New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) Long revered as India’s preeminent religious epic, an integral constituent of its religious and cultural landscape, and much familiar to the populace due to its manifold presentations, especially in the visual media and the Ramlilas, the Ramayana has a resonance beyond its key motifs of cosmic dualism, religious duty, and Hindu theogony.

When plumbed with insight and discernment, sage Valmiki’s work offers a wide spectrum of life lessons beyond ethics, morality, and destiny – not only from the conduct of the principal protagonists of the work, but also their antagonists, big and small, spanning from the Prince of Ayodhya down to the charioteer of his demon king adversary.

And that is what marketing strategist, storyteller, and avid reader, Talari Anand Mahesh, seeks to unfold for the present-day generation in ‘Unlocking the Wisdom of the Ramayana’ (One Point Six Technologies Pvt. Ltd/228 pp/Rs 455).

As he notes, the “victory of good over evil” is taken to be the central theme and message of the Ramayana, and while this is correct, there is much more to be gained from it.

The author maintains that he finds the epic “full of knowledge, far richer than what any visual medium can capture” as “every word, tale, and side story in these texts offer lessons that many people overlook because they cannot take the time to read the complete texts of our ‘itihas’ or due to the limitations of visual media in conveying the message and helping people retain it”.

Mahesh, who has helped authors, brands, and thought leaders craft compelling narratives, thus seeks to distil the enduring lessons of the esteemed epic into an accessible form for a 21st-century audience to understand and emulate, since “we need a fresh approach to presenting these teachings to today’s family and youth.”

While stressing that he does not seek to present an “exhaustive retelling” of the Ramayana or a “singular interpretation” of its lessons, he says he only aims to “extract lessons” that can help us in both our personal and professional lives.

Mahesh also admits that while his effort is inspired by Valmiki’s work, particularly the translation of the late Bibek Debroy, he has taken “extensive creative liberties”, adapting dialogues, passages, and situations for a “nuanced exploration” of both the characters and the story for “enhancing the lessons’ relevance”. Thus, there is a bit of subjectivity in the interpretation of some characters and situations to reflect the intended insight — which the reader must keep in mind.

Before coming to the lessons proper, he gives us a brief, yet engaging account of how Valmiki found out that he was equal to the task of composing the epic, and an encapsulation of its seven ‘kandas’, from the “Bala Kanda” to the “Uttara Kanda” (though he notes that the latter is considered to be a later interpolation).

In all, there are 40-odd lessons Mahesh presents in this work – with the last combining all of the lessons – traversing the ideal life, ethics, justice, forgiveness, humility and hubris, stress and serenity, diplomacy, decision-making, duty and luxury, loyalty, and many other facets and issues of the human condition.

‘Unlocking the Wisdom of the Ramayana’ is a commendable attempt to go beyond the optics of an epic to delve into what it teaches us about ourselves and how we live our lives.

More importantly, there is the impetus to go beyond the mere text and ponder how certain issues persist and how some values remain constant across the aeons.

–IANS

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