Social & Economic Prosperity: What Ramlalla Has Brought to Ayodhya and the World?

Why do naysayers believe hospitals, whilst Sanatanis postulate temples are a better way to progress and improve the well-being of humans?

Does building and Pran Pratishtha of Ram Mandir good for faith or does it mean good economics too?

Why temples have been the epicentre of the Bharatiya civilization for millenniums?

The Context, the challenge, the conundrum of Life

When one is born on this planet, happiness and grief, pleasure and pain, gratification and salvation come in parallel. As Vedas enunciate the reason, why one gets a human life form is to pursue Purushartha and neutralize the impact and effect of bad deeds or ill- Karma and attain Moksha cutting the cycle of birth, life, happiness, unhappiness, grief, and death.


Dev is understood as God; but who is God?

In most basic terms Dev is someone who gives, who provides, who enables, unlike humans who perform both acts of taking and giving, as per their gunas or according to their manifested energies.

If the manifested energy has more Tamas, then it leads to inaction, which leads to unhappiness, bickering, anxiety, grief and sadness. If one has more Rajas, it leads to hyperactivity, exorbitant yearning, excessive greed, and targeted to attain more, but first for self and then for others. Even when one is thinking of giving, one is thinking of what exists for one to get in return.

The one who has achieved Sattva balances the actions and inactions and never focuses on the results but on actions led by good intentions. This is a neutral state that enables bliss in Perpetuity called Ananda in Sanskrit. Practising this leads to Karma yoga and pursuing Karma yoga leads to Bhakti Yoga and finally Moksha is attained
This journey, though is ardent and easier said than done, as six demons that reside within human Buddhi or mind constantly hamper it, namely Kama (Lust), Krodha (Anger), Lobha (Greed), Mada (Arrogance, obstinacy), Moha (vicious attachment), Matsarya (Jealousy, Envy).

The answer, the Unravelment, the Solve

Temples or Devalaya provide such space, where energies due to the architecture as well as Vaastu directions as well as sound systems cut the negative influence and empower one to empty the mind filled with worries, challenges and problems of the present and future and bad memories, baggage and ill-remembrances of the past.

These temples, then sprout up some great men, who then become the messenger and go on the Worldly journey, yet not getting entangled by it, inspiring, providing direction, providing solutions to one’s troubles, issues, and obstacles.

As Bhagwan Shree Krishna says in Shreemad Bhagwad Geeta,


Chapter 3, Shloka 21

Meaning - Whatever an ideal or great person does, so do other people (imitate him). Whatever standard he sets, other people follow.

The Temple Economics

✔ Temples not only provide emotional & social support to the ecosystem but also act as the hubs of economic activity. Temples were and today as well are the natural choice for conducting fairs, events, and special occasions like Marriages, head-shaving ceremonies, engagement ceremonies etc. Also, most festivals that are 15-16 in number in a year depending on the location and geography are celebrated with great enthusiasm at the temples, along with the rise in tourism activity.

✔ Additionally, temples since time immemorial have acted as the hub of artisans and artists, musicians, and dancers where they display and perform their art, craft, and skill earning name, fame, glory, and money all at the same time, thus enabling an entrepreneurial bent of mind.

✔ Temples also support the society and community by providing food and essentials, ensuring the weakest and most vulnerable are looked after.

✔ During good times, merchants, agriculturists, businessmen, Professionals and commoners all donate gold, money and grains voluntarily to the temple, and during periods of scarcity, the temples support the ecosystem.

✔ Spiritual Pilgrimage and travel were and continue to remain assistive in building a recession-proof, ill-emotion-proof, spiritually imbued economy. Globally 80% of travel is on account of leisure, however in Bharat earlier and now ~ 70% -75% of the travel irrespective of class, creed, or economic prowess happens due to temples. Irrespective of what economic strata one belongs to, everyone travels to all the temples depending on their means and strength thus keeping oneself Vibrant and the economy vibrant throughout the year.

The Apropos Ayodhya Angle

~ 500 years ago in 1528 A.D., Babur came to Ayodhya and destroyed the Ram Mandir and converted the half-destroyed Temple into Babur’s Mosque by putting a tomb on it, it also coincided with the downturn of Sanatani Sabhayata both socially, economically and spiritually.

The evidence of this is, in the early 16th century, Bharat contributed ~ 25.1% of the total World GDP and with subsequent aggressions and finally with British Colonization, Bharat’s GDP contributing to the World GDP fell to a mere ~1.2% in 1947 when Bharat got its independence.

Today at yet, Bharat contributes only ~ 3.88% of the World's GDP. With the destruction of the Ram Mandir, Bharat and Bharat’s Prosperity also got destroyed.

Faith, Pride, and Honour are essential for any civilization to prosper and that’s what was attacked repeatedly by Britishers by cutting the roots of Bharat’s socio-economic-spiritual ecosystem.

Post-Independence, things didn’t change a lot, as Britishers left, yet their cronies and sympathizers held the position of power or formed a coterie in the corridors of the Political set-up.

In 1949 December, with an act of the Universe, the pious, holy, auspicious idol of Ram Lalla was placed once again in the destroyed Ram Mandir also called Babur’s Mosque.

Fast forward to today, with the Pran Prashtita of Ram Lalla, the economy and economics both at Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh and Bharat have changed.

Bharat has emerged as the fifth largest economy superseding its colonizer Britain, and once a country seen as a begging bowl, is now feeding 800 million people with free food and nutrition and has emerged as the largest producer of Food and Food grains in the World.

Furthermore, Uttar Pradesh, once called a BIMARU State is topping the charts for all right reasons.

✔ Uttar Pradesh has added the most number of new Investors in 2023 superseding all other fast-growing states like Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra.

✔ Uttar Pradesh in FY 23 emerged as the highest-ranked state in attracting investment funds from banks and financial institutions getting the lion’s share of 16.2% of the total funds invested across states.

✔ UP tops the list of states doing business through the Government e-marketplace portal in FY 23.

With the Construction of Ram Mandir, the city founded by King Manu, the ancestor of Bhagwan Shree Ram, Ayodhya has been primed, placed and positioned as a Global City, now recognized as a spiritual tourism spot.

Once a small town will give competition to Vatican City and Mecca in times to come.

✔ Since 2017, Ayodhya has received an investment of ~ INR 32000 Crores across 264 projects that include, better infrastructure creation, roads, greenfield townships, an International airport, that initially will have a capacity of carrying 10 lacs passengers and in the next couple of years the capacity to go upto 60 lacs, Highways, International Spiritual centre etc.

✔ Beyond Ram Mandir, other temples of Significance from Life of Bhagwan Shree Ram including Ram Kacheri Mandir, Akshari Mandir, Tulsi Chauraha Mandir, Bharat Kila Mandir, Hanuman Mandir and others are being renovated, decorated and embellished with an outlay of over INR 70 Crores as well so that visitors can get the entire perspective of Lord Shree Ram’s life and his values and virtues during their visit to the city.

✔ In 2017, just over 200,000 tourists visited Ayodhya, however in 2022, the number jumped to 20.3 million Visitors (10x in 5 years) and in 2023, from Jan to Sept, crossed a whopping 21 million, that’s right (2.10 Crores).

Of all the tourists visiting Uttar Pradesh, one of out of 15 visit Ayodhya.

In 2024, post the Pran Prashitha, every day, ~ 2-3 lacs tourists are expected to visit Ayodhya per day and that number can jump to ~ 5 lacs per day on special occasions like Ram Navami or Dusserra or Deepawali.

✔ Even if one tourist spends INR 5,000 on an average over, stay, food, travel, spiritual sightseeing, charities, donations, sewa etc, it is tantamount to INR 150 Crs of incremental earnings for the businesses in the state and translates into ~ INR 55,000 Crores for the year.

By 2030, Ayodhya will attract over ~ 7 Crore or 70 million tourists annually.

This has led to a huge surge in Investors' interest in Ayodhya and the nearby areas.

✔ As per one of the studies done by a real estate brokerage house, of all the enquiries outside the NCR region in Bharat, 90% came for the purchase of land and flats in Ayodhya making it one of the most favourable destinations for Property Investment.

Ayodhya at present, has surpassed, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand, once used to be the favourite places for tourists to build their second house.

✔ With Ayodhya providing spiritual as well as emotional enablement to people, the search for Ayodhya has superseded the search for Goa and Nanital in percentage terms on the hotel chain and vacation rental online marketplace app of Oyo Rooms.

✔ Uttar Pradesh the 4th largest state in Land area terms and the most populace state in the country saw Ayodhya district amongst all its 75 districts as the top collector of revenue receipts for the State Government. Most of the revenue has come from the stamp duty collection on Property transfer.

In FY 17-18, the total number of real estate transactions that happened in Ayodhya was a mere 5962 and that jumped to a whopping 10479 (for the period 10 months of FY 23-24 between April and Nov 2023) ~ 2x in 6 years or more.

Post 2017, Major hotel brands have also lined up to set up four and five-star hotels in Ayodhya. 50 renowned hotel chains including Taj, Marriot, Ginger, Oberoi, Trident and Radisson will soon be operational.

During the Global Investment Summit of Uttar Pradesh, roughly 102 Agreements of Intent worth about INR 18000 Crs were signed for tourism in Ayodhya.

As the demand for housing, and tourism is increasing in Ayodhya manifold, the FMCG businesses including Parle, Britannia, Dabur, Coca Cola etc have geared up stocking up their supplies as well as looking to set up production units in and around Ayodhya. Bisleri, International, the leading Water Brand, has already established its Plant and the same will be operational in the forthcoming months.

Food servicing companies with likes of Haldiram, Mcdonalds, Dominos etc are also looking for good locations to set up their centres with the view of heightened tourist activity around the year.

In the next 7 years, Ayodhya will get a massive makeover with an outlay of INR 85,000 Crores that will develop the core city of Ayodhya spanning 31.5 sqkms and another 133 sqkms of Master Planned city outside the core city.

As development finds its way into Ayodhya, the spiritual soul of Ayodhya needs to be preserved and hence the State government is taking initiatives to ensure the culture and Cleanliness of Ayodhya are not compromised through 8 initiatives

• Aesthetic Ayodhya
  
  
• Clean Ayodhya
  
  
• Efficient Ayodhya
  
  
• Accessible Ayodhya
  
  
• Experiential Ayodhya
  
  
• Modern Ayodhya
  
  
• Cultural Ayodhya and finally
  
  
• Healthy Ayodhya

Furthermore, as Ayodhya’s tourist activity is on the rise, the underlying manufacturing has also jumped manifold, with the rise in exports for Ayodhya between FY 23 and FY 22 being 130%.

Ram Mandir has also promised and presented prosperity in the lives of the people of Ayodhya, with Bank deposits in Ayodhya district doubling in five years from ~ INR 30,000 Crores in 2017 to INR 67,600 Crs in 2021.

With the advent of the Ram Mandir and Ram Lalla being consecrated in the Ram Mandir, Ayodhya will turn into gold exactly in the same way Mata Ahalya attained Moksha post-meeting Bhagwan Shree Ram.

Many Naysayers believe that instead of building a temple, a hospital should have been built, the reply from Siddhartha Rastogi to them is simple;

“Hospital cures, Temple Heals, Hospital causes economic drain, Mandir brings economic prosperity, Hospital caters to physical ailment correction, Mandir corrects and rejuvenates the body, mind and soul.”

Jai Shree Ram, Jai Jai Shree Ram!