When the eternal glory of Sri Ram, the Maryada Purushottam, which shines over the horizon of Bharatvarsha, since time immemorial, continues to burnish humanity with all His luminescence.
Vivekanand Jha Ranchi: Today, humanity is commemorating the birth anniversary of Maryada Purushottam, Sri Ram, whose nobility has transcended the boundary of time and space. The King of Ayodhya, despite the passage of millennia, has remained as relevant and inspirational as ever. However, the humongous conspiracy to alienate the Sanatanis in this landscape of Bharatvarsha, tells its own sordid saga of an institutionalised set of prejudices which had mischievously sought to banish Maryada Purushottam from the place of His birth through myriad means. First, it was the systematic elimination of His image from the Constitution–The various images of Maryada Purushottam, as painted by Nandlal Bose, a famous painter, which formed the part and parcel of Constitution –and then, by orchestrating the campaign designed to reduce Sri Ram as a mythological figure, the priceless legacy of Sri Ram was sought to be degraded as inconsequential. Small wonder then, even the birth place of Sri Ram at Ayodhya, took several decades for His liberation, after Ramjanma Bhoomie Movement kick-started with full gusto back in 1990. The re-construction of Ram Lala temple in Ayodhya, as per the decision of the apex court in 2020, was the vindication of the fact that how construction of Sri Ram Lala temple in Ayodhya was absolutely imperative for the restoration of the national pride in the republic. The ulterior motive to attribute Sri Ram as the god of a particular community is absolutely unwarranted; in fact, any attempt to straitjacket Sri Ram as the god of Hindus, is the consequence of a myopic vision; Sri Ram, in reality, was the flag bearer of human values and consequently His glorious legacy invariably belongs to humanity as such.
The life of Maryada Purushottam Sri Ram was to follow the noble path, even when the thorns were strewn all along His path, yet He showed not even the least of vacillation, far less any deviation from His high set of principles which gave due to all the stakeholders of the society. Right since his childhood, He remained devoted to his parents, his Guru, his friends, siblings, his staff members. Even when his step mother Kaikai, had extracted the boon from her husband, Dasrath, for sending Sri Ram into an exile for fourteen years, he took the decision with fullest of equanimity. When Ravana had abducted Sita, His wife, He tried to find His ways out of the imbroglio, with patience and the sense of resilience. In His conquest of Lanka, He took the help of monkeys as equal partners, not as the subordinate creatures who were helping the superior beings. He defeated Ravana while following the strict ethical code, without an iota of violation of rules. Later, hearing the rumour from a washerman, he sought to send Sita into exile, even when the latter was in the advanced stage of pregnancy. Whereas feminists today, might find His decision to send his wife into exile, especially when the latter was in the advanced stage of pregnancy, yet the underlying sound reasons which motivated Hs decision, appears justifiable in the light of which it was made. Unequivocally, the life of Sri Ram was absolutely based on ethical conduct, having a deep moorings in morality.
In contemporary times, when the social degeneration has a deep underpinnings across the world, Sri Ram as the Maryada Purushottam appears on the horizon to insulate humanity from its overwhelming travails. Worse still, when the escalating social disharmony brought about by the attitude of a quick gain, material prosperity at the cost of moral erosion, fast fading ethical values, society in no ambiguous measure, is afflicted with all evils bedeviling humanity. Further, the political, spiritual and social degeneration are cumulatively reflecting on humanity in poor light, the beacon light in form of the previous legacy of Sri Ram calls for an immediate return to Sanatan roots. His ideals which discriminated against none, held everyone as equal stakeholders of the society, gives us hope in this time of hopelessness when, casteism in all its malicious proportion is rearing its ugly head. Sri Ram’s vision of the principle of egalitarianism is the panacea of all cure for this turbulent times. In other words, Ram was not only the son of Dasrath, but He was an ideology, a belief system, whose vision was all- encompassing. He had no qualms in taking Bair from Sabri, even though she was hesitating: He went on taking the residual portion of Bair already tested by her without the least of inhibitions.
Ironically, the grandeur of vision envisaged by Sri Ram encompassed humanity in its fold; however, unfortunately, the recent appropriation of the behemoth of the grand legacy of Sri Ram, which is being sought to be appropriated by a political party is absolutely unwarranted. Apparently, even the slogan of ‘ Jai Sri Ram’ increasingly raised as a political slogan is uncalled for, for Sri Ram is universal and consequently no political party has the right to patent Sri Ram as its imprimatur. Having said so, it is equally wrong and blasphemous for the opposition of this country to dismiss Sri Ram as the god of Hindus. Swami Vivekananda had considered Sri Ram as the soul force of Bharatvarsha who left His priceless heritage and glorious legacy for humanity. Hence against this backdrop, any attempt to undermine His glorious legacy as the belongings of a particular community is like calling wood as tree. In short, the legacy of Sri Ram, the Maryada Purushottam, with all the high ideals He had institutionalised, continues to be cherished by humanity across the world. Thus the benighted humanity, afflicted by the avalanche of nemesis, increasingly needs to fall upon Sri Ram’s prescription for building a strong family, a strong society and a strong nation. Therefore it would be hardly an exaggeration to say that, with the volatility of times and vicissitudes of the fluctuating fortune reflecting adversely on humanity today, the importance of Maryada Purushottam assumes even a greater relevance and significance.
Vivekanand Jha, Author, Academician and a Public Intellectual.
