Conversations with Sri Swamiji – 5

I continue to share pearls of knowledge from conversations with Sri Swamiji….

-K.Janakiraman, Chennai.

Panpaadu

We all know that the word ‘Panpaadu’ in Tamizh means culture. Do you know how this very word proves that our culture was ‘Nama Sankirtan’ or ‘Singing the names and glories of the Lord’?

In Tamizh, the word ‘PaN’ refers to a poetic verse or song of praise. The word ‘Paadu’ means ‘sing’. Originally, the culture of the Tamilians or Dravidians was to sing the praises of the Lord, or in other words perform ‘Nama Sankirtan’.
Culture means nothing but a way of life, the traditions, customs and practices! So, they called ‘Culture’ by the very word which meant Nama Sankirtan, for they practiced it and that was their tradition!