By: BK Mruthyunjaya
Source: The Daily Guardian https://epaper.thedailyguardian.com/view/2254/the-daily-guardian/14
Dated: April 5th, 2025
In India, the term Ram Rajya is used to refer to an ideal state or society where there is peace, justice, equality, and rule of law, and where everyone follows the highest code of conduct.
Before India gained independence from British colonial rule, Mahatma Gandhi announced that there would be Ram Rajya once the country was free. Gandhiji referred to the ideal state as Ram Rajya, where the values of justice, equality, renunciation, and sacrifice were practised. What does such a state look like in real terms, and how can it be brought about?
Societies and nations are made up of individuals, whose character defines the society or nation. It is on this basis that a society is known as Ram Rajya or its opposite, Ravan Rajya. Both these terms are based on the two principal characters in the epic Ramayana. Ram is a virtuous deity and Ravan a learned but evil-minded demon king who abducted Ram’s consort Sita and was killed in a subsequent battle with Ram and his army.
Ram and Ravan personify the qualities of people in Ram Rajya and Ravan Rajya, respectively. These contrasting qualities have been described at length in the Bhagavad Gita as divine nature and demoniac nature.
In the sixteenth chapter of the Gita, Shri Krishna lists the divine and demoniac traits and urges eradication of the latter and cultivation of divine qualities. He explains the link between ethics and spirituality, and between a life of virtue and God-realisation and liberation from sorrow.
The divine qualities are said to foster peace and lead to liberation, while the demoniacal qualities lead to bondage. The Gita says purity, good conduct, and truth are indispensable to spiritual progress and an honourable life. Fearlessness, charity, self-control, non-violence, and compassion for all living beings are said to be the qualities of those endowed with a divine nature.
On the other hand, hypocrisy, arrogance, anger, and ignorance belong to one who is born with a demoniacal character. Describing such persons at length, the Gita says: “The demoniacal know not what to do and what to refrain from; neither purity nor right conduct nor truth is found in them.” Such persons are filled with insatiable desires and work with impure resolves. They also make a show of devotion, which is contrary to scriptural injunctions.
It is obvious from the above that Ram Rajya can exist only when the people living in that state have divine qualities. How does one get liberated from vices and acquire divine virtues?
At the present time, when the Iron Age is nearing its end and nearly everyone is in the grip of vices, the only way souls can become pure is by linking up with the Supreme Source of virtues. Through this link they can draw power and virtues that will enrich and strengthen them and take them beyond negative influences.
This is how Rajyoga meditation works. When practised regularly, it fills the soul with peace, love, purity, and bliss. These qualities are then reflected in our words and actions. When a large number of individuals transform themselves in this manner, society is transformed. This is the only way divine qualities can be nurtured and Ram Rajya created on this planet.
BK Mruthyunjaya is Additional Secretary General
of the Brahma Kumaris.
