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Ram Vs Krishna




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.

However, it would need to be kept in mind that every advantage would come with a hidden disadvantage. In order to establish rule of law, immense power has to be given in the hands of government and police and that may lead to corruption and abuse of the power. On the other hand frequent use of freedom to stage protests can lead to the breakdown of government machinery which may result in anarchy. Therefore, it is important to create a balance between Masculine and Feminine ways of governance so that a just, disciplined, free, content and happy society can exist. Therefore, the way forward is not Ram or Krishna but it is rather Ram and Krishna.

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