The mythology of every land is a mirror to its culture, tradition, ethos and the psyche of its people. The tales and legends contained in great epics are not only educative and entertaining, but also serve as a lesson to educate past, present and future generations on cultivating and maintaining values, morals and, in general, becoming a better person.

The great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, are veritable beacons in this aspect. Relevant in all times and to all ages, these works delve deeply into human behaviour through their characters; thus showing followers the right path towards Dharma or righteousness.

In the Ramayana, one will find the character of Sri Rama portrayed by Valmiki as a personification of Dharma (righteousness). Through the mouth of Maareecha, Valmiki describes the essence of Rama’s character as,“Ramo vigrahavan dharma”.

As a son, Prince Rama obeys his father’s words and leaves the Ayodhya kingdom and goes to the forest. At the same time when his wife Sita insists that she will accompany him to the forest, though initially Rama declines, but when she reminds him about the dharma of a wife saying that a wife has to be with the husband always, Rama finally agrees reluctantly.

Truth is permanent but Dharma may change over a period of time. The reason why our Hindu Dharma is vibrant despite being one of the oldest civilizations yet continues remain as modern is- it follows the yuga dharma, kala dharma and adapts itself to meet the requirements of the people and the society over a period of time.

One can find this difference when a comparison is made between Ramayana and Mahabharatha. Ramayana occurred in Treta Yuga whereas Mahabharatha occurred long after Ramayana in Dwapara Yuga.

In Treta Yuga, Prince Rama gave up kingdom and went to forest to obey his father. In Dwapara Yuga, Pandavas and Kouravas fought a bitter and bloody battle for the control of the kingdom. Yudhistira was against the war but was persuaded by Krishna. Even the great warrior Arjun in the battle field after seeing his kith and kin on the opponent side declines to fight the battle but Krishna gives Gitopadesha and convinces Arjun to fight the battle.

The essence of Gitopadesha clearly says when Adharma is in vogue, one has to not only resist but even wage a war against adharma to enforce dharma. Krishna says candidly in Gita that one has to follow his dharma unmindful of the consequences. Therefore, the contrast between the times of Ramayana and Mahabharata is very clear.

During Ramayana times, people followed the dharma as a norm. In Mahabharata period people did not mind indulging in adharma and therefore, assertion or reinforcement of dharma became essential even at the cost of a battle.

”Ends justify the means” was the policy mostly followed by the people during Mahabharata times. However, in the end dharma prevails. In Mahabharata, great warriors like- Bhisma, Drona and Karna compromised the dharma and went by the loyalty to the King in spite of knowing pretty well the King (Dhuryodhana) was on a wrong path (Adharma). This compelled them to fight the battle against Pandavas at the cost of their lives.

Loyalty may win the favor of the King but if it is at the cost of dharma or righteousness then one has to pay a price for it eventually.

People often get confused between truth and dharma. Truth is eternal, permanent and universal. Dharma is defined by the context of time, people, place, society, culture and practices. Decision making under dharma also takes into account the overall impact/ benefit to the people of the society.

One who follows dharma or righteousness will strive to do the right things rather than doing the things right. While doing the right thing one goes by the conscience, ethicality and the outcomes. Whereas when one does the things right he merely goes by the rule book adhering to the policies or procedures.

In modern days the friction between righteousness and loyalty can be related to the work situation in an organization where the boss is wrong and the subordinate has to choose between dissenting with the boss or blindly supporting him. Many a times the subordinates toe the line of the boss in order to not only to not to displease him but more importantly to also gain favors.

However, we also come across some people who feel organization's interests are more important than individual loyalties and they dissent with the boss when he is wrong and even raise a red flag when they notice the boss’s decisions are detrimental to the organization.

In management parlance, such righteous people are called as thorough professionals. A professional is one who is sincere and committed to the profession. He is even prepared to clash with his boss rather than compromising with his professional principles. No doubt employees are expected to be loyal but their loyalty should be towards the institution and not the individuals (read bosses).

Successful organizations require not the employees who are loyal to the bosses but only those who are loyal to the institution and committed to their jobs with high level of professionalism.

In Mahabharata Vidura tells Dhrutarashtra, “renounce one person for the sake of the family, a family for the sake of village; village for the sake of country and even the [kingdom of] earth for one’s own sake.”

The correct meaning of what Vidura said as above is if in a family one person is behaving in an unacceptable manner and bringing disrepute to the entire family, then that person has to be abandoned. In the same way in an organization if one person (even if he is the boss) is causing damage to the institution then in order to save the institution that person has to be removed.

Needless to say that the organizations which follow the path of righteousness will survive in the long run as they consider overall institutional interests that are long term oriented are more important than short term gains which are only temporary.

Shri Ram and his family are the best example for denoting this togetherness and the virtues which kept them bonded always.

Duty – Right since childhood, Maharaj Dasarath and the three queens train their sons to be duty bounded. While, Shri Ram leaves for exile as his prime duty to fulfill his father’s promise, although feeling remorse, Kaushalya blesses him to be strong as a dutiful mother. Sumitra gives courage to Lakshman to follow his brother’s footsteps as her duty and Mata Sita leaving all the comforts of a queen follows Shri Ram as the foremost duty of a wife. All of them stand for their own duty which leads way to the greater duty of fulfilment of Dharma.

Truth – Maharaj Dasarath with all pain and suffering gets ready to send his dearest Shri Ram to the exile, for a single virtue that his boons given to Queen Kaikeyi cannot go false and his promise cannot go wrong. He sacrifices his life in the separation of Shri Ram, only after keeping up his word. As his righteous son, Shri Ram leaves his inheritance to the throne and gives it away to Bharat more than happily for the word given to Queen Kaikeyi. It is for truth that while the father gives his life, the son leaves his life of a prince and turns a hermit of the forest. Truth is the greatest bond which kept Maharaj Dasarath and Shri Ram connected always.

Loyalty – While Shri Ram proves his loyalty towards his parents, Shri Ram’s brothers prove their loyalty towards Shri Ram, standing for each other. Lakshman demonstrates exceptional loyalty by accompanying Shri Ram to the forest to serve him. Bharat gives a new meaning to loyalty by rightfully rejecting the kingdom earned by the greed of his mother. His loyalty reaches the pinnacle when he prefers to take up a life of a hermit and a representative of Shri Ram instead of being King, although Shri Ram insisted upon the same. Shatrughan does his job by following his elder brother’s footsteps and taking care of the family in adversities. None of them prefer happiness without each other and stay united as four brothers demonstrating true loyalty and love for each other.

Honor – When Ravan abducts Mata Sita by deceit, it becomes the duty of Shri Ram to regain the honor of Mata Sita and his family by punishing Ravan. The two brothers although clueless about the whereabouts of Mata Sita start a relentless search and reach Lanka. Mata Sita supports the honor of Shri Ram and her family by going through hardships in Lanka, but never succumbing to the threats or luxuries of Ravan. The importance what Shri Ram gave for Mata Sita was the importance given to the honor of womanhood. In the same way, Mata Sita gives importance to Shri Ram’s honor, when she refuses to accompany Hanuman and mentions that she wanted Shri Ram to get the glory of killing Ravan and regaining her honor back