He is Still Chanting in Our Hearts

When asked about chanting one lakh, Srila Guru-Maharaj would usually say, eka-laksana, with a one-pointed quality you should chant, from the core of your heart. One name is enough to attract Krishna. This, of course, doesn't mean to neglect our sankhya. Gurudev had asked at least one devotee to chant one lakh, but these occasions were exceptional. Like Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhar Maharaj, he put more emphasis on quality. 

In Govardhan, I once asked Sri Aniruddha Prabhu how he developed taste for chanting. His eyes lit up, and he told me, how once in our Chandigarh math, he noticed how Srila Tirtha Maharaj would suddenly disappear each afternoon. So, when seeing him climb the stairs one afternoon, he followed him at a distance. He saw how he disappeared in an empty room and went closer. He heard how he started calling out the Maha-mantra very loudly, until his voice broke due to weeping in ecstasy. "This was the moment I attained nama-ruci!" Aniruddha Prabhu told me with a deep smile. 

Although unqualified, I was fortunate enough to have witnessed similar pastimes of Gurudeva. When I was serving Guru-Maharaj during closed Harinam diksas, he used to very gravely keep on repeating, "Chant from the core of your heart!" Then he would start chanting slowly and loudly, from the core of his heart, Panca Tattva mantra and Maha-mantra, "Hareeeee Krishna, Hareeeee Krishna", and all would join in. At several times he started crying yet continued forcibly until his voice choked. Everyone continued to chanting loudly. And all were crying in great bliss. We never wanted it to stop. And it never stopped. In our heart, he is still chanting. We can never forget it. None can take it from us.

—Radhamadhava Das