Ram Mandir and Gen-Z

 5th August 2020. Historic day of an historic year( seriously, if 2020 isn't historic, I don't know what is!). A golden morning had dawned over Ayodhya after 500 years of struggle marked by bloodshed and lawsuits. On this day of Bhoomi Poojan of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, millions of people all over the world were glued to their television screens, offering prayers to Ram Lalla in Ayodhya, through radio waves, nevertheless. Despite of the fact that they were not able to visit the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, my grandparents and parents were only physically present in the house, as they had mentally teleported themselves to Ayodhya to see the intricately decorated Ram Lalla with their own eyes. Me? no. I was very well present physically and mentally in my own house. Don't get me wrong, I was extremely happy on that day, but it's just that I couldn't personally identify with the Ram Temple the way my grandparents and parents did. This was simply because I had never experienced the struggle associated with the construction of this Temple. I was not even born when the dispute was at its peak, so I have never lived through the black days of Indian democracy. My notions and opinions of Ram Temple and the disputes related to it are majorly sculpted by the notions and opinions of my family members and the information I have gathered by reading articles and interacting with different people on this issue. I am sure that the state of most of the people of my age would be the same of 5th august.

So, I asked myself while watching the sacred fire during the Bhoomi Poojan ( on TV of course) that as a member of Gen-Z, what does the construction of Ram Temple mean to me? First of all, like millions of people worldwide, I was also listening intently to the speeches made by the dignitaries in Ayodhya. Apart from the speech made by our Honourable Prime Minister Shree Narendra Modi, the speech that resonated with my feelings was the one made by the RSS chief Shree Mohanrao Bhagwat. The lines in his speech that moved me were , "Before this Ayodhya is ready to welcome Shri Ram, make sure that you build Ayodhya in your heart. Before Shri Ram begins to reside in this temple of Ayodhya, make sure that he begins to reside in the Ayodhya of your heart". These lines impacted me enormously, but soon, I was disheartened, as converting these lines into reality was a really difficult task, mainly due to two groups of people- first one comprising of all the grandparents and parents, and the second one comprising of us.

The people, who are the first ones to turn their nose up on hearing about God or religion, are we, the "peeps' of Gen-Z. We feel that entangling ourselves into the mess of God or religion is a total waste of time and is highly outdated. But, what if I tell you that majority of customs and practices we follow and the much hated पूजा - पाठ we do, is highly scientific and well thought-out? No,  I'm not kidding. The verses that पंडितs keep on chanting during any kind of ceremony actually have a meaning that is not to be ignored. Festivals are not mere Photo-Clicking sessions, they actually have a history, that is pretty interesting to know about. What you need is a single "Why?" , every time any religious ceremony is organized, and you get to know the logic behind everything that you earlier thought was "outdated". So make sure that you ask the reason behind every single religious ceremony that you are a part of, bite your elders' heads off if you must, but never follow anything blindly, as it is very easy for indifference to build from ignorance, than for faith to build from knowledge. 

Now, to the grandparents and parents, who blame the modern generation for not participating in religious activities, I want to ask them that aren't you partially responsible for this? I mean, instead of scolding your children or grandchildren for doubting religious ceremonies and switching into a melodramatic mode and saying, " Now you have grown so old that you will question God", why can't you cure their confusion by explaining them the importance of each and every custom? Your answers will automatically arouse their interest in God and religion. Moreover, you have many bizarre criteria for implementing a religious ceremony, for example, allowing certain people to attend it and denying entry to the rest. Who are you to do that? God hasn't written a book named 'Guidelines to Worship Me'; all the rules have been made by humans. You need to accept that times are changing and in accordance to that, certain traditions which are a burden on some people and destructive to the society as a whole need to be modified, as Lord Krishna has said himself, 'Change is the New Law of the Universe'. The moment you do this, it'll be safe for me to say that we would not stay aloof from the matters of God or religion.

I feel that when both these groups do their part, Ram will reside in everyone's heart way before he takes his seat in the Ram Mandir. Thus for me, the grandeur of the Ram Temple isn't in its colossal structure or magnificent architecture, but it is in the fact that this Temple marks a new era of religion, an era of modernity, in which the gap between science and religion is gradually nullified.

Thank you for reading this post and I would love to have your feedback( please write your name along with your feedback). We'll meet again soon with a next post.

Bbye

Until next time