From the Mahabharata
The golden mongoose and the handful of flour
At the end of Yudhishthira's lavish horse sacrifice, a half-golden mongoose declares it worth less than a poor family's gift. In a famine, a gleaner, his wife, son and daughter-in-law each gave their last handful of flour to a hungry guest; rolling in the spilt flour turned half the mongoose to gold.
A small gift, honestly earned and given from little, outweighs the grandest show.
From the Ramayana
Bharat comes home to grief
Bharat returns from his uncle's home to a silent city. His mother tells him proudly what she arranged; he learns his father is dead and his brother exiled because of him. Overwhelmed with shame he goes to Kausalya, expecting blame, and she embraces him as if Ram had come back, telling him not to carry the loss as his shame.
When someone is drowning in guilt for what others did, an embrace helps more than blame.
From the Ramayana
Ram hears he is to be exiled
Ram is called to his father's room and finds him collapsed. Kaikeyi tells him the terms. Ram smiles: his brother gets the throne, he gets to meet sages in the forest, and he can keep his father's word. Kaikeyi reads his plain words as cunning, and Ram walks out feeling, the poet says, like an elephant freed from its post.
A lost role can be met with grace; sometimes it even feels like freedom.
From the Upanishads
Da Da Da: the voice of thunder
Gods, humans and demons finish their studies with their father Prajapati and ask for a parting word. To each he says only 'Da'. The gods hear 'be self-controlled', humans hear 'give', and demons hear 'be compassionate'. The thunder still repeats it.
Each of us hears the lesson we most need: restraint, generosity or compassion.