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Sri Ram Navmi article

 				SRI RAMA NAVAMI
Chaitra Shukla Navami
 
The ninth day of the bright half of Chaitra (March-April)

   “Wherever four Hindus live, Rama and Sita will be there “ so said Swami
Vivekananda, one of the foremost harbingers of modern national renaissance of
Bharat. The reverse also is equally true - wherever 
Rama and Sita live, the people there will remain and live as Hindus.
   Every hill and rivulet of Bharat bears the imprint of the holy feet of
Rama and Sita. Sri Rama reigns supreme to this day in the hearts of our
people, cutting across all barriers of province, language,caste or sect. Even
the tribes living in isolated valleys and jungles have names like Mitti-Ram
and Patthar-Ram. In some other tribes every name carries the proud suffix of
Ram, such as Lutthu Ram,Jagadev Ram, etc. In many parts of northern Bharat
mutual greetings take the form of ‘Jay Ramji Ki.’
    Sri Rama has become so much identified with all the good and great and
virile qualities of heroic manhood that expressions such as ‘Us me Ram nahi
hai’ (there is no Rama in him) - meaning a person has lost all manliness and
worth - have become common usage. And when a Hindu quits the world stage, he
is bid God-speed in his onward journey with ‘Ramanama satya hai’ or
‘Raghupathi Raghava raja Ram, patita paavana Sita Ram.’ In fact the latter
couplet has become the nation’s bhajan par excellence.
   Sri Rama’s story, Ramayana, has been sung and resung in all the languages
and dialects of Bharat.The tradition of writing epics centering round the
saga of Rama’s achievements started by Valmiki
in Samskrit was continued by Tulsidas in Hindi, by Kamban in Tamil, by
Ramanujan in Malayalam, by Krittivasa in Bengali, and Madhav Kamballi in
Assamia and in fact, in almost every Bharatiya language. The tradition is
being continued up to the present day. The ‘Ramayana Darshanam’ of
K.V. Puttappa, the Kannada poet laureate, has been awarded the highest
national literary award of Bharat by the Jnana Peeth. The enchanting Geet
Ramayana composed in Marathi by G.D.Madgulkar and set to tune by Sudhir
Phadke is now thrilling the hearts of millions in Maharashtra.
   The various tribal groups too have sung the story of Ramayana in their
dialects. Sri Rama, Lakshmana and Janaki mirror the ideals for millions of
tribal boys and girls. The Khamati tribe in Arunachal Pradesh, which is
Buddhist, depicts Ramayana as the story narrated by Buddha to his first
disciple, Ananda, and carries the universal message of Buddha. How deeply
significant that every group and sect even in distant and far-flung parts of
Bharatvarsha should have found a radiant
reflection of its own ideals in the form of Sri Rama !
   The comparison of Sri Rama’s fortitude to the Himalayas and the grace and
grandeur of his personality to the ocean - ‘Samudra iva gaambheerye, dhairye
cha Himavaan iva’ - portrays how inseperably his personality has been blended
into the entire national entity of Bharat.
   Wherein lay the secret of this unique greatness in Rama’s personality ? He
is called ‘Maryaadaa Purushotthama’ - the great one who never deviated from
the norms set by Dharma. In the eyes of the Hindu, the touchstone of human
excellence is Dharma. Devotion to Dharma came first in Rama’s life and
considerations of his personal joys and sorrows came last. It was his supreme
committment to ‘putra-dharma’ (duty of a son) that made Rama smilingly depart
to the forest for fourteen years
at the bidding of his father. And this he did on the very day he was to be
anointed as the future  emperor of Bharat. He would not budge from the path
of Dharma - righteousness - even when his own preceptor, his parents, his
brothers, and the whole body of his subjects tried to dissuade him. He upheld
the supremacy of Dharma in every one of his human relationships and hence
became an ideal son, an ideal brother, an ideal husband, an ideal disciple,
an ideal friend, an ideal king and
even an ideal foe. 
   The one and supreme concern of Sri Rama’s life was the welfare of his
subjects. He would forsake everything else to uphold his kingly duties - the
Rajadharma. The night previous to his scheduled coronation, when Rama and
Sita were alone in a happy mood in view of the next day’s joyous occasion,
Sita asked Rama, “What is that thing which you hold dearest to your heart ? “
Rama fell serious for a moment and said, “Dear Sita, you know I love you most
dearly, but I love the subjects
of Ayodhya more and if their welfare demands, I would not hesitate to
sacrifice even you !” The following couplet conveying this idea is cited
often :
           Sneham dayaam cha soukhyam cha yadi vaa jaanakimapi
          Aaraadhanaaya lokasya munchate naasti me vyathaa
And Sri Rama did live up to his words. When he felt that the call of his
royal duties - Rajadharma - demanded the forsaking of Sita, he wavered not in
carrying it out. The most crucial test came when Lakshmana violated the
orders of Rama and admitted Durvasa to Rama’s presence with a view to
averting the destruction of Ayodhya by Durvasa’s curse. Rama stuck to the law
of the land and awarded death penalty to Lakshmana - one whom he loved dearer
than his own life. It was with such a fiery faith that Rama followed the
dictates of Dharma.
   To such a one, how could power and pelf hold any fascination ? When
Bharata came to him in the forest and implored him to return to Ayodhya and
become the emperor, Sri Rama firmly refused. Here was enacted a scene
unparelleled in the annals of world history - each of the two brothers trying
to out-argue the other to make him accept the emperorship of a great and
mighty kingdom.
   Sri Rama’s role as one of the first and foremost national unifiers of
Bharat is also unique and extraordinary. He embraced Guha, the forest king
and ate in his house without the least hesitation. No sense of high or low
ever touched his all-embracing love of his people. He even enjoyed a fruit
tasted and offered with devotion by Shabari, a tribal lady in the far south.
   The Vanaras or the foest-dwellers too felt that Rama was their own. He
endeared himself to them so intimately that they became, in fact, his chief
allies against Ravana. All over Bharatvarsha, the dear, little squirrel with
his three brown stripes bespeaks the devotion of Sri Rama even among the
animal world. Along with the Vanaras, a solitary squirrel had played his
humble part in carrying sand for the construction of a bridge to Lanka, and
Sri Rama’s caressing of the little one on the
back had left those indelible stripes for all future generations.
   Sri Rama’s intense adoration for the motherland has been immortalized by a
legendary couplet which is playing on the lips of millions even to this day :
‘Janani janmabhoomischa swargaadapi gareeyasi’ (The mother and the motherland
are to me greater than the heavens themselves).
   The story of Rama is not that of a single towering personality dwarfing
all others. The other characters like Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Hanuman
too shine in their own greatness. All of them are so closely interwoven with
Sri Rama’s life and achievements that it is well-nigh impossible to think of
any one without the other. In fact, the most popular picture of Sri Rama,
i.e. of Sri Rama Pattabhishekha, includes Sita, Hanuman and all his brothers.
And in the bringing out of the 
greatness of all these partners of his life-drama, Rama’s instinctive
recognition of their merit and virtues played no mean part. He would always
be the first to openly appreciate the unique and noble
traits in others’ character. Even for Kaikeyi, who was responsible for his
banishment to the forest, Rama had only words of kindness. And as for Ravana,
the abductor of his wife, Rama’s unstinted praise of his erudition and
prowess at once lifts the story of Ramayana to heights unsurpassed in the
annals of human history. 
   No wonder, the story of Sri Rama has crossed the boundaries of Bharat and
inspired many a  distant people, their culture and literature. Indonesia -
with Muslims forming 80% of its population - continues to adore Rama and Sita
as its great cultural standard-bearers, and Ramayana as its national epic par
excellance. Indonesia also prides itself in having the biggest drama stage in
the world - with Ramayana as its chief attraction. And the credit goes to
that country for celebrating 
the very first grand World Ramayana Festival some years ago.
   The birthday of Sri Rama, indeed, signifies an event worthy of remembrance
by every one,whatever his country or race or religion, who cherishes the
time-honored sublime values of human culture and civilization.
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