Exemplary
Behaviour – Conduct
Ramayana is a treasure
of wisdom. It is full of pearls of thoughts combined with action. There are in
all more than 24,000 shlokas (verses) and to condense them into four
small articles is a big challenge. This is the fourth and the last article in
the present series.
In Ramayana, not only
Shree Ram but many others showed exemplary behaviour. They expressed the
highest level of noble thoughts and brought them into practice.
When Ram lifted the Shivadhanushya
(the divine bow) and Seeta was to marry him, Dasharatha, Ram’s father on
reaching Mithila with his retinue waited outside Janaka’s palace seeking
permission to enter. Janaka was surprised by Dasharatha’s humility. Dasharatha
said, “A giver always has an upper hand”. You are ‘giving’ your daughter
to my son Ram in marriage (Kanyadaan).So, your position is higher. As
a ‘receiver’, I must seek your permission. Compare this with today’s world
of arrogant and audacious attitude.
After the wedding all
came back to Ayodhya. Dasharatha instructs Kausalya that mother-in-law should
take care of daughter-in-law as an eye-lid protects the eye ! Kausalya
implemented the advice.
When Dasharatha wanted
to retire, he called all sages,venerated citizens of Ayodhya, kings of states
under his tutelage for a meeting and sought their concurrence to his proposal
to appoint Ram as ‘Yuvraj’ (king designate).Dasharatha practised
consensus. Presently, the leader’s word is – ‘law’.
When Shravana was
inadvertently and unknowingly killed by Dasharatha’s arrow, Dasharatha himself
went to see Shravana’s old and blind parents with Shravana’s water-pot and
confessed his guilt. He begged their pardon ! As a king, he could have easily
run away from the situation. Today, avoidance and / or denial is the rule.
When Ram, Laxmana and
Seeta were going to exile, Laxmana’s mother Sumitra advised Laxmana to treat
the elder brother and sister-in-law as his parents and serve them faithfully.
Laxmana followed this dictat and discharged this duty throughout his life. In
this context, there is a very poetic episode that is – ‘When Ravana after
abducting was carrying Seeta in his viman, she saw a few monkeys on a
hill. She dropped her ornaments with a hope that the ornaments would reach Ram
and Laxmana when they would come looking for her. Those monkeys were Sugreeva,
Hanuman, etc. When Ram and Laxmana met them and enquired about Seeta, the
monkeys described what they saw and handed over the ornaments. Ram asked
Laxmana to recognise them. Laxmana utters a very poetic thought. He says, ‘I
can only recognise noopura’ (anklet) as due to my respect towards her, I
always bowed before her and never observed any other ornament that she wore.
This is the ultimate of reverence !’
After Bharata failed
to persuade Ram to return to Ayodhya, Bharata shunned all pomp and pleasure and
lived as a hermit at Nandigram outside Ayodhya and ruled the kingdom; as
agent of Ram for 14 years by placing Ram’s padukas (footwear) on the
throne. Bharat believed in the good old concept of: ‘give unto Caesar what
belongs to him’. This is against the modern practice of ‘greed and grab’.
Ram conquered
Kishkindha and Lanka by killing Bali and Ravana. But he was not an imperialist.
He installed Sugreeva and Bibhishana as the kings of the respective States !
Further on reaching Ayodhya, Ram returned the ‘puspak’, viman to Kubera,
the original owner, from whom Ravana had forcibly usurped it.
Finally, when
Bibhishana refused to perform the last rites of Ravana as he felt that Ravana
was a sinner, Ram declared that he had no enmity with Ravana but only abhorred
his wicked attitude. Ram believed in and practised forgiveness. There can be
objection to an action but never hate a person because the same soul is there
in both the sage and the sinner. Ram joined Bibhishana in performing Ravana’s
last rites!
If today’s society
follows even one percent of these principles, we can have a beautiful and happy
world.
Conduct based on
truth, love and ethics is the foundation of a good citizen, parent and leader.
