The curious case of Ram-Rajya

In modern day politics and governance, we come across one term too often - "Ram Rajya". 

But what is Ram-Rajya and how does the rule look like? Does Ram Rajya refer to some utopian rule where there is no crime, despair, corruption etc and there is heaven on earth itself? This question and my thoughts around it made me write another blog in the curious case series.

Here’s a quick glance on the series of events around vanvaas which is the epicenter of this blog. 

• Dashrath is forced to ask Rama to go to vanvass as per promise given to Kaikeyi

• But Dashrath volunteers to sacrifice his promise 

• Ram volunteers to go to vanvass to keep his father’s word 

• Sita volunteers to go with Ram 

• Lakshmana volunteers to go with Ram 

• Urmila voluntarily stays back….to not put Lakshaman in any "dharm-sankat"

• Bharat volunteers to bring everyone back and leave no stone unturned.

My Observation

What are these people longing for?

Materialistic vs non materialistic is something which is always being talked about. But the other thing I see here is people are volunteering to be at the front while facing bullets. That’s where the real beauty lies. No one is simply bothered with settling down with what all he has. Rather, people are volunteering to give things for the sake of each other (I do not want to beat the bush around the word “sacrifice” here)

Looking at bird eye’s view of things, the idea is to keep yourself on your toes always, without even being asked for it. Everyone is unassuming. Virtues are not exceptions, but the norm to the point that people are subtly eager to be virtuous without any selfish motives of making big names for themselves.

Solidarity in the family is not forced or told. It's coming out naturally and that is the ineffable beauty. That solidarity can never be derived by asking people to do what they have to do. You have to create the environment wherein people are naturally eager to go an extra mile for their responsibility. And here it’s flowing so-called from “top to bottom.”  That’s one of the inferences of Ram Rajya according to me. 

Where sense of responsibility is the norm and people feel sidelined when not pushed to extremes. Just take a pause and think about it! 

Ram as a leader, has created more leaders each of which want to become followers of the other. That is the purest form of compassion, gratitude and humility. That is the real value which virtues have added. When integrity and virtues are the norm and competition is to go the extra mile for each other and not pushing each other by an extra mile.

These top notch people are very very clear in their head about their objectives. They are living by the principle which Lord Krishna taught in Shrimad Bhagavad Gita much later in Dwapar Yuga: Do your job and that’s it. Yearn to be pushed. I won’t say the word sacrifice, but would say selflessness. Selfless pursuit of your job and going to any extent for it. People are selflessly duty bound and their passion is for Karma not for its fruit.

Summary

We often are confronted by a crude reality that one may still be willing to go an extra mile being selfless but are the people around actually deserving? Well that’s a tough question with no perfect answer but I feel that’s the thing about so called culture and governance. It's not a matter of one house, one family, one lane or one city. It's part of system which governance create.  

When everyone is snatching, everyone is starving! And that’s sadly what the current state of affairs looks like which unfortunately flows from top to bottom. Sadly, top doesn’t come out of thin air. It’s made from very people at bottom. Let’s stop cursing the top and start improving the bottom. Imagining Ram Rajya, when being pushed is the norm, everyone else becomes deserving to be taken care of. When everyone is a giver, no one goes empty.When selflessness becomes the norm, everyone’s needs are automatically taken-careof because either they are fulfilled, or they never create any desperation.  Easier said than done, “selflessness” ain’t as easy to comprehend nor as idealistic as it sounds and there is much to talk about it. This takes me to writing another blog in the curious case series on “selflessness”. Stay tuned!

Jai Shri Ram