The sun is up now, and I have chanted sixteen rounds. If this were my normal routine, I would be finished chanting for the day. I would prefer to do something else in Krishna’s service. Or I might want to chant, but there wouldn’t be time. It doesn’t seem right, however, to get the rounds done and out of the way before breakfast and then not return to it for another twenty-four hours.
I still cannot hear, although I am continually trying. I stood for awhile amid a group of small trees and gazed at the branches arching over the road. I was thinking of something or other, but then I thought that that time could have just as easily been spent chanting and hearing the Hare Krishna mantra. Just catch yourself doing something else and say, “Excuse me please, but is this more important than chanting?” Or, “Excuse me, but I am going to use this moment to actually hear the holy names.”
(_Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name_)
JAPA POEM
Advice on how to spend the extra time chanting
beyond the minimum sixteen rounds at the japa retreat.
Don’t space out, but
keep the mind fixed
on the mantras.