Brotherhood and Family: Bharata and Lakshmana

The episode

History is full of brothers who fought over a throne. The Ramayana tells of brothers who each tried to give it away. Ram left so that Bharata could rule. Bharata walked to Chitrakoot to hand the kingdom back, and when Ram would not take it, placed Ram's sandals on the throne and governed for fourteen years as their caretaker from Nandigram. Lakshmana gave up palace and sleep to guard Ram and Sita in the forest. Shatrughna stayed behind to serve Bharata and keep Ayodhya running, the least noticed work of all.

The reasoning

Each brother asked what he owed, not what he was owed. That single change of question is the whole teaching. Property disputes begin when every person calculates his share; they end when one person is willing to take less.

Notice too that the brothers were different. Lakshmana was quick to anger, Bharata gentle, Shatrughna quiet. Ram did not ask them to be alike. He gave each the role that suited him and trusted him completely in it.

And notice how they handled the wrong done within the family. No one pretended Kaikeyi's demand was right. But they did not let it split the house into camps. Bharata refused the benefit of the wrong; Ram refused to nurse the injury.

How to practise it

• In any division of family property, be the one who asks for less. Few regret generosity to a brother or sister; many regret a court case.
• Do not accept an advantage that came to you through an unfairness to a sibling, even if you did not cause it.
• Value the Shatrughna in your family: the one who looks after the parents and the house while others are praised.
• Settle quarrels face to face, as Bharata did at Chitrakoot, and early.

Next: True friendship. Read the full episode in the Ayodhya Kanda.