For some reason, I stumbled upon, there is no such thing as an accident, the notion that I wasn’t counting my beads properly.

My chanting was taking longer than usual yet my enunciation of the mantra was the same.

I was inspired to focus on moving the beads on every first Rāma so that the next mantra would start on the approching bead. That seemed to speed things up a bit. I then pulled up the timer on my watch to measure the time taken for one round.

Have a guess what?

If I averaged my rounds on the total amount of time to chant sixteen rounds, I was chanting a round every 9-10 minutes. I noticed this about four or five months ago.

Tonight, focusing on moving to the hext bead, on the first Rāma, ensuring I start the next mantra with Hare Kṛṣṇa on the new bead, got me to between 7:10 and 7:25 minutes per round.

My usual average best is 7:30 per round.

That’s actually an improvement.

I have to stop being a spaceman and focus. Listen to the sound of each mantra and move those beads with attention.

ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ

ānanda-ambudhi–the ocean of bliss; vardhanam–increasing; prati-padam–at every step; pūrṇa-amṛta–the full nectar; āsvādanam–giving a relishable taste.

It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious.

[25. Song, Prayer, and Verse Books / Songs of the Vaiṣṇava Ācāryas, with word-for-word meanings & Audio / SVA 1: Standard Prayers / SVA 1: Śrī Śrī Śikṣāṣṭaka (ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ) / Text One / sarvātma-snapanaṁ paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṇkīrtanam]