Verse 1.16.284

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.16.284:

জপ-কর্তা হৈতে উচ্চ-সঙ্কীর্তন-কারী শত-গুণ অধিক সে পুরাণেতে ধরি ॥ ২৮৪ ॥

जप-कर्ता हैते उच्च-सङ्कीर्तन-कारी शत-गुण अधिक से पुराणेते धरि ॥ २८४ ॥

japa-kartā haite ucca-saṅkīrtana-kārī śata-guṇa adhika se purāṇete dhari || 284 ||

japa-karta haite ucca-sankirtana-kari sata-guna adhika se puranete dhari (284)

English translation:

(284) “The Purāṇas say that a person who chants the Lord’s name loudly is

a hundred times more pious that the person who chants to himself.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Persons who loudly and congregationally chant the holy names of Hari obtain one hundred times better results than those who chant the holy names softly. If a person secretly hears some ordinary words on the pretext of hearing hari-nāma from a foolish so-called guru and, being tempted by material enjoyment, engages in motivated worship, then he will never achieve eternal auspiciousness. Whereas if one loudly chants the pure holy names heard from the mouth of a liberated mahā-bhāgavata spiritual master, then other Vaiṣṇavas who hear that chanting will discuss the glories of hari-nāma amongst each other. As a result, the loud chanters are more benefited than the soft chanters. Those who cannot realize the difference between nāma-aparādha, nāmābhāsa, and śuddha- nāma often commit the first of the ten nāma-aparādhas—criticizing a sadhu or Vaiṣṇava who has fully taken shelter of the holy names—and they commit the grave offense of disregarding the spiritual master by considering him a mortal being and envying him. They commit offense by considering material objects as worshipable and seeing Lord Viṣṇu, the controller of all, as equal to the demigods. As a result, they become Vaiṣṇava offenders by being faithless of the unalloyed Vaiṣṇavas. They then become inattentive to the service of Śrī Nāma Prabhu, and the offenses of considering the glories of chanting the holy names as imaginary and giving some interpretation on the holy names capture them. They then consider the holy names as equal to pious activities and become attached to committing sinful activities on the strength of chanting the holy names. Being greedy for donations, such people accept the garb of a guru and, like common merchants, pretend to give instructions on the holy names to faithless persons. In this way they bring inauspiciousness to the entire world. Being overwhelmed by thoughts of “I” and “mine,” they gradually become averse to the Vedic literatures and literatures in pursuance of the Vedic version. These ten offenses result in

the falldown of chanters; but by the influence of good association the loud chanters of the holy names understand these offenses and therefore retire from the inconvenience of nirjana-bhajana.