Ramayana pictures the whole gamut of life of an individual, while the Upanishads for example trend towards the lofty thoughts that typically occur at the end of one's life though I do not want to make any assumptions that such vision can occur anytime in life even with a child.
But my point being, the Ramayana is not to be left out in any discussion of Hinduism simply because it has mingled with the collective conscience of people and PRECISELY because The Holy Story of Ram pictures the whole gamut of life of an individual and connects in the hearts of people WHO LIVE THE GAMUT OF LIFE on a daily basis.
The story is so epic, and so human while at the same God and Human and ALL LIFE including demons, that is why most resonate and "color themselves into it" once they began to take it in. Human life CAN be both human AND EPIC - this is another drawing factor of the Ramayana that attracts humans to it.
This attraction to the Ramayana drew deep colors into the ethos of Mother India. In fact the Ramayana is also the GEOGRAPHY of India as well, and Ram travels from North to South to eventually Sri Lanka. So many tirthas were established ALL OVER INDIA by this great Lord and because of Ramayana. Who could not deny it?
Yet the Ramayana is SO MUCH A GAMUT OF HUMAN LIFE and the EPIC desires of the soul, it can become an ethos of all, no matter where one lives. When South Indians brought Ramayana to South East Asia, to Cambodia and Thailand, it connect with the people, even today Thai Kings are identified with Lord Ram. Today, Ramayana is touching the hearts of Americans, and so on, it will go to the Moon and other planets as humans travel into outer space.
So a brief quote from the Ramayana in context of Hinduism I think should not be forgotten.
Here is one.
Only a person’s conduct and character proclaim whether he is born in a good family or whether he is boasting about himself or whether he is unblemished (shuchih) or blemished (ashuchih). Just as people are afraid of serpents they are afraid of persons who utter lies. Truth controls this world and dharma is rooted in truth.
Purport (IMHO): Rama said this to Maharshi Jabali who advises him to ignore his father’s wishes and go back to Ayodhya. Ram defended his resolve to do what his father said which was to go to the forest to live in exile, Ram stood fast to continue the epic of His life even before Jabali a Hindu renunciate who spent many years meditating on the banks of the Narmada River but argued that discarding the kingdom at His father’s request and taking shelter in inaccessible and dangerous forests is not Ram's duty, that Lord Ram should return to prosperous Ayodhya. Yet Ram continued on in the Epic of His life and of all humans, to meet with Lord Hanuman the Monkey-God and assemble a great army and then head further South. The epic continued, the gamut of life lived. Most all humans establish a connection with Ram long remembered but less remembered is Jabali who is largely remembered if only because of Ram and the Wonders of Him and the Wonders of India itself, and to go deeper into the jungle is in a way, an adventure back home into the human soul.
