There are 108 beads and one larger bead, known as the head bead, or Krishna bead. Beginning with the bead next to the head bead, gently roll the bead between the thumb and middle finger of your right hand while chanting: 

hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare

hare rāma hare rāma rāma rāma hare hare

Then move to the next bead and repeat the mantra. 

In this way continue chanting on each of the 108 beads in the strand. This is known as one round of japa and takes between five and ten minutes for most people. 

You can also chant the Pancha Tattva mantra three times before each round - this is a prayer to Lord Chaitanya and his associaties to help avoid offenses whilst chanting: 

(jaya) śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda

śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

“I offer my obeisances to Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasa and all others in the line of devotion.” 

If you are going to chant more than one round of japa, then without chanting on the head bead - reverse the direction of your chanting to begin the second round. 

If you have a string of counter beads tied to your bead bag, keep track of the number of rounds you have chanted by moving one counter bead for each round you chant. 

Chant clearly and try to hear the holy names with attention. Some chanters find that looking at the mantra or a picture of Krishna helps them concentrate. If that works for you, that’s fine. But remember that the goal is attentive hearing. 

Mood of Chanting 

How to properly chant the Hare Krishna Mahamantra - Japa 

“Nish, nish, ram, ram, nish, nish, ram, ram.” Srila Prabhupada once imitated how we sometimes chant without focus, without concentration, without proper pronunciation - how we chant when we don’t feel like chanting. 

You know the mood behind this type of chanting; “I have to chant but I’d rather be doing something else.” And in our minds we are thinking, “I can’t wait to get these rounds out of the way, when shall I be finnished.” We all do this. And it can get pretty bad. I know devotees who chant rounds while watching football games on TV. 

Srila Prabhupada explained that this type of chanting is more or less useless because it will not produce the desired result, love of Krishna. To even call this chanting is a stretch. It is closer to a ritual. But Prabhupada acknowledged the value in the ritual by saying that although this kind of chanting is not very productive, at least those who are chanting this way are keeping their vow to chant. 

I call this kind of japa, “courtesy japa.” “Courtesy japa” means that since you have taken a vow - either to your spiritual master or yourself - to chant a certain number of rounds daily, you keep that vow while chanting the kind of japa I described above. 

Here are a few other examples (methods) of what I call “courtesy japa:” 

• Chanting while talking to someone (you talk, and when they reply you chant). 

• Chanting while reading (which could really work if you have two heads, one to read and one to chant). 

• Chanting while listening to a CD or the radio (this is especially challenging while listening to the news or listening to rock and roll music). 

• Chanting while shopping. 

• Chanting while window shopping (this often happens on early morning japa walks). 

• Chanting while you are dosing off (sometimes known as dive bomb japa). 

• Chanting while site seeing or looking around at a million things (sometimes known as radar japa). 

• Chanting while watching movies (Krishna Conscious movies are included in “courtesy japa”). 

• Chanting a little, talking a little, chanting a little, talking a little (sometimes known as jibber japa). 

• Chanting while …………………… (fill in your favourites)