Image: Lord Rama's kingdom (Credits: Bing)
During the era of Lord Rama, i.e in Treta Yuga, after the epic battle of the Ramayana and Lord Rama’s celebrated victory, there reigned a period of unprecedented good fortune, prosperity and peace in the kingdom of Lord Rama. Sita Devi, Lakshmana and his brothers Bharata and Shatrughna kept serving Lord Rama with all sincerity and dedication. This was a period of about 10,000 years called the Rama Rajya.
This is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam (9.11.26 – 9.11.36) as follows: -
Text 26: During the reign of Lord Rāmacandra, the streets of the capital, Ayodhyā, were sprinkled with perfumed water and drops of perfumed liquor, thrown about by elephants from their trunks. When the citizens saw the Lord personally supervising the affairs of the city in such opulence, they appreciated this opulence very much.
Text 27: The palaces, the palace gates, the assembly houses, the platforms for meeting places, the temples and all such places were decorated with golden waterpots and bedecked with various types of flags.
Text 28: Wherever Lord Rāmacandra visited, auspicious welcome gates were constructed, with banana trees and betel-nut trees, full of flowers and fruits. The gates were decorated with various flags made of colorful cloth and with tapestries, mirrors and garlands.
Text 29: Wherever Lord Rāmacandra visited, the people approached Him with paraphernalia of worship and begged the Lord’s blessings. “O Lord,” they said, “as You rescued the earth from the bottom of the sea in Your incarnation as a boar, may You now maintain it. Thus we beg Your blessings.”
Text 30: Thereafter, not having seen the Lord for a long time, the citizens, both men and women, being very eager to see Him, left their homes and got up on the roofs of the palaces. Being incompletely satiated with seeing the face of the lotus-eyed Lord Rāmacandra, they showered flowers upon Him.
Texts 31-34: Thereafter, Lord Rāmacandra entered the palace of His forefathers. Within the palace were various treasures and valuable wardrobes. The sitting places on the two sides of the entrance door were made of coral, the yards were surrounded by pillars of vaidūrya-maṇi, the floor was made of highly polished marakata-maṇi, and the foundation was made of marble. The entire palace was decorated with flags and garlands and bedecked with valuable stones, shining with a celestial effulgence. The palace was fully decorated with pearls and surrounded by lamps and incense. The men and women within the palace all resembled demigods and were decorated with various ornaments, which seemed beautiful because of being placed on their bodies.
Text 35: Lord Rāmacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, chief of the best learned scholars, resided in that palace with His pleasure potency, mother Sītā, and enjoyed complete peace.
Text 36: Without transgressing the religious principles, Lord Rāmacandra, whose lotus feet are worshiped by devotees in meditation, enjoyed with all the paraphernalia of transcendental pleasure for as long as needed.
Image: People of Lord Rama's kingdom (Credits: Bing)
"After fulfilling the long-cherished construction of the Lord Rama Temple at Ayodhya, the next desire of people is for establishing “Rama Rajya” in the country. “Rama Rajya” is a term used to describe the ideal state of society as envisioned by Lord Rama, comprising perfect harmony, justice, dharma and prosperity, where people live in peace and happiness. However, the concept of “Rama Rajya” has been interpreted in various ways by different people. The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, said that for him true Ram Rajya would be, to ensure “equal rights to both prince and pauper”… As Mahatma Gandhi said, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed”. People read or listen to the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagvad Gita etc, and visit temples, but lack characteristics of dharma, compassion and human values. Lord Rama is revered as “Maryada Purushottam” for the completeness of his character, embodying the highest ideals of morality, duty and righteousness and for upholding the values of truth, justice and compassion..." (The Statesman, May, 20, 2024)
The new planetary yuga or the Golden Age foretold by Lord Caitanya will be a period of 10,000 years of progress, prosperity and religious renaissance. However, we need to remember that there are several challenges to that happening in the immediate present. The features typical to Kali yuga according to the shastras are prevalence of materialism, empirical thinking, animosity among people, cheating, poverty, chaos and suffering. We can still observe the vestiges of this evanescent paradigm everywhere since there is still widespread war, corruption and materialism. For the new age to really set in, there needs to be widespread chanting of the holy names in “every town and village”. We need to bring back the concept of Varnashrama Dharma meaning that every ashram (brahmachari, grihastha, vanaprastha and sannyasa) should be properly situated in their duties (or dharma). Spiritual societies need to continue their service to bring a more God conscious era in today’s world while leaders need to make sure that they subscribe to more righteous codes of behaviour as epitomised by Lord Rama.
The advent of Lord Kalki means that things can and will change in a direction which is for the common welfare of all but we need to remember that higher standards of behaviour and ethical conduct are required of all of us, both materially and spiritually. This will propitiate the blessings of Lord Kalki and His consort Padma on this Earth. ISKCON Bangalore brings a video which can be watched on the following link on Rama Rajya.
By Krishna Leela Prakash (May 21, 2024)
Rama-Rajya: A Vision of Harmony and Prosperity | Sri Suvyakta Narasimha Dasa
ISKCON Bangalore (Credits: YouTube)
Lord Rama's rule (Credits: Bing)
The Guru: His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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