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--- In tiruvengadam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Malolan Cadambi" <cadambi@xxxx>
wrote:
> Dear Members,
> > I hope this does not really add to the trouble already facing
most of you in the Middle East. Lets hope Mr.Villepin's ideology
saves the day.
> I would like to discuss the Ayodhya situation in this list, since I
find the members of this list with a high degree of restraint when
discussing sensitive issuse, that faces us as Sri Vaishnava-s and
ultimately as Indians in India. The identities seem so intertwinned.
In addition, I would like to know your prespectives in this matter.
> 
> A canadian company found remains of a structure beneath the Ram
Janmabhoomi. There is ample proof that a temple did exist there.
Thirumangai Mannan did his mangalasAsanams there. We have proof from
all corners of India and from nearly every language from Malayalam to
Kashmiri that Ayodhya was the birth place of Lord Rama.
> 
> For those who feel the Ramayana is just a myth, they should also
take into fact that a structure at Ayodhya was demolished.

********************************


Dear Sri Malolan,

Thanks to tiruvengadamudaiyAn's 'krupai' (not Villepin's ideology) we
are having no problems at all here. There might be War on our
doorsteps but there's no fear in our hearts. Thank you.

This is a very controversial subject on which you are asking me for
my views. My views are my own -- and, just for the record, I'm
neither a "Hindu fundamenatalist" nor a "pseudo-secularist". I am
also not one of those cynical "arm-chair analysts". In this matter I
would like to call myself a "scriptural die-hard". I will express
myself with all the self-restraint at my command.

Let me explain.

Since 6 Dec'1992, so much blood has been shed and so much agony has
been caused to people all over India thanks to the Babri-masjid/
Ayodhya-mandir imbroglio. In these past 10/11 years we have heard so
much on the issue from politicians and religious leaders of all
shades and hue. (Very soon we will hear from the country's highest
judicial leaders too). But the problem of Ayodhya remains festering.
It bitterly divides the country now as it did in 1992.

I often tell myself : Maybe the time has come now to stop asking
politicians and 'mahants' and judges to resolve the problem. Maybe
the time has come for us to ask the only person we have not so far
asked for a view at all... ask Lord Rama Himself. 

It strikes me as rather strange and ironic that amidst all the
brouhaha of Babri-Ayodhya in the past 10 years, all of us completely
forgot to ask Sri-Rama Himself what He thought about the whole
matter! After all, it is Lord Rama who is the most affected party in
all this, so why haven't we had the courtesy to ask Him how to solve
the problem?

To seek Lord Rama's view on the Babri-Ayodhya issue, we must go back
to the Ramayana. We have to undertake a deep study of the 'itihAsa'
and Rama's characterization in it. And then we must ask a simple
question: If Rama of the Ramayana were to be with us today in flesh
and blood, what would be his own reaction to this problem? The
scripture will surely give us the answer.

It was deeply ingrained in Lord Rama's character to unfailingly
sacrifice His own self-interest for the sake of the greater good. In
the 'ayodhya-kAnda' He gave up the throne of Ayodhya for the sake of
a principle of "dharmA". Ayodhya was rightly His -- and that's what
Bharata and the whole populace of Ayodhya told him vehemently. But
Rama refused saying that 'dharma' was more valuable to Him than the
Crown of Ayodhya.

In the "kishkinda-kANda', Lord Rama put the interests of Sugriva
ahead of His own. He could have easily told Sugriva -- "You first
help me find Sita, and I promise then I will get rid of Vali for
you". Instead, Rama first made sure to restore Sugriva his throne and
only thereafter did the Lord request the monkey-king to help Him in
the expedition to Lanka.

Again, in the "yuddha-kAnda", Lord Rama made Sita-pirAtti undertake
the "agni-pravEsam" first before accepting Her back into His arms.
Once again, there the Lord showed clearly His preference for
Principle over personal self-interest.

Rama always, thus, pursued the greater and longer-term good and was
only too willing to readily sacrifice the immediate good for it. All
these incidents from the scripture confirms to us that if Sri-Rama
were to be amongst us here today, His own view on the Babri/Ayodhya
tangle would elicit a response more or less along the following
lines:

"Ayodhya meant nothing to me when I gave it all up voluntarily upon
my father Dasaratha's command. D'you think it means anything more to
me today than then? Why are you people all fighting over it and
shedding blood? Which is the greater good for the kingdom of Rama
(rAm-rAjya)? Tell me, which is more important to me -- the peace of
my people or whether the question a mosque or my 'mandir' should
stand on my birth-place at Ayodhya? If the peace and happiness of my
people is the price to pay for my "mandir" at Ayodhya, then wouldn't
I readily trade Ayodhya for the greater good of the people? If the
price to pay for 'dharma' is my 'mandir' at Ayodhya then I would
gladly give up Ayodhya, just as I gave it up in the Ramayana! Have no
doubt about it, my countrymen!"

If Sri Rama were amongst us today, I believe He would surely say
something similar to the above. He would then urge the Hindus of
India to collect funds and themselves build a beautiful mosque at
Ayodhya. It would be announced to the whole world as a grand gift the
Hindus of India, the elder brothers, gave to their younger Muslim
brethern and that too out of their own free will! 

The mosque would then stand forever as a marvellous testimony to the
greatness of India! It would be grander than any Taj Mahal! It would
stand as a magnificent monument to the Spirit of India, to the
greatness of its peoples, their past and the glory of their ethos! 

The whole world would marvel at it! Imagine, it would even move all
the Muslims of the rest of the world to awe and amazement! The whole
world would would simply gape and gawk at us and whisper amongst
themselves, "What a great people these Hindus and Muslims of the
Indian nation are! Is something like this possible at all in this
world, in these days! How do they manage to accomplish such wonderful
things?". 

Let the religious leaders, the politicians, lawyers, jurists and
archaeologists of India stop talking about AyodhyA! Give Ram a
chance; give the Ramayana of the mass-millions a chance to speak its
eternal voice! Let the voice of 'rAm-dharma' be heard, please! And, I
tell you, you will get nothing but the above unmistakable message, in
my humble opinion.

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan 






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