The Rama I Know I Could Not Find in Ayodhya, Seek the Rama Within: A Devotee
By T
M Krishna
August 13,
2020
He has
always been a part of my life: The tales my grandmother told me, Rajaji’s
Ramayanam, Amar Chitra Katha pictorials, spiritual discourses on Valmiki’s Ramayana,
Ramanand Sagar’s television show Ramayan and the all-encompassing hymn, Raghupati
Raghava, have imprinted him on my mind. I do not have to look for him.
But on
August 5, I did look for him. I looked for him in the celebration at Ayodhya. I
looked for him on the stage set for the Havan, in the faces of the personages
gathered. I looked for him in the chants and the cheers. I could see devotion
but of a kind — in political robes. I could see religion too, but again of a
kind — in the shrill colours of triumphalism.
The Rama I
know I could not find.
Who is that
Rama?
Tyagaraja drowned himself in Rama’s bhakti and was consumed in him. No
other god could ever come close to his ishta devata. (File)
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For me, the
student of music, Rama is there in all I have heard and read but he steps out
of texts and stories and comes to life only in Tyagaraja’s Kirtanas. Tyagaraja
cajoled, argued, pleaded with, demanded, celebrated and venerated him musically
in ragas Kalyani, Bhairavi, Begada, Todi… the list is endless. My guru used to
explain the meaning of every line, its mythological context and the attributes
of Purushottama. And, on occasion, I would like to believe, he sat quietly in a
corner listening to us sing.
Tyagaraja’s
Rama is kind, soft spoken and charming. He refers to Rama’s speaking voice as
mrdubhasha; someone who spoke mudduga. These adjectives don’t just refer to a
superficial aural register. Rather, they are descriptive of a person of love,
in Tyagaraja’s words, “an ocean of compassion”, which extends to all living
beings. In the kirtana Vachamagocharame, Tyagaraja describes how Rama stopped
himself from killing an animal. Would this Rama not have thought of the
bloodshed and deaths that preceded the securing of this one specific place in
Ayodhya? Would he have not hoped that, on this occasion, as a country, we would
at least apologise to our Muslim fellow-citizens for having destroyed their
masjid? The Supreme Court described the destruction as an “egregious violation
of the rule of law”.
Rama was
also his ideal king. Tyagaraja asks, “Can there be anyone who can administer
Saketa like you?” Describing his rule as one where the rains are regular,
people were healthy and happy sans pride. To a ruler, the identity of the praja
is irrelevant and, hence, Tyagaraja never mentions a specific section or
special treatment for Rama’s devotees. Everyone is equal, everyone prospers. As
Ashoka said, “As I care for my own children, I care for the welfare and
happiness in this world and the next of all my subjects.”
PB Mehta
writes: In post-mortem of secularism, we are hand wringing over religion,
missing the real crisis
While the
ground-breaking ceremony was for a satyasandha (Rama), no effort was made on
August 5 to remind the people of India that the Supreme Court order also said:
“While the ASI report has found the existence of ruins of a pre-existing
structure, the report does not provide the reason for the destruction of the
pre-existing structure and whether the earlier structure was demolished for the
purpose of construction of the mosque.” That, “since the ASI dates the
underlying structure to the twelfth century, there is a time gap of about four
centuries between the date of the underlying structure and the construction of
the mosque”. That “no evidence is available to explain what transpired in the
course of the intervening period of nearly four centuries”.
Tyagaraja
drowned himself in Rama’s bhakti and was consumed in him. No other god could
ever come close to his ishta devata. He opens one kirtana with the line Rama Ni
Samanamevaru (“Rama, is there anyone equal to you?”), yet he never denounced
any other deity, and even went on to say that there is no happiness in debating
and arguing over each other’s faiths. He emphasises elsewhere that “happiness
is only bestowed on people who serve everyone without division or
categorisation”. Tyagaraja’s Rama was a Dharmatma, one with the inner ethical
compass of goodness.
Was there
any dharma in flaunting the Bhoomi Puja, making a national spectacle of it,
knowing full well that an entire section of the population, not just Muslims,
was feeling excluded, deprived, in fact diminished? When the occasion could
have been used to embrace them, it was decided to prove a point. With such
contrivances at work, would Ayodhya be even a semblance of Rama Rajya? In
multiple compositions, Tyagaraja says, “If a person cannot keep his mind under
control, if he is egotistic, what is the point of a pooja or dipping oneself in
the holy river?”
Self-reflection
and surrender to the divine are two sides of the same coin and Tyagaraja never
lost sight of this. He hoped that human beings would put aside thoughts that
led them astray, “Chede Buddhi Manura Manasa”, he said. And in the
composition Dhyamane he asks us to shun slander and violence. Those who claim
to be true bhaktas of Rama but engage in or silently subscribe to retaliation,
abuse and hatred must reflect upon his words. And we should keep in mind
Tyagaraja never indulged in whataboutery; neither did he point fingers at
others to justify his own shortcomings.
Tyagaraja
was a pilgrim, travelling across towns and villages, seeking his Rama. Yet he
was acutely aware of the need to seek Rama within. Even as he sang the praise
of the deities in every temple he visited, he spoke of the pointlessness of it
all, if we are unable to experience and hold on to that purity within. Even
Ayodhya becomes immaterial.
In the
words of the ideal devotee:
Nadachi Nadachi Chucheru Ayodhya Nagaramu
Ganare
They walk and walk, all the way to Ayodhya, yet they were unable to find
him.
Original
Headline: The Rama I sing about comes to
life in Tyagaraja’s kirtanas, which beseech you to seek the Rama within
Source: The Indian Express