My posting on "Rama: Despot or Democrat"

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

A number of you have sent in your feedback and

comments to me on my posting yestderday, "Rama: Despot

or Democrat". They are all very interesting viewpoints

and I thank you all for sharing them with me.

 

*****************

 

I would be very happy too if my posting aroused not

only scriptural views/comments but also encouraged

comparison with current events in India even as they

are happening and unfolding today.

 

Please permit me to say that the dramatic events of

the past two days in the political scene in India (at

least as I see it) bear a striking and very remarkable

resemblance to the events of the Ramayana essayed in

my posting y/day. Making due allowances for changes in

cast, characters, context and script, what happened

y/day in New Delhi finds unmistakable echoes and

parallels with the details of the Valmiki-Ramayana

events I described.

 

Last night amidst tumultuous scenes of political

high-drama (as we all saw on our TV screens),

Smt.Sonia Gandhi refused to take over the reins of

power in India as Prime Minister. There was not a

single obstacle in her way to ascend the throne -- she

had the so-called Will of the People behind her, she

had the Constitutional legitimacy to back her claim

and she had any number of allies to back her and

support her... There was the shadow of just one taint

upon her -- the taint of suspect citizenship. (It was

a bit like the taint of suspected fidelity that was

upon Sita in the Ramayana).

 

And yet last night Smt. Gandhi went to the nation and

said "No, I shall not wear the crown". And the reason

she gave was "My "antaryAmi" -- my inner voice or

self"! She said her "antaryAmi" told her the position

of Prime Minister of India is not for her. People were

aghast. They were dumbfounded... They were begging

her, entreating her to reconsider... but she did not

relent.

 

To me personally, it was all so reminiscent --

virtually like some strange replay in a time-warp --

of some of those scenes Valmiki so graphically

describes in the "ayOdhya kAnda".

 

Let me hasten to add that the personalities of

yesteday's drama in New Delhi are of no interest to me

at all. Nor do the related political developments have

any significance for me. But I think I learnt one

important truth from what I saw yesterday and it

convinced me beyond doubt about this:

 

The 'Will of the People' is not supreme even in a

democracy. There is a force, a Will that is far, far

greater and superior that manifests and asserts

itself, from time to time, in the affairs of men and

nations. That force is the force of Dharma, the Will

of God, which somehow at the end is the only force

that prevails over all else... Smt.Sonia Gandhi, for

want of a better word, called it "antaryAmi" -- Soul

Force. In the Ramayana, Lord Rama called it 'Dharma'.

 

 

Thanks and regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

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