This is the age of Kalyug, where
demons rule and lies and ignorance are construed to be true. The one and only
aim of Kalikaal, the devil, is to destroy Dharma and bring suffering upon us
all. In his mission to spread lies, the Demon King will try to poison our minds
against us. To do so, he must first attack our Shastr, the collective Holy
Scriptures of Hinduism.
Remember the Devil is smart, and he
works in such a way as to appear that neither does he exist, nor is he the
cause of our suffering. But we are the wiser, and I know you to be wise, for
you are wise to come here and learn the ways of the Dharma and Bhakti. Your
wisdom is the reflection of your intellect. For you know, that this is the
Kalyug.
In order to destroy our faith and
relationship with our God, Kalikaal is slowly weaving a web of lies accusing
Ramayana, Mahabharata, and the Puranas to be nothing more than myths and
legends, and the mere imagination of some men living in the huts of old.
In doing so, Kalikaal hopes that once
the credibility of the Hindu texts is destroyed, people will no longer believe
in them. By claiming that our gods are false, he hopes that we will not believe
in them, hence losing all hopes in liberation and our way to eternal union with
God.
Dear friends, today I, along with you,
will dispel the darkness of the lies of kalikaal covering us. Today, I will
provide you with some evidence and common sensual logic, that the Ramayana is
the account of true historical event, that Lord Rama was a real historical
figure and not a mere hero of the myths and legends of the old, that Kalikaal
and his soldiers of ignorance in the West, weave against the knowledge of the
East, We, the Hindu people.
The historicity of the Ramayana is the
question of the Ramayanas "acceptability as a history” extended to the
question of Hindu Ramacharitramanas as an accurate record of the historical
Rama and the Treta Yug.
Many fields of study span the Ramayana
and history, such fields range from archeology and astronomy to linguistics and
comparative literature. Scholars also examine the historical context of
Ramayana passages, the importance ascribed to events by the authors, and the
comparison between the descriptions of these events and historical evidence.
Archaeological discoveries in the 19th,20th
the and 21st century have supported most of Ramayanas historical narratives.
The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic
poem which narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife
Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the
Sanskrit Itihasa.
Itihasa consists of the Mahabharata
and the Ramayana and sometimes the
Puranas too and literally means “history”.
Itihāsas and Purāṇas are mentioned in
the Atharva Veda and referred to as the fourth Veda.
Ramcharitmanas, is an epic poem in the
Awadhi dialect of Hindi, composed in the 16th-century, Goswami Tulsidas.
Ramcharitmanas literally means "Lake of the deeds of Rama”, and is
considered as one of the greatest works of Hindi literature. The work has
variously been acclaimed as "the living sum of Indian culture",
"the tallest tree in the magic garden of medieval Indian poetry",
"the greatest book of all devotional literature" and "the best
and most trustworthy guide to the popular living faith of the Indian
people".
Tulsidas was a great Sanskrit scholar.
However, he wanted the story of Rama to be accessible to the general masses and
not just the Sanskrit-speaking elite. In order to make the story of Rama as accessible
to the layman as possible, Tulsidas chose to write in Awadhi, a local dialect
of Hindi which was the popular language of the time. Tulsidas had to face a lot
of criticism from the Sanskrit scholars. However, Tulsidas remained and his
work was accepted by all.
For the first time in Hindu history,
the story of Rama was made available to the common man to sing, meditate and
perform on.
However, the unfortunate fact is the
idea of whether Lord Rama exists or not has been called into question, by no less
than some Hindus themselves, let alone the enemies of Hinduism and foreign
cults. So it is a wonder how such persons can be accepted as the members of the
Hindu Family (Sangha) who should be
concerned with preserving and protecting the culture of their people.
Obviously, they are neither concerned
nor aware of the depths of information that can be found in support of the
traditions for which we Hindus are known for. Or, are they being corrupted by
leftist, communist pseudo-secularism, really trying to dismantle or destroy the
authority of the timeless nature of the culture of our great people, where they
try to insult and put down Hinduism as something primitive in order to impress
the followers of other religions and the Western culture, in hopes to appear
more modern, secular, and westernised.
These ignorant people dismiss the
truths of the Ramayana as something of the mere figment of imagination. They
make false lies that the Ramayan is of a recent making. Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia,an INDIAN archaeologist
has proposed a date of the 4th century BC for the composition of the text. And
Western Historian and Indologist Arthur Llewellyn Basham opined that “Rama may
have been a MINOR chief who lived in the 8th or the 7th century BCE.
Just by a mere mention of these recent
dates they trivialise the great history of the Hindu people. By claiming that
either Ramayana is imaginary or recent or that our Lord Ram was just a mere
minor Chief is not only insulting and discrediting towards us Hindus as a
people, but also towards our culture, religion, and our relationship to our
God.
However, when it
comes to the Ramayana and the history of Lord Rama, there have been numerous
authors who have accepted the Ramayana as a history of ancient events. For example, the first Governor General of India, Sri Rajaji, wrote on the
Ramayana and called it a history, as also did the English Indologist Sir William Jones. Various other western authors
have made a study of the culture and history of the Ramayana, such as Philip
Lutgendorf in his book Rama’s Story in Shiva’s City, California
University; Joe Burkhalter Flueckiger and Laurie Sears in The Boundaries of
Traditional Ramayana and Mahabharata Performances in South and Southeast Asia,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; W. L. Smith on Ramayan Traditions in Eastern
India, University of Stockholm, and others.
There are also numerous places that
are indicated as the locations where various events happened in reference to
the pastimes of Lord Rama and Sita. Thus, they are accepted as historical
sites. There are many places, such as Ramesvaram, Nasik, Hampi, and others
where there are particular locations and sites that are related to the events
that took place in the life and adventures of Lord Rama. Many people accept
these sites as the locations for the events described in the Ramayana. So how
can this be unless there are not some reality behind it?
However, why is there not more
archaeological evidence that points towards Rama’s existence? Because such an
effort has not been made in India and systematic excavations have never been
carried out, says historian Nandita Krishnan. She says that to doubt the
existence of Rama is to doubt all literature. There is little archaeological or
epigraphic evidence for either Jesus Christ or Prophet Mohammed, who are known
only from the Bible and Koran respectively. Does it mean they did not exist? If
Rama performs miracles such as liberating Ahalya, the Biblical story of Jesus
walking on water or the Koranic tale of Mohammed flying to heaven on a horse
are equally miraculous. Such stories reinforce divinity.
She also describes in summary what
areas the events of Lord Rama’s life took place, “The Ramayana is
geographically very correct. Every site on Rama's route is still identifiable
and has continuing traditions or temples to commemorate Rama's visit. Around
1000 BC or earlier, no writer had the means to travel around the country
inventing a story, fitting it into local folklore and building temples for
greater credibility”.
“In 1975 the Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI) unearthed fourteen pillar bases of kasauti stone with Hindu motifs
near the mosque at Ayodhya; reports of the excavations are available with the
ASI. Rama was born in Ayodhya and married in Mithila, now in Nepal. Not far from
Mithila is Sitamarhi, where Sita was found in a furrow, still revered as the
Janaki kund constructed by her father Janaka. Rama and Sita left Mithila for
Ayodhya via Lumbini. In 249 BC, Ashoka erected a pillar in Lumbini with an
inscription referring to the visits by both Rama and Buddha to Lumbini. Ashoka
was much nearer in time to Rama and would be well aware of his facts.
In describing the places in Sri Lanka
that are associated with Lord Rama and the Ramayana, "Sri Lankan folklore
and religious scholars have identified more than 30 places on the island which
are associated with the Ramayana. And interestingly enough, people in these
places have a strong sense of history and lore, and a strong sense of
possession. They are proud of their association with the Hindu epic,"
explained S. Kalaiselvan, director general Sri Lanka Tourism Development
Authority. This is the case, even though 90 percent of the people in the
Ramayanarelated areas are Sinhalese Buddhists.
Once the Historicity, of the Ramayana
is established, ignorant detractors will than try to attack the fact that there
are different variations of Ramayana.
I remember I was once watching this
video of this radical Islamist preacher Zakir Naik, whose one of the main aim
is to make Hinduism look bad. He made the claim that Hindus have so many
versions of Ramayana, that which one was the true one. How do you know which is
true? You have so many versions of just one holy book that you do not know the
truth and fall into confusion.
Well my fellow Hindu brothers and
sister, today I will bring forth the answers.
Now this morning I want to preach on
the subject on why there are so many versions of Ramayana. When we say the many
versions of the ramayana we're referring to the now lost Hanumad Ramayana,
Valmiki Ramayana, Ramacharitramanas, and other regional and outside versions.
Now, personally the Ramacharitramanas is my favourite part of the Hindu
Shastras. I feel like the Ramayana is the heart of the Shastras.
These books, Valmiki Ramayana,
Ramacharitramanas, Ramayana of Mahabharata, and the Puranas, give us the life
of Lord Rama. They talk about his birth, his exile, his preaching, his
miracles, and of course most importantly they talk about his war with the
Demon-King Ravana to rescue his wife Sita. But the question is, why are there
so many versions of the Ramayana. Why did God not just give us one account of
this great story. First of all the obvious answer is that it's such a great
story that it's worth telling over and over again, and it will never get old.
Not only that, there are different things that are emphasized in each versions
of the Ramayana. They have different themes, you get a little bit of a
different viewpoint of the life of God Rama by reading them.
Not only that but if you think about
what the Ramayanas represent, they also represent eye witness testimony,
telling us that these things really happened and that they really are true.
Especially the the lost Hanumad Ramayana emphasizes the fact that he is a
witness and that he's bearing record and that he's giving a testimony. If you
go to a court room and there were only one witness to something, that's not
supposed to be enough to convict anyone because that one person could be lying.
Often what you'll have is corroborating testimony. Now corroborating testimony
is someone else's independent testimony that supports the testimony of the
other person and shows it to be true.
If we were to walk into a courtroom
and we had 4 witnesses get up and testify to something, and they both gave the
exact same testimony, and they included the same details, and they left out the
same details, we would say, These witnesses have gotten together and gotten
their story straight. They're not independent witnesses. It wouldn't be as
credible, it would seem like, Wait a minute, something's fishy here, where
these 4 different people are remembering everything exactly the same way and
giving the exact same testimony because that is not the way that the real world
works.
See, when you go into a courtroom and
you hear a different testimony from different people, they'll give different
testimony, but that testimony corroborates the testimony, or it could
contradict. If it contradicts then there's a problem, somebody's lying, or
somebody's not remembering properly. The thing about the different versions are
that's so amazing is that they are accounts of the same story and they are corroborating
the testimonies in the sense that they don't read exactly the same. In fact
many people when they read them will even think that they see contradictions in
the different versions and say, This appears to contradict, but then once you
study a little further you can see that there is no contradiction, that they do
corroborate one another.
But the fact that they are so different
from one another proves that they're not just feeding off of one another. That
Hanuman didn't write his Ramayana and then Valmiki comes along and says, I'm
going to write one now and just make a few changes but I'm pretty much going to
say the exact same thing, and then Vashishta does the same thing and Tulsidass.
Vashishta Ramayana is about a dialogue
between Lord Ram and Rishi Vashishta and is an exposition on dispassion, the
behaviour of the seeker (of Lord), birth of all creation, meditation, and
freedom and liberation.
So, they're all clearly different.
Even worldly secular scholars who don't even believe in the Hindu Shastras
actually state that these are 4 independent works and that none of them has
copied from the other, that they did not have access to the other and copy from
it. They'll actually admit that. Some try to of course have all these theories
about how they could have been so consistent yet they were independent by
saying that there's this other document, the Valmiki Ramayana that they're all copyingr
from. No, that is a lie, in fact Lord Shiva is the one revealing things to Tulsidas.
The early versions are actually a
perfect eye witness testimony giving different details appearing to contradict
on the surface only to the unlearned, only to those who haven't studied. Once
you do study it out you see that they corroborate.
Once you learn you can see how it all
fits together so perfectly, but they're definitely not copying each other.
These are independent accounts. Of course we know Valmiki Ramayana was narrated
to Valmiki by Sita Ma, written down by Valmiki, than validated by Lord Rama
once Luv and Kush, when the came and recited the Valmiki Ramayana in the Lord’s
Court. And that it's the word of God. There are different versions of Ramayana,
to give corroborating testimonies, not testimonies where they all got together
and got their stories straight, but different corroborating testimonies, which
is the strongest type of evidence. Then secondly in order to emphasize
different things.
Hanumad Ramayana may have been a
biography and the relationship between Lord Rama and his contemporary, Lord
Hanuman. Valmiki Ramayana was about recording history, a biography of the Lord
focusing more on his human nature, and Ramacharitramanas, which focuses more on
the divinity of Lord Rama and bhakti one can show to him, with the main aim of
being available to the common man.
Then there are so many outside
versions, each written down in different levels for each and every nations of
the world. Just Think about it.
Yama Zatdaw for Burma, Reamker for Cambodia,
Kakawin Ramayana, Indonesia, Phra Lak Phra Lam for Laos, Hikayat Seri
Rama for Malaysia, Maharadia Lawana for Philippines and Ramakien ,Thailand. All
of these nations now either Christian, Muslim, or Buddhist were once Hindus
Nations, and the Hindu people of these kingdoms held Lord Rama very dearly
before they were forcefully converted out of Hinduism either because
inquisition due to colonialism or by the edge of the sword by sultanate conquest.
The Ramayana was also composed into
the Persian Ramayan-e-Masih, by the Muslim Sheikh Sadullah Masih Panipati, a
contemporary of Shah Jahah and Jahangir. We even have the Urdu version called the Pothi Ramayana written in the
17th century, making the life and miracle of Lord Rama to Pakistanis as well.
Now that Valmiki Ramayana and the
Ramacharitramanas has been translated into the English Language, the GOBLE
Language, everyone can be reached.
In fact, the very fact that we have so
many versions reflect on this very fact that the many versions of the Ramayana
were written so that it could reach its target audience. Otherwise how else
could Hinduism reach to distant places such as the Philippines, Malaysia,
Indonesia, and the other East Asian countries if it were not for these early
Hindu Missionaries writing the local versions of Ramayana in order to reach the
people who do not know Lord Ram.
In this way, as we go through the
evidence, we can see how Lord Rama was an actual historic personality, as described
in the Ramayana and in other Puranic texts. Nonetheless, there will always be
those for whom no matter what you present for verification, it will not be
enough. Some just won't believe it. Some will, some won't, so what? But many in
the world already accept the authority of the Ramayana and other Vedic texts
for the verification of the existence of Lord Rama.
There are so many things we learn in
the different versions of the Ramayana, in addition to getting the salvation of
our soul we also get a role model on which to pattern our lives. Let's bow our
heads and have a word of prayer. Lord Ram we thank you so much for these wonderful books, Lord, even if the Hindu
Shastra just consisted of Ramacharitamanas and nothing else it would be the
most amazing book on earth. It is truly the greatest story ever told. It's most
assuredly worth reading 4 times, and 40 times, and 400 times. Lord please help
us to study the whole Ramayana, but Lord I pray that we would have special love
in our hearts for it that would increase as a result of this prachaar.
