Ram and Krishna Katha contain perpetual nectar

Ramcharitmanas and Shrimad Bhagavad contain all the principles of life. There is a need to preserve these principles.

- DR VIJAY DARDA

There is an interesting reference in the mythological beliefs. One day, Maharshi Valmiki asked Narad ji if there existed a person on Earth who was the very embodiment of all virtues, one who could truly be called Maryada Purushottam, the supreme man of honour and righteousness. Narad ji, a perpetual traveller of the three worlds and often hailed as the world's first journalist, instantly uttered the name of Shri Ram of the Ikshvaku dynasty. For millennia, the same Lord Shri Ram has lived not merely as a deity in our hearts, but as an eternal fount of inspiration.

You may be wondering why am I suddenly recalling this reference to Lord Shri Ram and why am I sharing it with you today? The truth is that at this moment in my hometown Yavatmal, eminent scholar and 'kathakar' Shri Morari Bapu is narrating the timeless Ram Katha. While I was occupied with the preparations for this significant event, some people approached me with a question that, while understandable, reveals a certain perspective: "You follow Jainism, so why are you, as a leader, organising this narration of the Ramayan?" I recognise the root of such questions. Religion, in its modern form, has been fragmented into so many distinct parts that people have lost sight of the fundamental truth: The core essence of all faiths is a singular and universal one. I respond very simply: Only when you truly grasp the essence of religion, you realise what a follower of Jainism can learn from the story of Lord Shri Ram.