Verse 1.16.273

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.16.273:

উচ্চ করি’ লৈলে শত-গুণ পুণ্য হয দোষ ত’ না কহে শাস্ত্রে, গুণ সে বর্ণন” ॥ ২৭৩ ॥

उच्च करि’ लैले शत-गुण पुण्य हय दोष त’ ना कहे शास्त्रे, गुण से वर्णन” ॥ २७३ ॥

ucca kari’ laile śata-guṇa puṇya haya doṣa ta’ nā kahe śāstre, guṇa se varṇana” || 273 ||

ucca kari’ laile sata-guna punya haya dosa ta’ na kahe sastre, guna se varnana” (273)

English translation:

(273) “If one chants loudly, he gets one hundred times more benefit. The scriptures never condemn loud chanting, rather they glorify it.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The result one achieves by mentally chanting the names of Hari is multiplied one hundred times by chanting loudly. This is the injunction of all scriptures. It is a fact that by chanting loudly one obtains one hundred times greater results. And there is no fault in such chanting. It is to be understood that those who consider the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra should only be chanted softly in japa are averse to realizing the purport of the scriptures. The three names of address—Hare, Kṛṣṇa, and Rāma—are meant both for japa and kīrtana. One can call the Lord in his mind or out

loud. If one calls the Lord loudly, then many persons can hear the name of the Lord and obtain auspiciousness by such hearing. Hearing the names of the Lord is one of the nine principle limbs of devotional service.

Unless the sadhus loudly chant the names of Hari, no one becomes qualified for the devotional process of hearing. Therefore the false arguments of those who are averse to loud chanting are certainly incited by Kali. The chanting of the holy names is more or less imperceptible in the activities of meditation, sacrifice, and Deity worship; that is why in Kali-yuga various controversies arise in the performance of meditation, sacrifice, and Deity worship. When those who are victims of Kali come forward to place obstacles in the path of the devotees’ worship of Hari, then those devotees who are engaged in the Satya, Tretā, and Dvāpara processes of meditation, sacrifice, and Deity worship do not enter into argument; but those devotees who chant the names of Hari remove the wicked habits of the victims of Kali and chant the unlimited glories of the holy names for the eternal benefit of such people. This is the actual medicine for their argument-infected hearts.