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To me, Sri Rama is the realization of man’s full potential. How tall can a man grow morally and spiritually? The answer is Sri Rama.
Rama’s total conquest of the self stands revealed in the very first test he faces. His father has told him that he is to be crowned Yuvaraja, the heir apparent. On the morning of the appointed day he is splendidly attired and taken out in a procession. And then suddenly he is told that he is not only to be deprived of the position but to be exiled to the forest for fourteen years. He does not even ask what crime he has committed that he should so suffer; all that he seeks to know is why his father is so distressed. This response is possible only when one has attained self-abnegation and when one’s values flow in one’s blood.
What impresses me deeply is Sri Rama’s treatment of the Vanara heroes.There is no condescension. In fact, when Sugreeva ventures to attack Ravana all by himself before the battle and returns, Rama speaks with concern and says that he had made up his mind that, if Sugreeva did not come back alive, he would vanquish Ravana, crown Vibhishan, and die. Hinduism teaches a man to regard himself as a part of creation. Sri Rama sees clearly the thin line between self-respect and egoism, and is always on the right side of the line. He can be firm without being arrogant.
All over the world, the epic wields a moral authority which no other literary form can claim, because it shapes a whole society’s values.
L. S. Seshagiri Rao,
Scholar-historian,
Bangalore
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