Gods also learnt it, the hard way…

This picture was published in HT one day. This is a snap of the same. What do you see in it? It’s a completely different world out there.

Some things that cooked inside my mind while I see this picture:

Education: Ram got educated in ashrams, under distinguished and learned Gurus. He had to live there in order to practice each and everything he learnt in the class-room sessions. And Guru was not there to take his salary at the end of the month. Think about the way we get education, how our teachers are, and how ‘educated’ our educated fellas are.

Training: Ashram education was never complete without ‘training-on-the-job’. Ram killed so many rakshasas while on an ‘outbound training’ session with his guru. Life was never secure: one wrong move could take away the life: it has never been a more ‘living on the edge’ example ever since.

Occupation: Whatever we know about ‘people-management’ or the management gurus can ever ‘cook’ theories in the next thousand years, Ram knew all, and practiced all. And he got the ultimate respect that a leader can ever get: worshiped as a God.

Family: Ideal in any sense, any picture is incomplete without showing Sita and Ram together. And Lakshman and Hanuman, the family has never been extended enough after that. Humility defined. Attached and yet unattached. Love in its purest form.

Wife: I know many of us still wonder why Ram left Sita. My self-developed theory would say: never judge one by his/her ‘one’ action. I won’t try giving my logic why he did that, but Ram still is a benchmark that any husband can ever have.

Siblings: In a time when almost no relationship is sacred, love for one’s siblings or extended family can still take inspirations from the four brothers.

Home: Did Ram ever felt pain when he had to leave his comfortable home, to live in forest for 14 years? He must have. But in this picture, we can see where home is: where family is.

Attire: Our fashion designers may take inspirations from exotic societies for fashion sense. But our traditional Indian attire remains the best looking, and will always be just like that.

Relationships: Father-son, father-daughter, husband-wife, brothers, guru-student, idol-bhakta, master-subordinate, name a relationship and you have a benchmark here.

Nature: Remember Jatayu: the king of birds who died rescuing Sita? He was not ‘trained’ in a Circus or ‘preserved’ in a zoo. Living in peace with nature was possible then, and is still possible now. But who cares about nature? Show me the money!

And Gods also leant all this, the hard way J