Ramayana Simplified: A Few Insights from the Bala Kanda: Part 1

1. As we have seen, the Ramayana story starts with the description of the kingdom of Kosala. The people in Kosala lived according to Satya and Dharma (truth and righteousness). The ruling king, Dasharatha was also a very righteous ruler. The river Sarayu in the kingdom was not at all polluted as water bodies, environment, etc. were looked upon as goddesses. (https://megharamesh.medium.com/ramayana-simplified-15972bb169c4)
2. The peace and harmony in a family are largely decided by the family members. The prasad that came up from the putrakameshti yaga hosted by King Dasharatha was shared equally amongst his wives. Kousalya had one part, Kaikeyi had one part and the rest of the two parts were given to Sumithra. That shows that there was no friction between them. But as we start the Ayodhya Kanda, we find that Mandara injects poison into the mind of Kaikeyi, thereby creating unrest in the family. (https://megharamesh.medium.com/ramayana-simplified-1beda1dd9a4d)
3. The warm welcome given to Maharishi Vishwamitra by King Dasharatha shows the amount to which maharishis and sannyasins are/were respected. Sanathana Dharma has always given a lot of emphasis to knowledge and thus learned people (which also includes maharishis and sannyasins) were always respected by any class of society. It is very important to note that they are respected for their experience and knowledge. Sanathana Dharma doesn’t teach anyone to respect people since you are born to a so-called higher caste. (https://megharamesh.medium.com/ramayana-simplified-3fe7df130d98)
4. When Maharishi Vishwamitra requests for the service of Rama in killing Thadaka and other asuras, Rama and Lakshmana, being novices readily come forward to take up the challenge even though King Dasharatha was not very happy with sending them. This shows the extent to which Rama is confident in his own skills. Sometimes, we may think that Rama can do anything as he is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Although Rama is an incarnation, he is born as an ordinary man like you and me. So, we must never think that he already had magical powers. The skills he achieved were by gathering the right knowledge, practice, and the right attitude. (https://megharamesh.medium.com/ramayana-simplified-3fe7df130d98)
5. We see how Maharishi Vishwamitra wakes up Rama, in a very motivating way. As parents, we can spoil a child’s day by waking up the child with harsh words. (https://megharamesh.medium.com/ramayana-simplified-d1de90e20b91)
6. Rama asked if it was right to kill a woman as he was about to kill Thadaka. That shows the amount of respect he gave towards women. But Maharishi Vishwamitra makes it clear that whoever involved in adharma must be punished irrespective of their gender. (https://megharamesh.medium.com/ramayana-simplified-d1de90e20b91)
7. Rama was always curious to learn about new things and Maharishi Vishwamitra also explains everything. He also navigates through the stories of different characters (including Rama’s ancestors) which was meant for imparting knowledge on moral values. The Hindu culture has been always based on the conversation between a student and teacher (guru sishya samvada). It doesn’t encourage believing in something blindly. A good student is curious and always asks questions and the teacher comes to the knowledge level of the student and explains it to them. The way a child is brought up during his/her first 10 years determines their culture, thoughts, way of living, etc. Thus that is referred to as an imprinting period. (https://megharamesh.medium.com/ramayana-simplified-7292b2a913a7)
8. The story of King Nimi, of the kingdom of Mithila, teaches us the importance of communicating things properly. The king invited Maharishi Vasishta for a yaga, The maharishi said that he could come to Nimi’s yaga after finishing the yaga he already had. Nimi didn’t reply to that. Nimi could have either said that he was ready to wait or he could have said that he was not ready to wait. His silence made Maharishi Vasishta think that he was ready to wait. When Maharishi Vasishta saw another rishi performing the yaga, it was equivalent to insulting him. So, he cursed Nimi. (https://megharamesh.medium.com/ramayana-simplified-b7fb73c56a72)
9. We see the way Kushanabha gets lonely after his daughters get married. Towards the end of Bala Kanda, we also see how Kaikeyi feels lonely after her son leaves to Kekaya that slowly brings in negative thoughts in her mind. Even in the present day, we see many parents who feel lonely when their daughters get married or sons go to other places for higher studies or jobs. The parents would have retired by then. This stage is referred to as the Vanaprastha ashram in Hindu philosophy. Hindu philosophy advises such people to get involved in things like knowing more about temples and culture, traveling, and getting more into spiritual paths. They can also pass this knowledge to their children/grandchildren. It will also be really good if we can utilize this time to contribute something to society. These kinds of activities help a lot in coping with loneliness.
10. When Vishwamitra was a king, he develops an attraction towards Maharishi Vasishta’s holy cow, when a mere attraction reaches a level of greed, our personality often changes and we try to go to any extent to get something, lacking our moral values and following the path of adharma. But from the story, we see that dharma always wins. King Vishwamitra tried to fight against someone who treated him and his army men with food. Hindu philosophy has always taught us to be indebted to those who give us food. King Vishwamitra after going for a war-like situation with maharishi Vasishta also realized that brahmashakthi/tapashakthi or the power of tapas was more powerful than the power of a king. We have people like Swami Vivekananda as examples, who were able to revolutionize Indian society and spread Hinduism solely through knowledge and spiritual power. (https://megharamesh.medium.com/ramayana-simplified-342a733e5faa)

Ramayana Simplified: Index