Shloka 1.2.18
द्वितीयः सर्गः — श्लोकप्रादुर्भावः (The Manifestation of the Śloka)
पादबद्धोऽक्षरसमस्तन्त्रीलयसमन्वित: ।शोकार्तस्य प्रवृत्तो मे श्लोको भवतु नान्यथा ।।1.2.18।।
pādabaddho 'kṣarasamas tantrīlayasamanvitaḥ |
śokārtasya pravṛtto me śloko bhavatu nānyathā ||1.2.18||
Let what arose from me, born of sorrow, be called a śloka—bound in metrical feet, equal in syllables, and endowed with musical rhythm; let it be so and not otherwise.
"Occasioned by the grief-stricken (state of the bird) and composed in rhymed lines each of equal number of syllables tuned to the accompaniment of stringed instruments, let it be known as a sloka and not by any other name".
Dharma can be served through truthful, disciplined expression: grief is not indulged but shaped into ordered speech that can instruct and elevate others.
Vālmīki explains to his disciple that his spontaneous utterance has taken the structured form of a metrical śloka.
Creative restraint and clarity: the sage channels emotion into a precise, communicable form that becomes a vehicle for ethical teaching.