Difficult to revere god - perspective of a Hindu

@AuthorYogi Sorry, but this discussion says "you were a god", does not give a name, and like I wrote, I do not know anything at your religion. It was completely obscure for somebody who is not a "Sanatani", like many responders also said it. And is Rama a god or not ? You tell me that he is not, vanny tells in a comment to @LadyDuck that he is a god.

Mommy this topic is for me. First we are not Hindu, stop using this word for us. We are Sanatani practising our religion which is called Snatana. Practising our religion is called Hinduism from where this word derive Hindu. Now coming to your discussion, Lord Vishnu took the Avatar of King Rama who is not a God. He is a human and human do make mistakes. Second Treta Yuga in which Rama has born also the YUGA in which Kalyuga born. Due to kalyuga we all are suffering and at the time King Rama making those decisions it was the effect of kalyuga. We worship Rama not because he is a God but because of his devotion toward his parents to his kingdom.

@topffer He is not a God but he is the descent of lord Vishnu.

@vandana7 Exactly ! he was more human than god , not perfect !

@vandana7 whatever faults he may have had in his human avatar , Rama was not a barbarian but a self righteous ( may be too much so) person who put his duty ( possibly misplaced at times) above everything else so absolutely no comparison to any other religious zealots . Essentially he is revered for being fair to the extent of sacrificing his own happiness. Lakshman had to end his avatar and go back to Vshnus abode since he was the reincarnation of Shesha nag . He wanted it to end in the hands of his master Vishnu ( Rama) ...

But if he is a god, he needed to set an example. He set an example as a polite person, set an example as loyal husband, set an example as considerate to his wife by not taking on second wife, even though laws then allowed him to, but failed miserably by that one dastardly act. Killing a woman on sly? That too a wife, who served him and knew no sin? How can he be wise?

Most people follow things mechanically, without questioning. That is fine when you are young. As you grow up, you do need to question and seek answers. It does not mean you become a disbeliever. It means you broaden your horizon by opening up to various possibilities. You may get a very legitimate answer, or die seeking that answer. But ask you must. I hate it, when people don't want to let others ask.

@vandana7 "I hate it, when people don't want to let others ask." Why so ? Why should let others ask about my life.

@sjvg1976 .. No ..not about your life. About religion...sigh.

@vandana7 This is probably obvious for you, but I hope you realize the amount of details needed for a foreigner to understand your post. We are not that intellectual. Interesting though, thank you for that

@vandana7 Sorry, this is something too much specific to your country and your religion, it's difficult enough to follow the changes in my own religion.

@topffer Religion is not my cup of tea, not even my own religion. This is not something I would study in depth.

Aw...its ok...I was actually trying to get Hindus to clarify on how they view the situation that I see. Sorry ...

I was going to say the same Gary, I have nothing to say here.

@vandana7 NO, no never be sorry. It is something I was not quite up to speed on. It is puzzling for me. Unless you understand Hinduism and all the Gods for us in the West we just do not have the comprehension of it to understand but I can see those in India do understand you by their answers!

@AuthorYogi Thanks for your explanation. Hope Hindu people are not offended however.

He didn't do this for revenge, He killed Ravana just because he was a demon.

@YrNemo Hindu sanatani we are.

No...that is not the right version. He had every power to leave the kingdom and accompany her. He would have been within his rights to relinquish throne in favor of Bharat who managed it well in his absence, saying, I failed her, in some way, and so it is my duty to be by her side. That would be the god, I would thoroughly understand and worship. This god leaves me in doubt whether he stayed back for comforts. The least he could have done when she was leaving as you say was to tell Hanuman, go take care of her.

@Daljinder .. I think duties move differently. First duty of a person is towards country..every person. That duty is bifurcated into smaller duties, manageable portions. The eventual unit is family. The duty of family is to contribute to the national needs by working, and produce next generation for continuing the same chores or whatever is needed at the hour. At each level there is need to monitor the effectiveness of actions towards the main objective ..that is serve the nation. Therefore, if I bring up my kids well, I am doing my duty. If I educate my kids, I am doing my national duty. If I take care of my kids when they are sick, then also I am doing my national duty. Merely sitting there and doing administration job does not mean it is the only way nation is served. Nor working in armed forces imply that is the only way nation is served. Each one of us when we do things the right way, as expected to us, serve our nation. Once Rama was married, his primary duty was to take care of his wife. He fails there, he fails towards nation. I can understand if there were no competent rulers around that forced him to take that step. Bharat was competent. That avatar thing is such fabrication...it is like telling dracula can be killed with crucifix. The priest who must have been questioned, found a way to explain it with Avatar..so every time there is a doubt, bring in avatar. lol. What was the great duties of Vishnu did he achieved? And I believe, (Not sure)...Sita leaving him is not there...some manipulation of book to make Rama look nice since that seems so inconsistent with Rama's otherwise nature.

@vandana7 No the character we are talking about does not fit with your description and certainly will lose all credibility and his essence if he had followed your way of taking decisions. Ramayan would not have been popular and respected at all if he had followed the path you mention. It's not a blind following. I myself am fond of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Both of them had good, bad and the in between. Each excerpt with a purpose and deep meaning behind them. It depends on the point of view of the reader which way they want to take it. You look for good, you will find good. Go looking for the evil you will surely find that too.

@vandana7 Ram rajya is a term coined by Mahatma Gandhi. It was he who explained what ram rajya was. It stood on 7 principles. I don't remember all but some of it was that justice shall be served to even the weakest and poorest, everyone should have access to highest authority, the army should not play part in governance and the government should not dictate the actions of the army on the battlefield and there were more which I am not able to recollect right now. As for bharat rajya, there was no bharat rajya as he has left to the forest in absence of ram and made shatrughan the governor so basically they followed the path how their father used to govern. As for ashwamedha yagya is that was if anyone had objection with Ram's authority on that land. It was not sent to the neighboring kingdoms but to their Kingdom only which was a practice followed by every ruler who ascended to the throne to find out if there are people who don't resonate with the fact. Just like a ballot system. As for laxman's punishment, he was found guilty of putting his well being above that of the royal order as the sage threatened to curse him. But to be fair to him Ram didn't order his execution and as the 3rd in command in the kingdom he was given the choice to decide his own punishment. As far as mythology goes laxman was incarnation of the sheshnag or the king of snakes and his work was done and hence he decided to end his mortal form but that is just mythology which I don't dig into. And as far as believing in incarnation is one's own thinking. I don't believe in incarnations either but I do give due respect to the king Ram on the way he ruled. In Indonesia he is revered as their forefather, they don't call him God but their ancestor who governed these lands once.

I know. I am sorry. It is a religious topic. I want people to keep religion out of day to day lives as it has lot of unacceptable stuff. I want unacceptable stuff highlighted so that they do not follow it with fanaticism, and criticize other religions.

@vandana7