A comparative study of family values in the Ramayana and the modern world

Abstract

अयं निजः परोवेति गणना लघुचेतसाम् || उदारचरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् || It is one of the most important concepts of Indian culture. Because it emphasizes on family and social welfare over individual interests but nowadays due to the increasing influence of indulgent ideas this concept has been lost and its selfish and very evil attitude is giving further impetus to the nuclear family system. And members of nuclear family are facing many psycho, social, and economic problems. "Ramayana" is the best guidebook in our Indian culture on all these problems. The characters of Ramayana are full of moral principles essential for life such as life skills, loyalty, devotion, faith, unwavering faith, support, truth, religion, sacrifice, courage, commitment, respect, love, forgiveness, compassion, harmony, perseverance and inspire us to live a better life. Ram's deep affection for his parents demonstrates the profound respect and care he had for his family members. He gives more importance to following the duty and that too without any bitterness. In today's society, there is a lot of misunderstanding about the equality of men and women. We don't find dedication towards performing duties instead everybody talks about the 'rights'. With the cute name "My Life My Way" people are going wild. Avoiding family responsibilities. We see equality between men and women in Ramayana too. Women of that time were highly educated. Women were getting the same respect as men. Women like Ratnaprabha, Sabari, Mandavi, Urmila, Shrutkirti were in the Ramayana who followed the path of duty, religion and devotion. Before going to Vanavasa Ram told all the people in the palace to take care of all the royal ladies especially his stepmother Kaikayi. He loved her unconditionally. We can see Rama's love for his country. He did not think of leaving his home and country for money unlike the people of today. After conquering Lanka, Rama gave the kingdom of Lanka to Bibhishana saying "जननी जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी". In the Ramayana, there was no struggle to dominate one another. Among brothers, sisters or even Swami and dasa, there was no selfishness, jealousy, but an effort to fulfill one's duty by knowing one's place, so each person is great and role model for us. And hence that society became Purushottama's. Taking Ramcharitra as an ideal, everyone in the family can destroy his ego and selfishness and live in harmony.