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.
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-aá¹£á¹aka 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 granthÄ«n kaá¹Ä«-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-caitanyÄá¹£á¹aka 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.