Sri Rama is the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, scion of the race of Raghu, pinnacle of human perfection. The story of his life is one that has enthralled the minds of all who have read it, not only in India, the land of its origin but in all parts of the world like Tibet, Turkey, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. In Bali and Thailand, he is worshipped as God incarnate. Valmiki is the author of the Ramayana and is known as the Adi Kavi – the first ever poet in the world. He was a contemporary of Sri Rama and he wrote what he had experienced and observed first hand.
The Ramayana is not a mythological tale of some mystical hero, but the history of one of the greatest kings of our land. Hence, it leaves an indelible impression on the minds of all who read it. Valmiki has given us the portrait of a man who has the might and power of God and the frailty of a human being. Hence the Ramayana is a great exercise in discipling the mind in its attempt to bring God and man together in a single individual. Valmiki often refers to Rama as Narayana himself. It is said that at the moment of his death Ravana saw Rama as the God of the Universe! Indeed, Valmiki brings God to the earth and raises the earth to Heaven! He presents to the reader the inscrutable manner in which God works and the fickle nature of all human decisions.
Rama was a man who became divine by shaking off the limitations of his mortality by a strict adherence to truth and honour. If Rama, like Krishna, was above all human emotions, he would not have made such an impact on humanity. He has all the qualities of the average man – the attachments, the desire, the anger and the love, the compassion and the serenity. The greatness of his character lies in the fact that he surmounted the obstacles in his character and perfected himself so that he became a super human - one who put duty above all personal considerations. This type of perfection is actually available to all humans, however weak we feel we may be. Rama is a character to be held up as an example to all men, as Sita is to all women; each one of us, when we read their story can identify ourselves with them and try to perfect our own character as they perfected theirs.
The astounding descriptions of the rule of Rama and his administrative capacity reflect the condition of an ideal society which stands unparalleled in the world till today! All those who hold top positions in any government should read this book - for our lives may well take a turn for the better when we read of the heroic way in which Rama faced the trials and tribulations of his life, yet clung to his dharma. In him, we see that God has taken on a human form with all its frailties in order to show us how our aspirations for a dharmic life can be fulfilled; we can surmount our frailties and become divine only, if we are prepared to completely subjugate our ego and live only for the good of the world and act in consonance with the duties and obligations of our particular position in society.
Another charming feature of Rama was the way in which he endeared himself to both humans and animals. There was no one who came within his orbit, animal or human, who failed to be beguiled by his compassion.
We have to understand the meaning of dharma before we can understand the character or Rama. According to the Sanatana Dharma, the triple laws that govern the universe are rta, satya and dharma. Rta is “cosmic order” and “satya” is truth. Truth is that which remains unaffected by any change in time or place. That is to say, it is above space and time. These two are the principles which regulate and co-ordinate the operation of the universe. Truth is the verbal form of divine order or rta. This divine truth becomes dharma when put to action. These three words are inter-related in meaning. The word dharma is a word that is unique to Hinduism. It is unlikely that any other religion would have a word so commonly used. Dharma is the one word that summarises the principles of life in Hinduism. The foundation of dharma is the cosmic order or rta and satya. An understanding of this is essential to an understanding of the character of Rama.
The rock-like foundation of Sri Rama’s character is his absolute and unequivocal adherence to dharma. His first and last love was dharma. All the other loves of his life paled into insignificance before this all-consuming passion for dharma, which sometimes amounted to fanaticism. This is the basic fact of his character which we have to keep in mind, before we can begin to appreciate many of his actions, which might seem to conflict with our ideas of a noble human being. As he told Bharata, “I will follow the path of dharma and obey the will of my father. A man of dharma should obey his guru, he must be true to himself and must always keep his word!”
One who bases his life on this cosmic dharma would be true to himself and to the laws of the universe and therefore such a person could well be called a perfect human being. Sri Rama is the personification of such a character. He is dharma incarnate.
He continued to follow this cosmic law till the bitter end even though it led him to part with all his beloved relations one by one.
The universal laws of rta and satya when reflected through the medium of the human mind, become distorted and that is why we find that though many of us struggle hard to become totally dharmic, we do not always hit the mark. Even God himself, when he takes a mortal body, appears to come at least a little under the sway of maya. That is why we often find that even Rama falls prey to the frailties of human emotions. He seems to be totally bereft at the loss of Sita and weeps like any infatuated husband. Yet, we find that despite his overwhelming love for her, he was prepared to banish her so as to be true to his dharma as a king. Rama shows that a king’s first loyalty should be to his country and to the citizens. It is not that Rama loved Sita less but that he loved dharma more! This applies to all politicians. A king should always put his country first. He should always place public duty before personal satisfaction. If every politician follows this rule, our country would become another Ramarajya.
Rama’s life shows us that when a human being tries to uphold dharma at all costs, he must be prepared to sacrifice all other loves. Dharma is a stern disciplinarian. It brooks no straying from its stringent path. One who strictly adheres to the path of dharma, like Rama, will find that even the strongest of material attachments will have to be sacrificed for the sake of his beliefs.
The Ramayana is a fascinating story because you see in it the terrible anguish and pain that Rama felt as a mortal when the time came to sacrifice his greatest loves; one by one on the altar of dharma. On the other hand, you will also see that despite this agony, he did not deviate from the strict ideal he had kept for himself and did not flinch from making the final sacrifice of even his beloved brother Lakshmana. Hence, in Bharat, he is considered to be a god, since only a god could act in this fashion.
Rama’s story is one of utter pathos which ascends to sublime heights of glory, the pinnacle of divinity for no ordinary mortal could be so utterly selfless, to the point of being considered heartless.
Whatever role he played, he followed only this rule. “Am I acting according to dharma?”
When his father told him to forgo the coronation and leave for the forest, he did not say a word against him. He was fully prepared to renounce the throne of Ayodhya, to discard the glory of a king’s life, be parted from his newly wedded wife and his beloved brothers to wander alone in the forest for fourteen years!
Thus, we see in Rama the portrait of a super-man who based his entire life on a strict adherence to the implacable law of dharma. It’s a blind law and like all the laws of Nature, it knows no compassion and brooks no disobedience. The whole of Nature follows this rule without question. All creatures are conditioned to act according to this cosmic law. Human beings, however, allow their greed to over- rule their understanding. Rama was the one exception. He had to pay a heavy penalty for his utter loyalty to a blind law! He bore up with his trials with heroic fortitude and firmly abided by the high code of conduct that he had set for himself despite insuperable odds. What wonder that this nation has held him up as the glowing example of human perfection.
This year, 2024, we celebrated the birthday of this extraordinary personality on the 17th April.
Jai Sri Rama!