We are encouraged to question in Hindu Dharma, as Bhagwan Shri Krishna explicitly states in the Bhagavad Gita.
We are encouraged to form our own opinions on all philosophies, including God. However, before making a decision, we are encouraged to think deeply and examine all aspects of the subject. When we think of Bhagwan Shri Ram and other Hindu Gods, we may be failing in our efforts.
Shri Ram was born on the ninth day of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Chaitra, which is usually in April.
This is known as Ram Navami. We all pray to Shri Ram for guidance and the perfection of our lives in Dharma, love, and truth. The divinely perfect role models for each type of relationship can be found in the life of Bhagwan Shri Ram. Shri Ram was a powerful king endowed with great strength, nobility, spiritual wisdom, human relations mastery, and earthly powers. Without a trace of selfishness, he used his abilities with grace, truth, and gentleness for the benefit of all creation.
Swami Vivekanand Said “Bhagwan Shri Ram is a pristine symbol of Bharateeyata and an embodiment of Bharatiya culture. He is the ideal King, son, brother, husband, and friend. For centuries, we in Bharat have revered Him as embodying all of the finest qualities a human being can aspire to.”
“Bhagwan Shri Ram has been associated with the Bharatiya value system for millennia. That is why Mahatma Gandhi used the Ram Rajya metaphor to describe his idea of good governance and a just society.”
Bhagwan Shri Ram’s inner qualities, which everyone desires
Bhagwan Shri Ram is known as “Maryada Purushottam,” but some historians intentionally change the meaning to “Ideal Man” when translating it into English. This is only one of his characteristics; however, if we dig deeper, we can easily identify the following.
“Inner Management” is the most difficult challenge for the world’s 8 billion people.
Everyone, whether a billionaire or a slum dweller, struggles in their lives to accomplish these impossible tasks. Even though Bhagwan Shri Ram had a difficult life from a human standpoint, he demonstrated to the world what “Inner Management” should be. Even if we only had 10 per cent of the difficulties that Bhagwan Shri Ram has faced, we would be unable to survive and maintain internal peace.
“Bhagwan Shri Ram has been associated with the Bharatiya value system for millennia. That is why Mahatma Gandhi used the Ram Rajya metaphor to describe his idea of good governance and a just society”
In words of Vedavatar Shrimad Valmiki Ramayana Shri Ram is the sun of sun (Maha-Surya), the fire of fire, the god of god, the supreme unchanging element, perfect, omniscient, omnipresent, incorporeal, supremely independent, the ruler of even those who govern all, Prabhoh- Prabhu, the eternal Maha-VishNu, the supreme Paratpar (higher than the highest) Soul. So everything exists in Sri Ram, and Sri Ram pervades everything. He is Ishwara. ‘Ram’ means Ishwara.
rāma tvam paramātmasi saccidānandavigrahaḥ II idānīm tvām raghusrestha pranamami muhurmuhuḥ I (suklayajurvēdīya muktikōpanisad 1.4,5a)
“O’ Bhagwan Shri Ram! You are the Supreme Being, The Parambrahman, of the nature Sat (real, eternal), Chit (consciousness) and Ananda (bliss)! I pay my obeisance in your lotus feet again and again.” (-Muktika Upanishada 1/4,5a)
Evil must be eradicated, and it is our duty to do so. Avtar’s lives serve as examples for us to understand what evil is and to teach us that when evil occurs to us or anyone else, we should intervene and stop the evil using right means. This evil manifests itself in us. No one is completely good; everyone has some bad in them.
However, when the bad crosses the line of tolerance and becomes evil, the only way to stop the evil from harming innocent people is to stop the person in whom the evil exists. Bali or Ravana represented the evil that Rama destroyed. They were causing harm to others, and if they had not been stopped, many more innocent people would have suffered.
Why a thorough study of all the Sanatan scriptures is required?
According to some, Bhagwan Shri Ram ruled for 11,000 years.
Bhagwan Shri Ram went into exile at the age of 25. When he was 39, he returned to Ayodhya and was coronated.
He relinquished the kingdom when he was about 70 years old, after ruling for 30 years and 6 months after his coronation.
dasha varsha sahasraani dasha varsha shataani ca |
raamo raajyam upaasitvaa brahma lokam prayaasyati ||
Ramayana – 1-1-97 1
“After serving His kingdom for ten thousand years and another thousand years (i.e. 11000 years in total), He undertook His journey to the abode of Brahma…”
Bhagwan Shri Ram, on the other hand, was said to have existed only 7,100 years ago, in 5100 BCE. How do we balance the two?
This answer comes from the other epic, the Mahabharata.
“ahorātraṃ mahārāja tulyaṃ saṃvatsareṃa hi”
Mahabharata, verse 3-49-21
A day is equivalent to a year for a Maharaja, a person who lives according to dharma. Using a year of 360 days and 12 months of 30 days each, 11,000 years in poetic form yields 30 years and 6 months as the actual number of years Bhagwan Shri Ram ruled over Ayodhya.
Was the Ram Setu truly built?
The battle of Ramanaya would have never been fought had Ram and his vanar sena or an army of monkeys had not crossed the sea and reached Lanka. It was impossible to reach without a land connection. And legend says the army of monkeys built a bridge for everyone to cross over.
Thousands of years later, space images taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka.
Ramayana says yantraha or mechanical devices were used by the vanara or the monkeys to transport and pile trees, then huge boulders and finally smaller stones to create a causeway. It took five days and 10 million vanaras (monkeys) under the supervision of architects Neel and Nala to build the bridge. The dimensions of the bridge, when it was constructed was 100 yojana (yojana is a Vedic measurement of distance) in length and 10 yojana in breath, making it a ratio of 10:1.
The bridge from Dhanushkodi in India to Talaimannar in Sri Lanka, as measured in present times is approximately 35 km in length and 3.5 km in breadth, a ratio of 10:1. Even today some floating stones are found on the coastal regions of Rameshwaram. Science has not been able to explain this phenomenon. The study of oceanography suggests the Ram Setu is 7,000 years old. And the carbon dating of beaches near Dhanushkodi sync with the date of the Ramayana.
(Ref. Bharathgyan by Dr. Dk Hari and Dr Hema Hari)
Bhagwan Shri Rama is a worldwide attraction.
Bhagwan Shri Ram is a revered and inspiring figure throughout the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia, as well as increasingly throughout Western civilization, where Hindu epics and values are gaining recognition and popularity. Bhagwan Shri Ram is one of the nine white Balas in Jainism. He is revered in Sikhism as well as by the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, which holds Bhagwan Shri Ram in the same regard as Krishna, its main inspiration.
Bhagwan Shri Ram is revered by followers of Agama Hindu Dharma and Muslims in Indonesia who practise Abangan, a syncretic form of Islam religion and Hindu Dharma. People in Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam, who practise various forms of Buddhism, Islam, and Hindu Dharma, revere him
Bhagwan Shri Ram is revered by followers of Agama Hindu Dharma and Muslims in Indonesia who practise Abangan, a syncretic form of Islam religion and Hindu Dharma. People in Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam, who practise various forms of Buddhism, Islam, and Hindu Dharma, revere him.
The Ram Leela is performed in numerous local languages throughout South East Asia, and the story has inspired art, architecture, music, folk dance, and sculpture. The ancient city of Ayutthaya stands in Thailand as a tribute to the great legend by an ancient Thai kingdom. Many South East Asian kings of the ancient and mediaeval periods bore the name Ram.
The most noble lesson embodied in the Ramayana is the supreme importance of righteousness in every human being’s life. Righteousness is the spiritual spark that ignites life. Cultivation of righteousness is the process of awakening man’s latent divinity. Bhagwan Shri Ram, the glorious incarnation of the Supreme Being, has demonstrated how to walk the path of righteousness through his own life.
Let mankind follow in his footsteps and uphold his ideals, for it is only in this way that there can be everlasting peace, prosperity, and welfare in this world.
