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Essay 2
The Ramayana
One of the prevalent religions in Indonesia is Hinduism. The classical epic, The
Ramayana,is an essential learning tool for the Hindu People during both
modern and ancient times. It instills the ideology of Hinduism and upholds
characters, The Ramayana shows how to incorporate dharma into one’s life.
It also exhibits the differences in dharma and artha, to which leads one to
either moksha or samsāra. Dharma is moral ethics and duty that befalls all
living beings, to act upon perfect conduct. The end result of living the life of
dharma is to enter moksha, the liberation from the cycle of rebirth (also
called samsāra). Whereas arthais wealth, greed and the wanting of power
that can easily consume ones’ self. Throughout life there is a constant
battle between these two, it is the choices made that shape the outcome.
The Ramayana is a guide how to follow dharma and reject arthathrough the
actions.
how they handle situations. One of the major characters in The Ramayana is
the ultimate dharma king. Every action and situation encountered by Rama
righteousness. He understood that life is not fair and that one needs to
utilize what one is given. Unfortunately, there are some people that never
do learn what dharma truly means. One such person is Rama’s antagonist,
momentary happiness it brings. Long ago this demon acquired a gift from
Shiva of immorality; no god could ever kill him. He used his powers to
The theme that presents itself in this epic and in the Hindu religion is
the conflict between artha, a life that leads to happiness, and dharma, a life
that leads to tragedy. Pleasure and happiness comes from having what you
karma. Having karma is not good for it brings upon another cycle of life.
The pursuit of artha will never allow one to reach mokshaand will keep
incarnating one’s soul until all the said karma is gone. Only then can one
reach moksha. The way to rid one’s self of karma is to lead a life of dharma.
The Ramayana shows how one can accomplish reaching moksha, through
making correct choices using dharma. Every time a character’s actions are
unfair, but one is rewarded in the end. For example, at the end of this epic
corrected.
depends on the accumulation of power, the need for wealth to have a good
life and the greed for better things. It is difficult to see past artha, but the
need for a life of dharma still exists. By educating people through the
everyone will be able to use this learning tool to understand the lessons