Shloka 5.28.15
सीताविलापः (Sita’s Lament and Resolve under Threat)
अहं तु राम त्वयि जातकामा चिरं विनाशाय निबद्धभावा।मोघं चरित्वाथ तपो व्रतञ्च त्यक्ष्यामिधिग्जीवितमल्पभाग्याम्।।5.28.15।।
ahaṃ tu rāma tvayi jātakāmā ciraṃ vināśāya nibaddhabhāvā |
moghaṃ caritvātha tapo vratañ ca tyakṣyāmi dhig jīvitam alpabhāgyām ||5.28.15||
But I, O Rāma, set my love upon you and bound my heart to you for a long time—only for my own ruin. Having practiced austerities and vows in vain, I shall now give up my life; fie upon this life of mine, so ill-fated!
"O Rama!I loved you and concentrated all my love on you for a long time only for my doom. I have observed vows and austerities in vain. I cannot continue it for long. Here I am giving up my life. Fie upon this luckless one (me).
Sītā’s words arise from extreme duḥkha and perceived hopelessness, yet the verse highlights her unwavering one-pointed fidelity to Rāma (pativratā-dharma). The ethical tension is that despair threatens life, while Dharma upholds endurance and trust in righteous order; the verse captures that crisis rather than endorsing self-destruction.
Satya appears in Sītā’s candid self-disclosure: she truthfully states her long-held love, her sense that her tapas and vows have become ‘mogha’ (fruitless), and her present resolve. The verse’s moral force comes from truthful speech expressing inner reality, even when that truth is painful.