గురు బ్రహ్మ గురుర్ విష్ణుః గురుర్ దేవో మహేశ్వరః
గురు స్సాక్షాత్ పరబ్రహ్మ తస్మై శ్రీ గురవే నమః
శుక్లాం బరధరం విష్ణుం శశివర్ణం చతుర్భుజం
ప్రసన్న వదనం ధ్యాయేత్ సర్వ విఘ్నోప శాంతయే
శ్రుతి స్మృతి పురాణానాం ఆలయం కరుణాలయం
నమామి భగవత్ పాదం శంకరం లోక శంకరం
ఓం నమః శివాయ
Before Independence Gopalakrishna Gokhale started giving lectures to people in lot of areas stating that completely boycotting everything English is not good for the country. His intention was not to take sides with British though. On one of the days in a magazine called “Bande Maataram”, run by Aurobindo Ghosh, an article was published with the title, “Exit Vibheeshana”. This article was about Gokhale being a traitor. This had two problems. First the allegation that Gokhale was a traitor and second Vibheeshana.
Just to refresh the memory – Vibheeshana is that
Raavana’s brother from Raamayanam. He tried his best convincing his brother
Raavana to return Sita to Sri Rama. Despite all his attempts, Raavana not only
ignored him, but also insulted him. With adharma growing in Lanka, Vibheeshana
did not have a choice but to take side with Dharma.
So he approached Sri Rama and sought refuge. Sri
Rama being Sri Rama sought the advice of all his colleagues. Except Hanuman,
everyone advised against the acceptance of Vibheeshana. Their justification
was, “If some one can desert his brother, he is definitely not trust worthy.”
After listening to all opinions, Sri Rama made a very simple statement, “Any
one who comes to me seeking refuge, I wont refuse. Even if Raavana comes and
seeks refuge, I will pardon him and protect him.”
Anyway, let me not digress to Sri Rama’s character
discussion here. That’s a never ending topic. So, Vibheeshana took the side of
dharma and joined Sri Rama. Now multiple questions arise by this act.
Instead of joining Sri Rama, he could have been
neutral and left Lanka and gone somewhere.
A human being has to be good or bad. Being Neutral
is not a good choice. If you know that something is bad, then you have to take
the side of good. You cant sit on the fence.
Ok fine. Taking sides is ok. But why does he have
to share all the secrets with Sri Rama and his army?
Once you have taken a side, you have to be
committed. You have to do full justice to your relationship and commitment. You
cant make half hearted attempts.
Maybe by taking sides with Sri Rama, he wanted the
kingdom?
Vibheeshana is not only a Dharma seeking guy, he is
a very wise guy. Vibheeshana would get the kingdom only if Raavana loses the
war. If Raavana loses the war, there would be nothing left in Lanka. So, who
would be interested in ruling a grave yard?
So, finally, is Vibheeshana a traitor? To answer
that lets define who a traitor is. A traitor is the one who takes sides with
the enemy to make his/her country a slave to the enemy.
From the above definition, Vibheeshana never wanted/made
Lanka a slave country of Sri Rama. In fact, he ruled it as a king. He took it
up at a stage when there was nothing left in Lanka after the war.
So, before we call anyone a traitor, lets think.
సర్వే జనాః సుఖినో భవంతు
PS: There could be
typos and other mistakes in telugu and english, kindly pardon me with big
hearts.
