HERE again, Hindus are celebrating another occasion – Raam-Navami-  the day when the great and divine one, Lord Raam took incarnation upon earth. I therefore beg space in your Letters column to scribe a little upon the life and deeds of this Hero and Saviour of truth and righteousness. For ages now, Hindus have been worshipping Raam; chanting His name; reading about His life; listening to His glories; conversing about Him; going to places associated with His life and acts; meeting and parting by the mention of His name, “Raam Raam”, yet hardly has anyone ever seek to find out the reasons behind all this; hardly has anyone ever try to find out how a person’s life can have such vast and impacting effect upon most of the world’s civilizations.
Raam’s life, words and deeds have been, are being and will forever be lights for most of the world’s population, especially the Hindus. I cannot, nor do I think anyone can say of any place where Hindus are and where they go is devoid of the mentioning of the name Raam. This is indeed a virtual manifestation of the renowned Sage and poet, Valmiki words. He says, “As long as the hills stand and rivers flow upon earth, so long will the story of Raam be current in all parts of the world.”
It, however, amazes me – how a person’s life can have such massive influence upon a significant number of people. Raam lived a real life -to show exactly how we, humans must carry ourselves and live our lives. His life is the true manifestation of Dharma (Righteousness).

In fact, He has been described as the “Embodiment of Righteousness”. Every phase of His life left an inspiration for all mankind. Shri Raam was an ideal son, brother, student, friend, husband, king and father. The world needs to follow His footsteps if peace, happiness, justice and truth are to be maintained.
Raam knew the art of living. He knew how to act in all situations of life. In fact, His life was filled with challenges, predicaments, adversities, tragedies and sadness. He was deprived of His own rights when it was for Him to become King. He faced separation from His parents, brothers, close associates and the very citizens of His country, who he loved and who loved Him deepest. Among all these adversities, Shri Raam was even separated from Seeta, His very beloved, faithful and sincere wife. In all those challenges, He acted very responsively, righteously, truthfully and most importantly without fear and abandonment of duty. Furthermore, to say least, truth, righteousness and duty were His watch words.
When it was near time for His coronation—all preparations, decorations, gifts for charity, articles for worship were all well set, there came an obstacle that prevented Him from becoming King.

Everything took strange turns when Kaikeyi made her two demands of the King, Dashrat (Raam’s father) – to have her son – Bharat made king and Raam exiled. (Kaikeyi was given two boons earlier in her life, but she agreed to ask for them when needed)

The king was heart stricken; he panicked, and fell unconscious—Raam was his very soul—his life—his breath. Having regained consciousness, he was speechless and had not the physical and inner strength to endure such a break of hopes, pains and sorrows.

At that time, if Lakshmana had his way, he would have killed the king. But how remarkable was our Raam as an ideal son. He manifested His innate feelings and spoke to Lakshmana as follows: “Your love for me and valour I know; my mother’s grief, poignant as it is, takes no note of the bearings of truth and peace; father has made a promise and the word has to be kept; it is on the word of father that Kaikeyi has asked me to go. Abandon, therefore, this ignoble military mind; resort to Dharma (righteousness) and not to violence; follow my mind.”

Lakshmana, even after hearing the words of Raama, was still agitated and Raam spoke again – words that had pacifying everlasting effects – words that Raam alone knew how to speak on such an occasion.

He said: “Of virtue, material gain and desire, all three are secured by safeguarding the first, i.e. virtue or Dharma; to seek only material gain or to be solely addicted to desire is not praiseworthy. Get over this insult; take your mind on good cheer; let our father save himself from danger of transgressing truth and losing the other world. It is only by my departure that Kaikeyi will be happy.
I have decided to, and prepared my mind for it, and I do not propose to do violence on myself; I shall leave quickly.” Indeed those words outlined the practical philosophy of Raam’s life.

This very single act of Raam demonstrates the ideal worship to parents–seeing parents as visible Gods on earth. He did all that bring them pleasure and happiness without deviating from truth and righteousness. This wonderful worship of Raam regarding parents has mould and shaped the lives of many through ages and millenniums. It has become an inspiration which has kept together our noblest family traditions and filial relationships down ages.

And of course, many of us have failed tremendously to recognize this act of self-surrender to parents. Of course, today parents need to fulfill their duties and be role models for their children if they are to be true parents.

Knowing full well that Kaikeyi snatched away His throne, Raam did not utter a word of anger or disgust.

This is because there was no anger in His heart, for he was pure in heart and mind. He even said to her that instead of giving the king so much of grief and sadness, she could have simply commanded Him to exile. More so, prior to His leaving, he prostrated to both Kaikeyi and king Dashrat.
What a pure and devoted act of duty, Raam exhibited? A Prince accustomed to luxuries and royalty have given up material wealth for duty and truth. With Him was His devoted brother, Lakshmana and most faithful wife Seeta. One is stunted to see so many ideals in this single act—renunciation, total detachment for self interest, absolute self-sacrifice and ultimate fearlessness, truth, righteousness and good reasoning. How can Hindus or followers of the life of Raam ever forget these holy and most perfect acts which have demonstrated the way one should live and qualities that should be accumulated?

For these acts of Raama, Hindus have developed great courage for life—the application of Dharma in one’s life.

At this point, we can no more imagine how pure and devoted Raam was to duty and truth.

We will see more of what His mind was like – that even after serving His challenging, horrifying, dangerous and uneasy years of exile.
He did not show any sign of wanting the kingdom to rule.
He was prepared to allow His brother, Bharat to rule if he was eager and willing to do so. While returning to Ayodhya, He (Raam) instructed Hanuman (His messenger) in these words: “Go and see if all is well at the place; first call on Guha and tell him of my welfare; he is a friend of mine whom I regard as equal to my own self; from there he would direct you to Ayodhya where you would meet Bharat. Tell Bharat everything and report to me how he reacts to the news and what attitude he bears to me. Observe closely indications of speech, face appearance, etc.—for a kingdom like this may convert anybody’s mind. If he shows a desire for the kingdom, let him rule.”

Of course, Bharat was not prepared to rule nor did he had any desire what-so-ever to rule, but Raam was most willing to give him (Bharat) the kingdom if there was a desire. How can we, Hindus ever forget this act of Raam?

Another situation where righteousness was exemplified in Raam’s actions, regards His fidelity to Seeta, His wife. Seeta is Raam’s counterpart in righteousness—“Saha-Dharmini” (Partner in the establishment of righteousness).

Righteousness is life and so in order to make life, a partner is needed. Hence, Raam demonstrated how vital it is for husband and wife to live and make a home. Where there is absence of fidelity, a home cannot be made and carry on effectively and efficiently. Fidelity is righteousness.
The world in which we live today is filled with too much unfaithfulness and infidelity and we are seeing the consequences of it. Many homes are being broken and separated as a result of this; children are at risks—less attention are given to them—this give a rise to poor performance in school, etc.; domestic violence prevails and perhaps suicides, murders, etc. If people are to live by such faith and fidelity, at least, we can hope for some peace and happiness; successful marriages and families.
Where accessibility was concerned, Shri Raam demonstrated that despite one is born in luxuries, royalty and material opulence in abundance; he must realize that he is not different from others as all are made up of the same flesh and blood.

When Raam returned from His engagement, the first He enquired about were the citizens of Adyodhya. He treated them as His own kith and kin.

Moreover, the perfection of accessibility that Prabhu Raam has was clearly seen in the many meetings of Him with others. The meetings with Guha, the Vanaras and Shabari come to mind very fast.
To conclude, what we need to do is to try to follow the footsteps of this ideal, Shri Raam–develop the very attitudes, lifestyles and habits of Raam. It is only then we will really understand the true life of Raam.

It is only then Raam will be seen. While it is more than commendable to worship Raam in rituals, living by the principles He (Raam) practiced, will do us much more. Thus Raam-Navami should be practical and reflective in our lives.