Recently, the Rama Mandir inauguration happened. A great wave of upsurge for dharma has taken place throughout the country as a result of this. And many have started exploring the history of how this Rama Mandir came into being. And how the truth and justice was denied for the last five hundred years. Since the last five hundred years, 76 wars have been fought for the Rama Janmabhoomi sthaan. Skirmishes, small battles, huge wars – many generations of people suffering injustice, many people killed, many dynasties destroyed.
Incidentally, the name “Ayodhya” stands for a place where there is absence of ‘yuddha’ or fight! But so many battles in the name of Ayodhya!
Our heart is also a resting place for the Lord. Srila Narottama Dasa Thakura mentions, tomara hrdaye sada govinda visrama. Ideally, our heart also is the home of the Lord – Ayodhya.
Is the homeland of our heart peaceful? What to speak of 76 battles in 500 years, daily there are hundreds of skirmishes and wars going on. Maya has already occupied a large portion of the territory of our heart. And maya’s forces keep on attacking our mind in various ways – sometimes through lust, sometimes through anger, sometimes through greed and so on.
A total victory is to diligently play our part in this war till the end of our life. Actually, we have been denied our own territory since time immemorial. And who is the culprit responsible for this? It is our own mind and senses.
Rupa Goswami writes in Padyavali,
bhavodbhava-kleśa-kaśā-śatāhataḥ
paribhramann indriya-kāpathāntare
niyamyatāṁ mādhava me mano-hayas
tvad-aṅghri-śaṅkau dṛḍha-bhakti-bandhane
Beaten by hundreds of whips of material sufferings, the horse of my mind is running wildly on the dangerous road of the senses. O Lord Mādhava, please rein in that wild horse and tie it to the hitching post of Your lotus feet with the ropes of strong devotional service.
In this war, which is much more tiresome and gruelling than the wars at Ayodhya, our goal is to keep the enemies of lust, anger, greed etc. at bay, and make friends with Krishna’s forces – the devotees, the books, the Holy Name, prasada, the divine darshans etc.
If we constantly remain on guard, and keep the war going “on”, then at the end of our life, Krishna, having seen our sincerity in fighting the battle, will permanently grant us victory over maya, and place us in his abode in the spiritual world.
Jaya Shri Rama!!!
