My Vyasapuja offering 2020

[Paramananda das]

Why would I fool myself?
My Vyasa Puja offering to Srila Prabhupada August 12 2020

dear Srila Prabhupada today on your holy Vyasapuja day I offer my humble obaisences in the dust of your lotusfeet.Thanks for allowing me to keep taking shelter at your lotusfeet .
When you gave your first initiation you asked devotees to chant 64 rounds .It is recorded in the Hare Krsna explosion by Hayagriva das : The Hare Krishna Explosion, p. 63, by Hayagriva dasa, Palace Press 1985:

"Now that you have beads," Swamiji says the next morning, "you should chant sixty-four rounds every day."
"Sixty-four rounds?" To pronounce every word of the mantra distinctly, we require five minutes to chant a round. Sixty-four rounds would take over five hours. "Impossible!" we say. "We'll never have the time."
"All right," Swamiji says. "Thirty-two rounds."
"Impossible," we say. "We'll never be able to do it. It's way too much." "All right," Swamiji says. "Sixteen rounds. No less."

Why should I fool myself I will please you more by chanting 16 rounds than 64 rounds.If I was so stupid , I would not deserve to even live .

dear Srila Prabhupada as the modern day representative of Srila Haridas Thakura and your Guru Maharaja that always insisted before a disciple do anything in a day he should first complete 64 rounds .ANd Lord Caitanya refused flatly refused to eat any offering from ANY devotee that did not chant 64 rounds daily .
Often ISKCON leaders preach if you chant more than 16 rounds you are in Maya Srila Prabhupada did not agree with this bogus philosophy :

Shrila Prabhupada on a Morning Walk, November 10, 1975, Bombay:

Lokanatha: Some devotees have fixed different number than sixteen. Some are chanting twenty minimum or twenty-five.
Prabhupada: Yes. It should be increased.
Lokanatha: Is it recommended for our...
Prabhupada: But don't decrease. Don't decrease; increase. Therefore one number is fixed. "At least this much I shall do." That is sixteen rounds.
Lokanatha: But you are recommending sixteen as a minimum, and some devotees are choosing twenty as a minimum.
Prabhupada: So who forbids? Who says that "Don't do it"?
Lokanatha: They can chant?
Prabhupada: Yes. That is wanted. But because you cannot do it, therefore we have fixed up this minimum. Sankhyata asankhyata Sankhyata means with vow, numerical strength. And asankhyata means there is no limit.

So Srila Prabhupada is very clear :In our Krishna consciousness movement we are teaching our followers to chant the Hare Krishna mantra continuously on beads. Even those who are not accustomed to this practice are advised to chant at least sixteen rounds on their beads so that they may be trained.[...] Sada means "always." Haridasa Thakura says, nirantara nama lao: "Chant the Hare Krishna mantra without stopping." [...] One's real duty is to surrender to the lotus feet of Krishna, but if one is unable to do so, he should adopt this process, as introduced by Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His most confidential servant, Namacarya Shrila Haridasa Thakura. This is the way to achieve success in Krishna consciousness.

The Nectar of Devotion, Vrindavana, 20/10/1972:

"Just like we have asked our students to finish sixteen rounds chanting minimum. Sixteen rounds is nothing. In Vrindavana there are many devotees, they chant 120 rounds. Like that. So sixteen rounds is the minimum. Because I know in the Western countries it is difficult job to finish sixty-four rounds or 120 rounds, like that. Minimum sixteen rounds. That must be finished."

Letter to Purusottama, Mumbai, 23/10/1973:

Because we have got many duties, [text missing] ...ve minimized the amount to 16 rounds, otherwise [text missing] ...minimum is 64 rounds, but Western people cannot [text missing] ...this. So 16 rounds must be executed.

Nectar of Instruction, Verse 5, purport:

The Krishna consciousness movement prescribes sixteen rounds daily because people in the Western countries cannot concentrate for long periods while chanting on beads. Therefore the minimum number of rounds is prescribed. However, Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura used to say that unless one chants at least sixty-four rounds of japa (one hundred thousand names), he is considered fallen (patita). According to his calculation, practically every one of us is fallen, but because we are trying to serve the Supreme Lord with all seriousness and without duplicity, we can expect the mercy of Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is famous as patita-pavana, the deliverer of the fallen.

In my very last meeting with His Grace Aindra Prabhu in March of 2010 , he encouraged me that I am very happy you chant 64 rounds daily I am convinced you can reach 120 rounds daily .My own Diksa Guru Srila Narayana Maharaja told me at my reinitiation you should chant 64 rounds daily ,Later he told me I have chanted 192 rounds today on my flight from India here to USA ,I wish you become like me.
Some devotee told me recently I might be banned for promoting Srila Prabhupadas Adi vani of chanting 64 rounds daily ,we do not want to hear about this,But this is because you are a fallen soul and should hear it .In Nectar of instruction Srila Rupa Goswami has advised :

syāt kṛṣṇa-nāma-caritādi-sitāpy avidyā-
pittopatapta-rasanasya na rocikā nu
kintv ādarād anudinaṁ khalu saiva juṣṭā
svādvī kramād bhavati tad-gada-mūla-hantrī

Translation
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.
If your read Srila Prabhupadas purport it becomes even more obvious ,In the next sloka Srila Rupa Goswami writes :

tan-nāma-rūpa-caritādi-sukīrtanānu-
smṛtyoḥ krameṇa rasanā-manasī niyojya
tiṣṭhan vraje tad-anurāgi-janānugāmī
kālaṁ nayed akhilam ity upadeśa-sāram

The essence of all advice is that one should utilize one’s full time – twenty-four hours a day – in nicely chanting and remembering the Lord’s divine name, transcendental form, qualities and eternal pastimes, thereby gradually engaging one’s tongue and mind. In this way one should reside in Vraja [Goloka Vṛndāvana-dhāma] and serve Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of devotees. One should follow in the footsteps of the Lord’s beloved devotees, who are deeply attached to His devotional service.

in Prema Vilasa chapter 17 we find this :From Prema-vilasa Chapter 17: Shrila Narottama das Thakura talking to Shrila Krsna das 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

So I may be told I am not really in ISKCON because I chant and promote chating more than 16 rounds, it is also fully in line with Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and his Harinama Cintamani where he has stated we should all gradually increase our chanting to 64 rounds little by little and when you reach 64 rounds you must push on and gradually you will reach 192 rounds.So Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura is pushing us like this .

Hari-nama-cintamani Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has stated: 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.

So for those with weakness of heart and think I have been plus 40 years in ISKCON like myself I will chant only 16 rounds ,then that is fine with me .But daily I hear of devotees chanting more and more and they are encouraged .WE HAVE TO STOP NEOPHYTE ISKCON Leaders that preach chanting 16 rounds is a maximum ,Srila Prabhupada never said so and never practized this he was always chanting and as a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada was duty bound to chant 64 rounds daily .Thanks for your attention, thanks Srila Prabhupada to bring Sri Nama Prabhu the real gift to all of us along with your pure books that should not be changed not one word.
your eternal grateful servant
Paramananda das

[Paramananda das]