Aratrika Hymns and Ramanam

We have great pleasure in presenting to the public this booklet of hymns entitled “Ārātrika and Rāmanām."

“Ārātrika" means the vespers or evening service conducted in a Shrine or any other holy place. By extension, the term is also applied to the hymns sung during such services. The hymns included in this section are all the inspired compositions of the Direct Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and are sung during or immediately after the rites connected with the Arātrika in all the centers of the Rāmakşşņa Math and Rāmaksșņa Mission. These are the fervent outpourings of the apostles of the Great Master who in their own lives had experienced “the touch of the One in the play of the many."

“Rāmanām” is a liturgical composition expounding the glory of Sri Rāma through a seriesof names that suggestively highlight the main incidents in the life-story of this Divine Incarnation. Swāmi Brahmānanda, who was the first President of the Rāmakşşhņa Order and was regarded by Sri Rāmakşşņa himself as his spiritual son because of his extreme sensitivity to things spiritual, once he heard this composition being sung during one of his pilgrimages to South India. He was so thrilled by the charm of the melody, the exquisiteness of the sentiments, and the fervour of the devotion fountaining from this hymn, that he made its chanting a regular feature, especially of the Ekādasi prayers in the Rāmaksșņa Math, and it is now in use in most of the Math and Mission centres. Today this Rāmanām Sankirtan has become a paean of pure joy for hundreds of thousands of devoted men, women and even children all over India and abroad.