The 51-inch Ram Lalla idol placed on the throne in the garbha griha of the Ram Mandir

 

Carved by Karnataka’s renowned sculptor Arun Yogiraj, the 51-inch and about 150-kg idol depicting a five-year-old Ram Lalla has been placed on the throne in the garbha griha of the Ram Mandir at 1.28 pm on Thursday, 18 Jan 2024 amid the auspicious chant of Vedic Mantras. The host Dr. Anil Misra and his wife Usha Mishra, who had commenced the consecration ceremony rituals of the Ram temple as the standby yajman on Tuesday, 16 Jan 2024, performed the Pradhan Sankalp. The ceremony lasted around four hours. The main yajman for the ceremony, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, will take over from them on January 22 when the idol will be consecrated.

Rituals in the run up to the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony had started at the temple complex on January 16 with Prayaschita and Karmakuti poojan. Pushpadhivas, Shayadhivas and Madhyadhivas are scheduled for 20 and 21 January. 121 priests conduct the ritual proceedings of the Anushthan under the direction of a co-ordinating priest shri Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid and the principal priest Shri Lakshmikant Dixit of Kashi. Two yagyashalas have been set up in the north-west part of the 70 acre complex outside the temple. Continuous recitation of Ramayana and Ram Charit Manas is being carried on within the complex. Saints are also reciting Adhyatma Ramayan and Bhusundi Ramayan. The pots containing holy water from Saryu and various water bodies, rivers and sacred sites in the country have been kept in the mandaps for further rituals.

PM Modi offers observing an 11-day-long rigorous fasting and Yama-Niyama

Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi undertook a set of special rituals on Friday, January 12, 2024 and started observing an 11-day-long rigorous fasting and Yama-Niyama as mentioned in the Gita and in Patanjali’s first two of the eight limbs of Yoga. The first limb is about five ethical principles like non-violence, truthfulness, honesty, abstinence and non-accumulation. Niyama consists of cleanliness inside and outside, contentment, penance, self study and surrender to Providence.

He said, “Only 11 days are left for the consecration of Ramlala in Ayodhya. I am fortunate that I will also be a witness to this auspicious occasion. The Lord has made me an instrument to represent all the people of India during the consecration. Keeping this in mind, I am starting a special ritual of 11 days from today. I seek blessings from all the people. At this moment, it is very difficult to express my feelings in words.”

He went on, “I will always be inspired by the countless people who have dedicated their lives to the cause of Ram Mandir. God is formless, but I have seen Him in the form of people. When they express their feelings and give blessings to me, I am infused with new energy. Today, I need your blessings.”

There can scarcely be a person from political background, who can spend days as an ascetic like Shri Modi is doing. On the first day of 11-day Anusthan, the Prime Minister started sleeping on the floor, consuming coconut water only, waking up early to pray to God, doing jap and meditation, exercising calm, staying silent for some part of a day, reading religious scriptures, maintaining cleanliness and doing his work himself. He also resolved to offer prayers at various temples associated with Lord Ram across India, ahead of the Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla. He went to Panchavati dham in Nashik, where Lord Rama, Goddess Sita and Laxmana spent a few years of their exile. He performed aarti and other rituals, and cleaned the premises with water and a mop. Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeps on offering prayers at many other temples in different parts of the country and participating in cleaning activities there. He appealed to people to spruce up all temples and religious places across the country in the days leading to the consecration ceremony. He had already urged the countrymen to celebrate the consecration of the Ram Temple as Diwali in their own homes.

The Political Skills of Lord Ram and his Diplomacy

Lord Ram brought people from all sections of society together. Just after leaving his home, he won the hearts of Nishad community. Then with considerable tact and diplomacy, he freed an empire from a despotic tyrant named Bali and enthroned his brother Sugreeva, whose kingdom became the major part of his organization. He went around to Sabri’s hut and ate jujube fruit with her, thus winning the support of forest dwelling tribal communities. Now he succeeded establishing a large army, but before attacking his arch-enemy Ravana, he adopted a strategy to conquer his brothers Khar and Dushan, so the two large armies could not join together against him. Finally, he weakened Ravana by making friends with his estranged brother Vibhishana, who worked as an insider. The political skills of Lord Ram and his diplomacy made Ayodhya such a powerful kingdom that he invaded the whole world and became the king of the kings. He ruled the world for eleven thousand years. Now PM Modi’s political approach and his diplomatic ability resembles what Lord Ram is known for. He converts the divided society of India into an inclusive, integrated and supportive society by associating every community to Lord Ram and His temple in Ayodhya. It seems that it is time for India to gain its old glory of Ram Rajya and of being the leader of the world.

Comparison between PM Modi and some other Leader

 

Let us compare PM Modi with other leaders of his party. Others had yearned for a national issue and preferred to preserve it so they could reap the benefits or the rewards of it for long. PM Modi is a factory of issues and assignments: he creates fresh ones, campaigns for them and soon closes them. Article 370, Tripple Talaque, Ram Mandir etc are the issues which he did not conserve to cash in on them. He went on shutting one while raising or planning another. Politicians or social workers of the previous generation claim credit for their contributions towards the construction of Ram Mandir. I affirm that if it were not for PM Modi, Janm Bhoomi would still be an issue and not have materialized and that if nothing had happened previously, the country would even then be celebrating the construction of Ram Mandir and be excited about the scheduled consecration ceremony in Ayodhya. The Impossible is possible because of PM Modi’s strength of mind and clear intention. Read 'The Rise of NaMo and New India' to know about the charismatic Prime Minister.