According to Hindu belief system, its scriptures and
books associated with it, the time is divided into four Yugas. It started with
Satyuga when every one was righteous. It was followed by Tretayuga, the Yuga
marked by the presence of Shri Ram and the way of life established by him. Then
we entered into the Dwapar Yuga, when Krishna set foot on this earth and gave
us a new way of life. And finally came the age or the Yuga in which we all were
born i.e. Kali Yuga. The reason I started off with a brief description of Yugas
is because if we take out Satyuga, the age where everyone was righteous and
Kaliyuga, a time when which is marked by chaos, we are left with two Yugas,
Treta and Dwapar. These two yugas were specifically important, because in both
these Yugas, world witnessed the emergence of two iconic personalities, whose
deeds were so great that they were conferred with the titles of Vishnu Avatars
or Incarnations of Vishnu. With their deeds and efforts they established new
ways of life for their times and created order out of chaos. The two Gods among
mortals that I am referring to are Ram and Krishna.
It is believed that Lord Vishnu descended on this earth
whenever, the world entered into a chaos so deep that it was not possible for
any human being to create order in the society. Of all the avatars of Lord
Vishnu, Ram and Krishna are most revered and worshipped. I am not interested in
discussing whether they truly were incarnations of Vishnu or they were normal
human beings whose deeds and achievements were so great that people started
worshipping them as Gods. What I am interested in exploring and discussing here
is the kind of societies that both of them established and which model is best
suited for us in the current times.
Ram and Krishna were two personalities who were poles
apart. While Ram stood for upholding the law at any cost, Krishna believed that
laws can be tweaked in order to deliver justice and ensuring that the Dharma
prevails over Adhrma. However, even while following different paths, the
destination always remained same, i.e. the welfare of people and establishment
of order in the society. Let’s have a closer look at the kind of societies that
both of them created.
Most of us worship and remember Ram for what we
consider to be his greatest deed, that of killing Ravan, the king of Lanka who
abducted Ram’s wife Sita. However, we tend to forget that Ram’s legacy was way
beyond that. Ram established a way of ruling a kingdom which has become
synonyms with perfectly ruled society. Even today in India the aim for any good
government and the dream and aspiration of public from their government is to
establish Ram Rajya. So what was this Ram Rajya which became so famous that it
is remembered till this date? Ram as a king and a before that as a prince of
Ayodhaya, decided to follow what can be termed as Masculine way of life, where
law of the land is supreme and no one is above the law whether it is the
poorest person of the kingdom or the King. The society was governed according
to laid down rules, laws and procedures. No deviations were allowed. Law was
same for everyone. Every act of the citizens of the kingdom including the royal
family was governed by these set of laws.
It is said that when Ram returned from 14 years of
exile and was crowned the King, the kingdom was in disarray. Citizens had
stopped paying taxes and law and order was non existent. This was when Ram
decided to launch this new way of governance and set an example for the
citizens of his kingdom by following all the laws to the core when it came to
him and his family. This Masculine way of life did not provide scope for
questioning the law. However, there were many benefits of this way of
governance. First of all rule of law paved way for the creation of order in the
society. Since laws were clearly stated in simplified terms and punishments for
flouting laws were clearly defined, there was no scope of finding a way to
tweak it. Therefore, it led to the creation of a disciplined society. There was
also a sense of equality and justice because law did not favor rich and powerful.
Even the King and the royal family were covered under the gambit of law. Hence,
it could be termed as a near perfect society.
However, analytically speaking, the same reasons which
helped this Masculine way of governance establish order in the society could
lead to its destruction. In this way of life, there is no scope for questioning
the relevance of the laws even if they lead to injustice and come in the way of
development. One cannot raise voice against the system. Freedom is somewhat
curbed in this system. This system can lead to a feeling of restriction among
the people and which may give rise to revolts and rebellion. The society can
crumble under the burden of constant run in with laws and rules.
Krishna, unlike Ram was never a king. However, through
out his life through the deeds and decisions that he took, he helped
established a just and righteous society and left valuable lessons for the
future generations to follow. Krishna’s way of governance can be called as the
Feminine way of life, where emphasis was given on the freedom of people and
laws were established to support this freedom.
In this Feminine society, citizens were allowed the
freedom to carve their own paths and self governance was encouraged. Even the
kingdom which Krishna belonged to, there was no king to rule. Instead a council
of wise men was established which governed the kingdom. Citizens were encouraged to voice their
concerns if the laws came in the way of doing the right thing. Even during the
course of Mahabharata, there were many instances when Krishna himself side
stepped law to ensure that Dharma wins. In a feminine society, there was no
restriction on the rich amassing more and more wealth till the time poor are
not suppressed. People were allowed to challenge the law. Hence, this way of
governance led to a greater sense of freedom to the common people and even
though there was lack of order, people were content.
However, the biggest drawback of this kind of
governance model is that the society can anytime get into chaos and the almost
non existent laws would make it impossible to control it. It is very difficult
to ensure that people follow Dharma and not misuse the freedom. Without
effective control mechanisms in place the society can crumble quickly at a hint
of disturbance.
So which model of governance should be followed? Whether
Ram’s Masculine way of governance with rule of law at its core, the best way or
the Krishna’s Feminine way of freedom to people the way to go forward? To be
frank both these ways were near perfect but not perfect. However, having said
that it is important to note that for the times when these ideas were put into
action, they were the best solution.
However, if we look at the India of now, it seems that
a mix of Masculine and Feminine forms of governance is what is required. Where
the Masculine way would ensure order and discipline among the people, Feminine
way would ensure that people would retain their freedom to express discontent
if they are not satisfied with the actions of the government. Masculine way
would help in weeding out the corruption from the system by bringing everyone
under the gambit of law and ensuring that law is respected by everyone, in a
way leading to the formation of a peaceful society. Feminine way on the other
side would help the wealth creation in the country by allowing everyone the
opportunity to work their way up in the economic ladder. Masculine way of
governance would ensure that the country develops at a rapid pace with great
infrastructure and plethora of opportunities for all by making everyone
accountable for their work. On the other hand Feminine way would ensure that
people can lay claim to the opportunities presented to them for their growth.
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