Fact or Fiction

Thursday, November 16, 2006 Fact or Fiction This blog is a sequel to the one posted with the caption “Ramayana and Mahabharatha” by Yavesh Rana which seems to have generated a fair amount of debate on the blog space. If God is supreme and most elevated, He cannot have ordinary human qualities and failings. For too long, Hindus have venerated the two epics without any rhyme or reason giving credo to the ridicule by other religions that “Hindus have two Gods – one a chor (Krishna) and another kamzor (Ram)”. Whether we like it or not, the stark fact of life is that both are works of fiction created by human beings and do not contain any recorded history. I am neither a historian nor an anthropologist to offer readers an illusory platform of research or scholastic authority to establish my above claim. But I have sufficient common sense to pose some questions which readers themselves can ponder over and make their own judgement. Ram is said to have wept at the loss of Sita and then taken the help of monkeys to conquer Ravan. Can the avatar of God be so weak? Ram killed Vali surreptitiously. Does it behove of an avatar of God? Ram eventually killed Ravan in war. Is it possible for a human or devil to defy an avatar of God and force a war? If yes, what is His supremacy? Ravan is said to have had 10 heads. How can a person walk around, sit, stand, lie down, and travel in a chariot etc. with 10 heads constantly bothering him? If you imagine such a figure, you can only laugh your lungs out! Ravan is said to have ruled over Lanka. Do the people and historians of Lanka agree to this? Ram was carried away by accusations of common people about the chastity of Sita and ordered her to prove her chastity by entering fire (agni). Is he an avatar of God or an ordinary mortal like you and me? Ram had a “desire” to prove his supremacy as an emperor by conducting “Ashwamedha Yagya” (sacrifice of a horse) and when confronted by his children Lav and Kush, had no qualms about going to war against babies! Do desire and arrogance constitute godly qualities? Krishna was known to punish the demons and wrong doers by sending his “sudarshan chakra”. Is God / His avatar expected to be compassionate or violent? If He has need and power to kill, does He have no duty to reform with love or ability to magically transform evil into good? Krishna told Arjun to kill Bheeshma and others without considering that they are all his relatives. What type of God or avatar of God is one, who preaches violence? Bhagwat Gita is said to be the collection of Krishna’s advices to Arjun in the Kurukshetra battle field. Does a Guru teach a student in a school or in a battle field? Finally, Krishna is credited with giving advice to Bheem for beating Duryodhan below the belt to finish him off. Can the avatar of God be so mean and cruel? One can add hundreds of such questions, for which those with blind faith, zealous attachment to unfounded religious beliefs, can come out with emotional outbursts, not logical answers. I have no intention to hurt religious feelings and inclinations. But I cannot buy fiction in the cloak of history. I am fully and irretrievably convinced that the epics are handiwork of human beings and therefore naturally suffer from inconsistencies and infirmities. But any story, novel, film can be viewed at different levels – at the surface level, there is only story value. At the next level, one looks for some morals and principles. Only the most elevated mind can understand and appreciate the essence, the core that lies at the very base of any story etc. I will narrate briefly for your benefit, the true significance of the story contained in the epic Ramayana. Ram is symbolic of God. There is not one Sita, all of us human beings are Sitas. We are carried away by our pursuit of temporary pleasures and material possessions. You are well aware of the saying all that glitters are not gold. Sita was carried away by the sight of the golden deer and asked Ram to capture it. When Sita crossed the “Lakshman Rekha” it was possible for Ravan to abduct her. When we go out of the bounds of morals and ethics befitting evolved human beings, we run into troubles. Monkeys, of all the animals, are most unstable. Our minds too are. Ram is said to have formed an army of monkeys. Army is known for discipline. If you are truly a believer of God, if you truly belong to any religion, you must know the basic tenets (I mean the values like honesty, truthfulness, brotherly love towards fellow beings, sharing, cooperation etc. contained in every major religious scripture and not blind and antiquated customs, rituals etc.) of your religion and should follow it sincerely and consistently. If you do that your mind will be disciplined. Thus, actually Ram does not take the help of monkeys, but he disciplines them and helps them to conquer Ravan – who incidentally was not a living being belonging to any race, religion, language or nation but was a symbolic representation of the FIVE major vices (sex lust, anger, ego, greed, attachment) and FIVE elements of nature (represented as TEN heads). If we win over these ten and can rule over ourselves and the nature, then we are restored to our original place – that is, we can join back God (represented in the story by Ram), meaning, we can have a quality of life like divine beings, not rotten animals, demons or degraded human beings that characterize our present day world. I leave it for you to think and find out the significance of Mahabharatha. It is also essentially a war within each human being to conquer vices and nature not between Pandavas and Kauravas. Jihad or holy war is much the same. Only, over the centuries, we have become slaves of stories, customs, rituals, superstitions, missing the woods for the trees. 1:31:18 PM Posted By Hai Ram Comments (10) Musings Comments Shyam Thursday, November 16, 2006 4:02:22 PM Hi, Your interpretation of Ramayana is apparently not a bad attempt. But needs lot of discussion and clarification may be. yaveshrana Thursday, November 16, 2006 4:35:09 PM Listen, friend, Other than heading of my blog u have not commented anythig on the subject i had broached. You have based ur arguments in this blog based on your religious hatred n not ur common sense. The filth u have written on others religion speaks of ur lowly upbringing.I've a fair idea as to who u r but let me tell ur f***king common sense that u don't even know what u r writing. By adding RAM as a pseudo to ur name u scum--u do't become a HINDU. yaveshrana Thursday, November 16, 2006 4:46:43 PM ---If u do not have idea of history or anthroplogy--then why r u commenting on others--I care a damn what u think of the epics--people will ask u automatically--I' ve not written that blog to euologise the epics but to tell people as to what others r talking about--So why r u raking up issues which had no concern with the blog. ur motives r suspect--u want to just criticise'HINDUS' taking that cover yaveshrana Thursday, November 16, 2006 4:54:30 PM Friend Shyam--U r none but same fellow---if u r different then advise ur friend to write something PALATABLE--if he is going to call LORD KRISHANA A CHOR-it does not affect my health. U also join him--march to the PARLIAMENT of INDIA---Go do this--None will be wiser--Take it easy --Do not rubbish others religion--it will not take u--Afta---- anywhere. yaveshrana Thursday, November 16, 2006 5:00:33 PM HAI RAm, initially I cursorily glanced ur blog-- now I read the Question U posed--I can only laugh at ur ignorance and superficial knowledge. Even a KINDERGARTEN child of MUSLIM/CHRISTIAN/or any other religiosity n NATIONALITY will feel ashamed of askin such silly questions. I'M CONVINCED WHO U r U RASCAL. Hai Ram Thursday, November 16, 2006 5:32:36 PM Why only kindergarten children, even elders will say that my questions are silly and show my superficial knowledge. BECAUSE, they do not have logical answers. More importantly, the blogging intellectuals do not appear to be able to understand others, but are too ready to castigate them! Hai Ram Thursday, November 16, 2006 5:32:50 PM Hai dear Yaveshrana,Surely you have not read the blog fully. IF YOU WANT (I do not crave) please go through again carefully word by word before you comment things like my questions being silly, my not having common sense and (ha ha ha) the filth that I have written about others' religions etc. For your information, RAM is an integral part of my original, official name, I am a Hindu (of course not the dogmatic variety) and lastly, even if others consider me a rascal, I will truly remain a child of God first, Indian next and Hindu last. lalluu Thursday, November 16, 2006 6:33:14 PM They are epics written by scholars, who must be aware of your intelligent questions. Rama and Krishna are considered to be avathars, and these epics, depict them in blood and sweat, just like any human being imposing on them the characteristics of any normal man. Anybody can read between your lines, and we know you are fully aware of what these epics mean. patriot Thursday, November 16, 2006 6:41:07 PM Excellent blog Mr.Ram...keep it up...and Mr. Yavesh, the advice u gave Chandrashant applies to u too... everyone has freedom to write and express his views..take it or leave it...but dont curse! Its shameful on ur part to have used such bigoted language.. K.Venugopal Thursday, November 16, 2006 8:11:12 PM Dear Hai Ram,You first posed a lot of questions about Ramayana. Then you answered them in your philosophical way. Have your answers ended your questions? True knowledge is not about getting answers but ending questions. Then what you are left with is a sense of awe. The Bhakta reaches this stage the fastest. But if ego is dropped, even one in pursuit of knowledge will reach the stage before long - the most blissful stage of the sense of awe. This is what the Ramayana and Mahabharatha arouses in a true Jnani. This is why they were written too - to have us soar on the wings of knowledge and imagination to the discovery of Rama and Krishna within us - nay, that we are Rama, we are Krishna.