Lessons from Ramayana and the Conference of the Birds

The Ramayana is a Hindu piece of art that serves not just as a story, but also as an educational medium that demonstrates the significance of impacting values in children and in the family. Some of the values that the story lays emphasis is the love and respect for family, learning to honor promises, protecting the weak members of the society, among others. First, the story teaches about healthy sibling relationships for children who have siblings. Lakshman had the option of living in luxury with a prince but he opted to forego all that just so that he could live with his brother whom he loved do much. In the contemporary world where siblings clash over anything, such stories can be used as guidance. The story could also be used to guide children into differentiating what is right and what’s wrong. Using the example of Bahrat, who was given the option of ruling the Ayodhya kingdom, he refused to take up the chance knowing too well that he could live in luxury and have all the power (Narayan, 1972). He instead went into the forests in search of Rama and installed him at his right position. It teaches children hat no matter how much something is coveted, justice is when it is given to the right person in the most just and fair manner. For the Conference of the Birds, the story is about putting in all the zeal that one can so as to achieve something (Heilpern, 2013). It is therefore unclear then if this story would advocate for unscrupulous ways of achieving targets. However, one thing that it portrays is the resilience until one gets to their desired positions. 

On the value of keeping promises, the Ramayana story teaches the children and community members to as much as possible avoid tarnishing the values of promises in exchange of minor things (Narayan, 1972). Among other lessons from this counsel-rich story, is that children should be taught to stay away from bad counsel and from being scammed. To be firm and resist being swayed, and to make critical evaluations before they move in to make critical decisions. The Conference of the Birds is also keen on elaborating the need for staying strong to overcome the hurdles in life as people progress to their destinies. By crossing the 7 valleys that were mean to act as challenges to be overcome. The fact that after reaching their mystery home they find it is a large lake, they looked in the water and found their own images is a lesson that the potential that people hunger so much for could be just within them.