About Sri. Ramakrishnan and his Mission

Professional Life


Sri S. Ramakrishnan took his Master’s Degree in Geology from the University of Madras and specialized in the field of Hydrogeology. His thirty three years of experience in Ground Water Technology include the services he rendered in Government of India, Rajasthan State Ground Water Board, Public Works Department of Tamilnadu and Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board. As Senior Hydrogeologist and head of the Groundwater wing of the organization for over nineteen years, he was concentrating mainly on conserving the ground water potentials in and around Chennai and in the adjoining districts, causing initiation and implementation of Ground Water Regulation Act and Rain Water Harvesting Techniques. He has presented a number of technical papers in the National and International workshops on many occasions and visited USA, Canada, Australia, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Japan and Far East countries on different occasions. As an UNDP Project Fellow and as an UNDP WHO Project Fellow, he has visited many countries to acquire advanced knowledge on Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Geochemistry, Artificial Recharge Techniques etc. He has authored books on Groundwater and they have been prescribed by some of the universities in India for Master degree courses and also as reference books for IIT students. He is a life member of the Geological Society of India and Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of India.


Transition to propagation of Sanathana Dharma

It all began on an auspicious day at a temple, when during a Puja; Sri Ramakrishnan corrected a young priest, who was reciting ‘Ganapathy Ashtottharam’. The priest chanted one naama as ‘Dushtaaya’ instead of ‘Thushtaaya’. Sri Ramakrishnan explained to the priest that ‘Dushtaaya’ means ‘for the wicked one’, whereas ‘Thushtaaya’ means ‘for one who is contented’. In mispronouncing just one syllable, a world of difference in the meaning has been brought about! The irate priest at once retorted that, such knowledgeable person should translate the Hymns or Stotras for the convenience of ignorant people like himself. Sri Ramakrishnan felt that the comment had come as a veritable command from Lord Ganapathy himself, through the voice of the young priest. Immediately, Sri Ramakrishnan took upon the task of collection and translation of Sanskrit Hymns or Stotras, first in his mother tongue Tamil and later both in Tamil and English to cover a larger audience.


This, of course, called for a laborious peer over lexicons, grammar books, vivid commentaries by eminent scholars etc. Sri Ramakrishnan started equipping himself for this enormous task which continues till date. He also consults scholars whenever necessary. His job does not stop with mere translation and transliteration of the Hymns, but extends to incorporating word by word meaning for most of the Hymns, paraphrasing, comparison of similar words appearing elsewhere and providing meaning for them, philosophical explanations and references to Puranas or epics and also brief annotations to enable readers to get themselves more familiarized. He deliberately splits the compound words appearing in the Hymns, to enable the readers to read or chant the verses with minimum effort. In short, each book is an all comprehensive work of the Stotra on a particular deity.


Impressed by the uniqueness of this approach, with a non-profitable motive, well wishers and philanthropists have come forward to sponsor Stotras about their favourite deities and have distributed the booklets themselves to their friends, relatives during religious and auspicious functions like Varalakshmi Vratham, Janmaashtami, Ganesha Chathurthi, Navarathri, Hanumath Jayanthi, Ramanavami, Saraswathi Puja, Gruhapravesham, Wedding, Upanayanam, Seemantham, Nishchayathartham, Shashtiadbapoorthi, Satabhishekam etc.


Vision

Sri Ramakrishnan’s vision for imparting the knowledge of Sanathana Dharma to the children is to bring out a compilation of Stotras and Krithis in booklet form with meaning, as well as an accompanying CD/DVD which would help the student in learning to chant the Stotras and Krithis in the traditional method, wherein, students learn by repeating after the teacher.

Current state of the project

Sri Ramakrishnan has so far completed the material for more than 85 Stotras and more than 130 Krithis. The remaining work includes printing of books for these Stotras and Krithis, recording of Stotra chanting, recording of rendition of Krithis and final packaging.

He firmly believes that the project will see its completion in the near future with God’s grace and blessings from elders. He hopes that a large number of well wishers with generous hands will come forward to make this project a grand success.


Hari Om!