होइहि सोइ जो राम रचि राखा

Ramayana can teach you all those lessons and skills which one can’t even learn from workshops and seminars. You learn leadership, warfare tactics, how to respect not only the team members but also the enemy, etc. So, let’s start with some basic lessons.

  1. Don’t get attracted to Materialistic things – Shri Ram along with Lakshman used to spend time with people of Ayodhya. They were never like other princes who used to enjoy luxury and just wait for the right time to become the king. Everyone knew that Prince Ram will become the king of Ayodhya but he showed not a single expression of anger when his father announced the exile. And just see us today, people are fighting and dying for positions. If a political party doesn’t give a candidate an MLA ticket, there are riots and even suicide is committed. पिता दीन्ह मोहि कानन राजू, जहं सब भांति मोर बड़ काजू। – This is what Shri Ram told his mother saying that during exile he would be much happier to serve people.
  2. Leadership Qualities – A leader is one who can take everyone on his way and make a product/accomplish a task. When Sita Ji got abducted by Ravan, Shri Ram Ji could have asked for help from the nearby Kingdoms and they could have easily provided Shri Ram with an army. But Shri Ram chose to make his own army out of nature. He didn’t take the help of Bali but Sugreev. He made the army of monkeys (Vaanar Sena). The reason behind this was that Shri Ram was of the view that human is attracted towards money. If today any king is helping Shri Ram to defeat Ravan, the next day they might withdraw their support!

Another quality of a leader is to give opportunities to his juniors/colleagues and believe them. Sending Hanuman Ji to Lanka is the biggest example of this. Shri Ram Ji just said one thing – one instruction that “Hanuman, you have to just look for Sita Mata and see if she’s fine!”. Shri Ram Ji had no doubt about the capabilities of Hanuman Ji.

3) One should know how to become small – This quality one should learn from Hanuman Ji.

जेहि गिरि चरण देहि हनुमंता ,चलेउ सो गा पाताल तुरंता !! – Hanuman Ji is so powerful that he could have destroyed the whole of Lanka with his feet. But when Hanuman Ji went to Lanka, he was as small as a mosquito. मसक समान रूप कपि धरी | This teaches us that sometimes, in order to defeat an enemy, you have to become small. Today, we have so much arrogance and ego in ourselves that we consider ourselves like a king and invincible.

4) Every fight is not fought physically but mentally also – This can be seen from the dialogue between Ravan and Hanuman Ji.

Ravan Asks Hanuman Ji – Who are You? – कह लंकेस कवन तैं कीसा। केहि कें बल घालेहि बन खीसा॥ की धौं श्रवन सुनेहि नहिं मोही। देखउँ अति असंक सठ तोही॥1॥

Hanuman ji Replies – जाके बल लवलेस तें जितेहु चराचर झारि।

तास दूत मैं जा करि हरि आनेहु प्रिय नारि | जिनके लेशमात्र बल से तुमने समस्त चराचर जगत् को जीत लिया और जिनकी प्रिय पत्नी को तुम (चोरी से) हर लाए हो, मैं उन्हीं का दूत हूँ

Now the very next dialogue, Hanuman Ji tries to break the confidence and arrogance of Ravan.

जानउँ मैं तुम्हारि प्रभुताई। सहसबाहु सन परी लराई॥

समर बालि सन करि जसु पावा। सुनि कपि बचन बिहसि बिहरावा॥1॥

भावार्थ:-मैं तुम्हारी प्रभुता को खूब जानता हूँ सहस्रबाहु से तुम्हारी लड़ाई हुई थी और बालि से युद्ध करके तुमने यश प्राप्त किया था। हनुमान्जी के (मार्मिक) वचन सुनकर रावण ने हँसकर बात टाल दी

5) After defeating Ravan, Shri Ram Ji could have easily captured Lanka but he made Vibhishan the King – the one who was deprived of his rights. Shri Ram asked him to establish Ram Rajya in Lanka.

6) While all the ancesstors of Shri Ram had more than one wives, Ram married and loved only one women – Sita Mata. Through this also, Shri Ram establishes another Maryada. Hence, he was called Maryada Purshottam.

There are innumerable things to learn from Ramayana. I hope you liked reading this.

जय श्री राम

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.