The INDIAN TAROTS – 11 – Justice: Raam

Raam’s leela in endless, so Raamkatha is also endless. Raam is possibly the most misunderstood character in the history. The left-wing and foreign ‘scholars’ often try to throw mud at Raam’s character and make it dirty. However, they forget that a lotus always remains pure and beautiful irrespective of its dirty surroundings.

Around the world, there are more than 300 versions of the Ramayana. However, some parts of these versions are doubted to be the original narratives. The oldest and the original Ramayan was authored by Rishi Balmiki. However, the most famous version of the epic is authored by Tulsidas and its name is Ramcharitmanas. This Ramcharitmanas is famous because it is easier than other versions and it also talks about the lord’s glory from a devotee’s viewpoint and that devotee is Hanuman himself. So, we as Raam’s devotees feel more connected to this version.

Some people might not believe in the concept of ‘avatar’. For them, Raam is just a human rather than being an incarnation of God. Even if we consider Raam to be a human, that actually enhances his glory. Because then, even after being a human he has done things that can be only thought by us. The task of building a 50 km bridge over an ocean some 10000 year ago to save his beloved wife – this task itself makes him a god among humans. The archaeological, geographical & literary evidences cannot negate the existence of this bridge between Indian and Sri Lanka. Rather than the Tajmahal, Raam Setu seems like an actual monument of love!!

Honestly, in every family, even today, there can be a Raam. But this does not happen because the external elements for becoming that ‘Raam’ are not available.

Can one be a father like Dasharatha who died after seeing his son go to forest?

Can one be a mother like Kaushalya who had to see her son lose the throne and she still performed the motherly duties to her family members without any complaints?

Can one be someone like Kaikayee, who took a bad decision after being influenced and had to face the disgust of a whole nation including her own son?

Can one be a mother like Sumitra who was never envious about the fact that his son can never be a king?

Can one be a brother like Bharath, who left everything even after receiving everything?

Can one be a brother like Shatrughna, who never tried to get in the limelight, even after being a prince?

Can one be a wife like Mandavi (wife of Bharath), who accepted not being a queen based on her husband’s decision?

Can one be a wife like Urmila (Lakshman’s wife), who, without any expectation, supported her husband to dedicate his life for his elder brother?

Can one be a friend like Hanuman, who devoted his life for his friend and master?

Can one be a brother like Lakshman, who left his newly married wife and decided to go with his brother to protect him?

Can one be a wife like Sita, who could leave the comfort of being a queen just in a moment’s notice and go to forest?

Most importantly, can one be an enemy like Raavan who gives his enemy all the opportunities, purposes and motivation to achieve his goal?

If you can become any one from these above- you can create your own Ramayan. These external factors are as important as internal personality of Raam. Most of these are not possible in today’s society because humans are slaves of shat-ripu. It is not possible because you are surrounded by Manthara, Shurpanakha and Shakuni in your life.

Sita-Raam and Radha-Krishna are incarnations of the divine feminine-masculine forces. However, Raam and Krishna are very different in nature. Raam always did what’s moral. Krishna did what’s logically right. Morality and righteousness might not overlap when there is dharma-sankaat. As an example, suppose, a beggar’s children haven’t eaten for 3 days and on the fourth day, the beggar collected some food. He is a bit relieved as he could feed his children and starts to return home fast. On the road, a dying old woman begs him for food. This is a dharma-sankaat situation where, the moral thing is to give food to the old woman but the right thing is to go home and feed the children. In many times in our life, we stand in front of such crossroads where both roads give a lose-lose situation. Our sense of morality and righteousness helps us to make the ultimate decision. Raam could become the epitome of morality because of the social situations at that time. Not only Raam, but also everyone around him had a high level of morality and duty. The humans were not corrupt. In today’s society, a Raam-like personality is near-impossible because there is hardly anyone who can celebrate such personality. Krishna is more relevant in today’s scenario because he has taught us to rise and revolt.

Ramayan teaches us the true Indian family values where everyone sacrifices for the other family members. Today, Indians have been looted off their wealth, our education system is a scam, we have forgotten our ancient science. Only the family values, culture and dharma are still remaining to some extent. The west often tries to put its claws on our sanskaar through there propaganda like nuclear family, women empowerment and toxic masculinity. The toolkits of such propaganda are their talk shows, tv shows, social media posts, blogs even movies and tv shows. The west does not mean the geographical west, it is those who adore western culture. The reason why people are crazy about Ramayan TV serial is because it reminds us about our roots. Just think for one moment, the usual soap operas that are shown on TV, have you seen similar things in real life?? Normal tv serials and reality shows adores fictional scenarios and western culture. Everyone subconsciously knows this but falls into the trap because lack of rectification and analytical thinking.

Sita-Raam’s love story teaches us that materials don’t justify love. Love is beyond materialism. Today’s couples should understand this. Whenever, there is too much materialistic expectations- unhappiness will appear. Many women consider sex as a reward- if she gets something, the husband will be ‘rewarded’. Here, there is a sense of self-entitlement and no actual love. People will be happy if they love each other for the sake of loving each other. It is true that marriage and relationships have become trade-off today because of expectations; and expectations increase when people take things for granted. This is another reason why there is so much unhappiness. Only sanskaar can fix this issue and it’s the responsibility of the parents, society & media to teach that.

Lord Raam is often misunderstood based on some parts of the epic Ramayana. One of these parts is where he asks Sita to prove her purity while she was pregnant and sends her to exile. Another part is where he punishes a shudra (lower caste) for reading the Ved. Let’s clarify these few things- both these parts are not included in the actual Ramayan written by Maharshi Valmiki. Valmiki Ramayan ends by saying Raam-Sita returns to Ayodhya and lives happily ever after. The Uttar-Kaanda of the epic was written by someone else after Vaalmiki’s death. It is also possible that this was written to throw mud on Raam’s character and weaken the belief system of normal humans. Raam, who has suffered so much to get back his wife, he will send his wife to jungle after listening to some whispers- this is seemingly impossible. Even if we consider that he did send Sita to exile, even that has some moral reasons. Raam & Sita were not like any normal couple, they were the royals and normal citizens saw them as gods. So, Sita-Raam had to prove themselves every time to be worthy of their trust. Here, the morality of Raam is proven once again. He could have neglected the citizens, but he knew that the raj-dharma is superior to pati-dharma. On the other hand, Sita always supported her husband because she knew the situations. She performed all her duties be it the dharma of a patni (wife), mother, queen and stayed beyond suspicion. While Sita deserves our compassion, Raam also deserves to be understood. Both Sita and Raam had to prove that they are worthy of people’s respect and trust. They also had to prove themselves to each other. Sita had to perform agni-pariksha to prove her purity, on the other hand, Raam also had to cross an ocean and fight an equally powerful enemy to get his wife back. They did this to each other based on their morality so that they could earn people’s trust and respect. This teaches us that success comes from sacrifice and only successful people earn true respect.

Another thing is to clarify the lies related to Raam punishing shudras. This is a false accusation because at the time of Ramayan, the caste-system, itself was not like today’s system. There was normal Barnashram system and one could become brahmin or baishya based on karma and lifestyle. Labours were not looked down upon and people had equal rights to get education. So, in this situation, the theory of Raam being racist is totally false. Especially when we have seen him eating fruits from Shabari, a tribal woman. Moreover, he was friends with tribal Nishad king during his stay in the jungle.

Ramayan is not a mythological epic, it’s our history and the only reason to study history is to learn how to behave, how to fight and how to not commit past mistakes. The epic teaches us that too much lust and ego results in downfall, no matter how powerful one is. Ramayan gives us lessons of how to become dutiful and prioritise among different duties while a dharma-sankaat appears. As an example, a mother’s duty is superior to the duties of a 9-5 worker. It is such because a mother is irreplaceable unlike an employee. Ramayan also teaches us that people in important positions must do the necessary for physical and mental wellbeing of the subordinates – this is raaj-dharma. Even though it might create lose-lose situation, for social peace, it is necessary to sacrifice personal happiness. It is clear that very few leaders actually perform such raaj-dharma or raaj-neeti. On the other hand, those who do- receive genuine respect and trust. Some examples can be Lal Bahadur Shastri, PV Narsimha Rao, Atal Vihari Bajpayee and even Modiji.

Whenever dharma-sankaat comes in your life, follow this:

• Between your family and one person, choose your family (given your family is being fair).
• Between your society and your family, choose society (given your society is being fair).
• Between your nation and society, choose nation (given nation is being fair).
• Between own conscience and the world, choose conscience (given you are being fair).
• Between God/truth and everything else, choose God/truth (because he is the saviour).

Here, being fair means, someone is not acting under the influence of shat-ripu (kaam, krodh, lobh, moha, maad, matsarya) and not being unreasonable or illogical.

I have kept Raam as ‘Justice’ because he has always worked with morality and fairness. He has an integral personality where he has never taken any decision based on anger or lust. Whenever he was in a dharma-sankaat, he had to analyse the causes and consequences of different scenarios before making decisions. Through his actions, he has taught us many life lessons that are valid even today to live a satisfying life. He teaches us that karma is more important than luck. Bad times will come in everyone’s life- you can either feel like a victim or see it as a challenge to find new solutions. You cannot put your situation on your fate before you have done everything possible to change your situation. You can control your environment, attitude, processes, equipment to get lucky.

Upright meaning

In tarot, the Justice card is often associated with fairness, balance, and truth. When the card is upright, it generally signifies positive traits such as fairness, balance, and the need to make a just decision. The upright Justice may represent a person who is fair, impartial, and able to make wise decisions based on facts, or it can indicate a need to seek justice or balance in a situation.

Reverse meaning

On the other hand, when the Justice card is reversed, it may indicate negative traits such as bias, injustice, or a lack of balance. The reversed Justice may represent a person who is unfair, biased or prejudiced, or who is making decisions based on personal interests rather than fairness and impartiality. It could also suggest a need to address any imbalances in one’s life or relationships.

Sources:

Lectures of Dr. Kumar Viswas

Lectures of Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri

Lectures of Ami Ganatra

The Ramayana