The ideal man, Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram is known for his compassion which is infinite. For Shri Ram, Dharma was in being good to all and seeing that goodness prevailed. He was the enemy of only the bad qualities in a person, but never the enemy of a person in itself. Being good to our own people is natural, but Shri Ram outshines in having the same compassion towards the people who considered him as a foe.
Instigated by Manthara, Queen Kaikeyi sends Shri Ram to the exile to face the hardships of the forest for no fault of his. Including Maharaj Dasarath, the people of Ayodhya mock Kaikeyi for her cruel intention. But Shri Ram doesn’t utter a word against her nor lets anybody say a word against her. He simply follows her wishes. Not only Kaikeyi, he doesn’t have hatred even for Manthara who was the actual reason behind all this. In Chitrakut, when Bharat asks for forgiveness of his mother fault, Shri Ram in turn says that it was all a part of destiny, but does not find fault in Queen Kaikeyi which is a true Dharma of a son.
Vibhishan comes seeking refuge in Shri Ram, but all doubt him as he is the brother of none other than Ravan. He convinces all of them that giving refuge to the one who surrenders is the most important Dharma of all. Shri Ram also mentions that even if Ravan surrenders too, he would not go back on forgiving him. This is because Shri Ram gave more significance to Dharma, rather than personal enmity and ego.
Not only because Vibhishan sought refuge that Shri Ram was compassionate towards him, but he showed the same behaviour even when the spies of Shuk and Saran were caught in the camp of Shri Ram during spying on them. On Ravan’s order, the two spies come to check the strengths and weakness of Shri Ram’s army, but get caught due to the tactful vigilance of Vibhishan. All the Vanar warriors come ahead to kill them, but Shri Ram stops them. He mentions to them that they were only doing their duty as a spy and hence should be pardoned. He also tells them to have a complete look at the army and go and give the account of the same to Ravan. Shri Ram is not only the compassionate one but also the true warrior who throws an open challenge to the enemy by revealing his strategy openly.
When Ravan faces Shri Ram, he is no match for Shri Ram. Ravan gets defeated very easily as he cannot see the true side of a warrior with ego and arrogance. Shri Ram had all the chance to finish him and end the battle then and there, but following Dharma, Shri Ram leaves Ravan as he is unarmed. He gives another chance to Ravan to come back the next day with renowned energy. Although Ravan abducted Mata Sita and killed Jatayu with deceit, Shri Ram still gives him a chance to live for the sake of Dharma that an unarmed warrior should not be killed.
Dharma is very minute and needs to be safeguarded in each and every situation. Shri Ram depicts this very subtly in every encounter he faced in life and remained a follower of Dharma to all in the same way, friend or foe.