In a world where conflict and hatred often prevail over reason and mutual respect, Ram Mandir will serve to remind human beings across the world of the universality of their humanity.
In a triumph of the central principle of secularism that all faiths have to be shown equal respect, the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya reopens on 22 January, centuries after the structure standing on the birthplace of Lord Ram was destroyed by Emperor Aurangzeb in 1660. The Partition of India in 1947 was the consequence of inter-faith hatreds that were fanned by the colonial power. Apart from M.A. Jinnah and others belonging to the Muslim elite who had been co-opted by the British into the colonial Pakistan project, only a limited number of ordinary Muslims got entangled in the manufactured myth that Hindus and Muslims comprised two separate nations. Apart from the reassuring deeds and words of Mahatma Gandhi, this was why the vast majority of Muslims in what was left of India preferred to remain in our country rather than migrate to Pakistan.
Mistaking artificially created misperceptions of communal incompatibility as reality, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was opposed even to the restoration of the Somnath temple, but finally acquiesced to the wishes of Sardar Patel and Rajendra Prasad in this regard. Surprisingly, even Kashi, Mathura and Ayodhya, the three sacred sites of the Hindu community, remained in the condition they were in after Emperor Aurangzeb demolished the temples that had been built on the birthplaces of Lord Ram and Lord Krishna in Ayodhya and Mathura respectively. Aurangzeb also went ahead with demolishing the Kashi Vishwanath temple, the third sacred site of the Hindus.
Emperor Aurangzeb’s intolerance was the primary cause of the collapse of the Mughal Empire. Initial apathy towards his increasingly tyrannical rule turned into unrest and revolt amongst the populace. Respect for all non-violent paths intended to lead to the Divine is an essential component of Sanatan Dharma, just as the same principle is at the core of secularism in practice. The act of Aurangzeb in destroying the three sacred shrines of the Hindus was a deed that indirectly caused anger and unrest among the people within the Mughal Empire, and which finally brought it down.
Far from exacerbating tensions, the tranquil return of the Lord Ram Temple at Ayodhya to what it had been before Aurangzeb destroyed it will not inflame but cool down sectarian passions, and will promote harmony and mutual respect between faiths in Bharat, i.e., India. The three sites destroyed by Aurangzeb are the three sacred places of the Hindus. The three are associated with both the later and more complete incarnations of Shri Maha Vishnu (Ayodhya and Mathura) and being beloved as Lord Shiva’s city, Varanasi. Equal treatment to all faiths rather than discriminating between them, and through such equal treatment creating harmony between them, is an essential part of the process whereby Bharat i.e., India will be enabled to emerge as the world’s third superpower by 2034, a process to which citizens of all faiths will contribute as proud citizens of the country.
There are over three hundred versions of the Ramayana, including the Mappila Ramayana, which has been told to Muslim children in Kerala. Across thousands of years, the saga of Lord Ram and his spouse Sita has endured as an example of devotion to duty and inflexibility in love. Lord Ram, with his brother Lakshman and spouse Sita, chose 14 years in exile rather than have (a by then expired) King Dashrath break his word to Kaikeyi. The odyssey, the travails, of Lord Ram, who is revered by Hindus as the avatar of Lord Vishnu, as well as the tribulations endured by Sita and Lakshman, is chronicled in the different versions of the Ramayana. Compilations of the epic in different countries and languages have captured the attention of people worldwide, for the work is a primer in how to lead a righteous life. Devotion to duty, courage in the face of hardship, love and devotion towards family and duty to the people at large are portrayed vividly in the different versions of the Ramayana. Reading the saga of Lord Rama in the epic, the attitudes and habits essential for a better world get formed in the mind. This is why the Ramayana is essential reading for every individual in the world, so that the lessons contained in the Ramayana help dispel the persisting presence in so many places of conflict and hatred. Such emotions need to be replaced by not just tolerance but mutual respect for all, irrespective of the faith an individual is born into. A War of Civilisations comes about when people forget that the essential civilisation of human beings is humanity towards others. And it is just such a duty towards humanity that is emphasised over and over again in recounting the saga of Lord Rama.
It is the concept of universality within the human mind that led the 2023 President of the G20, Prime Minister Narendra Modi to adopt the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family) as the guiding principle of his stewardship of a group comprising the biggest economies of the world. It was the principle on which Modi, as the President of the G20 in 2023, ensured during his term that the African Union was put on track to join the European Union as a full member of the G20. In much the same way, the restoration after five centuries of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya has been greeted with interfaith harmony rather than the premise of heightened tension that was the reason (or the excuse) why such a restoration had to wait until 2024 for fruition rather than get done by the 1950s.
The Pran Prathista taking place at the Ram Mandir, which is built at the birthplace of Lord Rama in Ayodhya, is not a political event. Invites have been sent to leaders of multiple parties, including those intensely critical of the BJP and the government. It is expected that museums and other modes of depiction of the extraordinary example set by Lord Rama for humanity to follow will soon get created, so that Ayodhya becomes not just a place of pilgrimage, but also a source of learning about the teachings that can be gleaned through the saga of Lord Rama, Mata Sita and Lakshmana. In a world where conflict and hatred too often prevail over reason and mutual respect, the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya will serve to remind human beings across the world of the universality of their humanity. The Ram Mandir is dedicated to Sri Ram, often referred to as Maryada Purushottam or the acme of humanity, setting a goal to which all human beings can strive. Such a change in mindsets is essential not just for the betterment of any particular section of human society, but for the progress, in the deepest sense of the word, of the whole world.