Shloka 2.20.52
अयोध्याकाण्डे विंशः सर्गः — Rama Enters Kauśalyā’s Antaḥpura; Ritual Preparations and the Shock of Exile
इदं हि दुःखं यदनर्थकानि मेव्रतानि दानानि च संयमाश्च हि।तपश्च तप्तं यदपत्यकारणात्सुनिष्फलं बीजमिवोप्तमूषरे।।।।
idaṃ hi duḥkhaṃ yad anarthakāni me vratāni dānāni ca saṃyamāś ca hi | tapaś ca taptaṃ yad apatyakāraṇāt suniṣphalaṃ bījam ivoptam ūṣare ||
This is my grief: my vows, my gifts, and my self-restraint have become meaningless. Even the austerities I practised to gain a child have proved fruitless—like seed sown in barren soil.
My regret is that all my mortifications, gifts of charity and penances are of no avail. Even the asceticism which I practised for the sake of progeny was fruitless like a seed sown in a barren land.
It raises the classic dharmic question of effort versus outcome: righteous acts may not yield visible rewards, yet their moral worth lies in sincerity and adherence to truth.
Kausalyā reflects on the religious disciplines she undertook to obtain a son, lamenting that the present calamity makes those spiritual labors feel wasted.
Spiritual striving—she had lived with vows, charity, and restraint, showing commitment to religious duty even before the crisis.