Niyamagraha means following the rules and regulations without being aware of the purpose behind them. We should be very careful not to follow rules and regulations simply for their own sake, forgetting the purpose behind them. For example, we may chant a particular number of rounds per day thinking that we are “safe” because we are meeting our quota; but if we do not have a sense of what chanting the holy name is meant to be about, we may think it doesn’t matter what else we do while we chant, and thus commit namaparadha.
LFD Vol 2, Pg 15, 4th Paragraph Onwards