Re: peaching or chanting

Nityaananda! Gauraanga! Hare Krishna! Pranaams Brett, I happy to hear of your question about chanting Laksha Naama and your fully devotional daily program. If you have the taste and can possibly chant 100,000 Names daily with consistency then that is very wonderful. I would suggest you fix a quota of chanting which you can be very steady at doing it daily inspite of any future changes in your life. Shrila Prabhupada would certainly be happy if you can do Sankirtana for 6 hours instead of 8 hours to accomodate the completion of your Laksha Naama. Shrila Prabhupada stated that the final goal is to chant constantly but since we cannot do that we have perform devotional services to purify ourselves to gradually attain that stage. Of course Sankirtana is non-different from Chanting but it is also a fact that the prescribed amount of ideal daily chanting by Lord Gaura is 100,000 Names. So every devotee should also try to attain that goal at some stage in life.

Another option is you reduce your daily chanting vow to 58 rounds which will give you one hour more for other devotional activities. 58 rounds equals 100,000 Names exactly so even that vow and instruction of the Lord is fulfilled.

Another option is that you reduce your chanting to 75,000 or 50,000 Names daily if you can do it more consistently, meditatively and steadily for a longer period of time without missing it. Reading and hearing daily is quite important and even more important is the daily Naama Sankirtana which Shrila Prabhupada gave us via the daily programs. So those should not be compromised. Also at your age, sleep of 6-7 hours would help you to remain more attentive during chanting and all devotional activities during the day. So there is no need to artifically reduce sleep also.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Daaso'smi, Swami Gaurangapada.

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