The Ramayana and Mahabharata are auxiliary scriptures. We try to teach religion, ethics, brotherhood, and responsibilities in the family and to society through the stories. So the Ramayana and Mahabharata have great value.

Whether they were accurately recorded or not is not important. If some of the incidents are modified, there is nothing wrong with it because the purpose is simply to teach moral, ethical and religious values in life. It is like a doctor who wants to give an injection to a child who doesn't like injections. The doctor will show him a chocolate to divert his attention away from the injection. The doctor is giving an injection to the child to improve the child's health. Similarly, the stories in the Ramayana and Mahabharata are like chocolate bars, the true knowledge is hidden behind the stories. We should not be listening to the the stories all our life and do nothing about it. They teach us and should change our lives.

They are myths in the  sense that the events may not have happened exactly the way they were written. Just like children need aides to walk, worldly people need the pure knowledge of the Gita or Upanishads in the form of stories to understand and digest the knowledge easily. Very few people can understand, digest and concentrate on pure knowledge.  People love stories. Through the stories we teach them the knowledge of brotherhood, duty, religion and everything else.

--Swami Radhanandaji