Ramaya Tasmai Namah

Ram and Krishna are two of the most captivating figures in our history — figures who have reigned over the hearts of ordinary people for centuries and have ceaselessly guided society. The Ramayan and the Mahabharat are not merely beautiful epic poems. They are reflections of the highest aspirations of the Bharatiya mind. Every civilization has its great stories, its epics, its defining tales. In such works, the dreams of countless people are carved by the scholars and sages of that land. The ideals of a nation are painted in the colours most dear to its people and presented through these grand narratives. It is through such epics that the human mind becomes broadened.

Ram and Krishna — or the Ramayan and the Mahabharat — are the powerful cultural anchors of Bharat's people. Aspirations, longings, desires, and dreams may appear meaningless from one angle, yet they exert a tremendous influence on the human heart.

Time and Faith

Ram appeared in the Treta Yuga, Krishna in the Dvapar. From that time to the present Kali Yuga, how vast a stretch of time has passed! And the very geography must have changed beyond recognition across such epochs. Even when we revisit our own town or city after just a decade, we wonder how much has it changed.

And yet, despite accepting this logic and its reality, the human heart still searches for Ram Lalla in a particular lane of Ayodhya. The faithful pilgrim still hopes to find the dust of Krishna's footsteps in a particular alley of Vraj or Gokul.

Faith, Firmness, and Fanaticism

In this age, when the prestige of thought and science, of logic and research, has grown immensely, it is welcome when the mysteries behind ancient stories are brought to light. The rationale behind the ritual appeals to today's scientifically-minded young generation. And yet — where exactly Ram was born, where Krishna played, where battles were won — the faithful mind cannot accept even a shift of two hundred or five hundred feet. vested interests will not allow it to. The good and the harmful political and social consequences of this rigidity have been witnessed across Bharat in various inhuman incidents over recent decades.

Why does faith — or blind faith — cause a person's inner steadiness to falter? Why does it sometimes make people cruel and hard? Ram Manohar Lohiaji said it well: "There is a difference between firmness and fanaticism. Where there is hatred, there is not resolve but bigotry." Faith that has dug in its heels and become rigid fuels sectarian frenzy. The fear of one's faith being challenged drives violence. Where there is no generous sense of justice, principles will inevitably be compromised. Hypocrisy will inevitably enter one's conduct.

When principles become instruments of personal or group self-interest, no broad, culturally useful, and enduring form of truth can survive. And from that decay, pretence spreads — whether in a nation, an institution, in politics, in social life, or in Dharma itself. Only loyalty to truth and principles can hold people together and lead them toward progress. Fanaticism and hypocrisy will only divide and torment the vulnerable.

Ram Beyond the Temple Walls

What if we could take Ram and Krishna out of a fixed location, a particular temple, a single festival, or a specific text? What if we could make them immense — as living thought, as lived conduct? What if we could free their lives, their personalities, their character, their message, their actions, and their teachings from the confines of sectarian zeal? What if we could build a more inward, more personal, more intimate relationship with them?

रामो भूत्वा रामं यजेत।

Become Ram — become like Ram — and then worship Ram. That is the true offering. That is the real worship of Ram.

Ram: The Human Ideal

A limited personality can still reach fullness — Ram is the proof of that. The journey of a human being toward the divine — that is what Ram represents. He stands for planning, order, outward discipline governed by rules and laws, and an inner life regulated by one's own Viveka (discernment).

Ram is more the son of Dashrath than he is God. And it is precisely this that brings him close to us. Ram is a man of flesh and blood. In this age when we rush to turn flawed human beings into deities, Ram is needed more than ever. Ram is less the divine being who accomplishes everything through miracles and more the human being who strives, through self-discernment and collective effort, to achieve something worthy.

Ram's love is human. His friendship is human. His behaviour is human. His reactions are human. When Sita is drawn to the golden deer, Ram goes hunting. When Sita is abducted, he grieves. There is anguish, there is sorrow — but also readiness to find a way, determination to gather the means, planning, and inner resourcefulness.

Ram is less a king and more the kind, trustworthy friend or kinsman you meet along the way. Ram spent more time among the so-called lower and marginalized communities — the Bhils, the Kirats, the Kinnars, the Vanars, the Rakshasas. The mission of uniting North and South, of bridging Arya and Anarya — that is Ram. He embraced all of them and wove them into the mainstream of Arya Sanskriti.

Ram is not as enigmatic as Krishna, and for that very reason, Ram can be the ideal of the ordinary person. He can serve as the living example for families.

What Ram Means

• Ram is the power that voluntarily places upon itself the governance of Niti (ethics), Dharma, and righteous conduct.
• The confluence of Satya (truth), Niyam (discipline), and Maryada (boundaries) — that is Ram.
• An extraordinary, union of Duty, Passion, and Discipline — that is Ram.
• The creative application of Kartavya (duty) and Sanatan principles, of firmness and ideals, of strength and discernment — that is Ram.
• Ram's one word, one arrow, one-wife Vrat — these show us: focus, and the power of action that flows from it, brings unparalleled achievement.
• Ram means aspirations, actions, and achievements. Ram means dreams, Sadhana, and fulfillment.

घट घट में बसे हो तुम राम...

"You dwell in every heart, O Ram..."

If Ram lives in every heart, then let our own body become the true Ram Mandir. To the hearts that yearn for Ram Rajya, may Ram himself reign — that is the prayer.