--- 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 __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/
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