This 'Read Ramayana' initiative is the brain child of Sri Krishna Sharma.

He was born and grew up in the village of Kavur near Kotappa Konda, Andhra Pradesh, India, where he also did schooling upto the 10th grade. Then he went for college in Narasaraopet, Andhra Pradesh, and for post-graduate studies in Mathematics to University of Hyderabad.

He worked briefly as a Lecturer in Mathematics in KITS, Warangal and then for ECIL in Chennai and Hyderabad till 1989. He then migrated to USA and lived there working in the information technology industry till 2018. Since then, he is dedicating his time exclusively to pursue his interests, shuttling between USA and India.

He is a philosopher and social reformer at heart, and is interested in studying civilizations, social structures, psychology, workplace issues, education systems, family management, etc., i.e., both the micro and macro aspects of human nature and existence.

He is currently writing a book on Education Reform, which he likes to follow on by a couple of more books, one on a unfified theoritical foundation for psyhcology, sociology and spirituality, one on the caste structure of India, and another on insights into Indic philosophical and social thought.

Just like many children growing up in India, he grew up hearing the stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata. He was interested from a young age in understanding these stories and relating them to the sociological times when the stories occurred, and comparing them with current sociological conditions. He noticed that some of the observations and advice from these great epics is very relevant even today, but some of them need to be re-interpreted in the modern social context.

In 2012, he decided to turn his casual interest into a concerted effort. He wanted to read and analyze every Single Sloka of the original Valmiki Ramayana in Sanskrit and analyze the meaning of every single word in it, from the sociological and psychological perspective and their relavance to the contemporary times.

Further imagination led him to turn the effort into a formal initiative, with a website and weekly email-based reading program, which has come to be this 'Read Ramayanaa' initiave, through which thousands of people all over the world are fullfilling their dream of reading the original Valmiki Ramayana Sarga by Sarga from the beginning to the end.

The audio recitation of Vālmeeki Rāmāyaṇa for this 'Read Ramayana' initiative, with pristine pronunciation, is provided by Sri Srirāma Ghanāpāti, Hyderabad.

Ṡri Ṡreerāma Ghanāpāṭi is the head of Ṡri Ṡaṅkara Gurukula Vēda Pāṭhaṡāla, Hyderabad, India, which was founded by his father Brahmaṡri Vēṅkaṭarāma Salakshamṇa Ghanāpāṭi, with the blessings of Kanchi and Ṡringeri Acharyas.

The Vēda Pāṭhaṡāla trains children in Vēdic studies, providing free board and lodging. Along with the Vēdas the children also are taught regular school curriculum, so that they are on par with any other child in the society.

Vēdic studies do not make one an orthodox person, as many people imagine. The children studying at Vēda Pāṭhaṡāla, in fact, learn more about life, relationships, values and morals through the timeless stories from the ancient lore.

In fact, one would be amazed at the leadership and communication skills of the Ṡreerāma Ghanāpāṭi, who himself is a product of the Vēda Pāṭhaṡāla. He speaks in Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil and English fluently. In his communication and leadership and public relationship skills, he would put many of the modern Western (and Indian) inspirational speakers to shame.

Vēda Pāṭhaṡāla prepares not just Vēdic Scholars, but a wonderful new generation of children! Some parents, both from India and other countries chose to put their children in the Vēda Pāṭhaṡāla, rather than in a regular school.

You can support him by rendering financial help, small or big, to build, maintain and provide the free board and lodging to the many children at the Vēda Pāṭhaṡāla.

More details about the Vēda Pāṭhaṡāla are available on the website VedaBhavan.org. Ṡri Ṡreerāma Ghanāpāṭi can be contacted via Whatsapp on +91 99638 88870 or by email [email protected].