Shloka 2.52.17
गङ्गातरणम्, सुमन्त्र-प्रतिनिवर्तनम्, जटाधारणम् (Crossing the Gaṅgā; Sumantra’s Return; Adoption of Ascetic Signs)
न मन्ये ब्रह्मचर्येऽस्ति स्वधीते वा फलोदयः।मार्दवार्जवयोर्वापि त्वां चेद्व्यसनमागतम्।।2.52.17।।
na manye brahmacarye 'sti svadhīte vā phalodayaḥ |
mārdavārjavayor vāpi tvāṃ ced vyasanam āgatam ||
If, despite your celibate discipline, your sacred learning, your gentleness and straightforwardness, calamity has still come upon you—then I do not think these virtues yield any fruit.
If your celibacy and your grief are the consequences of your study of the Vedic lore, your compassionate nature and simplicity of character, I think there is no use of all these (virtues).
The verse voices a human doubt: if virtue is met with suffering, what is the ‘fruit’ of dharma? The Ramayana uses such lament to highlight that dharma is upheld for truth itself, not merely for immediate reward.
Sumantra, grieving, questions the meaning of Rama’s virtues when Rama still must endure exile and misfortune.
Rama’s moral excellence is assumed—discipline, learning, gentleness, and honesty—while Sumantra’s candid emotional honesty is foregrounded.