Ayodhya

I come from a family of Ram bhakts.  But what happened in Ayodhya today (Aug 5, 2020), didn’t fill my heart with Joy. Or anything close to it.

So what I’m going to do, is write lyrics of one of my favorite songs from Swades (please ignore the spelling mistakes, I copied it off the internet):

गिन पाएगा उनके गुण कोई क्या,
इतने शब्द ही कहाँ हैं
पहुँचेगा उस शिखर पे कौन भला,
मेरे रामजी जहाँ हैं!
जग में सबसे उत्तम हैं, मर्यादा पुरुषोत्तम है
सबसे शक्तिशाली हैं, फिर भी रखते संयम है

Sabse Shaktishali hain, phir bhi rakte sayyam hain.  That’s Ram.  No posturing.  No threatening.  Some modern-day “bhakts” may believe that’s the leader we have today. That’s a cleverly spun whim.  One may maintain a “dignified” verbal silence while stubbornly forwarding their hatred-fueled agenda.  In the end though, actions speak louder than words.

You may throw the next lyric of this song at me and say, “par unke sayyam ko abhi aane ko hai seema”.. but don’t try.  We can’t avenge today, what one war-mongering fanatic did centuries ago.

राम ही तो करुणा में है, शांति में राम हैं
राम ही है एकता में, प्रगती में राम हैं
राम बस भक्तों नहीं, शत्रु के भी चिंतन में हैं
देख ताज के पाप रावण, राम तेरे मन में हैं

Pragati mein Ram hai.  Where is the Pragati when people are dying by the hundreds and thousands every day.  By the end of 2020, at least one person we know will be affected by the death looming over us.  If
it hasn’t already.  I know for me, it has already.  In times like these, prayer is our solace.  How can hatred be the basis of any loving worship? Like a friend said, how can you raze one place of
worship to raise another?  If there was no quest for power, there would be two places of worship standing there, not one.  

Maybe I’m naive, but if we remove the hatred and the ego (both parties – in fact, if the other party didn’t dig in their heels before, it wouldn’t have come to this), we don’t need a government doing the work for us.  Ram was born in Ayodhya.  A mandir is warranted in Ram Janm bhoomi.  Doesn’t mean a masjid can’t stand next to it.  The religious elders on both the sides in Ayodhya could have resolved this early on if they weren’t driven by fear and malice. But then this would not have been a national issue that brought this party to power.  So here’s something I’m leaving you with..

मन से रावण जो निकाले, राम उसके मॅन में हैं …

again, slowly:

मन से रावण. जो निकाले. राम उसके मॅन में है !

What I saw today, was not a reflection of Ram sitting down for the bhumi pujan.  It was someone else. 

Jai Sri Ram!