Celebrating Ram Navmi Within Yourself

 

 

Ram Navmi, the birthday of God Ram is celebrated on the ninth day of the “Chaitra” month of the Hindu calendar. The month usually falls between the Gregorian calendar months of March and April. God Ram, also referred respectfully as “Maryada Purushottam” or an ideal human or man of principles, was the eldest son, among the four, to King Dashrat, the ruler of Ayodhya. Let us learn about God Ram and why is Ram Navmi celebrated.

 

 

The incarnations of Lord Vishnu, also mentioned in Bhagwad Puraan is to teach the people of different eras, the significance of his duties (Dharma) by rendering deeds (Karma). When a human is born, there are certain responsibilities that he has perform towards the society that he lives in.

 

 

Ram is amongst the most celebrated incarnations of Lord Vishnu, the life of God Ram teaches us to be thoughtful, just and forgiving. In Lord Vishnu’s Ram Avatar, he sets an ideal example of how honest and companionate should a man be. He explains, with his deeds to also be humble and thoughtful, despite being on a position of a king. So, let us re-live those incidents from Ramayan, that explains his existence and how we too can follow his principles to be a better human.

 

Being Ideal – Ram, as a son followed and did not disrespect even his step-mother’s decision when she asked his father, King Dashrath to send him (Ram) to exile. This was also because the Raghukul clan that God Ram was born to was known to keep its promise, come may what. And hence the saying… Raghukul reet sada chali aai, praan jaye par wachan na jaiye.

 

 

Following Ethics – Ram, being the incarnation of Lord Vishnu was powerful enough to fight a straight war against Raavan, who had abducted his Consort, Sita. But he chose the ethical way of a war as he was born as a “Kshatriya”, whose dharma (duty) was to fight ethically.

 

 

Patience – How many times have we heard that patience is the key to success? From parents to teachers, we have heard this advise many times and so did Ram avatar follow. He waited patiently for fourteen years to return back to Ayodhya, his home to be a King. And before that the God waited till, he gathered the “Vaanar sena”, built a bridge across the sea to fight Raavan and defeat king of “Rakshas” to re-unite with his consort, Sita.

 

 

Being Humble – We can speak about God Ram visiting Shabari, near Pampa lake (Pampa Sarovar) who was eagerly awaiting his arrival as her master, Rishi Matang had prophesised. Here Shabari, (who was poor and hailed from a lower caste as per few versions of Ramayan) touched Ram’s feet and fed him fruits to which he readily accepted and consumed. Here, Ram showed the respect and humility that despite he being from a royal family, accepted and consumed food/fruits (berries) from a person supposedly belonging to a lower caste.

 

 

Honesty – After defeating Raavan in the epic battle, Ram asks his brother Lakshman to learn something from Raavan as he was a scholar Bhramin. What we learn here that we should always look for good things even from your enemies or competitors. Here, competitors mean warriors as Ram fought against Raavan not because he was his enemy but was a King, a learned one.

 

 

So, by this we can sun up that, picking out these great qualities from the Ram avatar and applying it in our lives would truly mean celebrating Ram, or celebrating the birth of Ram within yourself.