A.V. Devan Times

“Deivathin Kural” or the “Voice of the God” is the collection of discourses originally delivered in Tamizh by our Kanchi Paramacharya, Mahaperiyava Sri Chandrasekerandra Saraswati brought out as a book in Tamizh by Sri Ra. Ganapathy. Our life time is not sufficient to read, understand and realize what our Paramacharya has advised. So far there are about seven volumes got published under the title ‘Deivathin Kural’. Though I have the first two volumes in Tamizh, I have not read completely and occasionally flip through some of the chapters. When I left my earlier organization my finance colleagues gifted me the first two volumes of Deivathin Kural translated into English by Sri R.G.K. who was the former Assistant Editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India and published by Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan. Even this book also I could not able to read for want of time, hence thought of publishing this regularly in my blog which will make me to read compulsorily before publishing. I am planning to

Childhood Ramayya Pillai and Chinnamai were leading a simple life at Marudhur in South Arcot district a village 15 km north-west of Chidambaram. Pillai was a teacher in a local school and an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. They were blessed with four children [Sabhapathi, Parasuraman, Sundarammal, Unnamulai]. A sage visited their house a fine morning and conveyed the message that a child of extraordinary brilliance would be born to them. Days turned into months and on 5th October 1823 a baby boy was born to the delight of the couple. They named him Ramalingam. When Ramalinga was five months old his parents took him to the Chidambaram temple and when the priest offered the traditional “Deeparadhana” to the Lord the child laughed aloud as if to tell the world that he will later worship the eternal God in the form of Deepam or Light as “Arut perum Jyothi, Thani perum Karunai”. Child Ramalinga lost his father within a year of his birth in the year 1824. The responsibility of the family fell

I recently happened to hear life history some of the great personalities. The discourses were in the form of Hari-Katha format rendered by Smt. Thanjavur Kamala Murthy. This CD was given to me by one VKV Sir who conducts the Madurai Mani Iyer Remembrance Day in Chennai and is based out of USA. I happened to meet him incidentally at Mylapore Ragha Sudha Hall in the Madurai Mani Iyer memorial concert organized by him along with Cleveland Sundaram Mama somewhere in 2007. The Hari-Katha art form once a glorious art form got dwindled and we have only very few people who practices now. I think it is high time Music Academy should promote and support this seriously otherwise we will not have this art form for the next generation. The harikatha contained life histories of Vadalur Vallalar, Sadashiva Brahmendral, Pattinathar, Samartha Ramadas, Sirghazhi Arunachala Kavirayar. All these personalities lived their life entirely dedicated to the Lord. They practiced what they advised and be

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s 130th birth anniversary was celebrated on January 1st 2010 (Punarvasu Star). His teachings are lucid but the inner content and meanings needs to explored for our entire life. Sri Ramana Maharshi’s teaching has benefited many. Kanchi Mahaperiyava Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati advised Mr. Paul Brunton to seek the guidance of Sri Ramana Maharshi when he came to India in search of the truth. The detailed narration of the miracles are available in the book “A Search in Secret India” written by Paul Brunton. Bhagavan became popular in the Western World after the visits of Paul Brunton, David Godman, and Arthur Osborne. One can see the foreign visitors if you visit the Ramanashram at Tiruvannamalai. Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi realized himself through self inquiry and not by reading any books. All his thoughts and teachings are later corroborated with many works including Adisankara’s Advaita Philosophy. The Chapter two of Srimad Bhagavad Gita also dwelves mo