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Wednesday 12 April 2017

Should Ram Mandir be built in Ayodhya

Ever since Independence or may be even before that, there has been this section of the Indian society cribbing to construct Ram Mandir in Ayodhya - the (alleged) birth place of Ram and consequently there is another section which is against the idea and wants to reconstruct the mosque built by Babur. 

Firstly, I fail to understand all the rucuss about a foreign invader coming in, destroying our monument and building something of its own. I mean, come on, most the followers and believers of Ram are Aryans. We entered India, destroyed the Indus valley civilisation, forced the Dravidians to move south, buried their history and never ever mentioned about it. The world would not even know about such a vast and developed civilisation if the British had not excavated it in the 1920s. So lets not complain about others invading and destroying a few things here and there. 

Secondly, as per what I have observed and read and heard over the years, there aren't many factual evidence about the existence of a human Ram. We certainly have not read it in the History books. So it is still not sure if it is true or fiction. 

Then who is Ram,  where have we read about it ? Surely in literature, heard it through people generation after generation, saw him in movies, read about him in stories, listened to the examples about his greatness. Basically Ram is more of an ideology than a person. It is a belief, it is a character which is above all, someone who leads by an example. A king  who would sacrifice his family for the betterment of his subjects, a son who would sacrifice his pleasures for the pride of his father, a brother who would protect is siblings, an ideal person.

Reminds me of the lyrics from the song of the movie Swades picturised on SRK's charecter Mohun where he says - 

Ram  hi to karuna mein hai , shanti mein Ram hai, Ram hi hai  ekta mein , pragati mein  Ram hai, Ram bas bhakto nahi , shatru  ki bhi chintan mein,  dekh taj ke paap Raavan, Ram tere man mein hai;
Ram tere man mein hai ,  Ram mere man miein hai , Ram to ghar ghar mein hai , Ram har  angan mein hai, man se Raavan  jo nikale Ram uske man  mein hai.


And this belief, this idea of Ram was  born in India not merely in Ayodhya. By  confining him to Ayodhya is restricting His greatness. I remember reading it somewhere during school - Ram se badaa Ram ka naam (the name Ram is bigger than the person himself) and Jo ramta nahi wo Ram nahi, tikna to maut hai (the one who does not travel from place to place is not Ram, stillness is death). May be because the name Ram defines the ideology that is worshiped. We don't worship Ram the person we worship the characteristics of Ram and Ram is supposed to travel, Ram is supposed to be everywhere. Had Ram stayed back in Ayodhya and not been to south killing Ravan, He would not have been as great as he is. Javed Saab had once said - Insaan ki shaksiyat unchi honi chahiye, kad mein to saaya bhi insaan se lamba hota hai  and this defines Ram the best. Its the Doctrine of Ram that is holy. So either you build the temple on the exact  intersection of latitude and longitude where idea of  Ram was born or you can build it any where in the country and it shall be the same.

Its a pitty that we are playing politics over the Name that defines unity, peace, brotherhood and above all -  sacrifice. The greatest ideology of Ram is sacrifice. Ram sacrificed his throne for his brother, sacrificed the pleasure of living in a palace for his mother, sacrificed his post for the pride of his father, sacrificed his wife and children for the sake of  his subjects and fighting with others to build his temple is the worst we could have done to the Ideology of RAM. 

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