- There are many messages and morals to learn in our epics, but the one underlying message in which everything else falls into is, do your Dharma, and God will help you with the rest. "As birds are made to fly and rivers to run, so the soul to follow duty." Our epics: Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavatham, Devi Bhagavatham, etc are not mere stories, but instructions given by God on how to live our life. Through the legends of Ram and Sita, the Kurukshetra War, etc, God, in the form of Shri Rama and Shri Krishna, tells us what is good and what is bad, what kinds of deeds help us on our way to Moksha and what kinds of deeds cause us to be reborn on Earth again and again. What is our duty, and how does it vary from gender to gender, age, and caste?
- Every character in Ramayana teaches us something, whether they were "good" or "bad". The character of Devi Sita taught us the role of an ideal wife, and an ideal queen. Instead of living in the palace of Ayodhya, where she would have had all sorts of pleasures and comfort, she chose to follow her husband to the forests, where she suffered all kinds of hardships. "O Lord, wandering with thee, even hell itself would be to me a heaven of bliss," she said. Her mind was always on her Prabhu, her lord, and every other male she encountered was equal to her son: Lakshman, Bharat, Hanuman, etc.
The character of Shri Ram taught us the role of an ideal king, son, and husband, the characters of Bharat and Lakshman the roles of an ideal brother, the characters of Kaushalya and Sumithra the roles of an ideal mother, the character of Dasharath the role of an ideal father and ruler, the character of Hanuman the role of an ideal devotee, the characters of Sugriva and Guha the roles of an ideal friend, the character of Vibhishana the role of an ideal well-wisher, the character of Janaka the role of an ideal father-in-law and jnani, and Mandodari another ideal wife.
The character of Manthara teaches us that we, who truly know our family members more than outsiders, should not listen to people like Manthara who try to poison our minds for their own gain. The character of Kaikeyi teaches us that if we do acts for our own selfish reasons, and disregard the wishes everyone else (including our elders), we will be left without anything in the end, and be the unhappiest of all. Kaikeyi lost the love of her son Bharat, her husband, to whom she was the favorite wife, died after disowning her, and everyone in the kingdom despised her. What greater unhappiness could there be?
The character of Ravan teaches us that if we let our desires rule our good sense, we will be destroyed in the end. Ravan was not unintelligent; he was well versed in all the Vedas, but when it came to his lust for the chaste Sita, all his good sense left him and he would not listen to the advice of anyone. In the end, he was killed, and his brother Vibhishana, who always followed his Dharma and never let his mind be ruled by his desires, became king. The character of Vali teaches us that no matter how good we are, or how strong we are, we should not succumb to even one act of evil, or we are destroyed. Vali was not a bad vanara, but his one act of kidnapping and desiring Ruma, who was like a daughter to him, became the cause of his death. The character of Mareech taught us that we should never assist anyone in an act that goes against Dharma and righteousness, or we ourselves will get destroyed. Finally, the character of Indrajit taught us that by defeating a powerful force (the Devas), one does not become immune to death, and we should never let pride overtake our good sense.
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