Immortal Ravana
Ravana is no longer the mythological rakchhsa; he is a wily 'businessman' today; he is nobody’s fool when it comes to business. Ravana is a great peddler of promises; he is a hustler of hope
By Mukesh Sharma
From time immemorial, Dussehra is being celebrated as a
victory of Good over Evil. The effigy of Ravana is set on fire amid huge
cheering crowd watching the ‘act’ with all gusto and gaiety. While covering such a 'gala' day, this
blogger happened to have overheard an interesting conversation between a child and
his father yesterday. “Was Ravana a bad guy?” asks a child surprisingly. “Yes beta,”
the father answers caressingly. “All bad men must be burnt to death” the child
murmurs with the mirth. When violence is legitimized, it becomes custom, and
even a king follows the custom. It is known to all that Lord Rama killed
Ravana. Did Rama really kill Ravana? Was it really a victory of good over evil?
If my valued readers ask me, the answer is ‘no’. If Lord Rama had killed
Ravana, there would not have been Ravanas in legion today. If it had been the
victory of Good over Evil, it(evil) would not have been all pervasive today. Lord
Rama might have killed the mortal body of Ravana; his spirit lives on. Ravana
is immortal.
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| Immortal Ravana |
Since the day of Lord Rama, Ravana has come of the age; he
doesn’t have long mustaches; he doesn’t wear crown; he doesn’t dress himself
as a king; he doesn’t laugh loudly.
On the contrary, Ravana doesn’t call himself a king but the people
look upon him as king; he doesn’t use any arms but he uses his words as arms.
Ravana’s bark is worse than his bite.
Ravana wears simple kurta-pyjama
but his gesture are very complex; he never speaks truth but the people accept
his words as truth; he never helps anybody but he never says no for help; he
calls himself servant of people, but he lives like a king and his masters (the
people) reel under poverty; he doesn’t do any work but his wealth continues to
get multiplied every year; he looks like a mortal man with limited capacity but his words are heard all over the world where the voice of the common people can't be heard beyond a few steps; he is not God but he has
the power to write or change the destiny of the people.
Ravana is no longer the mythological rakchhsa; he is wily businessman today; he is nobody’s fool when it
comes to business. Ravana is a great peddler of promises; he is a hustler of
hope; he owns political parties for his political ambitions; he owns big business houses; he owns newspapers and TV channels; he owns universities and
colleges; he owns big coaching centres. It is an irony that the people have faith in Ravana. Faith
knows no reason.
Ravana is above caste and creed; he knows no religion; he
never fights himself but can get killed millions – Syria, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon,
etc. are the example of his 'benevolent' acts, and he says it is for the 'salvation' of
the people.
Some religious minded people offer prayer as per their
religious belief in Temple, Mosque, Gurudwara and Church etc. They hope that once
again Lord Rama would come to earth and kill Ravana, and emancipate the
humanity. But the possibility is remote.The people are not able to understand the simple fact that one Lord Rama is not enough to eliminate millions of Ravana today.
Despite all the facts, the people organize Ramleelas with all religious fervor.
Dussehra is celebrated with all fanfare. What is interesting to note that in all these so-called Ramleelas, Ravana himself comes in the guise of Lord Rama in white
clothes and shoots arrow to kill the Ravana. Strange are the ways of the world. Ravana
burns the effigy of Ravana. Hope my valued reader can guess about the true
identity of Ravana in today’s world.
