tomÄra dui hasta baddha nÄma-gaṇane
jala-pÄtra-bahirvÄsa vahibe kemane

 tomÄra - Your; dui - two; hasta - hands; baddha - engaged; nÄma - the holy name; gaṇane - in counting; jala-pÄtra - waterpot; bahir-vÄsa - external garments; vahibe - will carry; kemane - how.


Text

“Since Your two hands will always be engaged in chanting and counting the holy names, how will You be able to carry the waterpot and external garments?

Purport

From this verse it is clear that Caitanya MahÄprabhu was chanting the holy names a fixed number of times daily. The GosvÄmÄ«s used to follow in the footsteps of ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu, and HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura also followed this principle. Concerning the GosvÄmÄ«s — ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ«, ÅšrÄ«la SanÄtana GosvÄmÄ«, ÅšrÄ«la RaghunÄtha Bhaá¹­á¹­a GosvÄmÄ«, ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ«, ÅšrÄ«la GopÄla Bhaá¹­á¹­a GosvÄmÄ« and ÅšrÄ«la RaghunÄtha dÄsa GosvÄmÄ« — ÅšrÄ«nivÄsa Ä€cÄrya confirms, saá¹…khyÄ-pÅ«rvaka-nÄma-gÄna-natibhiḥ. (á¹¢aá¸-gosvÄmy-aṣṭaka 6) In addition to other duties, ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu introduced the system of chanting the holy name of the Lord a fixed number of times daily, as confirmed in this verse (tomÄra dui hasta baddha nÄma-gaṇane). Caitanya MahÄprabhu used to count on His fingers. While one hand was engaged in chanting, the other hand kept the number of rounds. This is corroborated in the Caitanya-candrÄmá¹›ta and also in ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmī’s Stava-mÄlÄ:

badhnan prema-bhara-prakampita-karo granthīn kaṭī-dorakaiḥ
 saá¹…khyÄtuá¹ nija-loka-maá¹…gala-hare-kṛṣṇeti nÄmnÄá¹ japan

(Caitanya-candrÄmá¹›ta 16)

hare kṛṣṇety uccaiḥ sphurita-rasano nÄma-gaṇanÄ-
 ká¹›ta-granthi-Å›reṇī-subhaga-kaá¹­i-sÅ«trojjvala-karaḥ

(Prathama-caitanyÄṣṭaka 5)

Therefore devotees in the line of ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu must chant at least sixteen rounds daily, and this is the number prescribed by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura daily chanted 300,000 names. Sixteen rounds is about 28,000 names. There is no need to imitate HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura or the other GosvÄmÄ«s, but chanting the holy name a fixed number of times daily is essential for every devotee.