13 Life Lessons Every Kid Can Learn From Mahabharata

Though I was a working mom, I never compromised on time spent with my son during his childhood. I love to spend quality time with him right from his birth. And he’s a big fan of stories. No surprising, since I used to tell stories even when he was in my womb.

The epic saga of Mahabharata has attracted him for many fascinating reasons. He loves the characters, morals, adventures, fiction, knowledge and wisdom shared by the innumerable stories of Mahabharata.

Mahabharata is one of the two Indian epics that narrates the importance of morals and values in life. It is a rich source of ethics and life lessons. In this modern era, Mahabharata is being taught in management classes and leadership training.

My son is just entering into his teens this 2017. And always we find it interesting to discuss and chat about the stories we read, movies we saw and things we heard. Last week, on one such discussions, he shared about the life lessons he learned from Mahabharata in his 13 years. As a mom, I feel really happy about his learning and would love to share with you all.

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13 Life Lessons Learned By My Son From Mahabharata

Perform your duty

Lord Krishna taught that one should perform his duties as a son, husband, father, student without fail. We used to give my son some work right from the time he was able. He never refused. He enjoys helping in the kitchen and also loves to assist his father in shopping, travelling. In fact, he is our guru (teacher), guiding us with modern gadgets.

Fight for your rights

Pandavas teach that one should know their rights and privileges and one should fight for getting them. My son is aware of the same. Once he asked for a Ben 10 toy which was beyond our budget at that time. Once explained, he understood and waited for nearly three years to get that. By this, he learnt the art of waiting on getting his desire fulfilled though it’s his rights.

Always support good

Krishna’s stories  guide one to support good causes. My son usually takes two or three sheets of paper extra for his exams. One day, I asked him why you always take extra sheets to school. And I was really moved on hearing his reply. He said that he gave those extra sheets for a poor boy in his class. He is always a peace maker !    

Focus Leads to Success

One famous story of the Mahabharata is about the young Arjuna which teaches that one should keep his focus unaltered to attain success. Earlier my son seemed to be hyperactive. He could not sit and concentrate on one thing for more than five minutes. This made him so naughty at school. This behavior distraction pulled down his grades in exams. Later we taught him some methods and introduced some tools to divert his energy. We bought fidgets, calming glitter jars to calm him and increase his focus. Now he has developed high concentration and is excelling in all his efforts.

Keep Moving

One should perform only his duties and should not worry about its results. He will be rewarded at the right time. My son was interested in joining cricket coaching. But I was not comfortable about this since he was identified that he has weaker spots in his retina. But he would keep on asking me to join the cricket coaching. Later on I made him admitted for the coaching. Now he’s leading his school cricket team for many matches.

Respect Elders and Women

Acharya Drona taught that one should respect elders and women. Always I insist this to my son. He loves to chit chat with his grandmothers and also give respect to women. He know the values of womanhood and he wants to be always supportive. He usually get blessings from his elders on all functions and family celebrations.

Pride Leads to Failure

The story of the Kauravas teach that one should remain gentle and humble in all situations. Pride will always lead to failure. Mostly my son won’t take any success to his head.

Avoid Bad Friends

The great Karna teaches that one should avoid bad company. It will surely lead to misery. I’m happy he has a sound group of friends. All his friends will visit our house for playing PS4 and all of them are our friends too. Still I keep an eye over them since they are at their pre adolescent age.

Think Before You Speak

The act of Draupadi taught that one should keep a watch over their words. You can not revoke the spoken words. So you have to think twice before uttering any comments. My son is a good listener  and he is very selective in his choice of words.

Revenge Leads to Disaster 

The story of Draupadi is a great example of this. My son usually forgets and forgives persons irrespective of their behavior. He used to tell me, why God has given us two ears. You have to listen through one ear and you have to let the words that hurt pass through the other ear.

Half Knowledge is Dangerous

The story of Abhimanyu and the Chakravyuh teaches that one should learn anything completely. Half knowledge is always dangerous. He learnt swimming during his summer vacation at South Africa. His master always insisted him to practice every stroke of swimming thoroughly, so that he develops confidence on it. He understands well that half knowledge in anything is not going to help him in anyway. He’s interested to learn many things like Hindi, Karate and Football.

Blind Love Is Disastrous

The lesson of “One should not support their kids blindly” was learnt from the blind love of Dhritarashtra. Parents should teach them the morals and values of life. They should teach them what is correct and what is wrong. Parents should not fail to punish them if they do anything wrong. We have a reward system for my son for limiting his screen time, going to bed on time etc.

Anger is Our enemy

Anger makes us older and smile make us younger. My son never gets angry. If he’s not comfortable about anything, he will just move away. He used to listen to music or used to watch cartoons to calm himself. I have to confess here, that I’m the person who get irritated much in our family. Now I’m learning from my son to be stress free always.

Do you tell stories to your kids? What are your bedtime rituals? What lessons your kids have learnt from Indian Folk Tales? Do share with us and we are all ears ….. 🙂 🙂 🙂

References :

• https://en.wikipedia.org/
• http://www.kidsgen.com/
• http://www.hindukids.org/
• http://www.indolink.com/Kidz/mythology.html
• http://raja-thatha-corner.bizhat.com/Stories.html
• http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-folktales/hitopadesha-tales/

Vasantha Vivek loves to call herself as a happy woman, daughter, sister, wife, mother, teacher, friend, mentor, seeker, lover. She’s from Kovilpatti, a small town of Southern Tamilnadu of India. She was a teacher by profession. She worked as a professor at an Engineering College for nearly 15 years. She has learnt a lot as a teacher. She hopes that she had inspired some hearts during that period. Teaching is her passion Reading is her love. Cooking is her heart. She enjoys reading and writing very much. She starts & ends her days with reading. She blogs @ “My Sweet Nothings”. She’s also guest authoring in various sites like Indian Moms Connect, Monsoon Breeze, Parentous, Women’s Web, mycity4kids & World of Moms. Featured At:The Times Of Amma, Stories of Motherhood!, Smart Indian Women.