Civilizational epoch!

(Picture from here)

On the 5th of August 2020, in the holy Indian month of SrAvaN when the honourable prime minister Narendra Modi lays the foundation to the rAma temple, popularly known as SilAnyAs,  at ayOdhya it will mark a civilizational epoch! I will present some points as to why I think so.

 rAma's life as documented first by sage vAlmIki has seeped into the psyche of Indian society like no one else's. The reason for such popularity of the epic is the celebration of rAma in the epic as an embodiment of truth, upholder of righteousness, stickler to principles, unfailing friend, beloved brother, able husband, terrifying foe and so on! In fact the first sarga of rAmayaNam begin by listing of sixteen qualities (some of which are listed above) by vAlmIki and asking sage nArAda about a wonderful being who has all those qualities. nArada tells vAlmIki about rAma and his qualities.

Entire rAmAyaNam can be said to be an elaboration of these qualities and exemplifying the same through the life events of rAma.  The Indian populace and several near by countries also celebrated this description of rAma and made his ideals as their own and thus rAma came to take the centre-stage in the people's lives. While the personal qualities of rAma were aspirational for the populace, his rule of law was a model for the state. 

The 128th sarga of the yudhhakAnDam (please check verses 98-106 in this chapter) gives glimpses of how great the rule of rAma was and how much people celebrated him and looked up to him. The uttarakAnDam gives further details of his great rule. rAmAyaNam is also replete with instances of administrative excellence, rule of law, diplomacy, excelling of citizens, might of a righteous army and accessibility of the leadership to the commoners.

By these two counts rAmAyaNam filled the space for the personal and social ideal of people and the state and led to a harmonious existence people for centuries. It can be arguably said that the foundations of a vibrant culture, logical thinking, aesthetic presentations, evolution of literature and philosophy actually lay in such a model administration which was dubbed as rAmarAjya in subsequent times. 

While the first epic by sage vAlmIki is in samskRit, as regional languages developed, each felt a need for rAmAyaNam in their own language and thus in India now the epic is re-told in various languages in hundreds of different ways. There have been lots of epics written in ancient India. The love for rAma's story is evident in the fact that it is only rAmAyaNam which has captured the imagination of people across generations because of it's ultra natural presentation of human behaviour and emotion and sticking to a principled stand in times of crisis. It won't be an overstatement to say that the love for rAma in people is in fact their love for goodness itself! 

Hence every new born in this country knew about ayOdhya to be the playground of the maryAda purushOttama SrIrAma. Association of ayOdhya with rAma was as obvious as association of sun rise to the eastern direction. It was to be, until we came across the courts of law which valued material evidence more than history of the civilization. In these times when both ideas as well as evidences can be manipulated with a sophistication which forces one to believe, it was becoming increasingly difficult to argue the case that rAma was actually born in ayOdhya and the land on which the 1992-demolished unused structure stood was sacred to the citizens of the country.

It took the people a long time to present their case in a manner the judiciary understood. While they diligently did so, the huge 2019 political mandate to a dispensation favorable to the rAma temple meant that judiciary can't pretend as if the case was not important for people. It examined the evidence  and also respected the pulse and the sentiment of the people and gave verdict in late 2019 giving absolute ownership of the land to the presiding deity rAm lalla virAjmAn. 

The government has been playing fair in not getting entangled in day to day operations at the site and gave up the operations to a trust which it formed under the directions of the honourable supreme court. 

A good nine months after the verdict, other formalities have been completed and we move in the direction of laying of the foundation stone for a grand temple at the site which is the birth place of lord rAma. It is an unbelievable moment for crores of our citizens who were pessimistic about the possibility that rAma will ever return to ayOdhya. 

On 5th August when the honourable prime minister Modiji does the SilAnyAs he would become the chosen child of destiny to have done so. What else can one say about it when rAma returns to ayOdhya after 500 years and this man does the honours of welcoming him. 

May the symbolic return of rAma usher the return of rAmarAjya in our sacred land. In this highly connected world it can influence even more countries to imbibe and adapt those values embedded in rAmarAjya.

Therefore what is going to happen on 5th August 2020 is a civilizational epoch which while celebrating our ancient civilization and values holds hope for a resurgence and celebration of values in our society.

rAmOrAjamaNi sadA vijayatE.... rAma, the crest jewel of kings is always victorious.

jAi SrIrAma.   

Read the Valmiki Ramayanam in English here.

Whither Goes, my country......

...... yes, it is a question each one of us must ask, ask our selves, ask our police, ask our law makers, ask our establishment. The worst fears of conscientious people of the country came true this morning as the Delhi rape victim breathed her last in Singapore. I am ashamed to think that some among us have resorted to this most heinous and barbaric act. I am not able to collect my calm as I attempt to say a prayer for her should to rest in peace. My mind is not ready to believe that her soul can have peace. How can it have? Knowing us, we'll talk about it, blog, make her trend in twitter and facebook, express outrage for the next few days and then resume our lives like nothing is wrong at all. Oh, my country, why is your memory so poor? Do you know how many scars are there on your conscience?

All the sisters of my country must be told not to venture out alone and at unearthly hours.  They must anticipate that there are shameless men inebriated by desire, intoxicated with lust, bereft of values - so much so that the parents who gave them life will regret for having done so - are lurking everywhere. And our police cannot do anything about it. The most amusing thing about the police when I've visited them in the past in connection with various issues in our neighborhood is their unnecessary zeal to broker peace and deliver justice. I realize, that is where the out-of-court-settlements start. Does someone tell them what exactly their duty is when they join service? Shouldn't they duly register complaints, raise FIRs and follow up honestly? No, that's not what they do. On many occasions I've see that it takes a humongous amount of persistence or political pressure or connection with higher-ups for the FIR to be registered. Understandably once the FIR is raised the police will have to act on it and 'close' the case as soon as possible. If there is no FIR though, they can freely lecture us about how to be careful, how to secure our home and blah. In other words raising an FIR is extra work. I'm glad that FIRs work. Someone I know of recovered every gm of the fifty odd grams of gold jewelry that was burgled from their home, three months after they succeeded in lodging an FIR, thanks to the political connections they have. I just couldn't help marveling at the ability of the police. While I've seen this indifference sometimes I've also noted with admiration the work of Indian police in cracking down and catching the guilty. A case in point is the way Ajmal Kasab was nabbed in the aftermath of 26/11. The whole point of this digression on the way police behaves is that they should do justice to their abilities in the service of common man and not just in high profile cases.  My experience with traffic police also suggests that they behave either as onlookers or as fine collectors. They rarely regulate traffic. I've never seen a traffic cop come and guide me with parking. I've only seen them with tickets, ready to be pasted on your car or key that into the blackberry. In my opinion this is against the spirit for which the police force was constituted. We teach policeman as being a community helper to our young kids. Are we getting help? It is high time to sensitize the police ranks about the need to be of service to people. This has to be a strategic step. FIRs should be registered automatically, justice should be delivered expeditiously.

There indeed has to be a multi-pronged approach to reduce crime in the society. Making police more sensitive to the needs of common man and be of service to them is the most necessary first step. Making tougher laws and implementing those honestly and in a reasonable time frame is the next step. And the more enduring approach that will pay dividends over time is to bring in value based education that I wrote about in my previous post . While we need to be thinking ahead in shaping our younger generations to have better hearts and values, we have to urgently plug the holes of lack of credibility that we are developing as a country in providing the citizens with a safe and just environment.

We should also go ahead and observe a national day of shame every year or even every month if that helps us fight amnesia and be reminded of the goriness that our weaker sections are subjected to. The more enduring the shame is, more is the likelihood that we'll do something about it. Unless we do that something which will make life better for our women who are indeed the custodians of the home and the country, we will keep expressing outrage periodically and will be so shamed one day that we'll lose the zest for living in such a society. Unless we do that something the soul of the young medico will not rest in peace. Nor should our minds rest in peace.

Like Vivekananda famously said

उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान् निबोधत 

Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is reached.