Hindus worship him as a God. They believe him to be their savior. But Lord Rama’s entire life was filled with FAILURE.
- Rama was born a prince. He married a beautiful princess named Sita.
- Then he became king upon his father’s death.So far so good.
- Then, one of his stepmoms [he had 3] exiled him to 14 years in a forest.
[In those days, kids listened to their parents, no matter how wrong, irrational, illogical, and emotional they were, lol; even if they were “step” parents].
[The stepmom did so to ensure that her own son, and not her stepson, could ascend the throne]. - So, Rama and his princess bride went to the forest.
- One of his brothers followed too.
[He was a prince too, so not sure why he thought he could be of any more help to the prince & princess, lol. But his is a story of brotherly love so no judgment here]. - Anyway, during their exile, Rama’s wife gets kidnapped.
[It’s another long story that is not relevant here, so we’ll skip it]. - Rama walked over 100 miles a day for ~20 days to find his wife.
[Remember, there were no cars or planes then so people walked]. - He fought Ravan and retrieved his bride. Unfortunately for him and his bride, the world judged her to be “not pure” since she’d spend 20 some days with the kidnapper. Sigh!
- So she left him and went into exile. [Where, how, again, not relevant for now].
- One day, Ram is in a fight with two young men. He would have killed them or might have been killed by them.
- A timely appearance by his exiled wife Sita makes him realize that the two young men were his twin sons. [She was still his wife, no ex’s in those days.]
- Ram is united with his two sons and returns to his kingdom but Sita vanishes into thin air. [Yep, you got it, not relevant, lol].
In the day and age of being traumatized at the slightest slight, we’d be inclined to call his life a “tragic life story”. He was a prince. But he never caught a break. [Reminds me of another prince, although in his case, I think he doesn’t “want” a break in his journey of self-inflicted chaos].
And yet millions worship Lord Rama. Why?
Rama is worshipped because he was the “perfect” human.
- Rama didn’t become bitter or angry or upset, no matter what life threw at him.
- He lived a life filled with integrity and values.
- He remained untouched by all that happened around him.
When compared to Rama, we’re such lightweights!
One small disruptive event and we’re tragedy queens/kings.
And I’m not even talking about experiencing a loss or any such tragedies. Even simple life events have a way of upsetting our balance and we spend hours, days, weeks, and even years thinking about them and blaming everyone else [and ourselves] for our own unhappiness.
The culprits are our ego and our emotions. They get in the way of living a harmonious life. The ego makes us want to justify ourselves and the emotions make us want to be understood.
Neither help us in living a life filled with peace and joy.
Can you imagine the inner strength that Ram possessed?
He didn’t allow his ego to make himself angry or lash out at others. He didn’t allow his emotions to control himself.
We need to strive for that level of harmony with the universe – find that level of inner peace – become so in-balance with our own selves that the entire world around us can go crazy and act even crazier, and we’d remain untouched – detached.
I’ll admit, I’m the worst when it comes to maintaining calm and balance, in the midst of conflict with people I love. Then again, that’s why no one’s worshipping me, lmao!
But everyday I’m hustling…err…working, lol, on controlling my emotions rather than allowing them to control me. Some days are better than others, but one day, I shall vanquish my emotions and become truly blissful from within!
