Did Srila Prabhupada chant 64 rounds ?

[Paramananda das]

HH Kavicandra Maharaja asked me this question.

This was my response:
dear Kavicandra Swami
Please accept my humble obaisences
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Maharaja you asked me the question:Was Srila Prabhupada chanting 64 rounds?
My answer is 2 questions to you: How do you know he did not chant 64 rounds a day?
If he asked devotees at the first initiation to chant 64 rounds, would he be preaching something he did not do himself ?. I can not accept this notion I am sorry.My humble believe is he likely chanted  64 rounds still and he pretended to be like the "rest of the devotees".Only chanting minimum 16.Even if he chanted 16 rounds. I have been told Srila Prabhupada would constantly be chanting when not preaching and writing books never wasting a second in Krsnas service.Even if he only chanted minimum 16 rounds because he was so busy writing and preaching, he was still an uttama adhikari bhakta.And uttama adhikaris are always engaged in hearing and chanting about Radha and Krsna.We see Srila Prabhupada has so much knowledge of the acaryas books as well, certainly he studied them during his life, Nrsimha Maharaja and those ISKCON devotees that went to Sridhara Swami see that Srila Prabhupada was a nitya siddha, that came from Goloka and eternal associate of Lord Caitanya and Nityananda Prabhu.But for us that all come from the conditioned state we should take Srila Prabhupada instruction to chant 64 rounds very seriously, or we can cheat ourselves and say "impossible",This is my understanding and others have different opinions.In Jaiva Dharma we see how advanced Babajis mentioned by Bhaktivinoda Thakura ,where one tells the other I have chanted 64 rounds or 120 rounds for many years, just now I have become a madhyama adhikari.I think this should make us think very carefully.16 rounds is such a bare minimum. Narayana Maharaja told me once, only a fool thinks that 16 rounds is enough to help control the mind, but Mahaprabhu asked for 64 rounds and so did Swamiji.
(Srila Prabhupada) and having considered over time , it is certainly true.We can say oh I am a western and can not chant 64 rounds.
False,we are a spirit souls and eternal servants of Krsna .Impossible is the words in a fools dictionary, Srila Prabhupada said .
Why make it impossible to advance and not chant 64 rounds ( advancement will be much slower chanting less and with less sincerity ) quantity and quality chanting is needed.Puri Maharaja used to say after chanting 64 rounds for many years one should also learn all the books of the acaryas.This he learned from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and followed himself.Kindly consider this sloka also that has come from the pen and lotuslips of Srila Rupa Goswami:
syāt kṛṣṇa-nāma-caritādi-sitāpy avidyā-
pittopatapta-rasanasya na rocikā nu
kintv ādarād anudinaḿ khalu saiva juṣṭā
svādvī kramād bhavati tad-gada-mūla-hantrī
NoI 7: The holy name, character, pastimes and activities of Kṛṣṇa are all transcendentally sweet like sugar candy. Although the tongue of one afflicted by the jaundice of avidyā [ignorance] cannot taste anything sweet, it is wonderful that simply by carefully chanting these sweet names every day, a natural relish awakens within his tongue, and his disease is gradually destroyed at the root.

your humble servant
 Paramananda  das

[Paramananda das]

Letter to: Indira (Iris Mendoza), Ekayani (Esther Mendoza), San Francisco, 17 December, 1967
"I am very glad to learn you are chanting 48 rounds. Actually it is all right that one should chant 64 rounds, even 16 rounds, so if one is able to chant more than 16 rounds up to 64, it is very good. You fix up your rounds.
Try to increase it but never decrease it."

[Paramananda das]

TRY TO INCREASE (FROM 48 TO 64) BUT NEVER DECREASE YOUR CHANTING.
IF YOU ARE ABLE TO CHANT MORE THAN 16 ROUNDS UP TO 64 IT IS VERY GOOD.
Letter to: Indira (Iris Mendoza), Ekayani (Esther Mendoza), San Francisco, 17 December, 1967
"I am very glad to learn you are chanting 48 rounds. Actually it is all right that one should chant 64 rounds, even 16 rounds, so if one is able to chant more than 16 rounds up to 64, it is very good. You fix up your rounds.
Try to increase it but never decrease it."
{Note: Indira is fairly new devotee at that time.)
VERY GOOD AND VERY NICE IF YOU CAN DO IT (CHANT 64 ROUNDS):
Letter to: Hamsaduta, Hawaii, 23 March, 1969
"Yes, it is very good if you can chant 64 rounds; this is very nice if you can do it."
PRABHUPADA PRESCRIBED 64 ROUNDS WHEN DEVOTEES WERE IN TROUBLE WITH THEIR SENSES:
Letter to: Bhaktijana, Los Angeles, 12 February, 1968
"I shall advise you again to chant always, increasing the counting, namely, 16 rounds is generally prescribed, but for the time being you can stop all other activities and increase the chanting to 64 rounds."

[Paramananda das]

Morning Walk, May 14, 1975, Perth: Devotee (1): Shrila Prabhupada, how can the position be reconciled if in Krishna consciousness one of the two, the husband or the wife, wants to enjoy sense gratification, but the other does not? Should there be separation then?
Prabhupada: No... They should be trained up. Sense enjoyment means not advanced in Krishna consciousness. As soon as one is advancing in Krishna consciousness, his sense enjoyment spirit will be reduced. That is the test.
Bhaktih paresanubhavo viraktir anyatra ca . The test is, how you are advancing in Krishna consciousness is the proportionate diminishing of sense enjoyment. That is the test. Just like cure of the disease means diminishing the fever, temperature. This is the test.
Devotee (1): What if that fever is not being diminished?
Prabhupada: Then he should try to chant Hare Krishna mantra, instead of sixteen rounds, sixty-four rounds. That is the way. Sixteen round is the minimum. Otherwise Haridasa Thakura was 300,000. So you have to increase.
That is the only remedy. If one has got determination, he will make progress without any trouble. That determination is very difficult, that determination, "I must be Krishna conscious fully." That determination.
Drdha-vratah.

[Paramananda das]

Letter to: Indira (Iris Mendoza), Ekayani (Esther Mendoza), San Francisco, 17 December, 1967
"I am very glad to learn you are chanting 48 rounds. Actually it is all right that one should chant 64 rounds, even 16 rounds, so if one is able to chant more than 16 rounds up to 64, it is very good. You fix up your rounds.
Try to increase it but never decrease it."

[Paramananda das]

Morning Walk, May 14, 1975, Perth: Devotee (1): Shrila Prabhupada, how can the position be reconciled if in Krishna consciousness one of the two, the husband or the wife, wants to enjoy sense gratification, but the other does not? Should there be separation then?
Prabhupada: No... They should be trained up. Sense enjoyment means not advanced in Krishna consciousness. As soon as one is advancing in Krishna consciousness, his sense enjoyment spirit will be reduced. That is the test.
Bhaktih paresanubhavo viraktir anyatra ca . The test is, how you are advancing in Krishna consciousness is the proportionate diminishing of sense enjoyment. That is the test. Just like cure of the disease means diminishing the fever, temperature. This is the test.
Devotee (1): What if that fever is not being diminished?
Prabhupada: Then he should try to chant Hare Krishna mantra, instead of sixteen rounds, sixty-four rounds. That is the way. Sixteen round is the minimum. Otherwise Haridasa Thakura was 300,000. So you have to increase.
That is the only remedy. If one has got determination, he will make progress without any trouble. That determination is very difficult, that determination, "I must be Krishna conscious fully." That determination.
Drdha-vratah.