Can we chant slowly if we find that absorbing?
So is there any rule for the speed of chanting is it that if I have absorbed myself in chanting if I take say 12-13 minutes per round is it okay or is it that if you take more than 8 minutes then it means we are distracted I have not heard any rule like that although I have heard I have not I mean I would not say any I have heard devotees say like this but I have not heard that as a rule given in Shastra or given by any Acharyas that we should not take more than a certain amount of time the major problem with that is with taking too much time is if our own mind creates trouble because what because we have we all have limited time and we especially when we are young we have many things to do we want to do many things and we also have many things to do so in that situation if the chanting takes too much time far more than what it is taking for others so if the others are chanting 2 hours 16 rounds and if we take 12 minutes per round that will mean it will take us almost 3 hours or more little more than yeah little more than 3 hours 3 hours 12 minutes or 3 hours 15 something like that then that extra hour that we are spending that may irritate us and then over time we may start blaming the holy name for taking so much of our time and that can become a serious problem so if we start developing the negative attitude towards the holy name so one way to deal with this issue is that we may chant at a average speed some rounds and a few rounds we can chant at a speed that we are comfortable so say we decide that say 4 rounds we chant at normal speeds which takes 7-8 minutes or 6 minutes whatever and then maybe 1 round we chant at 12-13 minutes whatever it takes so that way in the when we are not able to concentrate so well whatever distraction happens when we are standing at a slower speed that will also reorient ourselves but the only thing is when we chant in the community of devotees if we do anything which is unusual it is often it often raises eyebrows it sometimes is frowned upon also so we have to have an understanding community and if we don't have an understanding community then better do it discreetly if you feel that that kind of chanting is very absorbing then during the japa period just chant normally the way everybody chants and afterwards in the day time we can chant where not many people are around and if there are 1-2 people we can explain to them also at this speed I feel comfortable it's not wrong if somebody strongly disapproves it then we may have to consider it but I don't see any reason why somebody should strongly disapprove after all we are chanting only but it can raise some eyebrows and we have to be a little careful that we don't disturb other devotees and that we don't we don't start developing a negative attitude towards the holy name while chanting so if we are ready to spend on a daily basis three hours or whatever and we want to chant slowly I have seen some devotees they have some throat problem or there's some breathing problem we chant slowly it takes them more time and nobody objects to that there is just a physical limitation because of which they have to do that but I have seen that such devotees also feel burdened chanting itself becomes like a big burden because it requires physical effort as well as it requires so much time so that attitude would be a major concern it's just like I always feel that this slow chanting slower chanting it's more like somebody would like to do kirtan and they just do kirtans in the temple hall somebody goes and they say I want to do some extra kirtan nobody's going to stop them if they have done their basic services they say I want to do some kirtan nobody's going to stop them this is something like so something like that extra thing so it can be a part of our 16 rounds but we don't do it in a time when everybody else is chanting because that may disturb people's minds so ultimately bhakti is a matter of offering our heart's devotion to Krishna and how we offer it that will vary according to time and place circumstances so we have to we have to see for ourselves and of course if we have a counselor who can guide us I'm what I'm talking general principles specific application we have to see according to our time and place circumstances according to our our specific authority or something like that who might be there consult with them but broadly speaking it is our responsibility to connect our consciousness with Krishna and whatever it takes we should be doing that at the same time we are part of a community and we shouldn't be in the name of connecting with Krishna have to do such things that disturb other people's minds sometimes we may have some individual needs but they don't have to be done in a publicly demonstrative way do them discreetly and suppose there is a community where say reading previous HRS books is not approved suppose but still we feel very nourished by reading previous HRS books then we can consult our spiritual master who is authority and then we can read them discreetly we don't have to get the book in front of everyone and watch it and read it we read it a little discreetly whenever it is whenever we can and we get the nourishment so we it's our responsibility to nourish ourselves and whatever we need to do for that we can do it.