Shloka 2.111.9
अयोध्याकाण्डे एकादशोत्तरशततमः सर्गः (Sarga 111: Counsel on Gurus, Parental Debt, and Bharata’s Protest)
यन्मातापितरौ वृत्तं तनये कुरुत: सदा।न सुप्रतिकरं तत् तु मात्रा पित्रा च यत्कृतम्।।।।यथाशक्ति प्रदानेन स्वापनोच्छादनेन च।नित्यं च प्रियवादेन तथा संवर्धनेन च।।।।
yan mātāpitarau vṛttaṃ tanaye kurutas sadā | na supratikaraṃ tat tu mātrā pitrā ca yat kṛtam ||
yathāśakti pradānena svāpanocchādanena ca | nityaṃ ca priyavādena tathā saṃvardhanena ca ||
Whatever care parents always show toward a child—support given according to their means, lulling him to sleep and clothing him, speaking lovingly day after day, and raising him—what mother and father do thus can scarcely ever be repaid.
The course of action the parents always adopt in respect of their son, the benefits they confer on him according to their resources, the way they lull him to sleep and clothe him, the affectionate words they always speak to him and the way they bring him up all these cannot be repaid.
Filial gratitude as dharma: parents’ lifelong nurture creates a moral debt that cannot be ‘fully repaid,’ so one must respond with lifelong reverence and dutiful conduct.
In replying to counsel about what he should do, Rāma grounds his decision-making in the foundational dharma of honoring parents’ sacrifices.
Kṛtajñatā (gratitude): Rāma highlights awareness of parental care and the humility to acknowledge it as beyond repayment.