This Diwali Remember Ram

Diwali is the festival of lights that has been celebrated in India for ages. It has religious significance, too.Worshipping Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth is also done on the same day as it is believed that it will help in getting prosperity and wealth.The legend goes that the festival  marks Lord Ram’s return to Ayodhya,his kingdom, after slaying Ravan,the mighty demon king of Lanka. While people rejoice this occasion with sweets,lights and crackers, the all important point often gets lost.It is imperative to remember that more than Ram’s victory, the values he stood for need to be recapitulated and imbibed. As India celebrates the festival ,the essence of Diwali, that is, the victory of good over the evil,has to be kept in mind. Ram was not just an incarnation of God born in this world to end the evil prevailing during his time. He lives as the greatest among the human beings who stood for certain values and principles.Rather,he  epitomised them. This is the reason why he is called the Maryada Purushottam, the noblest of the souls. Diwali should remind us of those values and give us the will and the ability to uphold them. Ram needs to be the source of strength and sustenance to help us follow the  path of righteousness or Dharm. The sum and substance of Ram’s character lies in this one story, narrated and recounted time and again. It says that when Ram returned to Ayodhya after vanquishing Ravan, the most powerful king on the globe  those days people were not able to believe it.Dismayed at this feat of Ram, the citizens of Ayodhya asked him how could he kill someone as invincible as Ravan. The reply which he gave is worth pondering. With great humility he said, ‘I did not kill Ravan’. It is the ‘I’ that killed Ravan. I, the ego, doused in arrogance. It was this that proved Ravan’s undoing. One big difference between Ram and Ravan was humility. Ram was humble while Ravan was haughty.It was Ravan’s pride that led to his fall. In the present times what we are finding is that humility is almost  extinct as arrogance and pride drive human behaviour. Ram’s values were based on ethics. For him right and wrong were in black and white without any shades of grey. His leadership was driven by morality rather than prudence that we are seeing  all around today. His fight with Ravan was to uphold righteousness,the Dharm. We find leaders taking countries to wars  to placate their ego. Prudence is about knowing which side of the bread is buttered, but ethical wisdom is about knowing when to say no to the buttered side. Even when Ram was in exile following his father’s command, his brother Bharat and the people of Ayodhya pleaded to him to reconsider his decision. But that did not deter him from his principled resolve. Rams commitment to carry out his father’s promise even after the latter’s demise is a classic lesson in values. His pursuit of Dharm was above everything. He knew the essence of Dharm and had the will to uphold it. He was an ideal representation of the man who combined values, virtues and vision. Ram’s victory over Ravan must be rejoiced but his principled conduct offers more valuable lessons.