Monday 6 February 2012

Ramayana, the way of Indian life



The story of Ramayana  is popular all over the world. Besides India and the countries having population of Indian origin like Mauritius  and  Surinam the story of Ramayana  is also popular in South east Asian countries. Even in the Muslim country of Malaysia the epic story of Ramayana  is enacted through local theatres every year with cultural  fanfare. It may  be found that the place which Gautama Buddha has today among the intellectuals of western countries was once occupied by the great personality of Lord Ram Chandra,  the ideal king ruling from his capital city of Ayodhya on the banks of river Saryu. May be due to lack of archeological evidences the historicity of the Ramayana  period has not found its proper place in history. But the deep reverence this great epical story draws among millions of people around the world itself speaks volumes about the truth hidden behind the ashes of rolling times. Actually, proper focus has not been given to some of the periods of Indian history basically due to bias of a section of historians who were chiseled along western logics especially Marxist ideology which had from its very inception in India a bias towards the Indian culture. For them religion was opium and culture only existed as a superstructure of the ruling class. But in recent times due to decline of the Marxist influence the nationalist urge to look to the past through inquisitiveness and exploratory vision the intellectual class is able to see the truth in its face value. Slowly through private initiative explorations are bringing to fore some physical evidences  to prove the historicity of the epic periods in India. Even if we stop believing that Lord Ram and his family existed in the real terms,  one has to find ample assumptions that there must be some deeper and core reasons so that the Indian way of life has survived through long periods of foreign aggressions and domination. The impression of the epic Ramayana is evident in the family system which is battling till this day the concept of the philosophy of eat, drink and be merry. No doubt, the materialistic philosophy of Chaarvaac did exist in ancient India but it did not find many followers. India and her people have found a perfect balance between material wealth and spiritual bliss. Something is definitely there why most of the religions were either born in India or got immense scope for flourishing. The aggressiveness of Islam got diluted with the Vedantic teaching of Live and let live. The all embracing Sufi cult flourished in India as nowhere in the world. Christianity reached the shores of Kerala when India was not dominated by any foreign power. Even Buddhist cults from neighboring Tibet got ample scope of survival in India when the infighting in Tibet got unbearable and violent. Ramayan teaches us the ideal way of life which Indian people have been trying to follow notwithstanding the onslaught of the wave of liberal invasion coming from the west. Lord Ram Chandra was an ideal ruler, an ideal husband, an ideal son and an ideal brother and friend too. His life and works were perfect balance seeing it from the historical situation he was born into. For the first time, he showed that the welfare of the subjects or the citizens were of utmost importance for him rather than the throne for which a conspiracy was hatched by his step mother, Keikeyi. He fought the battle with Ravan the ruler of Lanka without taking any help from his empire. He had deep conviction for his truth and righteousness. His war against the Lankan army was not for territorial possessions but for the honor of his beloved and queen Sita who was taken captive by sheer wickedness of Ravan. In this he was helped by Sri Hanuman the great devotee of Sri Ram who was a great saint-warrior of his times. The immense love and devotion the Hindus have for him stems from this simple fact. He slew Baali only because he found that he had unjustly treated his younger brother Sugreev. Lord Ram would have taken the help of Baali  in defeating Ravan easily as Baali had in the past defeated Ravan. But the cause of righteousness propelled Lord Ram to side with Sugreev in his fight for his right that was his due. It should be born in mind that in  India Ram’s temples are rarely to be found whereas the temple of Sri Hanuman abounds in number. This should be an eye opener to many of our politicians who are trying to make themselves into legend by dint of their power of administration. Before abdicating his throne for penance in the forest for the rest of his life,  Lord  Ram had divided his Kingdom among his two sons Lav and Kush. Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh and Lahore in Pakistan are probable modern names of the erstwhile Lord Ram’s kingdom. Swami Vivekananda is right when  he says that India may be poor in terms of material wealth comparing to  other countries but the she excels others in the spiritual wealth which is the real wealth which is missing in several of the so called advanced countries. The real future of the human civilization lies in the Indian way of life which is based on Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava which encompasses with it all the religions and creed. The Indian way of life is so liberal that even an atheist is allowed to practice his way of life without any hindrance. India not only believes in love towards the motherland but also has been looking since ancient times the world as  her family.

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