00:00How Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram's life symbolizes the journey of our country and it's the philosophy, the civilizational philosophy of
00:11Bharat Varsh in so many different ways.
00:14For example, Sonal, if I just begin with one word, you know, when Lord Ram finally destroyed evil in the
00:22form of Ravad, Lakshmar wanted to stay back in Lanka.
00:26You know, Sone Ki Lanka, he wanted to stay back. Lord Ram said, no. And you know what did he
00:30say?
00:32Api swanmaii Lanka, na mein Lakshmana rochate, janani janma bhoomishcha swargadapi gariyasi.
00:39You know, even though Lanka is of gold, I don't like it. For me, my mother and my motherland are
00:47greater than God.
00:49Janani janma bhoomishcha swargadapi gariyasi.
00:52I'm hoping in the next hour and a half, I'll get to see and you'll also get to learn so
00:56much more of the shaira and the festivals and what they mean and the meaning behind that with Gaurav.
01:02He clearly knows so much more. My memories of the shaira, for example, Gaurav are the ones that when we
01:07were growing up in Kanpur, we would all get together and we would make a Ravan effigy at home.
01:14And with every, you know, one head of the Ravan, my mom would ask me to sort of think of
01:22one evil that I'm letting go of today.
01:24I always found that very interesting, right?
01:27What a beautiful thought.
01:28With every head, like you had to tell her what are the 10 things that you want to get rid
01:32of, this the shaira.
01:33Because it's not just the act, it's about the Ram and the Ravan within perhaps that one has to look
01:38at, right?
01:38So I'm hoping to get that also out of Gaurav today.
01:42So we'll see how that goes.
01:43But before we get into our own personal stories, let's take our viewers to what's happening as we speak.
01:47Let's go straight to ground zero and this is where the celebrations have started.
01:54The celebration of destroying the evil within.
01:58That's right.
01:58It's symbolism that we're talking about.
02:01You know, when you see effigies of Ravad, of Kumbhkarad and Meghanad.
02:07When these effigies are burnt, what does it symbolize?
02:11It symbolizes burning the evil within.
02:16I want you to look at these various Ramayans across, you know, the shairas across various years.
02:23So Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this is the 12th year that he will be celebrating the shaira.
02:31Now, again, Bharat's civilizational philosophy.
02:34Yato dharma tato jai.
02:37Where there is righteousness, there is victory.
02:41Ladies and gentlemen, this is the motto of the Supreme Court of India.
02:46Amidst the cures and unrest in the world, India is celebrating Vijay Dashmi, the festival that symbolizes the triumph of
02:51good over evil.
02:53And every year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the shaira celebration.
02:57The different Ramleelas.
02:58For example, he's at IP extension today.
03:012,500 security personnel already deployed.
03:04But there's much more.
03:06Yeah, nearly 10,000 people are expected to attend the Ravan Dehen ceremony as it's called.
03:11And across several parts of India, effigies of Ravana, Meghanad, Kumbhkaran will be set ablaze symbolizing the victory of good
03:18over evil.
03:19And if you're in the national capital, there is an effigy of cockroach as well that you must watch out
03:23for, which we will tell you in the course of this program.
03:26But the festival also marks the culmination of Ramleela performances, which brings alive key episodes from the life of Lord
03:33Ram.
03:34And every part of it, can I tell you this?
03:37You know, if I for a moment tell you about the Aranyakand.
03:42In the Aranyakand, you have Marich.
03:45Marich tells Ravana, when Ravana is about to abduct Ma Sita, he tells, Marich tells Ravana, Ramo Vigravan Dharma.
03:56Lord Ram symbolizes, personifies Dharma or righteousness.
04:01So, if you are going against Lord Ram, you are going against the Dharma or righteousness.
04:07Now, imagine if Marich, who is siding with evil, knows this and Ravana didn't, even though Ravana was so intelligent.
04:15Yeah.
04:15And, you know, and through the course of the years, these stories have changed, Gaurav.
04:20The meaning of the festival has also been symbolized in different ways.
04:23Today, we have in front of us a cockroach effigy.
04:26I would love to know what are your notes on that.
04:28We were chatting up with our colleague, Shriya, who's at that incident.
04:31And I asked her that, you know, Ram ko barne ke liye to teen, you know, teer kamaan chahiye tha.
04:36Ravan ko, beg your pardon.
04:38Ravan ko, you know, dehen karne ke liye, Ram ji ne teer kamaan liya tha.
04:44To abhi, cockroach ki effigy jalane ke liye, kya use kareenge?
04:47She was like, nobody knows really what's really happening.
04:49But that's something that we'll, you know, watch out for.
04:52But while the message of the shera remains the same, celebrations take place in different forms across the country.
04:58Let's take you to Gwalior first.
04:59What's happening there?
05:00In Madhya Pradesh, the tradition of Shastra Puja or the worship of weapons is being observed.
05:06Union Minister Jyotir Aditya Sindhya is performing the Royal Shastra Puja and the Dhuach Puja as well at the Gokhi
05:13Devraat.
05:13Now, Shastra Puja, because your weapon symbolizes your strength, for victory of good over evil, you need to be strong.
05:23And this again is civilizational philosophy of Bharatwaj.
05:26Now, very recently in Operation Sindhur, you had Director General of Air Operations, who actually recited, you know, a shlok
05:33from, you know, Lord Ram's life, where he said,
05:44Now, that is India's civilizational philosophy.
05:48You know, for three days, Lord Ram, with folded hands, was begging the ocean, please part way so that I
05:55can go to Lanka and bring back Ma Sita, my wife Sita.
05:58But the ocean didn't. So, three days he prayed. The fourth day, he took out his bow and arrow and
06:05was willing to destroy the ocean, you know, or carve away when the ocean came.
06:11And, you know, he bent down on bent knee and said, oh Lord, please don't do that. So, you know,
06:16bhai bin hoi na preet. Without fear, there is no respect.
06:20Now, Lord Ram or, you know, Valmiki Ramayana said it. Then, in 21st century Operation Sindhur, it's been proven once
06:28again.
06:28Yeah. And, Gaurav, isn't it true that even today before there are battle cries, even today when new weapons are
06:35bought, new artillery is got into force, even now a little bit of a pooja is done.
06:40And those traditions carry out even as we speak, right? Oh, absolutely. Even in today's day and age.
06:45So, you know, we were at a Shastra Pooja. Shastra Pooja, every dashehra, you worship your weapon.
06:51You know, it's symbolic. So, you clean your weapon. Now, worshipping it is, your weapon has to be fit for
06:57war. You have to be fit for war.
06:59You know, so you take out your weapon, you pray, and then you either keep it back or you fire
07:04your weapon in a firing range. You just ensure everything is okay.
