haridÄsa-á¹hÄkura Å›ÄkhÄra adbhuta carita
tina laká¹£a nÄma teá¹…ho layena apatita
haridÄsa-á¹hÄkura - HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura; Å›ÄkhÄra - of the branch; adbhuta - wonderful; carita - characteristics; tina - three; laká¹£a - hundred thousand; nÄma - names; teá¹…ho - he; layena - chanted; apatita - without fail.
Certainly the chanting of 300,000 holy names of the Lord is wonderful. No ordinary person can chant so many names, nor should one artificially imitate HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura’s behavior. It is essential, however, that everyone fulfill a specific vow to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Therefore we have prescribed in our Society that all our students must chant at least sixteen rounds daily. Such chanting must be offenseless in order to be of high quality. Mechanical chanting is not as powerful as chanting of the holy name without offenses. It is stated in the Caitanya-bhÄgavata, Ä€di-khaṇá¸a, chapter two, that HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura was born in a village known as Buá¸hana but after some time came to live on the bank of the Ganges at PhuliyÄ, near ÅšÄntipura. From the description of his chastisement by a Muslim magistrate, which is found in the sixteenth chapter of the Ä€di-khaṇá¸a of Caitanya-bhÄgavata, we can understand how humble and meek HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura was and how he achieved the causeless mercy of the Lord. In the dramas performed by Lord Caitanya MahÄprabhu, HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura played the part of a police chief. While chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahÄ-mantra in BenÄpola, he was personally tested by MÄyÄdevÄ« herself. HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura’s passing away is described in the Antya-lÄ«lÄ of Caitanya-caritÄmá¹›ta, eleventh chapter. It is not definitely certain whether ÅšrÄ« HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura appeared in the village named Buá¸hana that is in the district of KhulnÄ. Formerly this village was within a district of twenty-four pargaṇas within the SÄtakṣīrÄ division.