Enlightened ... There are no special effects.

In my earlier  blog , I equated the Ramayana with the Bible and the Quran. But there is a big difference that I need to elaborate on. Unlike the Bible or Quran, Ramayana's core is not an ideology but a narration of the life of Rama. The immediate response from the deracinated would be - "How can you believe it really happened? There are unbelievable events narrated in it." There is no point in explaining to them that it is an Itihasa - 'It happened thus.' So, my answer is - the core of Ramayana could have happened. What is this core? There was this Prince Rama, son of Dasaratha. His step-brothers were Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrugna. He was exiled because his father had to honor the promise he made to one of the queens - Kaikeyi. Rama, with his wife Seetha and step-brother Lakshmana, left for the forest. They lived a life of a wanderer with no comforts. Seetha was kidnapped by Ravana, a powerful king of Lanka. Rama earned the trust and friendship of Sugreeva by ...

  “Rama was born in the Nakshatra Punarvasu - पुनर्वसु implies "the two restorers of goods".  Rama lost his kingdom and his wife.  His story is all about their restoration.” said the Upanyasaka. This time, He got his temple restored with the help of his Sainiks through righteous methods for this day and age. As a Hindu, it was not easy to explain Hinduism as a religion or way of life to a Westerner.  An average Westerner could understand religion only through the prism of Abrahamic faiths.  It needs a God (Jehovah or Allah), a Prophet (Jesus, Mohammad), a holy book, and of course an organization (Church, Caliphate, and its offshoots).  The dilemma for a Hindu, especially a reasonably knowledgeable Hindu is - how can you summarize various philosophies, deities, practices, and the Hindu community into a simple template! I guess this was the reason for the continuous spread of Abrahamic faiths into pagan communities.  (Let’s set aside the conversion by s...