Sri Rama: The Soul of India
The whole nation is waiting for the grand and great moment, of the fulfilling the desires of the crores of people since the last five hundred years for the opening of Sri Ramajanmabhoomi temple at Ayodhya on 22nd January. We publish an article that was written on the day of Shilanyas of this historical temple.
_Page_01.jpg)
As on 5th August the whole country celebrates the
Shilanyas of Sri Ram Mandir at Sri Ram Janma Bhoomi, crores of hearts would be
overwhelmed, the eyes would be blurred with tears of happiness that the wait of
almost 500 years is over, a silent prayer would be offered with gratitude for
all those who died for the cause and deep satisfaction that we have lived to
see this day, an inner feeling would be experienced that celebrations of
Independence starts this year 10 days before the Independence Day. Three
incidents float my memory.
It was one week after 6th December 1992. The
Sarvodaya leaders along with religious leaders of Kanyakumari organized a peace
meeting at Gandhi Mandapam located at sea shore. Various heads of the
religious, social, political and educational organizations were invited.
Vivekananda Kendra elders attended it, with them I too attended. It was decided
that some passages of some universal meaning would be read from Bible, Koran
and Vedas. There would be few talks, appeal for peace etc. And then with silent
prayers the meeting would be concluded.
The meeting proceeded as planned. As it was
concluded and we were about to get up, a booming voice rang, ‘What is this? You
are having a meeting in Gandhi Mandapam and concluding it without Ram Bhajan?’
The organizers got jittery, they turned and found an old man, coming towards
the gathering from the door. “Who are you?’ asked the organizers
apprehensively. ‘I am Ahamed (I hope I am remembering the name correctly) the
watchman at the Gandhi Mandapam’. Saying so, before the organizers could object
him, he started the Bhajan, ‘Raghupati Raghav Rajaram…’ All gathered, joined
him.
It was not just singing Bhajan but what was
suppressed all this time so to say spontaneously came out. Seeing that a person
from Muslim community was leading the Ram Bhajan, the organizers though shocked
by the turn of events a bit helplessly, let the people sing Bhajan.
Actually, whatever was going on till now was so
superficial that there was heaviness in the atmosphere. But once the Bhajan
started and as all enthusiastically joined in it, the air around became light
and friendly. A common man in India whatever may be his religious affiliation
adores Rama. Sri Rama has entered in the soul of India like no other historical
personality of India.
When I was Principal of Vivekananda Kendra
Vidyalaya, I had made it a point to take the moral science classes for all the
sections. To save my time, I used to combine the sections of each class. The
syllabus was made as to in which class what values and behavioural changes
would be stressed through stories. The stories for each class were also
decided. Whatever I wanted to tell the children would be told through the
dialogues in the mouth of the personalities in that story. Thus, the stories
would be very long. For example, for class III the Ramayana would go all
through the year. As much as children loved listening to the stories, I loved
narrating it to them. Sometimes while walking through the veranda, a child
would tell me, ‘Didi, tomorrow Friday! Your moral science period on our class’,
as if I needed a reminder! Or if a holiday comes on Wednesday the children
having the moral science period on that day would come to me and complain,
‘Didi, why all holidays are coming this year on Wednesday only?’ As if not only
time table but even the calendar was my creation!
Once, I went to class III for the moral science
period. Before entering generally, their noise would reach me as more than 80
children of both the sections would be sitting in one class room. But that day
there was no sound at all. I was bit surprised. As I entered the class and
students greeted me with Namaste, I was stunned to see the table, chair and
place around decorated with many flowers. More than 80 pairs of shining
innocent eyes were looking at me expectantly for my response. Thinking they
might have taken the flowers from the beach garden which was looked after
tirelessly by Saraswatididi, the vanaprasthi Karyakarta and if so then later
how I would have to listen to her outburst, I asked bit worried, ‘From where
did you bring so many flowers?’ ‘From my home Didi.’ Replied all those who had
brought it. ‘But why have you covered all this with flowers?’, I asked puzzled.
‘Ramarajyabhishekam! Didi today there will be coronation of Srirama, so
celebration!’ I was overwhelmed. I turned my back on them as if I was seeing
the flowers and controlled myself. As I was wearing a white colour saree, I
started to remove the flowers from the chair. ‘No, Didi, that is like the
Simhasanam – throne of Sri Rama. Please do not remove the flowers.’ I could not
disregard the feelings of those tender hearts. Even today when I remember that
incident, my heart fills with joy. Sri Rama moves hearts of such tiny tots
also.
The third incident is just few years back. Though I
had gone for Kendra work many times to Lucknow, I had not visited Ayodhya. I
had not asked for that, may be deep down I was avoiding the pain to see Ramlala
in a tattered tent. But as the work started in Gorakhpur, Ayodhya and other
places, in my one pravas (organizational tour) the visit to each branch was
planned. At Ayodhya, visit to the temple was also included in the itinerary.
Through many security gateways we had to pass. No
bag or mobiles were allowed in the hand. At last we reached a place where we
could enter the strong iron barricades to ultimately reach the temple. Due to
the varying time at each security gate the Karyakartas accompanying me were
behind and I was in the group of pilgrims who appeared to be from some interior
villages of Tamilandu. It was very hot. After walking through many barricade
lines at last we reached the last but two lines. A person near me started
asking, ‘enna da Kovil enge irukkiradu? Oh.. where is the temple.?’ One Jawan
standing little away from us spoke in Tamil loudly so as to attract our
attention. ‘Keep looking right. Do not look here and there or you would miss
the Darshan.’ There were tents for the Jawans to rest, drink water etc. Many
Jawans of various armed forces were posted at various locations.
Because that Jawan had told, we did not miss the
Darshan. The tent was discoloured, tattered. While walking through barricades
if a person looks for 3-4 steps in other direction, he would miss the Darshan,
so narrow was the opening and so inconspicuous was the tent to pay attention to
it. As we moved further in the barricade towards exit, one old man in that
group said, ‘The one who protects us all, he needs to be protected here…’ The
other old person said in fatigued tone, ‘I hope in my life time, my Rama gets
the temple at his birth place.’ The simple words but they represented the
longing and waiting of so many hearts since 500 years; what tears I was trying
to hold back started flowing.
Why does this Shilanyas of Sri Rama temple at
Ramjanmabhoomi move us so much? Swami Vivekananda had said Dharma is the soul
of India and Srirama is called as ‘Ramo Vigrahvan Dharma’. Sri Rama is Dharma
incarnate. This Bhoomipoojan grips us so much because Sri Rama is deeply
embedded in the inner being of this nation. Ve Sabke Ram hai.
Let us keeping aside what caste, creed, community,
religion we belong, chant the name of Srirama, all the heaviness that our
political or ideological affiliations bring, would be gone and we would
experience the lightness as Ahamad made us feel that day.
Let us touch the child-like innocence in our heart
and our heart would rejoice and celebrate 5th August, as my tiny-tots that day
celebrated.
Feel the long wait in many old hearts of all our
earlier generations in the past 500 years and we will be grateful that we are
alive to cherish this great historical moment.
