Shloka 6.83.17
त्र्यशीतितमः सर्गः (Sarga 83) — Hanumān Reports Sītā’s ‘Slaying’; Rāma Collapses; Lakṣmaṇa’s Counter-Discourse on Dharma and Artha
यद्यधर्मोभवेद्भूतोरावणोनरकंव्रजेत् ।भवांश्चधर्मसम्युक्तोनैवंव्यसनमाप्नुयात् ।।6.83.17।।
yathaiva sthāvaraṃ vyaktaṃ jaṅgamaṃ na tathā-vidham |
nāyam arthaḥ tathā yuktaḥ tvad-vidho na vipadyate ||6.83.16||
Just as the state of the immobile is plainly seen, the moving is not seen to follow any such fixed rule; this reasoning is not sound—for one like you should not come to ruin.
"If there is unrighteousness, Ravana should be in hell. You who are endowed with righteousness should not have agony."
It presses the dilemma: if moral order were reliable, a dharmic person would not suffer—thus it challenges the lived tension between dharma and apparent worldly outcomes.
A speaker attempts to interpret observed suffering and irregularity in outcomes as evidence against dharma’s governance.
The addressee’s presumed dharma-śīlatā (moral integrity), invoked as the reason suffering seems ‘illogical’ to the speaker.