In a Ram Rajya, there is no room for hankering after power. More importantly, the thought of possessing Lord Ram or being possessive about Him, will nip a Ram Rajya in the bud, says OSWALD PEREIRA

In the aftermath of the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024, the residents of Bharat, India, are looking forward to the nation’s transition to a Ram Rajya — a real one and not a mythical one based on false promises by politicians.

Evidently, a Ram Rajya that is coloured by politics will lose its sanctity because the driving force will not be altruism or the welfare of the people, but an eye on the vote banks — or a sheer craving for power.

Undoubtedly, no government can be run without a ruling political party at the helm of affairs, but in the case of a Ram Rajya, the situation would be different.

Oswald Pereira

Lord Ram is universal. It would be disrespectful, even blasphemous to subject the Lord to partisan politics.

No single individual politician or one political party can claim ownership or proprietorship of Lord Ram. No one religion can claim that Lord Ram is their God alone. That would be the very negation of Ram as an incarnation for the good of entire humankind — God for the whole universe.

In a Ram Rajya, the rule would have to be by consensus of different political entities or political parties, with the will and welfare of the people being foremost and of supreme importance — and above any political agenda.

All are equal in the eyes of Ram. So in a Ram Rajya, the rich and famous don’t have special privileges. Giving the rich and famous the first opportunity to see the Lord in an organised darshan in the sanctum sanctorum goes against the very spirit of equality in the house of God.

There are no caste or class distinctions in a Ram Rajya. Swami Vivekananda said Lord Ram’s stream of love flowed with “resistless might” even to the so-called outcaste. He was ever engaged in doing good to the world.

There’s no room for majoritarianism in a Ram Rajya, simply because Ram didn’t incarnate to promote a particular religion or community. He came to help all equally, without favour to anyone or any group in particular.

The rich and the famous at the Ram Mandir consecration in Ayodhya

As Vivekananda said: “God comes again and again, and that He came in India as Krishna, Rama, and Buddha, and that He will come again. It can almost be demonstrated that after each 500 years the world sinks, and a tremendous spiritual wave comes, and on the top of the wave is a Christ.”

Vivekananda adds that Rama is the embodiment of truth, of morality. He is the ideal son, the ideal husband, the ideal father, and, above all, the Ideal All.

The great yogi affirms that Rama is the ideal of the Indian nation. But to follow Him and put His teachings into practice, while running the affairs of the state is no easy task.

The Ram Mandir

Vivekananda made it clear: “Where there is Rama, there is no Kama (desire, longing and pleasure); where there is Kama, there Rama is not. Night and day can never exist together. The voice of the ancient sages proclaim to us, ‘If you desire to attain God, you will have to renounce Kâma-Kânchana (lust and possession).’”

So, in a Ram Rajya, there is no room for hankering after power. More importantly, the thought of possessing Lord Ram or being possessive about Him, will nip a Ram Rajya in the bud.

This brings us to the question: Are we ready for a Ram Rajya?

Oswald Pereira, a senior journalist, has also written eight books, including The Newsroom Mafia, Chaddi Buddies, The Krishna-Christ Connexion, How to Create Miracles in Our Daily Life and Crime Patrol: The Most Thrilling Stories. Oswald is a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, and practises Kriya Yoga.

More Stories by Oswald Pereira

.