in books such as Nectar of devotion and Nectar of instruction
yes many hated Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada because he never compromised on 64 rounds ,this is why he did not respect many socalled Babajis because he saw they where not even chanting 64 rounds, so his conclusion was that they are not real Babajis
I met a real Babaji at Govinda Kunda Subal das Babaji a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada he was chanting over 120 rounds daily ,he did not tell us but the neighbor next to him who was also a Babaji
Another devotee got angry because 16 rounds is the standard not 64 rounds, yes ISKCON minimum standard is 16 not a Maximum.Lokanath Maharaja asked Srila Prabhupada that on our village program (later became Padayatra ) many devotees chant 32 rounds or more daily and Srila Prabhupada said yes that is wanted , you should not forbid even if you yourself can not chant this much actually we are supposed to chant 64 rounds but in ISKCON we have allowed minimum 16 rounds .So Srila Prabhupada said you fix up a number of rounds and always increase never decrease your chanting,,so if after 30 or 40 or 50 years we are still only on 16 we have not followed Srila Prabhupada always increase never decrease.
Another devotee said I work 16 rounds a day and can not even chant 16 rounds. I wrote back work less and chant more what is the use of you working like a donkey?
Many devotees think you are their enemy if you encourage them to chant more.Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada was most strict . no 64 rounds then you can not have even Harinama Diksa what to speak of Brahmin Diksa .Srila Prabhupada chanted 64 rounds even before his Diksa in 1932 and did for many years properly most of his life.
Kavichandra Maharaja asked me a question some years back if Srila Prabhupada was not himself chanting 64 rounds how could he have asked his disciples in 1966 or so to chant this much.My reply was how do you know Srila Prabhupada was not chanting 64 rounds ?
and his second thoughtful question was, why did Srila Prabhupada when he left this world not order his disciples to start chanting 64 rounds..
my answer was that Srila Prabhupada already was happy at least they where chanting 16 rounds and most following 4 regs and doing devotional service .Later on many stopped following 4 regs even in Prabhupadas presence many did not follow strictly not even chanting 16 rounds. Bhakta das a disciple of Prabhupada said when I was Tp in San Diego many of us did not regularly chant 16 rounds his words not mine .Jayapataka Maharaja was chastised in the past by the International GBC for not chanting 16 rounds .Srila Prabhupada once told me in a dream you will be surprised how many are not chanting even 16 rounds in ISKCON. I always used to think everyone is chanting 16 rounds but not so I visited a Prabhupada disciple some years ago in Germany , he said i chant 4 rounds daily ,,, and Srila Prabhupadas instruction for you to chant minimum 16 rounds where did go in your life and your promise.And he is the German official ISKCON spokes person and brother of Saccinandana Maharaja , his name is Vaidyanth Prabhu ,I sure hope now he retired from his karmi job that he is chanting 16 rounds ....SO MINIMUM 16 rounds going to 64 , and 64 rounds is not the full pie even Srila Bhaktivininoda Thakus writes in Harinama Cintamani when you get to 64 rounds that is only the beginning do not be lazy get to 192 rounds .you think I am lying right ? To prove I am not lying to you
mane habe-aja laksha nama ye kariba;
krame krame tina laksha nama ye smariba.
mahagraha habe citte namera sankhyaya;
acire jabe jadya sadhura kripaya.
“When one’s mind desires to chant and remember one hundred thousand holy names (64 rounds) daily and furthur desires to slowly increase it to three hundred thousand and when one’s mind becomes very attached and eager to complete the fixed number of rounds daily and pushes one to complete the sankhya everyday, then it is understood that very soon the laziness or apathy in chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra will vanish by the mercy of the devotees and one’s chanting will bring one the desired fruit of pure love for Krishna.”
Harinama cintamani
https://bhaktivinodainstitute.org/hari-nama-cintamani.../
Did Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura chant 192 rounds daily he sure did in his later years, he practiced what he preached
he also taught us that by his example
Last question I was asked 64 rounds is not mentioned in the Puranas and Vedas Mahabharata etc , not but in Caitanya Bhagavata,Srila Vyasadeva incarnated as Vrindavana das Thakura to write this book ,there are many other Gaudiya Vaisnava litteratures such as Prema Vilasa written by Nityananda das a disciple of Sri Jahnava Mata the eternal consort of Lord Nityananda Prabhu she empowered him for this task