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Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, while in 'Nrisimha Bhãva', exclaimed to His devotee Srivãsa Pundit, "Why are you afraid to perform Nãmasankirtan? I will make sure that Hari Nãma plays on everyone's tongue. I will make the rich and the poor, the city dweller and the villager, the scholar and the fool, the educated and the illiterate, the dumb, the worst sinner, animals and birds chant Hari Nãma. In spite of all my efforts, if I find someone who does not chant Hari Nãma, I will tear him to pieces as I did Hiranyakashipu!!"

“Hare Rama! Hare Rama! Rama Rama Hare Hare!
Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna! Krishna Krishna Hare Hare!”

The main objective of Sri Swamiji is to propagate ‘Bhagavan Nãma’ (the Name of the Lord) amongst the masses, particularly the downtrodden. Around 25 young devotees of Sri Swamiji visit the villages surrounding our Mathurapuri Ãshram, on weekends and public holidays and chant “Hare Rama” Maha Mantra.

The sessions are broadly divided into two - morning and evening - and are generally of two-hour duration. Each village is served by a group of three or four of these young men. For the first 15 minutes, they go around the village chanting “Hare Rama” and the local children join them. They then assemble at a common place and help the children with their school lessons for an hour and a half. The session concludes with singing of Sri Swamiji’s kirtans and narration of a short story from our puranas. These stories mainly pertain to bhaktas who come from the lower strata of the society.

The response from the villagers is excellent. They chant the Nãma without any inhibition whatsoever. The deep response from the villagers - children and elders alike - is seen in their greeting the young men with “Radhe Krishna!” Presently the focus is on the colonies.

This work began in November 2000 in two villages - Mãhãnyam and Malaipattu. Gradually, the number of villages have increased and today about ten villages, namely, Kolathur, Vellãrai, Gunduperumbedu, Amarambedu, Poonthandalam, Irumbedu, Koothanur, Sirupãkkam and Neithavãyal, are being covered. While the first seven villages are at a short distance around the Ashram, Sirupãkkam lays about 160 kms and Neithavãyal, about 60 kms from the ãshram.

Diary of events:

Tuesday, 26th December, 2001

Poonthandalam

On this morning of Vaikunta Ekadasi, Ramanujam, Kesavan, Pammal Balaji, Uma Shankar and Venkatesh visited Poonthandalam village. It was the inaugural session. The response was very inspiring. After introducing themselves to the children, the volunteers began the chanting of “Hare Rama”. Around 40 children participated in chanting the ‘Maha Mantra’. The children were very enthusiastic in chanting “Hare Rama”. This was followed by story telling. The session wound up with the chanting of “Hare Rama” by the devotees.

Amarambedu

From here, the young men went to Amarambedu where the children had assembled for a session of “Hare Rama”. The chanting of the Maha Mantra was performed for some time. After that, a small story was narrated to the children.

In the evening, Ramanujam and Kesavan went to Amarambedu. The villagers had organised an ‘Akanda Nãma’ (continuous chanting of the Nãma) Session. This went on late into night. In-between many devotional songs were sung by the villagers. Sri Ramanujam provided accompaniment on the ‘dholki’.

Saturday, 29th December, 2001

Koothanur

In the afternoon, Ramanujam and Ramachandran, visited Koothanur. Here, many elders also participated in chanting “Hare Rama”. Around 60 to 70 children were present for “Hare Rama” and ‘study’ session. A kirtan of Sri Swamiji was taught to the children and then a short story from our puranas was narrated to them.

Sunday. 30th December,2001

Poonthandalam

In the morning, Kesavan, Karthik, Veeraraghavan, Umashankar, Pammal Balaji and Janakiraman went to Poonthandalam. After chanting “Hare Rama” for some time, the children were helped with their school lessons. The session was concluded with the kirtan of Sri Swamiji.

Sirupãkkam

Ramanujam and Ramachandran visited Sirupãkkam. There were two sessions in Sirupãkkam -- one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Around 35 children participated in these sessions. The children were taught their school lessons and a story from our Puranas was narrated.

Neithavãyal

Sivaraman and Srikanth went to Neithvãyal where around 25 children participated in the session. Sri Sivaraman taught a small kirtan and told "Dhruva Charitram" to the children. The session was held between 9.00 to 11.00 a.m.

Kannanthangal

A new village Kannanthangal was visited by. Kesavan and Pammal Balaji along with Sri Narayanan, a resident of Gunduperumbedu village. Here, regular sessions will commence from next week.

Gunduperumbedu

Srinivasa Kannan and Vasanth visited Gunduperumbedu village. Around 20 children participated in the session. After going through the streets of the village chanting “Hare Rama”, for about 20 minutes, children were taught their school lessons. The session wound up with the chanting of “Hare Rama” for five minutes.

Kolathur

Sumanth and Shanmugham visited Kolathur. Around 30 children attended the session. “Hare Rama” was chanted for about 20 minutes, followed by help in their school lessons for an hour and a half. The session wound up after chanting “Hare Rama” for ten minutes and a small kirtan.

Vellãrai

Srikanth and Anand visited Vellãrai. Around 40 children participated in this session. “Hare Rama” chanting was done for half an hour followed by study of their school lessons for an hour and a half. The session wound up with the narration of short stories about Panduranga Bhaktas, by Sri Anand.

Irumbedu

Sivaraman and Balakrishnan went to Irumbedu. Around 30 children participated in the session. “Hare Rama” was chanted for half an hour followed by study of their school lessons for an hour and a half. The session wound up with narration of a story from our Puranas, by Sri Sivaraman.

Malaipattu

Seshadri and Venkatesan went to Malaipattu. Around 30 children participated in the session. “Hare Rama” was chanted while going though the streets of the village. After the study session, a story from our Puranas was narrated by Sri Venkatesan.

Mãhãnyam

Umashankar and Janakiraman went to Mãhãnyam. Around 15 children participated in the session. “Hare Rama” was chanted while going through the streets of the village, followed by study session. The children recollected and sang the kirtans taught to them and the session wound up with the chanting of ‘Hare Rama” for ten minutes.

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