Ram Rajya for the 21st Century

 Sri Ram better known in the Indic civilization as "Maryada Purushottam Ram" lived by the highest standards of principles and virtue. In India also known as "Bharat" or "Hindustan", believers of Sri Ram swear by his conduct, morality, and ethics. The kingdom of Lord Ram manifested in his mind and heart. Ram Rajya thus began well before Lord Ram was crowned the King of Ayodhya. 

 

Over four millenniums, people have worshipped Sri Ram for his conduct and principles that he stood for in times of adversity. His life has been narrated as a shining example of values an individual must aspire to attain. One of the cornerstones of Sri Ram's value system was justice. 

 

The virtues of Sri Ram in the minds of believers has traversed through millenniums in the Indian sub-continent and across rest of the world. In pursuit of public recognition of the name of Sri Ram, the principles of justice of Ram Rajya (rule of Lord Ram) are being blatantly compromised in contemporary India. 

 

Therefore, the questions to ask ourselves is what does Ram Rajya for the 21st century really mean? Ram Rajya is an embodiment of the highest values of ethics and morality. It would be justice for everyone, social, economic, and political. Political justice would include the right to pursue any religious path and spiritual faith in realizing the truth of our existence. 

 

Ram Rajya would mean not oppressing the weak and especially those who are destitute. It would mean not causing any harm to the poor. It would mean sheltering those who are being needlessly persecuted in the pursuit of power anywhere on the planet. It would mean honest and truthful conduct.

 

The rule of law in such a society would be based on sound and ethical principles. It would mean, rulers and administrators are fair and just. The rule of law in society would be administered impartially. The system of justice would protect the weakest and the most vulnerable from any tyranny and oppression. Such rule would not divide people to achieve narrow aims of staying in power. It would be a society where those who rule do so with a spirit to serve.

 

Ram Rajya would be achieving emancipation from poverty, ignorance, and hatred. It would mean protecting the earth and natural endowments from human greed. Such a rule would ensure the air and water are the true commonwealth to be cherished by everyone.

 

The pursuit of such lofty goals is extremely difficult. Therefore, the name of Lord Ram most of all should not be used for unjust oppression while those highest standards of virtue remain unmet. Ram Rajya would be in existence when the last person has been adequately taken care of and does not live in perpetual state of fear for survival. 

 

We should ask ourselves whether we are living in Ram Rajya. I certainly believe witnessing contemporary events that we are far from the exalted principles of Ram Rajya. Furthermore, it must begin in our collective minds and hearts before it can really be translated in a functional society and Institutions of governance. We would have achieved Ram Rajya, when we put the truth before our narrow interests and principles before short term gains. 

 

We are yet to strive sufficiently to achieve a just world for everyone. Merely building an edifice in the memory of Lord Ram is not enough, we must restore virtue and truthful principles in society. We must do it in a manner that paves the path for peace, amity, and a better existence for everyone. 

 

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Depoliticising religion and return to spiritual roots

Political activism through religion is not new. It has been practised through the millennium. Religious canon has been used to wage war and there are umpteen examples from the Christian Crusades to modern day convoluted version of militant Islamic jihad being practised in different parts of the world. Whether it is white supremacists, Hindu fanatics, Jewish expansionists and even neo Buddhists have advocated the use of violence and war to fulfill their goals. 

We are at a critical juncture in the political history of the world with a pandemic raging across nations, economies sagging and hope sinking with increasing job losses and nothing anew in sight. Leaders with a complete lack of a transformative vision are lending their voice to extremists through religious discourse. 

The fractured social fabric is visible even through the effort of dealing with the COVID19 pandemic. The toxic mix of politics and religious activism has created a wedge between friends, neighbours, family members and work colleagues. Kindness and goodwill seems to evaporate at intersection of politics and religion. Neither reinforcing the goodness within the other. 

The self defeating politicisation of religion has wrecked havoc on believers in morality, ethics and basic humanity. It has raised numerous questions of the clergy class and their immediate support system that reinforces Institutional supremacy at the cost of the truth. A majority of faith followers are gradually slipping in to the maddening discourse of reviving supremacy by capturing state power and its resources to propagate their self serving goals. 

Concerted effort is required for decoupling the deeply nourishing spiritual aspects of religion from the power hungry revisionist view being pushed by the narrow minded few. The quest for power and material wealth within religious congregations is driving the conscientious seeker away from the quest for the truth. 

The truth of our existence can be realised through contemplation and meditation. It can only be realised by consciously denying the need to pander to our fears and insecurity. In denying our cravings and desires, we ignite the wisdom of saints and sages. 

The universal knowledge propagated by the spiritual masters has nourished our existence through the ages during the worst of turmoil. We must reflect as individuals and as collectives, to say no to mindless quest for power over others especially those who are weak and suffering. Deep reflection is bound to preserve the humanitarian values within ourselves, one that will ensure, no harm comes to the innocent. 

We must invoke the true spiritual quest within ourselves. Only then can we rise above our base nature to become better human beings. In doing that we will collectively become evolved and sentient towards others. For that we must, depoliticise religion, return it to the spiritual roots. Only then we will be able to pursue the path of truth and eternal peace within ourselves. The path to peace in the external world begins with the quest for peace within. 


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The Corona Lockdown

It has been a few years I last wrote on this blog. I guess it was before my mother's illness. She suffered from GB Syndrome, an auto immune disorder. She was in critical care for over hundred days on a ventilator early 2016. She recovered in two years. The Corona lockdown seems like living it all over again. 

We are in March 2020 and facing the most serious pandemic with little living memory of such circumstances and the entire global population is struggling to deal with it. The Corona virus is of zoonotic origin from possibly either bats or traded pangolins in the Wuhan region of China. It is known in the medical community as COVID19. There is little immunity in humans and no vaccine in sight, the virus is running riot and taking lives at will across the world. The most vulnerable are those with weak immunity, primarily it is the elderly, children or stunted youth. 

The only workable solution to protect large populations from the menace and suffering of the viral infection is social distancing. People have voluntarily or by the writ of the state locked themselves in their home. In India we fall in to the latter category. The state has imposed restrictions on the movement of people. The state of emergency is due to the weak health care system in India. The primary and secondary care is relatively poor. The raging infection will put the existing infrastructure to test and it would just not be to cope with the pressure of infected patients flowing into hospitals with barely any critical care capacity in relation to the population.  

We had organised a primary healthcare conference last year which addressed a lot of these issues. We produced a white paper from the conference that was never published due to the recommendations being completely contrary to the goals being pursued by the government. The leaders in government may now perhaps see some merit in particular increasing the budgeted amount for frontline healthcare. 

The smart lockdown as it is called by the government is taking a massive toll on the labour and working classes particularly those people who had migrated large distances to seek employment within India. There are numerous stories of people who have walked 900 kilometres since the lockdown to reach their home deep in the hinterland of India.

It remains to seen whether this decision will yield results in limiting infection spread amongst the Indian hinterland in the villages where the concept of sanitation and hygiene is under par with the best practises. The pandemic may be an opportunity to bring some of those practises in to implementation. There is however no doubt that we will collectively suffer. 

The economy has fallen off a cliff and we are staring at a depression hitting in the next 4-6 months. Economists such as Nouriel Roubini who predicted the economic crisis of 2008 seem to be echoing similar sentiments. In 2020, with the pandemic, it is demand and supply crisis spreading across the world all at the same time. Governments across the world have run out of policy instruments to address the challenges, with ballooning deficits and tax collection dwindling, we are likely to face a period of prolonged economic strain. 

The poor across the world will suffer the most and inequality will hit the society very hard. Government leaders have to play a critical role in addressing the gigantic challenge before us. Epidemiologists have contrarian views, some believe COVID19 will run the course through the population over an 18-24 month period. While other contend it will be contained in the next six months. At any rate nations have begun to shut themselves off not only the borders but production capacity and productivity. 

I can only hope that we collectively align ourselves and are able to bring out the best of the human endeavour. The alternative presents a gruesome scenario. Until a vaccine becomes viable in the next 18 months, we have to voluntarily distance ourselves in order to survive. We must also prepare for that which comes after the lockdown. 

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