There is a very interesting analogy between the story of Ramayana and the modern world.
In Ramayana, there are two main characters: Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, and Ravana. Ravana, the king of Lanka, abducts Rama's wife, Sita. In order to rescue Sita, Rama gathers a huge army to fight a battle with Ravana. But Ravana is very powerful and cannot be defeated so easily in battle. To Rama's help comes Vibhisana, who is Ravana's younger brother. Vibhisana pleaded before Ravana many times and asked him to return Sita to Rama, but to no avail. Finally, Vibhisana decided to join Rama's camp and help him in securing a victory in the battle with Ravana. And, of course, Rama won the battle and Sita was rescued!
In the modern world, the counterpart of Rama is India and that of Ravana is China. The counterpart of Sita is Tibet and that of Vibhisana is the Dalai Lama. The relation between India and Tibet is very deep, similar to that between Rama and Sita. Ancient India was the spiritual capital of the world, and even modern India can lay claim to the same status to a very good extent. In modern times, Tibet was the seat of Buddhism before China captured it around 1950. The Chinese capture of Tibet is equivalent to Sita's abduction by Ravana. What drove Ravana to abduct Sita was lust. And what drove China to capture Tibet was also lust, though of a different kind. The lust for power and supremacy is as powerful and destructive as an uncontrolled lust for physical pleasures. The equivalent of Vibhisana deciding to take refuge in Rama is the set up of the Government of Tibet in exile in Dharamsala (India) by the Dalai Lama in 1959. And the rest could very well be history!
Rama was the prince of Ayodhya. But just before Rama could be crowned king, he was sent in exile for 14 years to fulfill a vow that his father had made earlier. A similar thing happened to India too. Once upon a time, India used to be the richest country in the world. But imperial forces robbed it of all its wealth and within two centuries, India was grappling with one of the worst instances of poverty.
When Rama wanted to fight the battle with Ravana, he had to take help from other kings since he was in exile and could not use the army of Ayodhya. To Rama's help came Sugriva, the king of the Vanaras. Similarly, India can't fight the battle alone. It is no longer as powerful as it used to be once. India must take help from other countries. Who is the Sugriva of the modern world? It could very well be the United States of America. One reason for choosing USA is that when Rama came to Sugriva for help, Sugriva was himself grappling with many problems. Sugriva's brother, Bali, had taken control of Sugriva's kingdom. So, first Rama had to help Sugriva in getting his own kingdom back, and then Sugriva helped Rama with the entire Vanar sena (Sugriva's army). USA is also facing huge problems, the biggest of which is terrorism and security of its citizens. And since the epicenter of these problems is so close to India, there is no other country in this world that can help USA as much as India can. Thus, there seems to be a very interesting analogy here too!
One question that comes to the mind is: How crucial was Vibhisana to Rama's victory? After all, the fighting was done by Sugriva's army and Rama was himself a very capable fighter and a great leader. One obvious point is that Vibhisana provided Rama with some crucial weaknesses of Ravana. This helped Rama a lot in chalking out the war strategy. But much more importantly, Vibhisana inspired the confidence to win in Sugriva's army. This is simply because when Ravana's own brother showed absolute belief in Rama's victory, it became much easier for Sugriva's soldiers to have absolute faith in the same. And for any army to win a battle, it is not just important but also absolutely necessary for the army to have complete faith in the general. Similarly, for India to win the modern war, it is very important for the world to have complete faith in the peace loving nature of India. This is because it is this fundamental peace loving nature that has been the greatest strength of India for ages. Even when India fought its battle for freedom, peace was its greatest weapon. It is here that the Dalai Lama has played a great role by taking refuge in India. Since Dalai Lama is one of the biggest symbols of peace in the modern world, it now becomes very easy for other countries of the world to have the same faith in the peace loving nature of India.
Now, of course, the above should not be taken to suggest that there is going to be a "real" war between India and China. In the modern world, it is the war of economics that will decide the fate of nations. Ravana was a very prosperous king and his entire kingdom is said to have been made of solid gold. In the modern world, though China is not made of gold, its GDP is huge and currently only behind that of USA and Japan. If the story of Ramayana is anything to go by, then in this century, we will see India marching past China towards a glorious economy. And, much more importantly, Tibet will be free once again!
In Ramayana, there are two main characters: Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, and Ravana. Ravana, the king of Lanka, abducts Rama's wife, Sita. In order to rescue Sita, Rama gathers a huge army to fight a battle with Ravana. But Ravana is very powerful and cannot be defeated so easily in battle. To Rama's help comes Vibhisana, who is Ravana's younger brother. Vibhisana pleaded before Ravana many times and asked him to return Sita to Rama, but to no avail. Finally, Vibhisana decided to join Rama's camp and help him in securing a victory in the battle with Ravana. And, of course, Rama won the battle and Sita was rescued!
In the modern world, the counterpart of Rama is India and that of Ravana is China. The counterpart of Sita is Tibet and that of Vibhisana is the Dalai Lama. The relation between India and Tibet is very deep, similar to that between Rama and Sita. Ancient India was the spiritual capital of the world, and even modern India can lay claim to the same status to a very good extent. In modern times, Tibet was the seat of Buddhism before China captured it around 1950. The Chinese capture of Tibet is equivalent to Sita's abduction by Ravana. What drove Ravana to abduct Sita was lust. And what drove China to capture Tibet was also lust, though of a different kind. The lust for power and supremacy is as powerful and destructive as an uncontrolled lust for physical pleasures. The equivalent of Vibhisana deciding to take refuge in Rama is the set up of the Government of Tibet in exile in Dharamsala (India) by the Dalai Lama in 1959. And the rest could very well be history!
Rama was the prince of Ayodhya. But just before Rama could be crowned king, he was sent in exile for 14 years to fulfill a vow that his father had made earlier. A similar thing happened to India too. Once upon a time, India used to be the richest country in the world. But imperial forces robbed it of all its wealth and within two centuries, India was grappling with one of the worst instances of poverty.
When Rama wanted to fight the battle with Ravana, he had to take help from other kings since he was in exile and could not use the army of Ayodhya. To Rama's help came Sugriva, the king of the Vanaras. Similarly, India can't fight the battle alone. It is no longer as powerful as it used to be once. India must take help from other countries. Who is the Sugriva of the modern world? It could very well be the United States of America. One reason for choosing USA is that when Rama came to Sugriva for help, Sugriva was himself grappling with many problems. Sugriva's brother, Bali, had taken control of Sugriva's kingdom. So, first Rama had to help Sugriva in getting his own kingdom back, and then Sugriva helped Rama with the entire Vanar sena (Sugriva's army). USA is also facing huge problems, the biggest of which is terrorism and security of its citizens. And since the epicenter of these problems is so close to India, there is no other country in this world that can help USA as much as India can. Thus, there seems to be a very interesting analogy here too!
One question that comes to the mind is: How crucial was Vibhisana to Rama's victory? After all, the fighting was done by Sugriva's army and Rama was himself a very capable fighter and a great leader. One obvious point is that Vibhisana provided Rama with some crucial weaknesses of Ravana. This helped Rama a lot in chalking out the war strategy. But much more importantly, Vibhisana inspired the confidence to win in Sugriva's army. This is simply because when Ravana's own brother showed absolute belief in Rama's victory, it became much easier for Sugriva's soldiers to have absolute faith in the same. And for any army to win a battle, it is not just important but also absolutely necessary for the army to have complete faith in the general. Similarly, for India to win the modern war, it is very important for the world to have complete faith in the peace loving nature of India. This is because it is this fundamental peace loving nature that has been the greatest strength of India for ages. Even when India fought its battle for freedom, peace was its greatest weapon. It is here that the Dalai Lama has played a great role by taking refuge in India. Since Dalai Lama is one of the biggest symbols of peace in the modern world, it now becomes very easy for other countries of the world to have the same faith in the peace loving nature of India.
Now, of course, the above should not be taken to suggest that there is going to be a "real" war between India and China. In the modern world, it is the war of economics that will decide the fate of nations. Ravana was a very prosperous king and his entire kingdom is said to have been made of solid gold. In the modern world, though China is not made of gold, its GDP is huge and currently only behind that of USA and Japan. If the story of Ramayana is anything to go by, then in this century, we will see India marching past China towards a glorious economy. And, much more importantly, Tibet will be free once again!
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