Well, the cliche of “No relationship is perfect” has been bombarded to our ears since we started wondering “what the hell are perfect relationships?” And ironically, most of us still don’t even know what exactly is a healthy relationship. And no one can precisely define what exactly it is. Tough, I did try to open the knots and make sense in my previous blogs about healthy relationships.
Still, I am taking a chance to explain it. And interestingly, I would try to explain “Healthy Relationships” in the context of a Hindu legend called the Ramayana. The epic is a mix of emotions and mankind together that explains how we should value our relationships.
So, let me quickly jump over to the lessons I have learnt or everyone must learn from the Ramayana. We’ll go down chronologically into the legend and take up lessons starting from the beginning.
1. Valuing our elders and their experience
The main character in the legend, Rama, signifies an ideal human being. He had the traits.
His father, King Dashratha asked him to leave the kingdom and go straight to exile for 14 years. He didn’t even utter a word and left the kingdom.
Leaving worldly pleasures and a settled household isn’t something that Kings or princes in India used to believe then. He was pretty clear with his values and sacrificed everything just to keep up his father’s word to Kaikeyi.
2. Valuing your partner over everything
“When you love someone, their presence is enough to keep you up.”
When Rama was going to exile, his wife Sita accompanied him through his journey. To be with him, she left those jewels, the maidens and the tag of “Queen.” All of that meant nothing to her without him.
3. Transparency
Rama and Sita always had a transparent relationship. They shared their thoughts and beliefs. They had the same values. This helped them to complement each other in the tough phases of going through exile. They were the happiest.
4. Bromance
Rama’s younger brother Lakshmana also accompanied him during exile. He left his wife and family for his brother. He had an ocean of respect for his elder brother. They both defended each other through the journey, ate together, and fought together through all the hardships.
5. Kinship
When Sita was abducted by Ravana, Rama met Sugriva and did him a favour. They developed a very good relationship between them. In return, Sugriva left his kingdom and fought till the end to relieve Sita from Ravana.
Their friendship was so deep that one left his entire kingdom to help the other. An example of true and selfless friendship, indeed.
I hope the blog was meaningful to you. I wish you all the best.
Thank you for reading. Also, If you haven’t been following my podcasts, you can see my latest video on How to Declutter your Mind on YouTube Channel.
