Hey Ram! Where are you?

Ramayana as per the Hindu belief happened in Treta Yuga. As per Hindu calculation of time we are into about 5000 years in Kaliyuga which is preceded by Dvapara yuga of 8,64,000 and hence Ramayana should have happened some 8,69,000 years ago. It is said that a chaturyuga consists of 64,80,000 years. Now 50 such cycles have been completed till date. Now that is some millions of years of existence. Whenever Indian beliefs are expounded we get questions of scientific proof. Every Hindu should be happy with such questions because this is one religion where God proclaiming himself as god said that do not accept whatever I said just because it is said by god, assimilate all knowledge with a questioning mind though not with polemics but with intellect. “Tat viddhi pranipathena Pariprasnena sevaya ...” (Bhagavad Gita).
On the calculation of Time I quote Carl Sagan from his book Cosmos, “(Hindu) It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, no doubt by accident (sic), to those of modern scientific cosmology.” The modern historians probably are nicely footnoted in the book under reference by Carl Sagan thus: “A millennium before Europeans were willing to divest themselves of the biblical idea that the world was a few thousand years old, the Mayans were thinking of Millions, and the Indians of billions.” He adds that the events memorialised may be mythical, but the time scales are prodigious. Mark the word “may be” here. What is the etymology of the word “Mythical”? It roughly means illusory truth and strikingly looks near to the Sanskrit word “Mithya” which means illusion.
There is a upanishadic belief 'Brahma Satyam Jagan Mithya' which means that life is an illusion but Consciousness is reality. The entire spiritual quest of a practising Hindu is to understand this reality. Spiritual gurus have evolved a three step process for this understanding. The three steps are: a) Sruti - what is heard, b) Yukti – Understanding through reason and c) Anubavam – Practical Experience. If we apply this to the unravelling of the Mythology, we may be able to find the truth behind 'Mythology'. The existence of Rama is documented in the Ramayana written in various languages and probably ranks as the world's only epic translated and adapted in so many languages and form. Most popular of them the original Valmiki Ramayanam, Tulsidas Ramcharitmanas, Kamba Ramayanam etc., have more or less maintained the same strand of Rama being the King exemplar of Ayodya who went before his coronation to the forest at his aunt's bidding to redeem his father's word, where his wife was abducted by Ravana who was killed to redeem sita before the return to Ayodya at the end of 14 years. This would take us to the next step of Yukti understanding through reason.
Yukti consists of deducing from what we have heard whether such a person could have lived. That could be done by looking at the character, behavioural pattern etc., of the characters stated in the epic with the current behavioural pattern of the society. For understanding this let us digress and look at the Father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi whose 138th birth anniversary was celebrated a few days ago.
What transformed Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi into Mahatma Gandhi. He not merely adhered to Truth and Non-violence, he insisted on as strict an adherence of these from his followers as he himself was doing. This adherence is the direct result of his constant chant of Ram Nama. At various points in time Gandhi has attributed his march towards purity of heart to Ram Nama. Some of his views on Ram nama are worth recalling. “THOUGH MY reason and heart long ago realized the highest attribute and name of God as Truth, I recognize Truth by the name of Rama. In the darkest hour of my trial, that one name has saved me and is still saving me.” “To me...Rama, described as the Lord of Sita, son of Dasharatha, is the all-powerful essence whose name, inscribed in the heart, removes all suffering-mental, moral and physical.” “It can be said with justice that possession of a pure heart should do equally well without Ramanama. Only, I know no other way of attaining purity. And it is the way trodden by the sages of old all over the world. They were men of God, not supersitious men or charlatans.” With all this thoughts Gandhi had attained a position on a pedestal which were several notches above the humans of that era. This made Einstein remark as a tribute: “Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth".
If this were the attributes of Rambhakta what were the qualities of his God. Though the entire Valmiki Ramayana is the message of Rama much like the quote of Mahatma Gandhi “My life is my message”, we shall look into two places where the qualities of Rama are expounded. In the very First sarga in Bala Kanda, Valmiki requests Narada to identify one person who possesses a set of 16 good qualities. The qualities enumerated are: a) Principled, b) Potent, c) Conscientious d)Redeemer, e)Truth teller, f) Self-determined, g) Blent with good conduct, h) Benign respect of all beings, i) Adept, j) Ablest, k) Good looking, l) Courageous, m) Control over anger, n) Brilliant, o) Non-covetous and p)Fearsome in a war. While naming Rama, the ruler of Ayodhya as the person possessing all these qualities Narada extolls the qualities of Rama thus:
DharmagnaH satya sandhaH ca prajaanaam ca hite rataH

yashasvii gnaana sampannaH shuciH vashyaH samaadhimaan
He is the knower of rectitude, bidden by the truth, always dwells in the welfare of subjects, Famous for his wisdom, clean in his conduct, self-controlled and a diligent one, thus he is glorious.
After extolling the qualities of Rama, Narada gave a brief summary of Ramayana and called upon Valmiki to pen the epic. If we read Ramayana there are various occasions in which Rama's qualities are extolled by various characters and in some places by Valmiki himself as a narrator. One such occasion is just before the Dasaratha's decision to coronate Rama, Valmiki narrates the character of Rama. Somes of the striking qualities displayed by Rama, according to Valmiki are:
sa cha nityaM prashaantaatmaa mR^idupuurvaM tu bhaashhate

uchyamaano.api parushhaM nottaraM pratipadyate 2-1-10
Rama was always peaceful in mind and spoke softly. He did not react to the hard words spoken by others. Valmiki adds that Rama had a firm devotion and steadfast mind. He was not stubborn nor did he speak evil words. He was never idle and was ever alert. He recognized his own errors and those of others. Rama knew the theory and practice of sciences. He identified good men and protected them. He knew the people worthy of reprimand. He knew the ways and means of getting income as well as the system of spending, as perceived by economic sciences.Rama could obtain great skill in the groups of sciences along with their subsidiaries. For those who demand his engineering credentials if this is not enough there are numerous other places in Ramayana where Valmiki talks about the mastery of all fields of sciences attained by Rama. He was interested in enjoying comforts only after understanding the economic realities. He never remained inactive. He understood the differences among men. He could judiciously discriminate whom to protect and whom to punish. Some of the excellant qualities he had which would put the greatest democrat of the modern era to shame was: - He used to be receptive and worshipful to the elders. People used to love him and he used to love the people. He had mercy towards the meek. People loved the virtuous prince Rama and treated him as their spirit moving outside.Rama, by his virtues, was a source of happiness to all the people and a spring of joy to his father. Valmiki ends this narration with a beautiful simile, as the sun shines with his rays, Rama was shining, thus, with his virtues.
Ramayana consists of numerous virtues of Rama narrated by various character apart from Valmiki but greater are the virtues played out by Rama. The first and foremost is his equanimous attitude towards situation good or bad particularly in relation to attainment of Power. From being praised by all and appointed as Crown-Prince to being asked to wear deer skin and tree barks and adorn the dense forests within a span of 24 hours, Rama showed exemplary equipoise. For him virtue mattered more than life itself. On one occasion he says he fears calumny more than death itself (Incidentally this expression was used by Mr. Vajpayee while demitting office in 1996). “Na Beetho Maranadasmi kevalam dushito Yasah”. Incidentally Rama had inspired his brothers by his behaviour that one wonders any of them in his character in that epic would have behaved exactly like Rama. Rama as we have seen belonged to Treta Yuga which is marked by rectitude of beings lesser as compared to krita or Satya Yuga. However Rama's behaviour was such that Vedanta Desika in his Mahavira Vaibavam says “Treta Yuga Pravartita Karta Yuga” - meaning a person born in Treta yuga with Krita yuga qualities.
The basic levels of rectitude as per Hindu belief deteriorates as compared to Krita yuga in Treta Yuga and as compared to Treta yuga in Dwapara yuga and so on and we are in Kali yuga. To borrow T.S.Elliot's words the lakhs of years of living after Rama has brought men in this country farther from Ram and nearer to Ravana. Hence as Einstein said of Gandhi it is difficult to believe in this present day world that a person described as Rama in Ramayana could have lived in this country.
Still there are certain behavioural pattern of this nation which could be experienced even now as Anubav, which could be traced to the ingraining of Rama in the consciousness of this nation. One such was quoted in my earlier blog Mareecha's advice to Karunanidhi. Yet another behaviour in this era of falling standards of politics is the relative smooth transfer of power in India through Democratic process as compared to the situation prevalent in neighbouring countries. Take the case of transfer of power in 1977 after a bitter emergency an election was called and Indira Gandhi who displayed all the qualities of dictator till the declaration of results handed over power to the newly formed Janatha Party without any hitch. There is no nation of natives in the world which has a surviving democratic governance for more than 50 years. UK is still a Constitutional monarchy. As far as US is concerned the nation is more a colony of immigrants since the natives are nowhere in the scheme of things of the nation. The fate that befell on the aborigines in American continent at the hands of the immigrants from Europe is well documented and a state built thereafter by the immigrants could not be considered as a nation of natives. The tenacity of the common man of leading a life against all odds in this country is another trait we have imbibed from Rama himself. Our Gross national Happiness has never been related to Gross National Product and our standard of life has always been high eventhough our standard of living may not have been high. To borrow the phrase used by the noted Jurist Nani Palkhiwala we endure inhuman conditions with 'feudalistic servility and fatalistic resignation'. In any other nation this would have caused revolution. The family values in India even in present day is several notches higher than what is there in the west. These are directly the result of Rama and his brothers.
Rama has existed and continues to exist in this nation and it is for all of us to experience him. Kabir shows us the way:
Goongat ka pat khol re
toko Ram milenge
Gat Gat vah sayee ramta
katuk vachan mat bola re
'Open the screen (remove hypocrisy) then Ram could be found. He resides in every body. Dont speak harsh words.'