Dear friends, A number of you have sent in your feedback and comments to me on my posting yestderday, "Rama: Despot or Democrat". They are all very interesting viewpoints and I thank you all for sharing them with me. ***************** I would be very happy too if my posting aroused not only scriptural views/comments but also encouraged comparison with current events in India even as they are happening and unfolding today. Please permit me to say that the dramatic events of the past two days in the political scene in India (at least as I see it) bear a striking and very remarkable resemblance to the events of the Ramayana essayed in my posting y/day. Making due allowances for changes in cast, characters, context and script, what happened y/day in New Delhi finds unmistakable echoes and parallels with the details of the Valmiki-Ramayana events I described. Last night amidst tumultuous scenes of political high-drama (as we all saw on our TV screens), Smt.Sonia Gandhi refused to take over the reins of power in India as Prime Minister. There was not a single obstacle in her way to ascend the throne -- she had the so-called Will of the People behind her, she had the Constitutional legitimacy to back her claim and she had any number of allies to back her and support her... There was the shadow of just one taint upon her -- the taint of suspect citizenship. (It was a bit like the taint of suspected fidelity that was upon Sita in the Ramayana). And yet last night Smt. Gandhi went to the nation and said "No, I shall not wear the crown". And the reason she gave was "My "antaryAmi" -- my inner voice or self"! She said her "antaryAmi" told her the position of Prime Minister of India is not for her. People were aghast. They were dumbfounded... They were begging her, entreating her to reconsider... but she did not relent. To me personally, it was all so reminiscent -- virtually like some strange replay in a time-warp -- of some of those scenes Valmiki so graphically describes in the "ayOdhya kAnda". Let me hasten to add that the personalities of yesteday's drama in New Delhi are of no interest to me at all. Nor do the related political developments have any significance for me. But I think I learnt one important truth from what I saw yesterday and it convinced me beyond doubt about this: The 'Will of the People' is not supreme even in a democracy. There is a force, a Will that is far, far greater and superior that manifests and asserts itself, from time to time, in the affairs of men and nations. That force is the force of Dharma, the Will of God, which somehow at the end is the only force that prevails over all else... Smt.Sonia Gandhi, for want of a better word, called it "antaryAmi" -- Soul Force. In the Ramayana, Lord Rama called it 'Dharma'. Thanks and regards, dAsan, Sudarshan ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/XUWolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Oppiliappan/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: Oppiliappan-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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