Ramayana: Encyclopedia II - Ramayana - Lessons from the Ramayana

Ramayana - Lessons from the Ramayana

Ramayana illustrates

• Dharma in the form of Rama, who is the personification of this Hindu concept of duty and harmony.
• an ideal son, an ideal king and ideal husband through Rama.
• an ideal wife through Sita.
• an ideal brother through Lakshmana and Bharata (another half-brother of Rama).
• an ideal unassuming and loving devotee through Hanuman.
• The dangers of lust and ego as seen in Ravana.

In addition, Ramayana also has the following morals which are not readily apparent

• Think well before promising something. This is exemplified in the suffering of King Dasaratha which was born out of his promise to Kaikeyi.
• Keep promises no matter how hard it may be. King Dasaratha kept his promise to Kaikeyi inspite of her demands being very unfair and painful.
• Willingness to forgive even one's worst offenders, if the offender atones for his/her misdeeds. In Ramayana's context, the offensive deed was done by Ravana in coveting Rama's wife and kidnapping her. Yet Rama had the compassion to forgive Ravana if he simply returned Sita.
• Violence (war) is the last resort. All through, Rama only asked Ravana to return Sita to him and only when all attempts failed did he resort to war and slay Ravana.

Thus Ramayana has established a code of conduct which is widely considered by Hindus to be the benchmark for posterity.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Lessons from the Ramayana", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki