He explained to us that this book was a continuation of his Spiritual Journey which began with Finding Krishna Within – the book which was released last year. He felt the need to write the book on Ram, because he thought that the name of Lord Ram is being grossly misused, misinterpreted and misunderstood by religious fanatics, manipulative politicians and ill-informed zealots for meeting their limited vested interests rather than understanding and appreciating the profound wisdom and learnings from the life of Lord Ram – Maryada Purshottam – which is so beautifully narrated in our Ancient Epic of Ramayana by Sage Valmikiji and Tulsi Das ji’s Ram Charitra Manas.
He has made an attempt to compile, after extensive Research, the essence of the ideology of Lord Ram – to unravel the complexity in the simplicity of Ram. In doing so he has tried to end the debate that the events depicted in Ramayana and the characters in the Epic, were not products of anyone’s imagination but actually took place.
He has shown that the unnecessary criticism over centuries on some key characters for some of the decisions & actions taken by them in the Epic, was totally unjustified. There has been an attempt over centuries by certain Groups and Western Scholars with malicious intent to purposefully distort the facts and raise doubts in our minds to degrade our Culture & Religion. This book will attempt to clear such doubts.
He has given new insights into various symbolisms that have been used in the Epic. Over centuries, many stories, myths, legends have found their way into the main narrative. These serve the purpose of folklore and popular culture and make the message of the narrative more acceptable to the general public. The message being conveyed symbolically in these stories is important, rather than any attempt to unnecessarily find logic in them.
The part of the book that is special according to him, is the deep-dive on some Hindi & Sanskrit words. As with all Convent educated, English medium schooled persons, his understanding of Sanskrit is negligible and of Hindi is inadequate. He has chosen some key words and by doing a deep dive on them, he hopes that many persons like him, with limited knowledge of Sanskrit, will be able to understand the nuances in the key characters – specially of Lord Ram & Ravana. This chapter is quite unique in its approach to understand the mindset and strength or weakness in different characters by emphasis on some key words or phrases.
Over centuries we have made a villain out of Kaikeyi for being responsible to send Lord Ram to exile. Further, we have not been able to properly justify why Lord Ram had to kill Vali, hiding behind a tree, or why Lord Ram made Ma Sita do Agni Pariksha after victory over Ravana, or why on the instigation of a mere Dhobhi, Lord Ram made a pregnant Ma Sita to go again on exile, or why after re-uniting with Luv & Kush, Lord Ram again wanted Ma Sita to prove her purity thereby forcing her to go back to mother Earth. All these episodes which our non-believer friends attack us and for which we have been defensive at best and deflective at worst, have been explained with sound reasoning & understanding in the book.
Lord Ram has influenced many other religions like Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and the book gives references for these influences by which these religions became richer & more acceptable.
The message of Lord Ram has travelled far & wide – not only across India but many countries of S.E.Asia. The book gives a glimpse of that.
The fundamental problem that we need to address is to understand the difference of Spirituality & Religion. Spirituality moves on the rails of Philosophy & Religion. But Religion is not Spirituality. The misuse of Ram in religion is unnecessary. Spirituality is a journey of self-realization to find the divinity in you whereas Religion is with a basic purpose to make you follow some norms/rules/rituals so that there is a routine or a pattern in your prayers which can slowly make you connect with the Divine and become interested in spirituality.
Ultimately it is a question of Faith. You have it or you don’t have it. For all those whose Faith is a work-in-process, this Book can be a good vitamin for helping their soul in strengthening their Faith.
The book is not for sale but Dr. Sanjay Sarda is wanting to circulate free copies to whoever is interested in reading it.
Requests can be sent to understanding.ram.drsanjay@gmail.com
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