Rama's temple at Ayodhya

When i read the Supreme court's verdict regarding Ram temple at Ayodhya as  a short headlines news on the morning it was delivered i couldn't believe my eyes .Few days earlier when i read the names of the 5 judges who constituted the bench which was to deliver the much awaited verdict i concluded that it would be a split verdict as some of the judges in the bench are known for delivering off beat dissenting judgments .To put it candidly some of the judges are considered to be modern day liberals who would take sides with minorities.so i resigned myself to another long bout of dispute and wasn't much eager to know about the decision thinking that it would be yet another rigmarole.
I was totally taken by surprise when i learnt that the decision to allow construction of Ram temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya by handing over the property rights to the Hindu petitioners and the centre , was unanimous!All the five judges were of one mind!
Despite constant warnings from political and other leaders not to celebrate or protest when  the verdict is delivered i couldn't contain my happiness .I clapped my hands loudly hoping my Muslim and christian neighbours would hear it and then topped it by popping in a sugar free Amul chocolate and kept beaming from one end of my face to another .Our neighbour hood however was silent.

People i know of are generally either bhakths /devotees of Ram or Krishna .That is both are revered but it is only one of the two viz Rama or Krishna that a person cherishes very  fondly and adores him more than the other.
I belong to Ram bhakth category .Since teens at some time or the other when i walk on the ground i get the feeling that i am walking on the soil sanctified by Rama's sacred feet .OK where i got this feeling may not be the exact place of Rama's route in his vanavas but nevertheless  i got that thrilling   feeling of sacredness and link to the ancient past of this country that made me feel comfortable and secure.It thrilled me to the core to be thus blessed.

I have no doubt none what so ever that Rama did live as a mortal like any of us although unlike us he was a also immortal, being a avatar of Vishnu .That is he had some extraordinary facets to his nature and form that a human being cannot have.At the very thought of Rama's endearing qualities , nature and handsome form my heart often wrings  and  my eyes  moisten. .That is the effect Rama has on millions of Hindus  also.I am not alone.

Several question about his existence .This is not new .This questioning was also raised as early as 8 th century AD !Tondar adi podi aazhwar the Sri Vaishnavaite saint of 8-9 th cent AD has mentioned it and has  expressed his angst against such people in his Pasurums/Tamil hymns on Sriman Narayana , cursing them and thier progeny to  be burnt to ashes for disbelieving the existence of Lord Rama .Peria aazhwar who was prior to Tondar adi podi aazhwar and ardent devotee of Sri Krishna has directed the doubting Thomases to Thiru Pullani [which is in Ramanathapuram district] --the beach where Rama lay in meditative penance for taming the rough seas in order to build a bridge to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita and says that people there have actually seen  Rama  .He has devoted a whole chapter in his pasurums about explaining the reality of avatar of Maha Vishnu in human form as Rama  .Neither of them mention doubts regarding existence of Krishna by others may be such a doubt never existed in minds of people then .

Some say that Rama is only a hero of a epic Ramayana .That he is nothing but a fictitious character .Hence it is foolish to revere  and, worship a figment of imagination thus.
Mahabharata an epic that was written after Ramayana gives a detailed list of kings who have ruled India even prior to Rama .Historians do take this list as a evidence of lineage of kings who ruled India in several centuries in  BC.They are taken as authentic information even by historians who are known for their leftist 'secular' leanings. This list mentions Rama and names of rulers before him and after him.
The is also a story in Mahabharata in this very chapter where a bereaved father beseeches  a muni to bring back his young son to life and that Rishi gives a exhaustive account of the generosity of 16 kings  in the yagnas they performed .They all lived and ruled many centuries before the Pandavas.A king called Shibhi is said to have given gifts to all his subjects and to all those who attended his yagnas equal to sand grains found in rivers and seas but he had to ultimately face death !He says Rama a valorous , generous and kind  king  who made thousands of gifts also had to die one day The rishi  asks the bereaved father" What gifts have you or your son has made and what good deeds did you or your son  perform that would surpass the deeds done by above mentioned kings that you are seeking to defy death?When such noble kings have all met death who are you and what are you in face of death?"
The very fact that Rama's passing away is mentioned to illustrate the inevitability of death a mortal has to face is  a proof that Rama did live once upon a time .

If Rama was only a fictitious character who assumed a halo around himself down the ages  due to the poetic excellence of Valmiki ,the author of the epic Ramayana  then why didn't the main characters , the hero's of very many plays, dramas and poignant stories written in Sanskrit by skillful poets and writers before and after the Ramayana was written didn't assume a halo?

Are Hindus fools that they are worshipping a hero of a story blindly by putting him up in a altar?Does the collective memory of millions of Hindus from far flung places in this sub continent  that Rama did live and rule Bharat have no value?

Maybe the dating of Rama  as per Hindu traditions that of 7 lakh years or more is unbelievable and is cause of much derision and Rama has been pushed  into realms of Mythology.I do not believe that date myself .Is it possible for human brains to carry the memory of a person's life etc who lived 7 lakh years back  ?First of all did any civilization exist any where in this world 7 lakh years back?

To me a computer astrologer's calculation of Rama's birth date to be in 5000 BC ,which is 7000 years back is plausible and acceptable.The dating of Sri Krishna's birth by this father of computer atrology is at 3000 BC .This is also very much plauisble.and acceptable.

What makes Rama so special that he has captured millions of hearts in India as well as  in South east Asia?

On the face of it Rama was a specialist killer . He killed all those who troubled his subjects . He had no qualms in shedding blood to protect any one taking refuge in him.It is said that he killed thousands of asura's who were harassing  rishis 's living in forest sanctuaries and who were preventing them from conducting yagnas , worship and meditation.Since the rishi's sought his refuge he proceeded to protect them.He was a king by birth and upbringing and it was his duty to protect his land and subjects and he did this by using his skill archery .His valorous deeds add to his general charm.It makes him a brave hero to all of us.There is a tendency amongst many to gloss over this fact by portraying only Rama's other virtues.It is like as if they are ashamed of his bravery and would like to project him like Buddha or Jesus.We Hindus are  not in least ashamed of his killing evil men. we are actually proud of his valiant deeds .We go into raptures over his skill in archery .We cheer his beheading the ten heads of Ravana and enact it every year.

To Sri Vaishnavaites .Rama is none other than Vishnu/Narayana .Though Narayana is capable of annihilating the enemies of his devotees from his abode at Vaikuntum , he takes human form now and then so that he may please his devotees with his pleasing form and nature by mingling freely with them .To SriViashnavaites his avatars are real and not illusory unlike some sects in Hindus who deem him to be a maya.[illusion].And the two  most important avatars amongst the many avatars of Vishnu are that of Rama and Krishna.

Apart from his bravery it is his gentle nature of instant obedience to his father, the total absence of any regret in losing his kingdom overnight, his patience in putting up with the harsh life in the forest to which he was banished for 14 years, his courage in rescuing his beloved wife Sita from the clutches of a powerful ruler without any regular army or money at his disposal and the glowing accounts of several persons down the ages regarding his golden rule at Ayodhya endears him to millions .
It is said that no ruler before Rama was equal to his glorious rule of peace and prosperity nor will any ruler after him has surpassed his golden rule and no one will ever surpass it.He is a class apart.Hence it is impossible for a man of such ideals to get out of our collective memory .It didn't happen in 7 th -8 th cent AD  and it will not happen now nor will it happen in future.

Regarding Ram janma bhoomi movt my reactions were tepid even at its height.Yes i knew that Rama was born in Ayodhya but i live in Tamilnadu and not in UP up North and there many temples dedicated to Rama in here and  i could feel the connection with Sri Rama when i visited Thiru Pullani few years back.When i saw the small strip of beach near a calm and placid sea i could very well visualize a grief stricken Rama lying on the sands with his head on Lakshmana's lap , praying to Samudra raja to pave way so that he could build a bridge across the sea  to Lanka and rescue Sita.Nearby there is temple of Vishnu in which Rama lakshmana and Sita have a sannidhi.

In fact i was in the thick of the rath yatra taken in 1990's that is we were living  in Ranchi where the yatra was to pass on its way to ayodhya.As the yatra neared Ranchi all the residents of our colony who were mostly Sikhs were highly nervous and lined the rooftops with guns , expecting a angry mob of Muslims from nearby slum that house more than a lakh Muslims .to attack us.There was news of some tribals being killed in that slum by Muslims and that rattled us all even further and all of us spent a sleepless night.Thankfully curfew was imposed the next day and tensions abated.

When Babri masjid was demolished we were back in Chennai.I wasn;t even following the news and came to know of its demolition only from my dark Christian neighbour, a house wife, who came running towards me to impart the news .She was highly agitated and nearly in tears .She wailed and lamented loudly and remarked that i was being too cool about it and asked whether i was in BJP .I said no .She didn't like my indifference and i was wondering at her  agitation at the destruction of a old mosque some where up North.How did it affect her? Did the act of destruction of a mosque by Hindus  deliver a pshycological blow . Did it make all realize that this is not Mughal or British India so as to lord over us all but  is Independent India?
One way or the other the Ramjanma bhoomi movt didn't bother me .
Next day  when i visited nearby mofussil court  a Christian junior ,a young dark woman  seated in the bar room kept abusing loudly all those who demolished the masjid whilst her Iyer colleague kept consoling her and joined her in abusing the masjid destroyers.The rest mostly non brahmin Hindus looked on indifferently .It didn't touch any of them .Nobody discussed it None of them belonged to BJP.It just didn't matter .our daily life was more important than some happenings up North..

It is only recently  that i started taking interest in the dispute over Rama's birth place at Ayodhya specially so after the attempts to convert me to Christianity on one hand and on the other the attempts to throw a purdah on me by Muslims to  stifle my freedom.Whilst former was coercive the latter was persuasive but the intent was one --that i should not pursue my religion Hinduism.It is still going on .It is all cloak and dagger making me suspect the hands of authorities and politicians  in this continuing never ending attempts to disrupt my leading a peaceful life .

Till the time of cloak and dagger conversion i was subject to in 2014 September i kept away from such topics conceding to the sensitivities of Muslims and Christians in the typical manner of  a person subject to Congress and communist influences .But the line was crossed by those who got it into their head that the best way to punish me is to convert me!.I lost my natural reticence.
I started thinking thus--I am a Hindu .why should i feel apologetic about it? Why shouldn't i please myself and my religious beliefs .What is the compulsion on me to tone down my religious beliefs? For what?Some Christians , Muslims and their secular Hindu  backers have done the worst to me.Why should i humour such people?The fear or in other words my secular inhibitions have gone as i have been pushed too far .Since it is still going on it is only hardening me day by day .
I have started developing the attitude that if your religious practises , religious leaders advise etc are important so are mine and my  religious leaders advise.If standing up for my Hindu religious beliefs is  going to be viewed as communal , so be it .What is the maximum these persons trying to scuttle all my freedoms do ,kill me? I am not daunted by it .When my son died three fourths of me died  along with him what is left of me , more so after mind was battered with high decibel sounds in 2012 and pierced with electric shocks in 2014 both of which was done on me arbitrarily and forcibly in a undercover shadowy manner ,is hardly worth worrying about.If any one is searching for a victim of dictatorship no need to go far , here i am right in middle of smart city-Chennai .

OK back to Ram a.I often wonder about the mean mindedness , adamant and foolish nature of th e Muslims  who are clinging on to that masjid [which they may have never seen nor prayed  within it ]whilst surrounded on all sides by millions of Ram bhakths who are eagerly waiting to retrieve the sacred birthplace of beloved Rama , build a temple for Rama and restore its ancient glory .
It shows clearly the  patience , tolerance and non violent nature of Hindus.Hindus are like huge elephants that has been tamed .Patient, gentle and obedient who  shy away from displaying their enormous strength.viz their gigantic numbers .

Few years back i came across a bit of information about my grand father M.A.Ayengar .He was member of a trust formed to retrieve the birth place of Krishna at Mathura UP from Muslims who have built a mosque over it .He became a member of this Krishna janma bhoomi trust  when he was elected to constituent assembly of India , during Nehru's time.
This news shocked my secular sensitivities .Was my grand father communal?That is how he would be bracketed as per norms set for Hindus by  secular pundits .
Later i read quite extensively about Sri Ramanuja[11 th cent ad] the most important acharya of Sri Vaishnavaites .A great intellectual , philosopher, reformer, as well as a great  devotee Vishnu /Narayana.He has advised his followers to repair and restore and maintain all the temples that have been visited by Tamil saints --aazhwars Such places are known as divya desams or sacred lands  .Ayodhya and Mathura are divya desams. My grand father was a orthodox Sri Vaishnavaite who had deep knowledge about the visishta dwaita philosophy propounded by Ramanuja .Any one reading the philosophical works  of Ramanuja will be amazed by his intellect and would automatically develop a deep reverence for him .Hence if such  an great acharya exhorts his followers to renovate or rebuild temples will we falter behind to do so?
I realise now after grasping the true importance of Ramanuja 's brilliance that my grand father was not communal , he was merely following the advise of his acharya.If  persons belonging to other religious communities lay so much store on their religious leaders advises to the point of killing and changing others beliefs and are not called communal but are praised and also feared  at  their faith why shouldn't my grand father obey his  religious leader's  advise ?How less important is Ramanuja .He is hugely important to Hindus and Sri Vaishnavaites .Is being true to one's religious leader communal?I asked the question to myself and found the answer No .
                 
I hope now that Krishna's/ birth place is also duly retrieved and a beautiful temple is built at that spot .Krishna gave us Gita to remove our grief and fill us with happiness .. Can we not do something in return for him as simple as building a temple for him at his birth place??

Finally how did all pieces fall into line all of a sudden?Viz the decks cleared for building Rama's temple over his birth place that has seen a tug of war since 1850's?Maybe Rama sitting in Vaikuntum as Sriman Narayana on the soft bed of Adi Seshan  decided that this was the right time to re  claim his birth place as he felt that the unpleasantness associated- with such a claim is a thing of past .True to his nature he has willed it to happen when his claim will not be detrimental to his subjects welfare .A hero to the core .
 The heart of the pleasant rulers of heart has finally melted .It is ultimately Rama's doing.

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I wanted to write the above the very next day of the verdict but i was feeling unnaturally fatigued .My brain seemed to be constantly jammed every day there after and i couldn't shake off that very uncomfortable , depressing pressure in my head .Walked , recited slokas , heard music ,applied hot water  towels to my forehead and eyes ,read paper , but no the pressure didn't ease .I knew that somebody was jamming my head .They didn't want me to write or blog.The fact that i was myself in dilemma fanned the unease even more.On one hand i felt that if i wrote it would be a compliment to the very same people who may have screwed my head a for a month with painful electric shocks in 2014 at night in a cowardly shadowy manner , since it was enacted to me that it was the centre that did it .Don't know as to how far it is true.as no one is comig forward to clear my doubts.If it was true why should i praise such torturers.?Or even if it was the handiwork of the state here, why should i placate its allies  for its  sake ?I  have no fondness for either AIDMK OR DMK , or BJP or the current Congress ,or Communists so why should i be in this tug of war with many whom i hardly care for ?Why do they think that all have a right over me ? Specially AIDMK?
As far as aidmk is concerned they get   good results for themselves from my writings[ without my intending to do so ] but they will show their gratitude by carrying out a hotchpotch type of conversion on me and constantly  encourage with great enthusiasm extra marital mental relations with persons from other communities specially with Muslims and scheduled caste,/Christians and non Brahmin's, ever since 201 2.None of whom liked Vidat my late son,[ i mean my flat neighbours] and me also  but are so morally corrupt that they are very desirous of using the fame or recognition i got from blogging in the blog he made for me few months before he passed away ,to their benefit.
It is however very puzzling as to how that despite  AIDMK being in power that are unable to ward off thier deadly rivals DMk from putting suggestions into me.Isnt the party in power in complete control of my house?viz elecrticity , cctv,audio transmitters  and so on ?.Then how come DMK often get a line into me/ There are neighbours in my flat who are loyal to DMK who often stand below my flat with a mobile and talk animatedly .It seems deliberate.Is it sufficient to drop suggestions etc into my head just with a mobile ,without my being aware of it?Strange .The moral and ethical corruption f those indulging in this is revolting .On the streets outside are a group of unemployed youths whose work is to hold a smart phone  in a angle from me .They keep looking southwards .This smart phone attack is upon me where ever i go .God knows as to what  suggestions or crap is dumped into me or control is being exercised  that i often feel  terribly nauseated just on hearing few persons voices,  living in my flat.complex., mainly men.

Because of this dilemma i decided to write only about whether Rama was myth or reality .Even then i couldn't sit down to write ,Fatigue kept assailing me with sleep constantly disturbed at night by sound of auto's and vans' screeching to the tune of loud sounds of take offs.I also wondered if it was anything to do with defence.If it was it is crazy and even scary to think that i am in middle of a defence problem! Even then , has any one apart from me have a right over my body , mind and thinking so as to take forcible possession of it  ?i ll keep on lamentimg and sounding off now and then but nobody cares or bothers.So i have to take Sri Krishna's advise to Arjuna--Due to  senses, pain will come and go .Just ignore it and fight.

Suddenly on 18 th my brain felt free .I knew i was released from some terrific brutal grip .All this is happening in a democratic country!It is is pure dictatorship.with no one to question.Who ever is exerting so much pressure on my head is dictatorial, having scant regard for our constitution-the freedom it grants, laws and humanity.

I came out from a haze i was in for 10 days! The wooliness disappeared and i felt free!It was only then that i observed that parliament was in session!Who ever jammed my head for 10 days  felt that  during an obviously democratic ritual/process my democratic rights should be restored!How very gracious !It could also be coupled with the fear that if jamming was continued in this manner i may suffer a brain hemorrhage .It is sure to happen one day or the other.I doubt whether blood capillaries can withstand this sort of jamming i am subjected to quite often, can withstand the pressure Maybe i am being too charitable  to my brain and head jammers who actually would have  loved such a scenario..My thoughts are easily read and it must have been known that i was eulogizing Rama who is a allergen to seculars and what if i caused a riot with my openly celebrating Rama's re reinstatement  immediately after the  verdict in my   blog?.Poor Kausalya's Rama. We  couldn't even celebrate the  historic return of his birth place back to him  happily and spontaneously...
                The relief was tremendous and i also wondered whether my original urge to write on Rama was also unnatural .and deliberately induced , so i parried for a day .But with my energy back , i decided let any one gain or lose from my writing ,  that is only an un intended consequences of my need to write to express my opinion. i shouldn't bother about it.isn't this a free country after all ?Moreover the news that a political party of Muslims was allowed to hold a protest /Dharna against the verdict right in the middle of Chennai on 17 th was another very strong inducement to write and blog.my celebratory mood.

I like to write .I d like it to be short, light  with taste full choice of words with light humour like PG Wodehouse or RK Narayanan  , .Like a  hobby .Which i was doing prior  to 2010.But this excessive pressure exerted on my head specially after 2012 for days together and its abrupt release makes me write long , long blogs  like a river in spate with anger, emotional fight for rights etc etc boring me as well i suppose those who read my blogs..Sound of airplanes seems to encourage this urge to keep on writing .
One of these days [ no time limit it could even be 5 years from now] if my profile photo adorns the obituary column of Hindu paper with the words -passed away  kindly read between lines .It should mean that i either had a brain haemorage or a heart attack --courtsy my contant torturers exerting pressurre on my brain and heart.If it says that i  passed  away in a accident it should mean that the constant questions etc posed to me as i walk pushed  up my bp and made my  head whirl making me lose balance on   the roads or pavement and that  it was preceded by sleepless nights owing to this  revolting and immoral mind to mind talks by dirty and, greedy minds .

It was o n 19 th  Nov ,that i wrote the above piece on Rama..