Great Life Lessons To Learn From Epic Ramayana That Still Have Relevance

'What we think and do every day determines how our lives will be.' - This is something we all have heard as a child, but fail to implement as an adult. We all know about the epic Ramayana, which is written by Sage Valmiki.

It is a prime example of the age-old saying "truth always wins". Despite odds and fierce opponents, Lord Rama, stood by his conscience, did what was right and defeated a formidable enemy namely Ravana, the King of Lanka. When you are sure that Dharma wins at the end of the day, there is no point in losing hope and faith in yourself and the situation. It is best to keep at your efforts till you reach your destination. Hope is always the last to die.

Ramayana also teaches important life lessons including sibling love, marital commitment, ideal administration, fight for justice despite any odds, and so on. Read through the entire article to get a detailed view of the underlying concepts.

1. An Ideal Sibling

Making children understand the real meaning of sibling bondings , you can start telling them the story of the four brothers, Rama, Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughna and the love they held for each other. Lakshman accompanied Rama to the forest just because his love for his brother made him sacrifice his family life and live in a forest for 14 years with Lord Rama. He could not imagine staying without Rama for 14 years. Similarly, Bharata refused the throne and ruled Ayodhya in Rama's memory by keeping Rama's sandals on the throne to derive his strength from it.

Today's world has numerous examples of brothers fighting for family inheritance and killing each other too. In order to avoid it, we need to let our children grow, imbibing the values of epics like Ramayana.

2. Power Of Good Over Evil

Bharata can be the best example to delineate this concept to young children. Bharata who was given the ruling responsibilities of Ayodhya could have just used the opportunity to rule it because it was the power and luxury that came as a perk of acquiring a kingdom. But, upon knowing that his mother had manipulated Dasharatha to get this done, he went to the forest and asked Rama to take the throne back as it rightfully belonged to Rama. He had a strong will against temptation, a strong brotherly love, and a strong sense of fair play. Bharata placed Rama's Padukas on the throne and symbolically treated them as Rama, the king of Ayodhya. Everything should be accepted in a deserving manner, without hurting anyone else in the bargain.

3. Staying Committed In Relationships

Kaikeyi, the wife of Dasharath had two boons granted to her by her husband given to her when she saved his life on the battlefront. On the day of Rama's coronation, Kaikeyi asked Dasharath, to grant her two boons, which he owed her. The first boon was to sendLord Rama to exile and the second was to coronate her son Bharata as a prince.

Dasharath, who was heartbroken at this turn of events, did not want to, even if he had the powers, ignore her words and coronate Lord Rama. He kept his word to Kaikeyi no matter how much it hurt him, to the point of his death. Rama appreciated his father's decision and told him that he would go into exile. When Bharat begged Rama to return to Ayodhya, Rama once again did not want to dishonour his father's words by entering Ayodhya.

Rama was a prince, who could have anything he wanted at his will, but he proposed to go to the forest just to honour his father's words. So, it teaches children to not break the commitment. However hard it may seem.

4. Perfectly Loving Your Parents

Lord Rama had immense affection for his parents so much that he spent 14 years in exile to just protect his father's honour. Dashrath was equally loving of his son, and when he left to the forests he could not bear to be separated from his son and breathed his last. He compensated for his folly by giving up his life in bargain. Although he was the rightful heir to the throne, he obeyed his parents and became an immortal figure in history. Dasharath's example shows how strong the love of a parent can be towards his children. He was a prime example of true attachment towards a child.

5. Refraining From Bad Advice

Kaikeyi was a good soul but her ears were poisoned by an evil woman called Manthara, her maid servant, who manipulated Kaikeyi, into asking two most dreadful boons to Dasharath. Kaikeyis life was ruined as she lost not only her husband but also the love of her son Bharath who chastised her for her appalling behaviour.

So, the lesson to be learnt here is to stay careful of wily advice given by people who do not matter and to not keep wrong company. It helps to know that we should not be misled and take the wrong judgment due to being wrongly advised. Children will learn to be firm and question themselves at every step and be mindful of the consequences of their actions.

6. Defending The Weak

Jatayu, an old mythological vulture was witness to Ravana's abduction of Sita. Although he was frail and old, he could see Sita crying helplessly. He stood up and faced Ravana, the mightiest warrior with all his failing might. He lost miserably and lost his wings too in the battle. He held on to life, till Rama crossed his path, told him all that he saw, and then breathed his last. This moved Rama to tears and he performed his last rites like a son to the fatherly Jatayu. This teaches us to fight even in the face of adversity and keep courage at any point of time. Whether we lose or gain, we must fight and that is life.

Ramayana is just an example for how people in different roles should play them with aplomb. Finally, conclude that good always wins over the evil. This is the major value that Ramayana upholds. Let us inspire our children to read it and follow their footsteps in order to become more perfect human beings.

Disclaimer: The information is based on assumptions and information available on the internet and the accuracy or reliability is not guaranteed. Boldsky does not confirm any inputs or information related to the article and our only purpose is to deliver information. Kindly consult the concerned expert before practising or implementing any information and assumption.

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