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“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:

Saturday, 12th January, 2002

FORENOON:

Neithavaayal:

Ramachandran visited Neithavaayal. Around 20 children participated in the session. After going through the streets of the village chanting “Hare Rama...”, a short story was told.

Sirupaakkam:

Ramu and Umasankar visited Sirupaakkam. Around 25 children participated in the session. “Hare Rama...” was chanted while going through the streets of the village. A short story was told by Ramu.

AFTERNOON:

Kumaaramangalam:

Kumaaramangalam village was also visited by Ramu and Umasankar. Around 25 children participated in the session. After about ½ hour of chanting “Hare Rama...” going through the streets of the village, classes were taken for around 1-1/2 hours. At the end, a story about Lord Krishna’s childhood exploits was told by Ramu.

Amarambedu:

Kesavan, Vasanth and Ramakrishnahari visited Amarambedu in the evening. After 2 hours of school-work, Ramakrishnahari organised “Hare Rama Divyanama Bhajan”. This went on for about 45 minutes. Both children and elders of the village participated in it very enthusiastically. Around 25 children and 10 elders formed part of it. At the end, Balaji told a story about the importance of “Bhagavan Nama”.

Poonthandalam:

Veeraraghavan and Ramaswamy went to Poonthandalam. Around 25 children participated in the “Hare Rama...” chanting session and study session. Balaji told a story about the importance of “Bhagavan Nama” in this village also.

Sunday, 13th January, 2002

FORENOON:

Koothanur:

Ramachandran and Ramakrishnahari went to Koothanur. Around 40 children participated in the “Hare Rama...” session. Ramakrishnahari told a story about Lord Krishna.

Saturday, 19th January, 2002

FORENOON:

Neithavaayal:

Srikanth and Vasanth visited the place. “Hare Rama...” was chanted going through the streets of the village. Around 20 children participated in the session.

Kumaaramangalam:

Ramanujam and Umasankar visited Kumaaramangalam. “Hare Rama...” was chanted for about ½ hour while going through the streets of the village. It was followed by studying session for 1-1/2 hours. The session was wound up by Ramanujam with a story from our Puranas. Around 25 children participated in the session.

AFTERNOON:

Sirupaakkam:

Ramanujam and Umasankar visited Sirupaakkam. After the usual session of chanting “Hare Rama...”, going through the streets of the village, classes were taken for the children. At the end, Ramanujam told a story from our Puranas.

Amarambedu:

Kesavan, Sumanth, Pammal Balaji and Ramakrishnahari visited this place. “Hare Rama...” was chanted for around ½ hour followed by study session. One of the songs written by Sri Swamiji was taught to the children by Sumanth. Around 25 children participated in the session.

Sunday, 20th January, 2002

FORENOON:

Poonthandalam:

This place was visited by Kesavan, Sumanth and Ramesh. “Hare Rama...” was chanted while going through the streets of the village. Around 20 children participated in the session. This was followed by study session and Sumanth narrated a story about Lord Krishna’s childhood lilas.

Koothanur:

Ramachandran and Vasanth visited the place. Around 20 children participated in the chanting of “Hare Rama...”, while going through the streets of the village. Study session was conducted for ½ hour. A song written by Sri Swamiji was taught to the children by Vasanth.

AFTERNOON:

In the afternoon, “Hare Rama...” was chanted atop Mathurachalam, the hillock opposite our Ashram, where the idol of Lord SrinivasaPerumal is placed. The children on Malaipattu village participated in it alongwith Kesavan, Ramesh, Vasanth, Sumanth, Urappakkam Ganesh, Janakiraman and Mruthyunjaya Bhat.

Gunduperumbedu:

Ramakrishnahari, Ramesh, Vasanth and Naamadasar went there. After chanting “Hare Rama...” for around 20 minutes going through the streets of the village, lessons were taken for the children. Again “Hare Rama...” was chanted at the end for 20 minutes.

Ramakrishnahari wound up the session by telling stories of Lord Krishna’s childhood lilas and importance of “Bhagavan Nama”. It went on for around 45 minutes. Many elders from the village participated in this session alongwith the children, who numbered around 30.

Vellaarai:

Srikanth, Madan, Ramachandran and Umasankar went to the place. Around 30 children participated in the session. After chanting “Hare Rama...”, classes were taken for the children and songs already taught to them were rehearsed.

Irumbedu:

Kesavan, Urappakkam Ganesh, Pammal Balaji and Ramanujam went to Irumbedu. Around 20 children participated. After chanting “Hare Rama...” going through the streets of the village, study session started. It went on for around 1-1/2 hour. Pammal Balaji told the children a story about Lord Krishna.

Malaipattu:

Sivaraman, Balakrishnan, Padma Srinivasakannan and Kalpana Amudhan went there. Around 30 children participated in chanting “Hare Rama...” going through the streets of the village. Study session was conducted for an hour and the session was brought to an end by Sivaraman, who told a story from our Puranas.

Maahaanyam:

This place was visited by Venkatesh, Anand and Janakiraman. Around 10 children participated in chanting “Hare Rama...”. Study session was conducted for an hour.

Kolathur:

Sumanth, Seshadri and Advocate Raghavan visited Kolathur. Around 20 children participated in the session. After chanting “Hare Rama...”, lessons were taken for the children and Sumanth wound up the session with a story.

Friday, 25th January, 2002 - Tuesday 29th January 2002

Saturday, 26th January, 2002

FORENOON:

Neithavaayal:

Ramachandran and Srikanth visited this place. Around 15 children participated in the chanting of “Hare Rama...” for ½ hour followed by study session.

Kumaaramangalam:

Umasankar and Vasanth went to the village. Around 20 children participated. “Hare Rama...” was chanted while going through the streets of the village. Study session was conducted for about one hour. In the end, songs already taught to the children were rehearsed.

AFTERNOON:

Sirupaakkam:

Umasankar and Vasanth visited this place. Around 20 children participated. One boy named Anand studying in sixth standard excelled others in chanting “Hare Rama...” and in singing Sri Swamiji’s songs. “Hare Rama...” was chanted in a local temple followed by study session.

Maahaanyam:

Sumanth and Ravi visited Maahaanyam. Around 10 children participated. Two children, Divya and Arulraj, both studying in fourth standard, excelled others in chanting “Hare Rama...” and singing the songs. “Hare Rama...” was chanted going through the streets of the village. A small story from our Puranas was told by Sumanth.

Sunday, 27th January, 2002

FORENOON:

Koothanur:

Ramachandran and Ramakrishnahari visited this place. Around 20 children chanted “Hare Rama...” going through the village streets. Study session was conducted for an hour. The session was wound up with a short story about Lord Krishna by Ramakrishnahari.

Malaipattu:

Sumanth and Ravi visited the place. No lessons were taken. “Hare Rama...” chanting went on for around 30 minutes and songs already taught to the children were rehearsed.

AFTERNOON:

Kolathur:

Sumanth and Seshadri went to this place. Around 10 children participated in “Hare Rama...” chanting and study sessions. “Hare Rama...” chanting was done for around 30 minutes and lessons were taken for around 1-1/2 hours.

Irumbedu:

Ramachandran and Umasankar went there. 10 children participated in chanting “Hare Rama...”, going through the streets of the village. Lessons were taught for an hour and “Hare Rama...” chanting went on for around 30 minutes.

Vellaarai:

Anand, Shanmugham and Ganesh went to Vellaarai. Around 25 children participated in chanting “Hare Rama...” for around 30 minutes. Study session was conducted for an hour. At the end, Anand told the children the story of “Pundarikan”.

Malaipattu:

This village was visited again. Kalpana Amudhan, Kishori Seshadri and Padma Srinivasakannan went there. “Hare Rama...” was chanted going through the streets of the village for about ½ hour, followed by lessons. Around 20 children participated.

Gunduperumbedu:

Vasanth, Ravi, Ramakrishnahari and Naamadasar visited the place. Around 25 children participated in the session. “Hare Rama...” was chanted for around ½ hour while going through the streets of the village. After the study session, Ramakrishnahari told the storyof “Naamadev” and a story about Lord Krishna’s childhood lilas. The children thoroughly enjoyed the stories about Lord Krishna and his childhood exploits.

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