It was 6 am. I quickly finished my morning prayers and was waiting with bated breath to leave the hotel with Swarup Sampath ji. We had decided to do the darshan together. Both of us knew that this is once in a generation opportunity, & we had to be on time. We reached Bhakti Path at 8.45 am. It was decorated with flowers. The entire Ayodhya Nagri was decorated to welcome the King Prabhu Shri Ram after the wait of 500 years. I showed my paas, they scanned the OTP, and we were in. At every step there was RSS Swayamsewaks guiding and helping the dignitaries. I remember being to Ayodhya before 2019, I had to ask the way to do darshan at Hanuman Garhi and Ram Lalla.
I was there in 2019 at the time of Supreme Court order and in 2020 when the prime minister had performed the bhoomi poojan, in the past too and now witnessing the civilisation renaissance. It was a personal journey for me to a city which was ignored , neglected before. Now it's the destination every Sanatani is eager to reach. These thoughts were going on in my mind as I walked on the Bhakti Path – 500 metres path to Bhagvan Ram's Mandir. Security check was smooth and within minutes roughly around 9.30 AM we were inside the Bhavya Ram Mandir. It was majestic, it was grand, it was Alaukik, it was finally here – ‘Mandir Baan bhi Gaya . Mandir vahin Bana'. I was speechless, tears fell from eyes. I was sitting in Block 1 where I could see I was not alone to patch my family members in a video call for the Divya Bhavya Darshan. There were tears in the eyes of my family members too. All of us were connected by just one thought – ‘Prabhu Ram and Ram Bhakti'. As I settled down, I was still absorbing the moment. I ensured that I get enough ‘Kodak moments ‘ clicked . As the ‘Divya Pal ‘ of Pran Prathistha was nearing Champath Rai ji came on the stage which was on the entrance of the Mandir and started to address the dignitaries and made them aware about the efforts of the people of India for Ram Mandir. How the mandir was efforts of people from every part of India. He also informed that Prime Minister will soon be entering and Pran Prathistha will begin. During this time there were Ram Bhajans being played, Shankar Mahadevan and Sonu Nigam mesmerised with their compositions. As the clock ticked 12.05 pm, Narendra Modi entered to begin the Pooja and Pran Prathistha at the scheduled time of 12.29 pm. I was just looking at the BIG Screen where PM was peforming the Pooja. The gentleman sitting next to me was Balbir Singh . He was a Sikh who had travelled all the way from Bidar, Karnataka and whose Gurudwara contribute in the teachings of Prabu Shri Ram. He told me – “What PM Modi had done is immortal”. Another Sikh Gentleman sitting two rows behind me was chanting, ‘Jai Shree Ram'. The thought that struck me was' Prabhu Ram has unified all of us , all of us irrespective of our caste & demography. The lie that was peddled since independence was finally been called out ‘Jai Shri Ram was not communal, it was the chant of unity of Bharat's DNA.
Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla
With these thoughts I got my attention back at the screen and the moment arrived. ‘Our Prabhu Ram Pran Prathistha. I looked at Swarup ji, she looked at me we had tears of joy. I saw around all had their cell phone, they all were greeting each other. I happen to spot – Arun Yogiraj the scupltor from Karnataka who had sculpted Prabhu Ram's Idol. He was sitting three chairs near me. I went to him – I introduced him, he told me he was aware of who I was. I thanked him and said -‘Thank you. Prabhu Shri Ram will always protect you. You have served Sanatan'. He smiled and we clicked a selfie together. All of us waited with bated breath for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address. He began with ‘Siyavar Ram Chandra ki ‘. The dignitories responded ‘Jai'. I have listened to countless speech of PM Modi. But this one was different. It felt as if Prabhu Shri Ram was speaking with PM Narendra Modi as Madhyam. His lines ‘ Ram aaj nai urja hai' got thunderous response, his food for thought -“Ab Mandir Baan Gaya aage kya ” was a clarion call to the next generation for giving their ‘Pal Pal' to make Bharat a developed nation, work towards building a Ram rajya . It was clear – 22 January 2024 was amar ‘.
The Divya Darshan
Post Prime Minister's speech he greeted everyone and then the Mandir was open for the darshan of dignitaries. In our block I was second in line for darshan. I was waiting to touch the floor of the Mandir and take blessings of Prabhu Shri Ram. By around 4 pm, I could enter the Mandir. ‘ I could experience a divine energy, the enegy which motivated me to work towards Prabhu Ram's ideals of Dharma of doing good for our country. I told myself -” Pradeep kuch to acche karm kiye honge ki 22 January 2024 ko Prabhu Ram ke darshan ka saubhagya mila “.. Looking at Prabhu Ram I prayed…I prayed for Bharat… I prayed for his eternal guidance.
As I exited the temple it was already 6 pm. I collected Prasadam. It was beautifully packed. It had Laddu and some literature detailing the places Prabhu Ram visited when he was on a 14 year vanvaas. I wondered to myself – “How could the Leftist intellectuals make Prabhu Shri Ram about Hindi heartland Bhakti . When I could see people from all over the country Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala Tamil Nadu all dancing on the steeets of Ayodhya? When Prabhu Shri Ram visited Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Maharashtra how they say ‘ southern part of India does not relate with Ram'. I was convinced that when PM Narendra Modi in his speech said, ‘Ram Bharat ki Sanskriti ka prateek hai, Bharat ki astha ka prateek hai'. He was challenging this lie this myth which was spread in the last 70 years by the intellectual Macaulays. I took it upon myself to take Prabhu Ram's message to every Bhartiya to every citizen because as PM Narendra Modi said ‘Ram Vishvyapi hai'. With these thoughts with bliss and Prabhu Ram's Ashirvad I sat in my car and I drove back to the hotel with Swarup ji in the most satisfying blissful day of my life.
Jai Sita Ram
Pradeep Bhandari is the founder of Jan Ki Bat, an established data research brand, and one of the most successful and widely followed psephologists who has predicted 38 Indian elections accurately at the age of 32, traversed 1 lakh km across 22 states. He was a consulting editor with Republic TV and news director with India News/NewsX in the past.
