Shloka 3.9.28
सीताया धर्मोपदेशः—शस्त्रसंयोगदोषकथा (Sita’s Counsel on Dharma and the Peril of Weapon-Association)
क्वच शस्त्रं क्व च वनं क्व च क्षात्रं तपः क्वच।।3.9.28।।व्याविद्धमिदमस्माभिर्द्देशधर्मस्तु पूज्यताम्।
trīṇy eva vyasanāny atra kāmajāni bhavanty uta |
mithyāvākyaṃ paramakaṃ tasmād gurutarāv ubhau ||
paradārābhigamanaṃ vinā vairaṃ ca raudratā ||
Here indeed there are only three vices born of desire: false speech is their chief root; therefore the other two are graver—approaching another man’s wife, and violence committed without any enmity.
Where is the question of wielding a weapon and living in the forest, where is the life of a kshatriya and the life of penance? For us, this is an encroachment. Let the law of the land be honoured.
Desire (kāma) must be governed by dharma: truthfulness, sexual fidelity, and non-violence are protected as moral boundaries, and violating them leads to serious ethical downfall.
In the forest episode, Sītā counsels Rāma on moral conduct and warns against actions that would contradict righteous restraint, framing certain acts as ‘vices born of desire’.
Moral discernment and self-control—recognizing desire-driven impulses and rejecting them in favor of dharma.